Eastwood District Rugby Union Club set to expand into Box Hill

It has been a tough few years for Eastwood District Rugby Union Football Club, but the group know what went wrong and how to fix it; starting with opening a junior club in Box Hill.

Eastwood Rugby Girl's 7's players (l-r) Ruby Tyler, 12, & Annabel Macdonald, 12, at TG Millner Sportsground at Marsfield. Eastwood is establishing a new junior club in Box Hill. Picture: Troy Snook

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Eastwood District Rugby Union Football Club is set to establish a new junior club at Box Hill as part of its strategic expansion into Sydney’s north west.

Recent reviews by the ARU and NSWRU into the future of Premier Rugby found that Eastwood was struggling in multiple key metrics and major change was needed if the club was to have sustained long term success.

Among Eastwood’s biggest issues was the exodus of its core rugby fanbase from its traditional home in the Eastwood/Epping area and its focus on the base at the expense of the smaller clubs across its district, which stretches from the Parramatta River at Meadowbank to the Hawkesbury River at Wisemans Ferry and includes clubs from as far away from Eastwood as Dural.

Eastwood player James Sarks during the Shute Shield semi final between Northern Suburbs and Eastwood at North Sydney Oval last year. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

The formation of a new junior club at Box Hill is one of the first major steps the club is taking to try and arrest these issues and create a sustainable future for rugby in north west Sydney.

Although there are no details yet on exactly when the Box Hill club will become active, Eastwood general manager Rob Frost said that it’s still an “extremely exciting” time for the club.

Last year the club implemented a new development plan to help attract and retain juniors through to the top grades. Picture: Annika Enderborg

“The state government is going to put 250,000 people on that new train line at Box Hill and it’s a demographic we hope will support rugby,” Mr Frost said.

“A huge number of kids are going to be living in that area and the north west is one of the few areas in Sydney where there actually is that sort of growth.

“Very few organisations get a chance to reinvigorate themselves and I’m very confident in the direction we’re heading.”