I’ve got a real fondness for their history because I always think of the old adage ‘rugby is robust Christianity.’
In the case of Dings, it truly is – they’re called Crusaders because they came out of the Christian organisation which wanted to take some young hooligans out of the roughest parts of Bristol and help them occupy their time.
The club was set-up and what a wonderful thing was done by well-meaning people who helped benefit their community – the legacy remains and Dings Crusaders are the epitome of ‘robust Christianity’.
They are also a very good side – we went down there last year after beating Sale comfortably –and it was a harum-scarum afternoon.
They had very dangerous players on the pitch, thankfully Aaron Tull is now with us, and you never know what you’re going to get from them.
Super start at Sedgley
From our side, last Saturday was dramatic as we won with the final play at Sedgley Park – a performance which whetted my appetite for today.
I’ve been asked if I was nervous in the last few minutes, but I wasn’t because I thought we’d played well, probably deserved the game – we’d scored three tries and were doing a lot of things we were planning to do – and then the boys kept their cool to get the win.
I’m looking forward to seeing how they build on that today.
Ground looks better than ever
As you look around the ground, I hope you see some improvements – the pitch is in magnificent condition, we have the new scoreboard and marquee and an upgraded bar at the far end, thanks to Mark Bennett for sponsoring the ‘Sheeplands Baa.’
A lot of my contacts at other clubs have said how hard it’s been to keep their pitches in order – the dry weather has taken its toll – but we’ve been very fortunate we have such a fantastic group of volunteers who keep ours in top condition.
It needs a lot of management with people turning the water on and off, often late at night and very early in the morning, moving the sprinklers – which are heavy – and it’s constant.
Guys like Roddy and Amanda, Mike and the whole team, they’re just superstars and we’re incredibly lucky to have these people who are giving up days at a time.
They say an army marches on its stomach, but a rugby club marches on its volunteers, and we have a special group.
The scoreboard – which is magnificent and taken a lot of time and effort – and marquee have again seen Andy has come to the fore.
Almost every structural thing around the ground has been built by Duncan Lynch Engineering and they’ve never charged a penny for it – we’re very lucky to have Andy, Alison, Hannah and the whole family behind us.
Sponsorship opportunities
Another benefit of the scoreboard is it will hopefully show the players and their sponsors, and I’d like to thank Tim Pitfield for driving this – it should be fun and whoever picks the ones with the most tries will get a lot of exposure!
I guess people like Zach and Max will be in high demand, but we all like to go for the positions we’ve got an affinity with – my neighbour Dave Smith likes No. 9 because it’s where he played at Sale.
It means a massive amount to have this support and hopefully the remaining slots will go quickly!
Incredible support
Finally, it will be fantastic to hear the Ramily roar for the first time this season, having the crowd getting behind the team from Clubhouse Corner, the stand and everywhere else around the pitch.
We get good support wherever we go, but the Ramily at home is special.
It can be quite an intimidating environment for opposition although there are players who enjoy it – Sam Daly from Plymouth said afterwards he’d much rather have banter with the crowd than have no atmosphere.
Our guys know how to get behind the side, wind the opposition up a little bit, but stay within the boundaries and I hope it continues today and this season.
