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Nathan Earle surprises Kyle Sinckler's grassroots club Battersea, telling them they have made the Gallagher Club of the Season shortlist

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by Henry Browne/Getty Images)

Harlequins winger Nathan Earle has lauded the role of grassroots rugby in England following the opening of live voting in the six-strong race to become Gallagher Rugby Club of the Season. The title partner of Premiership Rugby, Gallagher began its search last November to find local clubs who are making a significant contribution to their local community, both on and off-the-pitch.

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With a particular focus placed on how clubs demonstrated their inclusivity in providing access and opportunities across age, gender, ethnicity and ability, as well as the innovative ways in which they are increasing participation in the sport at a grassroots level, that hunt has now been whittled down to a shortlist of six.

Each of the finalists have been paired with a Gallagher Premiership Rugby club from their region and rugby fans up and down the country can now vote for their winner from Battersea Ironsides (Harlequins), Erdington (Wasps), Haringey Rhinos Ladies (London Irish), Kingsbridge (Exeter Chiefs), Longlevens (Gloucester) and Trafford MV (Sale Sharks).

With Harlequins paired with up Battersea, the grassroots outfit of England and Lions prop Kyle Sinckler, fit-again winger Earle delivered the exciting news to the club that they had made cut and would be included in the vote to decide the Gallagher Rugby Club of the Season.

“It was a shock more than anything,” said Earle to RugbyPass about the reaction on Zoom after he had told Ironsides they had made the final six. “It was a surprise to them but it was really good.

“They had a really good, productive interview and they asked me some good questions as well, stuff like what was my rugby journey growing up and how I got to where I am. I explained all that and it was nice to open up as not many people know the start to my career.”

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Ironsides were selected for the final vote due to their “strong ethos of inclusivity across the South-West London community, including financial support to remove barriers that would otherwise prevent local young people participating; growing its ladies squad from zero to more than 70 in less than four years; and its rugby-based intervention work with prisons and young offenders’ institutes, including encouraging players to get involved in coaching sessions at Wormwood Scrubs”.

For Earle, the opportunity to deliver the good news to Battersea was something he jumped at as grassroots rugby remains close to the soon-to-be 26-year-old’s heart despite being a long time in and around the pro game, having initially linked up with the Saracens academy at the age of 14 before his 2018 switch to Harlequins.  

“My mum is still bookkeeper of my local club, Cranbrook,” he enthused. “She gets me down, cracks the whip, ‘You need to get down, you need to get down to see everyone’. So I still quite often to my local club. If mum cracks the whip I have got to go.

“It’s good. We have had a few professionals. Ruaridh McConnachie was Cranbrook as well and so is Harry Sloan, so we all get down every now and then when we can,” he continued, adding that maintaining the link between amateur and professional levels is most important in the current era.

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“It’s massive. As long as the professional game can still have a connection to the amateur one, rugby can only go from strength to strength. The fact is that we still have an interest in amateur rugby as every professional rugby player has been an amateur at some point.

“Rather than professional football, where kids get picked up and go into academies at nine, ten, eleven years old, it’s completely different in rugby as most of your rugby is done at your local club.

“I has so much fun playing rugby. It wasn’t serious too soon. I was able to enjoy it. I still enjoy my rugby but it was just me and my friends messing around on a Sunday morning rather than it becoming a job because as soon as its starts getting serious around 15, 16 years old in an academy, you have to make those sacrifices whereas before then it’s just you and your mates messing around on a Sunday.”

* All of the Gallagher Rugby Club of the Season finalists have received a Gilbert training bundle worth £1,000 and will enjoy an exclusive ‘Train with your Heroes’ session, as well as a free business consultancy session delivered by Gallagher’s risk management and insurance specialists when safety conditions allow. The voting to decide the overall winner has now gone live (click here) and the voting lines will close on September 13.

 

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J
Jon 3 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

28 Go to comments
A
Adrian 7 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

28 Go to comments
T
Trevor 10 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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