Eastern Suburbs Rugby Union season to go ahead in July
Eastern Suburbs Rugby Union players might all be on the bench at the moment but the season will go ahead and thanks to a generous benefactor there are even plans to extend the training facilities.
Wentworth Courier
Don't miss out on the headlines from Wentworth Courier. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Eastern Suburbs Rugby Union players might all be on the bench at the moment but the season will go ahead and thanks to a generous benefactor there are even plans to extend the training facilities.
The club, which is excitedly making plans for the new training digs to be revealed soon, hopes to play its first Shute Shield match at the end of July with 12 rounds instead of the usual 18 in line with the Rugby Australia plan to start the competition from July 25.
The week prior, Easts will host a trial game with all gate takings to go to bushfire impacted clubs.
Club president John Murray said with Easts being blessed with sizeable grounds, he was confident by late July they would be able to come up with a plan which took into account the social distancing measures at the time.
“If there’s a limited number allowed we would offer tickets up to members first and sponsors before opening them up to the general public,” he said.
“Certainly for the mental health of the playing group, for them to know a season is going to occur will be a massive boost.
“It’s been a long hard road back from some dark days seven or eight years ago and for the first time at the end of 2019 the club had no debt and was able to retire its poker machines.”
The change in fortune comes courtesy of fund manager and Easts old boy Dave Allen who played with the club from under 6s all the way through to first grade and has tipped in more than $320,000 in donations since 2017.
His career with JP Morgan took him to the UK where he played rugby with Cambridge but he always missed the camaraderie of Easts.
And so when he was able to move back to the eastern suburbs, he decided to rent the space on the Easts grounds and set up F45 Rose Bay with his business partner and fellow old boy Rowan Perry.
F45 Rose Bay gym partners have handed numerous donations to the club and have funded coaching, equipment, the team bus, six country clubs in drought stricken areas, scholarships for country boys and a junior rugby academy.
“For rugby clubs at that semi professional level funding is always really, really difficult for clubs and they’re often living hand to mouth,” Mr Allen said.
“So I though one of the things that would help them would be to provide them consistent cash flow.
“I got married a few years ago and all the guys in my groomsman party are people I’d met at the club. It was a massive part of growing up and it sounds corny but you go from being a boy to an adult at Easts.”
Mr Perry said although the gym was in hibernation at the moment due to the impact of coronavirus, he expected it would once again provide employment and support to the rugby family.
“(Waratahs player) Charlie Smith has also been working with us for over a year – it provided him with a great job while he was coming back from shoulder surgery,” Mr Perry said.