It will be 50 years in 2019 but President Justin Fleming has left nothing to chance with the Boorowa Rugby Club making several significant moves during the back end of last year.
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The Goldies will move from the South West Monaro Division of the ACT Brumbies Community competition to the Central West Rugby’s Oilsplus South West division in 2019, and it’s a move that Fleming believes will benefit the area greatly.
He said that the move’s rationale was two-fold.
“We felt that the competition was going well and there was good rugby,” Fleming said, adding that a social element that also appealed to the club.
“We’re now in a council area with Young and Harden. Those two teams are in the same competition.
“[We] felt that it was an opportunity to come into that competition and revitalise rugby culture and socialising across clubs.”
Fleming is confident that numbers, which he said are looking good for the new year, will be bolstered by the new arrangement.
“We think that ... we’ll at least hold on to the players that we have, and with a bit of momentum and excitement, we’ll be able to boost our own club numbers and our own performance on the field.”
Fleming believes that making such a big move ahead of the club’s fiftieth year of existence is hopefully a boon for things to come for the club.
Plans are already under way for a celebration on May 25 in a fixture against West Wyalong, with past players, supporters, sponsors from the past half-century all welcome to attend.
“It’ll be our focus all year,” the local realtor said.
“Whether they played 15 years or 15 minutes, they [the players] are invited to come.”
He added that fielding a potential Under 16s side has been discussed with Young and Harden, but that “nothing in a formal sense” had been agreed upon.
The Goldies have also received significant boosts with the completion of the Boorowa Showgrounds upgrades, as well as receiving $10,000 towards an electronic scoreboard from the State Government’s Local Sport Grant program.
“We’re grateful from the club’s point of view for the people that made that possible, starting from our local councillors and state representatives that worked bloody hard to get that happening,” Fleming said.
“If we can create a bigger following around the game this year, we’ve got the facilities to support and back it up.”
“I think it’s going to enhance the club and the player’s experiences around the game going forward.”
