Hove Rugby – a club for the community

Earlier this month, I managed to catch up with Hove Rugby Club’s Chair and former player, Geraldine Brown, who told me about the club’s history and shared information about plans for the future.

It all began in 1933, when Territorial Army officers and men of the Sussex Yeomanry formed a rugby club affiliated to the Rugby Football Union and after the second world war, they played their home matches at East Brighton Park.

In 1952 the Yeomanry realised they could no longer continue without new players, so the members approached the then Mayor of Hove, Alderman Arthur Brocke together with Councillor Jack Woolley, and secured a pitch in Hove Park where the old timber Scout Hut was refurbished with the usual facilities we take for granted today.

By the early 60s, the Club had expanded its membership to allow for four teams and in those early years, reportedly gained a reputation for being a very ‘social’ Club, regularly providing entertainment for the opposition through the refreshment of the now defunct Watney’s Red Barrel!

After spending many years at Hove Park, the Club looked at various sites to enable their expansion on and off the pitch to continue. These included Benfield Valley and the Neville playing fields, both of which were initially rejected by the Council. Then, completely out of the blue, an opportunity presented itself to move to Hove Recreation Ground, but it wasn’t until the Brighton and Hove Councils merged that it was able to become a reality. Eventually the Club moved the short distance to Hove Rec ready for the start of the 2002–2003 season, where it resides today. The building of new facilities and the provision of four pitches at one location gave the Club what it needed to break out from the lower levels of the English structure and to enable it to look to the future. The new Clubhouse was opened by the Mayor of Brighton and Hove in August 2002, which coincided with the Club’s 50th anniversary.

Today Hove prides itself on being a community club which focuses on working to deliver a great rugby experience for everyone. Having recently expanded to cover girls’ rugby, the Club are able to provide all ages and genders the opportunity to play, including their newly reformed veterans team.  With three men’s sides competing in RFU and the Sussex leagues and three women’s teams, Geraldine is delighted the Club are now seeing third generation players coming through, however there is so much more to a successful club than just the players. “We have been working on increasing the number of volunteers in the club (we are completely volunteer run) and also expanding how the club can be used to support the wider community.”

With the Club proud of it’s standing in the community, I asked Geraldine about the importance of both youth rugby and women’s rugby at Hove. “Youth and Women’s rugby are integral to Hove, as we were one of the first clubs in Sussex to start a youth section and have had a women’s team for over 30 years! This year we started a third women’s team and the first team play at the level below the premiership. My involvement with the club comes from being a player and when I became Chair six years ago, I was one of the first female chairs in the country.”  

Having reported on neighbours Brighton Blues in a previous role a good few years back and with the teams playing in different leagues, I was eager to find out if there existed a genuine rivalry between the two local clubs. Particularly as at one time, there was even the suggestion that both clubs amalgamate, following the construction of the Brighton (A27) bypass, reportedly allowing Brighton to become cash rich after their move to Waterhall! 

“Our first ever game as Hove Rugby Club was against Brighton on 20 September 1952, losing 32-3, with the Man of the Match being Scottish international Charlie McDonald playing for Brighton. We fondly call Brighton the club over the hill given how close the clubs are geographically as the crow flies, but in the main both clubs get along well with a recent joint event when the President of the RFU was down for the RFUs 150th Celebration. The focus of the rivalry has abated in the club over the past few years, on the men’s side there is always an interest in who wins when we get matched against each other. Coming from the female side of the game there isn’t a rivalry as Brighton don’t have a women’s section.”

One of the biggest challenges facing the club today and in the future is that they are a victim of their own success and are running out of space to fit in all their members. Providing rugby for all age groups from five-year-olds through to a newly reformed men’s Veterans team means an increase on the playing side, meaning on Sundays they even need to separate the training throughout the day in order to continue to give a high-quality rugby experience to all their players.

As always, sports clubs across the county need the support of local businesses and Hove are no exception.

“We offer a range of sponsorship opportunities for local businesses to get involved with the club. These can be anything from maintenance to financial support. Some of our sponsors are dentists, lettings agents and local accountants. With such a large membership, we have number of members who operate their own businesses, and we try to get them involved as much as we can when sourcing contractors. We offer a large amount of promotion as part of sponsorship where businesses can have their logo displayed on kit, flags, the clubhouse and on social media. There continues to be great opportunities to expand our business network and we have recently made the move to start using the club house for local events and functions.” 

Hove RFC undoubtedly has a great future ahead and working with the community has certainly helped with their success. Providing rugby for everyone is the way forward and clubs like Hove are a great example of why rugby in Sussex will continue to go from strength to strength.