It’s been a rollercoaster summer with so many events and updates, so I thought it was time to reflect on the last few months and provide some updates to you all as we enter the new season.

Tom x

London Pride
It was fantastic to see so many members out showcasing the club for Pride. It was also heartwarming to hear that for some members this was their first ever Pride and were glad we could celebrate it with you all.

Trans+ Pride
The Stags came out again to support the trans+ community for UK Trans Pride. It’s important that we continue to support the community and continue to advocate against the abhorrent trans ban across the RFU. I’m pleased to say the IGR are formulating a strategy to put a case towards the RFU governing council within the next 18 months to overturn the ban. I’d like to thank Mike Stanley (Inclusion Officer) who is spearheading the effort from the Stags.

UK Black Pride
For the first time, the Stags attended UK Black Pride, hosted at the Olympic Park. Given recent abhorrent racist events across the UK, it was even more important that we showed our support. We had a fantastic day and a big thank you to all members who came down to support our stall & speak to attendees. The response we got on the day surpassed expectations with over 20 people registering interest to join the club. Thank you to George who has spearheaded our efforts to attend.

New Members Day
Thank you to everyone who made the new members day such a resounding success, this was likely the busiest and most diverse day we’ve ever run. The engagement with the Fawns was excellent and everyone was made to feel very welcome.
Please continue to welcome them over the next few weeks as they embed into the club.
Special thanks to Andi & Dale for providing all the food and for Zane and Robbie for enduring the BBQ!

Touch Season
As we approach the end of the touch season, I wanted to reflect on its development over the past year. Our touch offering has continued to grow and that’s reflected in the strong performance we have seen across the IGR Touch Series Days and bringing home the winning bowl for Touch My Brum!
We continue to listen to feedback and the main area you are asking for is a dedicated coach. There is a shortage of qualified Touch coaches across the UK and with many Touch teams in the London area, there is significant competition for resources.
This is where we turn to our members, most clubs focus on training members as coaches and we’d like to offer this opportunity to you. If you are interested in attending a Touch coaching course, please speak to myself or Martin (Touch Captain) and we will fund & support you.
I’m pleased to say we made recent investments in the touch offering, with myself, Oli & Dale recently completing the Touch Ref Level 1 course, adding more skills to the club so we can develop for next summer.
Also congratulations to Dale, who while in Australia completed Foundation Level Touch Coaching.

Union Season
After a great first season in the IGR league last year and our successful run at the Bingham Cup, we’re keen to keep building on the progress made and building up new players who have joined us in recent months. With the success of the new members over the weekend it’s clear we’re doing something right and we'd love to field a development team for some friendlies this season to allow players to get some first hand experience on the pitch (first dev friendly, 7th Sept). We’re looking to put in place more regular mid week training to allow us to ensure we’re staying competitive through the season and working towards the Union Cup in Oslo next year!
We also welcomed Faye back to the fold as our Head Coach, I think you’ll agree she kicked off pre-season with a bang and I’m really excited to see how we develop into the season, let’s win the league!

Physical Welfare
Our members' physical wellbeing is important, not only to allow us to consistently field a full squad but also help prevent long term injuries. We have been working with a physio partner and an independent sport massage contact to offer discounted services and increased support for injury prevention and return to play. We will be looking to bring in our physio partner to run injury prevention sessions alongside a fortnightly online injury/niggles triage clinic with sports physio specialists that can be booked through Andi. More to come on this in the coming months.

Pride 7s
Less than 2 weeks until our 4th annual Pride 7’s. We encourage everyone to come down to enjoy the day, feel free to bring friends! If you want to play, please set your availability! Teams attending are: London Stags, Mitcham & Carshalton, Colchester Kings, Brighton & Hove Sea Serpents, Two Tonnes of Fun (Steelers), Unicorns/Devils Barbarians, Civil Service Barbarians & Coventry Corsairs.

We're excited to announce the evening social will be hosted at the Eagle, Vauxhall. Free entry to all players (wristbands will be given on the day), £8 for supporters which goes to the club!

Pitchero & Availability
Union Season games now on Pitchero, a couple of key points to remember:

1. Please can all players ensure you set your availability for games; this includes setting it as not available if you are not free.
2. If you are selected to play a game, please confirm if you are playing or not on Pitchero asap. We have had several players recently who have not set it, and we are unsure who is coming to the game or not
3. If you said you could play and are selected and can no longer play, please don't just decline the playing invite. You must contact your Captain as soon as you know you can no longer play

Getting Involved
What you put into the club is what you'll get back. If you have a suggestion for the club, please help drive it forward with the committee/coach, you don’t need to be on the committee/an officer to help.
We’re a volunteer led organisation and we’re only as strong as those who put time and resources in.
On that note, I am pleased to announce that Jason Shand-Roger will be undertaking the England Rugby Coaching Award later this year, once completed he will be joining Faye to support her in the coaching team. We’re keen to get more players trained up, this qualification is for players who have been in the game for a while and are committed to the club long term. If you are interested please let me know as we will support and fund your qualification.

Socials
It has been great seeing our club continue to be a social group with lots of members organising their own social activities. We encourage our newer members to do this also as a way to get to know teammates better. If you have any particular requests or ideas for socials please speak to Dale. Upcoming socials for September and the months ahead are listed below.

The Great Stags Bake Off + Stags Awards Day
Saturday 7th September
On your marks - get set - bake! Do you have what it takes to create a moist bap? Does your drizzle penetrate deep into the sponge? (Dale’s word’s not mine…)
We are challenging Stags to create their own showstopper at home and bring it into the clubhouse on Saturday 7th September. It can be a sweet or savoury baked delight. Entries should list ingredients used. Judges will decide a winner on the day. Members will get to sample the culinary masterpieces following judging. No soggy bottoms!
On the same day, we will also be hosting our annual awards day. This is where the Captain and also members select those who have shown outstanding achievement over the year. Watch out for the voting form this week! If you have a shield from last year, please return to Oli asap!

Karaoke
This will be a post Union match social with the Steelers
Saturday 28th September
7pm - 11pm
The Old Nun's Head Pub - Queer venue
15 Nunhead Green, Peckham SE15 3QQ

Upcoming Socials
October - Mario Kart challenge at the clubhouse
November - Fundraising Quiz at the Eagle
December - Christmas Party (Saturday 14th December)
February - Blind Date at The Eagle (Saturday 15th February)

Player Registration
From the 2024/25 season, all players, in all formats of the game (including non-contact), will be required to register themselves annually to play rugby within RFU member clubs.
You must register to the club by the end of August.
If you are unsure if you have an RFU account, please check your Pitchero profile, if you have an RFU ID in your profile, you will have an account. Use the reset password function to get access.

Dates for your diary!
IGR Touch Series Brighton - 24th August
Pride 7s - 31st August
Membership Payment Deadline - 31st August
M&C Friendly & Stags End of Season Awards Day + Bake Off - 7th September
Colchester Kings vs London Stags (Away) - 14th September
London Stags vs Kings Cross Steelers III (Home) + Social - 28th September
Brighton & Hove Sea Serpents I vs London Stags (Away) - 12th October
London Stags vs Berkshire Unicorns (Home) - 26th October
Unity Cup (Away) - 23rd November
Wessex Wyverns vs London Stags (Away) - 30th November