In 2021 in the midst of the pandemic and lockdown I hosted a Zoom call from my home in Sussex. At the other end of the country in Wigan, Lancashire, there were over forty people on the call interested to learn what the concept of a “Community Wellbeing Hub” could look like. To be honest I did too – and it was my idea!
The Rugby Football League had commissioned me to deliver five pilot hubs by the time of the Rugby League World Cup, held in November 2022 and this was the start of the journey. I’d been introduced to Steve Bates, the Chair of Shevington Sharks ARLFC by the RFL’s National Club Manager as ‘the expert.’ Although I had not created anything quite like this before, I knew that my passion and experience in sports duty of care was a good grounding to get these projects off the starting blocks. The Community Wellbeing Hubs are the perfect concept for a sport to maximise the use of the clubhouses and their grounds so that members of the local communities could make more use of them.
I had two elements of subconscious bias to overcome before the project could commence. In the rugby club the management committees needed to be convinced that not only was there a sustainable social impact but an economic one too. From the club’s perspective this was a chance to get new people to visit the club which might attract players, volunteers and even coaches. It also meant that through hirings and collaborations, a Community Wellbeing Hub could economically benefit the club meaning the opportunity remained for the current generation of members and the next.
From the community’s point of view, they perhaps knew there was a local sports club but didn’t think much beyond the fact that it was where the family dog was exercised (etc!) twice a day. Here we were in lockdown April 2020 with everyone online and Steve the Chair was in the clubhouse wearing a GoPro camera and giving everyone a virtual tour of the club. The reaction was one of surprise. What, no stale beer in glasses on the tables and no dirty kit on the floors? (It was lockdown to be fair!) The ‘door’ was open, and I just had to take people through it and bring them together to look at what the most pressing need was and how everyone could potentially collaborate to start to make things happen.
Five thriving (pilot) Community Wellbeing Hubs have now more than doubled – fifteen and counting – in rugby league and the social impact has been fantastic helping the local communities in different ways. They have also helped the RFL deliver on the Sport England strategic commitment to ‘Uniting the Movement.’ The success of these projects and the reason they exist has been recognised by me being awarded Best Sustainable Sport and Activity Provider for my RFL work. Of course I am delighted to have this award, but for me it signifies more that the work we have all done together, (that’s all of the rugby club stakeholders in the clubs I have worked with ) to create these amazing Community Hubs is getting noticed and is being viewed positively within the RFL community and beyond.
Fast forward to this week and with the support of Sussex RFU (there’s not a lot of rugby league in these parts) Horsham RUFC launched the first Community Wellbeing Hub in Sussex.
I’d worked closely with Richard Ordidge (Chair) and Marcus Trethewey (Community Outreach Manager) at the club to plan the evening and send out invites. “Build it and they will come,” as Ray Kinsella said in ‘Field of Dreams.’ On Tuesday night over 30 people came from the local community – councillors, community volunteers, local charities, health groups, and other sports and activity groups.
There was the usual nervous tension in the room as people were out of their comfort zone because many were in a rugby club for the first time and didn’t know one another.
Following a welcome from Richard, I told the group that although I was not an expert in this (who is?) I certainly had a couple of years of first-hand experience with the success of the RFL Community Wellbeing Hubs, because my work has shown me that each Hub I’d been involved in to help create had evolved differently. I also said that although they didn’t know it, I was looking at the experts and we just needed to work out together what Horsham RFC could best offer the community. To get them out of thinking rugby clubs that were just available for hire for wedding receptions and children’s parties I told two stories from the rugby league experience.
- How at Portico Vine ARLFC in St Helens two other sports clubs relocated to the club from elsewhere and one offered the services of a minibus and driver for the club’s junior section.
- How at West Hull ARLFC the local Community Volunteers Association had encouraged the rep from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust to visit the club. Once he’d overcome the shock of being surrounded by buildings and the end of the M62 he encouraged the groundsman to create a wavy line in the grasses that formed the border of the grounds. This led to the creation of a ‘Nature Walk’ which is now used by schools for ‘Bug Hunts’ and as a sensory space.
Richard and Marcus then took two groups for a tour of the clubhouse and grounds, and the guests were asked to capture any ideas on Post-It notes. Gone was the nervous energy and stilted conversations when the groups returned, and the tackle bags were covered with ideas under the headings of
- What could the clubhouse also be used for?
- What could the grounds also be used for?
- Who else should know about what Horsham RFC has to offer the community?
There were some great ideas! For example using the clubhouse to host a new disability table tennis club or bringing the local neurological charities together using the club as a base. Outside there was a suggestion that the grounds could be used for bereavement walks for peer support for those that had suffered loss, and to stay for a drink in the Community Café afterwards.
The next step is to turn ideas into action and build on the momentum that was ignited on Tuesday evening. It was a great start, but it was only the beginning not only for Horsham RFC but hopefully to organise something similar – but not the same – using other Sussex rugby union clubs.
