Dronfield Rugby Club

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About Dronfield Rugby Club

Dronfield Rugby Union Football Club (DRUFC) was formed in 1969 initially playing their home matches locally at venues including Gosforth School, Rowlinson School and Coal Aston Playing Fields. Very few records exist before 1975 when the club became more established and ran two sides. Expansion continued through the late 70's and early 80's with the ability to run up to five teams from the local schools. In the late 1980's National Leagues evolved with frequent subsequent re-organisation. The highest league in which the club has competed was in 1992/93 when it played against Midlands clubs such as Stoneygate, Hinckley and Ampthill in Midlands East Division One. More recently the club's status has been based in the Notts, Lincs, Derbyshire and Leicestershire regional leagues.

The club enters national and local cup competitions. In the Derbyshire Cup DRUFC were the joint winners along with Castle Donnington in 2006, as well as winning the East Retford 7's Plate and coming a close second in the Mansfield 10's Plate all in the same year. Over the years DRUFC have entered sevens competition being victorious at the last Buxton '7's in 1985. The prize for the winners a Stags Head has since always been associated with the club and still forms part of the badge.

Annual tours have taken place to many regions in England and also to Wales, Ireland, Scotland and more recently France and Belgium. In the last few seasons the club has developed links with the local colleges and universities, which has resulted in an influx of students representing the club at all levels. In the last two seasons there have been students from France, Thailand, South Africa and the U.S.A playing for the club.

In January 2004, 3 local sports clubs were invited to attend a meeting at Dronfield School regarding the future of the school sports fields. AFC Dronfield, Dronfield Town and Dronfield RUFC attended.

The school relocated in July 2004 and the 3 clubs took over the maintenance and administration of the site, operating under the umbrella of the newly formed Gosforth Fields Sports Association (GFSA), a registered charity.

Under this new regime, the playing fields have been cared for properly, with regular maintenance from quality contractors. Up to this point, the support facilities consisted of portacabins, crudely joined together and located on the disused tennis courts.

The whole site comprises 7 full sized football pitches and 2 full sized rugby pitches, in addition to a number of junior pitches.

The 3 clubs have 58 qualified coaches with either FA or RFU accredited qualifications, all CRB checked under child protection legislation and all have first aid qualifications. Other sports accommodated on the site are Rugby League, Archery and Rounders.

With the help of Club Design Ltd (design and project management) and Logistique Ltd (grant funding bids and business planning) and in partnership with Derbyshire County Council, the GFSA has successfully put together a £2.3m project that will see the construction of a new 8 changing room club house, with officials changing rooms, disabled changing rooms, IT suite, social accommodation, meeting room for local groups, catering facility, new car park, a full sized 3rd Generation Artificial Grass Football pitch with floodlights and a comprehensive upgrading of drainage to the grass pitches. The new facility will use latest renewable technologies in the form of solar heating, ground and air source heat pumps and rainwater harvesting.

This will see the construction of a major community recreational facility that will ensure the long term sustainability of the site for recreational use.

http://dronfieldrugby.co.uk