Hawks next Cup opponents will be Berwick

About the club

Berwick Rugby club was first formed in the SRU in 1926 and played in the South District Union. Its playing standard improved until the early 1930's and although it survived annual difficulties of finding players and pitches it could not survive the outbreak of the Second World War which robbed it of both. When the club was re-born in 1968 it had three main aims - to strive for as high a standard of rugby as possible for the club and its individual members, to create a good physical environment for rugby, and to be part of the sporting and social fabric of Berwick.

Pursuit of the first aim has taken the Club to the BT Scottish Premiership (Division 2). In 2004 it won the National Shield and in 2006 reached the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup. To date, the highest individual honours are headed by the seventeen full Scottish caps won by Craig Smith and the thirty three by Gavin Kerr. Both were in the 2006 Six Nations Squad. Gavin was a member of the 2003 World Cup Squad and the Six Nations Squads of 2004 and 2005. Mark Lee captained the Scottish VII in 2002 Commonwealth Games and played with the British Army in 2005. Andrew Skeen played for the Scotland VII in the 2006 IRB Tournament. Current Berwick players have won many age-group, School and Student international and regional honours and the Club boasts a full international referee in Iain Ramage. In 2001 the Club was invited to join the Border League, becoming only the second English Club in rugby's oldest league. The Club has sides in the Border League, the new cross-Border League, the Border Semi-Junior League and age-group competitions from minis to Colts on both sides of the Border. The Club has an increasingly skilled Ladies section which won promotion in 1999 and 2000 and was runner-up in the National Bowl in 2004.

Progress with facilities has matched playing performance. Thanks to the vision and leadership of Club committees, the support of both Rugby Unions and support from local businesses and individuals, the Club has progressed from homelessness in 1968 to its present enviable headquarters now embellished by a training gym and floodlit training pitch. The Club hosts regional events and overseas teams and its coaches encourage the game in the local schools - the best possible "thank you" for school help in the Club's early days. The quest for player development is ceaseless and embraces national Development Squads and the Club's own "Academy" structure which will seek the ambitious young of all ages and both genders.

The Club's third aim is all around us. The Club lives the philosophy put forward by the SRU in July 2004, namely that "a rugby club should be at the centre of its community and the focus of development". As the Club progresses across the bumpy territory of Scottish "open" rugby it is very much Berwick's rugby club. Its members are virtually all natives or residents of Berwick or nearby and it draws massive economic and social strengths from this. It will need the resources of leadership and cohesiveness which have served it so well hitherto. The true quality of the Club is reflected in the contributions of all its members (playing and non-playing, past and present) who produce the high levels of fitness, fulfilment and friendship that come from belonging to Berwick Rugby Club.

This article was posted on 5-Feb-2007, 21:12 by Hugh Barrow.