Historic Marlborough’s Modern Approach
One of Wiltshire’s oldest rugby clubs launched an ambitious plan for growth at their first home game of the season.
They are aiming for National League status for their 1st XV by 2024/25 and participation at the highest levels across all the age groups.
"We took the opportunity to undertake a full review during the Covid lockdowns and look at where we could grow the club and to understand how our members would like to see us develop," said club chair Gary Sharp.
"We have already been successful in so many areas, but the consensus was that there is also so much more we could be doing to realise our potential.
"We have a great diversity of players, including some fantastic South Pacific players, many proudly serving in our Armed Forces and based at Wiltshire’s military bases. We have also recently started up a girls team and have had both national and international success with our 7s. We’ve grown to 250 mini and junior players over the past few years; and now we’re aiming for closer to 400.
"To reflect our fresh approach and to ensure clarity over who we are and what we stand for, we have rebranded under the name Marlborough Rugby and our vision is to be One Club united by our new values of Welcome, Inspire and Excel. We look forward to welcoming many more to the Marlborough Rugby family over the coming years.”
Plans for growth, both on and off the pitch, include: building a women’s squad after forming the girls team; providing a clear pathway for juniors to move to senior rugby and nurturing home talent; expanding the successful schools engagement programme; developing and investing in coaching talent; keeping venue hire quality and affordable for local users and growing the team of passionate and loyal volunteers to deliver their ambitions.
A founder member of the RFU, Marlborough Nomads saw one of their early players, Alfred St George Hammersley, captain England. Their second team are still called the Nomads and, after a century and a half, Marlborough Rugby are determined to keep advancing and growing the game in Wiltshire.
