News

On behalf of the management committee I hope that you are all keeping safe and well.

The prospect of returning to some form of normality next season I am sure is what is keeping us all going at the moment.

The past 17months have been both difficult and unprecedented for us all. However, we must remain positive and grateful that we have a sport that gives us all such an enormous amount of distraction and pleasure. Above all else we have a club and grounds that gives us a sense of pride and belonging.

There is a lot of hard work that goes into the running and the administration of the club and its activities.   I would like to extend on behalf of the Management Committee our deepest gratitude to all our volunteers throughout the club. Our volunteers have done an amazing job over the past 17 months. There have been times when we have had to suspend our sporting activities but through it all the support shown to all our senior and junior playing members has been fantastic. I would also like to thank personally my fellow Directors and the Management Committee members who have given their time and commitment to drive forward some exciting plans that will ultimately secure the long-term future of Barry RFC Ltd.

We are now an incorporated body. In other words we are a not for profit business that is accountable to our members.  It is our duty as a group of directors and Management Committee to carefully maintain the club’s finances, improve the clubs facilities and strive to ensure the long-term financial sustainability of the club.

It is great to see that we now have a thriving girls/Ladies section and I am so pleased to see how quickly the Islanders are expanding and a big thanks goes out to Jo and her coaching team.

Next season we are going to introduce changes to our membership fees, which are set out as follows (These Fees below for Youth Team and Age Grade apply to the Islanders):

Youth Team Player Subscription (Option 1):

• £40 per year subscription
• Option to pay instalments over 4 month period (Sept to Dec)
• Will be entitled to membership discount at the club bar
• Will have right to apply for International Tickets

​Youth Team Player Family Membership (Option 2):

• £40 per year Social Membership for both Parents (50% discount)
• 2^nd Sibling £40 per year subscription
• 3^rd Sibling free subscription
• Option to pay instalments over 4 month period (Sept to Dec)
• Parents will be entitled to membership discount at the club bar
• Parents will have a right to apply for International tickets
• 1 parent will have full voting rights
• Free Club hire

Age Grade Player Subscription (Option1):

• £80 per year player Subscription
• Option to pay instalments over 4 month period (Sept to Dec)
• 2^nd Sibling £40 per year subscription
• 3^rd Sibling free subscription

   Age Grade Player Family Membership (Option 2):

• £80 per year player subscription
• £40 per year Social Membership for both Parents (50% discount)
• 2^nd Sibling £40 per year subscription
• 3^rd Sibling free subscription
• Option to pay instalments over 4 month period (Sept to Dec)
• Parents will be entitled to membership discount at the club bar
• Parents will have a right to apply for International tickets
• 1 parent will have full voting rights
• Free Club hire

Creche Player Subscription (Option 1):

• £40 per year
• Option to pay instalments over 4 month period (Sept – Dec)
• 2nd Sibling £20 per year subscription
• 3rd Sibling free subscription

Creche Player Family Membership (Option 2):

• £40.00 per year Subscription
• £40.00 per year Social Membership for both Parents (50% discount)
• Option to pay instalments over 4 month period (Sept to Dec)
• Parents will be entitled to membership discount at the club bar
• Parents will have a right to apply for International tickets
• 1 parent will have full voting rights
• Free Club hire

​Ordinary Social Membership (Option 2):

• £40 per year
• Option to pay instalments over 4 month period (Sept to Dec)
• Will be entitled to membership discount at the club bar
• Will have full voting rights
• Will have right to apply for International Tickets
• Free Club hire

Patron Membership:

• £180 per year
• Option to pay instalments over 12 month period (Sept – Dec)
• 1 full voting right
• Right to apply for International tickets
• Free Access to Club on Match days
• Free Club Hire

Our senior players are gifted annual membership to the club for a number of reasons which include:

• We are aware that a small number of other community clubs chose to reward players in such a way that flies in the face of the spirit of the amateur community game in Wales. This is not the environment we want to create!
• Senior players have families and the risk of long term and short term injury is ever present.  In reducing subscriptions and providing free membership we are incentivising our senior players to take out their own insurance policies to cover any such eventualities.
• Our senior players will engage on a rota basis with our age grade coaches and players to improve knowledge, enjoyment and skill levels.
• Our goal as a club is to play at the highest level of senior rugby and we will strive to do all that we can to support our senior players to achieve this.  We are already playing in the highest league that the club has historically ever played in and we will continue to push the boundaries.  Hence, the club will do all that it can to ensure that our senior players have the tools and the financial support available to do the job.

We have exciting plans for the future. We have already commenced a club refurbishment programme and to date we have undertaken following work:

1. We have replaced a significant number of roofing sheets and Constructed a viewing platform above our entrance porch for our coaching team, which will enable us to video our matches far more purposefully which will enable us to analyse games more effectively.
2. We have refurbished and created a new youth annex where the old trophy cabinet used to be. We have purchased new portable trophy cabinets the focus on utilisation of space.
3. We have completely overhauled the clubs electrical systems and renewed at considerable cost wiring and fuse boxes. 
4. We have installed televisions and sockets in the new youth annex and throughout the club to enhance the membership and visitor experience.
5. We have dismantled the old playground and created a new beer garden with modern tables and outdoor lighting.
6. We have refurbished and constructed a new shop and storage facility for the sale of merchandise.
7. We have installed a complete new boiler system ensuring continuous heat and powerful showers for our playing members.
8. We have installed refurbished air conditioning units to the clubhouse and beer cellar
9. We have also completely refurbished the floor in the beer cellar.
10. We have moved the 1^st team pitch to a more central location to the clubhouse. We have had to move barriers and purchase new rugby posts.
11. In addition the will meet all costs in relation to the hire of offsite training facilities

All this work has been carried out at considerable cost to the club. Some of the cost has been met by grant funding and we continue to strive to secure as much grant funding as we possibly can to make improvements to the club and grounds.

One of our goals is to build a floodlit training area/over flow carpark to ensure that the weather does not stop us training during the long hard winter months but in the meantime the club will continue to provide 3G training facilities for all of our players off site and free of charge.

On the weekend of the 7^th and 8^th of August 21 the club will be open for a registration weekend. By then, we will have up and running our new membership management software package which will ultimately enable our members to pay membership through our website and allow us to keep detailed valuable information online about all of our members strictly in accordance with the club’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)

Our Patrons will be contacted separately notifying them of the new bank account details.

Finally, may I thank you all for your continued support. I wish everybody the best as we move forward  together as “one club”

Many thanks,

Mike Prosser

Chairman/Director

Barry RFC Ltd