Walking Rugby Festival 2022
On Saturday 30th April 2022 we welcomed back the Walking Rugby Festival.
Castle Road was host to 7 visiting Clubs playing games across a 10 team merit table format. Both Devon and Bristol were well represented, with Ivybridge, Exeter Saracens and Topsham travelling up the A303 (or by train !) whilst Broad Plain Pioneers travelled South alongside Kingswood who had organised such a good festival last Summer. The teams were completed by local friends Fordinbridge and Gosport & Fareham.
The opening games are reminiscent of the first game of the season (anyone remember those days ?), with a mixture of enthusiasm and delusion as we charge around throwing 'miracle' passes. The early pace was being set by Gosport Gold, Kingswood and the Salisbury Spitfires, but with each team playing 6 games that could change over the course of the afternoon, not least because the weather conditions were so good and a number of participants were already tucking into the delights of the bar !
As the games unfolded, Fordinbridge hit their stride and it was their games against Gosport Gold and the Spitfires that decided the top of the table.
Throughout the afternoon the referees (thanks to all those who took up the whistle, we salute you) marked each team for what might be the most prestigious piece of crockery ever awarded at a Walking Rugby festival. The outright winners were the good folk of Broad Plain. Well it is only fair as they do come from God's own City.
A big thank-you to Graham Hillier and David Humphreys for all the work that went into the day, and to our Club which created such an enjoyable day. Same time, same place next year ?
A selection of photos are shown below, but there are many more for view at this link SRFC WR 2022
Winners - Gosport & Fareham Gold
Runners-Up - Fordinbridge
Fair Play Award - Broad Plain Pioneers
Salisbury's results were: Spitfires W4 D1 L1 Bustards W1 D1 L4
