After nearly 18 months of inactivity, its been an exciting few weeks as some semblance or normality begins to emerge from a rugby perspective. The WRU have announced cup competitions that will begin on August 7th, with the Illts being placed in a group with St Albans, Clwb Rygbi, Cardiff Quins and Llantwit Major in the Bowl. The fixtures are set to be announced this week, but the teams will play each other on a home and away basis, with the top sides in the section progressing to the knockout rounds of the National Bowl competition and the rest of the clubs filtering in to a more local district cup competition. The pools across the bowl and plate are full of local derby games which should generate lots of interest, so well done to the WRU on an innovative format that will hopefully help people reengage with their local clubs.
Our own preparations for the new season have stepped up, with training for the seniors moving to twice a week and the appointment of Joe Poole as Captain and Adam Taylor as Vice Captain. 2 great appointments, well done and best of luck to both! Numbers have been excellent at the sessions and its been particularly pleasing to see lots of last years youth team making the step up to train with the Seniors. Once the WRU announce fixtures the club will be looking to arrange some development games to ensure that all of the squad get as much game time as possible, so keep your eyes peeled.
The mini and junior section continues to go from strength to strength. All of the age groups have seen excellent numbers and its been really pleasing to see continued recruitment with new players starting through May and June. Sunday 20th June was a brilliant day as the kids returned to contact rugby (albeit under WRU amended COVID rules) with a visit to our friends at Caerau. While all of the age groups played some excellent rugby a couple of special shout outs. Our u9s played their first ever contact match, 9 months later than scheduled. Any fears this would hold the kids back proved unfounded as they flew into tackles and produced a wonderful performance, well done boys and girls! Secondly, our u12s produced some sensational rugby in their game and it was fantastic to see 3 players from Eastern High make their debuts, a big thank you to Llyr Davies our hub officer who has helped us with recruitment so much over the last 2 years.
Finally, in terms of facilities, delighted to announce that our newly refurbished container kitchen will be open for business for the first time on Sunday 27th June. Splott Volunteers will be providing teas, coffees and food at our home games with any profits split 50/50 and reinvested into either Splott Volunteers or the mini rugby section – 2 very worthy causes and a partnership we hope will continue to benefit everyone in our local community. The club has also begun fundraising for a defibrillator to be based at the Old Library, and the response so far has been phenomenal with in excess of £800 raised of our £1,000 target in 24 hours! If you can help, please use the link below to donate, this is so important not just for the rugby but for all of the community groups who use the library, as well as people living in the local area! Any excess funds raised we will donate to Splott Volunteers
Crowdfunding to Buy a defibrillator to be situated at the Old Library in Splott, for the benefit of Old Illtydian mini section and the local community on JustGiving
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