How did you get involved in MRC?
I originally joined to support with the coaching back in the 2009/10 season when my good friend Neil Briggs joined as Head Coach – he was supporting me coaching Lancashire U15s & 16s so as quid pro quo he asked if I could support him in joining Elaine Vassie’s team who was the Director of Rugby – she did a great job to complete that season in National 2 North under incredibly tough conditions. Unless involved at the time can’t really appreciate how tough it was. However during that time met a lot of great people who had supported the club through that period and made great friendships with some of the players – even though some of the time on the field / sidelines wasn’t much fun for the first 3 seasons – the people (the vast majority are still around today) made it very welcoming and you could also see the potential in M&J coming through.

What makes you stay in rugby?
It’s Hotel Manchester Rugby Club – you can check-out but you can never leave! I think that when you’ve been playing / involved in rugby since you were 9 years old it’s almost habitual and when you like the match day feel and the buzz in the clubhouse after matches – it’s something that you can’t really or necessarily want to leave behind. Myself and my family have always been made to feel really welcome at the club and we’ve made some great friendships – can’t see myself at any other club unless we move out of the area. Above that – I still think that the club has loads of opportunity and potential to be even better than it is today – have great foundations with our members, volunteers, players and M&J section – I’m keen to help out and see us achieve much more both on the field and off it with clubhouse and changing room developments which are much needed.

Biggest achievement/proudest moment in rugby:
I’ve many fond memories over last 10 season at Manchester for various different reasons. Was great to be involved on that day against Old Northamptonians when we broke the losing streak – you’d have thought that we had won the World Cup and there were some similarities with Richard McCartney making a late drop-goal – was a massive release of pressure followed by great celebrations. Unfortunately, it didn’t give us the spring board that we’d hope for in the following season where we got relegated again but that made the day where we stopped the slide of relegation 2 years later even more sweeter. Had a very young team led impressively by Tom Fantom and we got the 2 bonus points we needed away at Douglas to secure our place in Level 7 – I was running touch and will not forget Ben Jenkins stepping off his right foot to beat the last man and going on to score. It could have been even better had Luke Tyrrell not had another score incorrectly ruled out by the referee. Plenty of fun on the plane back and then in the clubhouse when we finally arrived home. That was early on in coaching with Oggy and the next 4 seasons were lots of fun as I formally took over as DoR and he as Head Coach after a 4 month interim period at the end of the previous season. Promotion in the 2016/17 season was a great ride and great achievement – we had a supporters coach to the final game away at Bowdon for what we expected to be a really close game but knowing that 5 points would give us the title. Too be fair to Bowdon they had a big crowd and there was a great atmosphere but when Richard McCartney went over in the first 5 minutes for a 7 pointer with an outrageous (and slow) show & go that blew-away any concerns we had and we went on to win well scoring 50+ points in the end. Great feelings on the field straight after and back at the clubhouse later. Finally I took a lot of personal satisfaction when the team secured their place in Level 6 the season after – my last as DoR – we knew that we needed at least 1 point of our final game away at Wilmslow to make sure – Doug Day stood-up like sometimes he can only do and pretty much made sure single-handedly with 4 tries of his own and flawless off the kicking tee. Was great to see so many players who had been in the M&J when I joined involved at Douglas, Bowdon & Wilmslow and who now take the lead on the field across our 3 mens teams.

Vision for the future of Manchester Rugby Club:
I really support and like the Club’s ambition of being the best amateur rugby club in the country. So with that in mind – more people playing across all sections of the club, grow our numbers for coaching & volunteers and finally improving our facilities so that we are leading in all of these areas. Great to be involved in a club with such ambition and looking forward to helping them to achieve that.

What do you do away from rugby?
Family life with my wife Steph and 8-month old Wilfred is the biggest thing at the moment, one advantage of the current situation with COVID-19 is that I’m home a lot more and other than that it’s busy with my work Co-Op Food. Never a dull day when serving over 22 million customers each week across 2,600 locations in every part of the UK.

Quick fire answers:
Favourite food: Pizza
Favourite film: The Dark Knight
Professional club supported: Sale Sharks
Who would play you in the film of your life? A young & Yorkshire Jeff Bridges
Pet peeve: Cry-offs, the later the worse….
Advice for new players: Get fully involved & don’t cry-off on short notice
Advice for those wanting to volunteer: Is a great club to be involved with and there’s plenty of work to go around! Please step forward.