2018/19 Season
The 2018/19 season has now officially concluded so we wanted to take this opportunity to update you regarding our 2018/19 season and our plans moving into the 2019/20 season.
This past season has seen our membership grow to 86 paid members (players and supporters). We continue to push recruitment, to become a bigger and stronger club, having already had our first “Give It A Try” session in Portsmouth in June and our next one in Southampton at the end of August.
Going into this season we also finalised our new two years sponsorship deals with Allianz, Unison, Franco Manca, The London Hotel, and The Edge and Box Bar. These deals allowed the club to purchase our new kit, subsidise costs for our members, cover coaching expenses, among other things. We are proud to be supported by so many great companies. We thank each of our sponsors for their contributions.
This year also saw the Wessex Wyverns RFC turn 5 and to celebrate we spent the afternoon at Franco Manca for an afternoon of pizza before heading over to go bowling. We cannot believe the club was formed five years ago and we are so pleased to have seen it go from strength to strength. That has happened with not only the ongoing support of our membership but our amazing sponsors.
2018/19 Season
This past season we made 17 fixtures, compared to 18 during our 2017/18 season. Unfortunately, due to a few last-minute clashes we were unable to proceed with several of our prearranged fixtures, meaning we fell just short of our target to play more than the previous season. A full breakdown of our 2018/19 season results can be found here.
2018/19 AGM
The club’s AGM was held on 20 July 2019. The AGM gave our membership the opportunity to stand for the committee and become more actively involved with the running and development of the club.
Given our increasing membership base we also decided to increase the number of committee positions from six to seven, introducing a “Welfare Officer”. This new position will be aimed at membership welfare (both physical and mental health), recruitment and retention, but also to help further our community agenda, helping cement us as an inclusive team, supporting the LGBT+ community.
Following the AGM there were five committee members re-elected, with two new members elected:
[left to right]
- Anthony Sullivan (Social Secretary)
- Trevor O'Gorman (Welfare Officer)
- Nicholas Vaux (President)
- Tim MacFarlane (Team Manager)
- James Knight (President)
- Piers de Hondt (Secretary)
- Toby Hainsworth (Treasurer)
The new committee holds its first meeting on 30 July 2019 where we will plan our forthcoming season, our fixtures, our recruitment plan, our retention plan, and general management programme for the club, including fundraising and forward planning for the 2020/21 season. This year our coaches will also be taking a more active role in these meetings, helping to drive our progress and plan how we can improve as a team moving into the new season.
We have also opened up various sub-committee roles to help the development of the club, including tour manager, social media manager, medic, and many many more!
2019/20 Season
Pre-season training has now started along with our Summer Touch Programme which starts on 31 July 2019. It is important to start our season strong, and disciplined, as we have some exciting news…. We are joining Hampshire 4 merit league. After five years we think it is the right time to join a traditional league and give our players more games, to help grow their experience and gain in confidence.
We will also continue to play within the IGR Southern League so will add the Hampshire 4 to our existing commitments. It is also exciting times for the IGR.. Last season the IGR Southern League included six teams, this has now increased to eight. This is a testament to the hard work of the LGBT+ inclusive teams around the UK and beyond. The Wyverns are proud to be a part of the growth or inclusive rugby and look forward to playing with our sister clubs this coming season.
We already have around 25 fixtures booked in this season, making this our busiest yet. We hope to become bigger and stronger, and walk away improved from our previous seasons.
HERE'S TO OUR 2019/20 SEASON, WE CAN'T WAIT TO SHARE IT WITH YOU