The game might be being held behind closed doors, but Pocklington RUFC will be in the stands at Twickenham for England's Autumn Nations Cup international against Georgia on Saturday - virtually.
England rugby is not able to allow spectators to its series of autumn internationals, and allocating international tickets to clubs usually a major boost to club finances. But the England authorities have come up with a novel way of creating some colour on the sidelines, and at the same time recognise the clubs at all levels of the game, by asking them to send a playing shirt to Twickenham to put on an empty seat in the stand for the matches.
“Grassroots rugby is, without doubt, the lifeblood of our game and it must be protected,” said RFU President Jeff Blackett. “That is fundamental in our strategy and we continue to remind Government of that fact.
“It is the rugby family which will ensure long-term growth, once we can see a real return to the game, and we want to make sure that we keep the rugby family together during this crisis. That is why we want to recognise the continuing efforts of our rugby community during the Autumn Nations Cup and Women’s Autumn Internationals.
“You may not be able to take your seats at Twickenham Stadium but our clubs and Constituent Bodies can be there in spirit. We would like as many as possible to send us their club and county shirts to fill a seat as England Men and Women compete in the Quilter Internationals. We want to create an image which represents the way all of our member clubs and CBs are standing together."
Pocklington officials were happy to respond; and the players pulled an unused first team subs shirt out of the kit bag after their most recent inter-club touch tournament a fortnight ago, which was duly posted to Twickenham at the weekend. The RFU will now fix the Catfoss Finance sponsored shirt on a seat in the stand for Saturday's game against Georgia, kick off 3.00pm, and the clash against Ireland the following week (21 November).
Pic: Pocklington players Dave Birch, Michael Gilbank and David Davison are pictured with the club shirt they selected to send to Twickenham.
