March saw the unfortunate disbandment of the Border Reivers professional rugby team.  Of course, this is terrible news for the SRU, but at In The Winning Zone, we don’t like to wallow in the past.  What is important in this time of crisis is to look to the future.  There is no short term answer for a debt in surplus of £20million.

Thankfully, in North Edinburgh, a group of enthusiasts share our vision of looking to, and investing in, the future of Scottish rugby.  And, in the light of recent events, this is why the Edinburgh BATs are In The Winning Zone’s Team of the Month for April.

In January 2005, a few mouths began chattering about putting a structure in place to support the inter-club cooperation between Broughton, Edinburgh Academicals and Trinity Academicals rugby clubs. 

The idea was to create a rugby breeding pool for 13-19 year olds across all three clubs and the greater North Edinburgh area, creating an organised, tapered system which allowed players of all abilities to progress to their highest possible potential, from youth rugby through to senior representative level. 

The concept also meant that should any of the three clubs have a surplus of players on any particular Saturday, the BATs could ‘sweep up’ these individuals to guarantee they get a game and ensure playing numbers stay both high and motivated.

By August that goal had been achieved, and the BATs were registered as an official club.  Now, in 2007, the BATs are continuing to grow and thrive.  But they are more than a traditional rugby club, as their Chairman, John Wright, points out.

“We pull together a number of partners to work with the youth of North Edinburgh, through four High Schools, 19 Primary Schools and a Further Education College to promote the healthy recreation of the sport of rugby union, and grow amateur rugby in the community by actively involving as many players and volunteers as possible.”

He continued: “BATs deliver all their programmes (coaching, games and tournaments) through a Development Officer, Joe Edwards, two SVQ (Scottish Vocational Qualification) students, half a dozen partners and up to 30 volunteers.  This season we have been in 19 primary schools delivering taster sessions, and running after school clubs and festivals.  Since September we have taken over 400 separate sessions with more than 8,500 attendees.”

The BATs, as you have may have guessed, are so called because the club is an amalgam from Broughton, (Edinburgh) Accies and Trinity.  They are made up of five youth teams and a development team.  But, uniquely, three of the four high schools they work with are non-rugby playing schools – namely Broughton High, Craigroyston Community High and Drummond Community High.  The afore-mentioned Trinity is the only school (of the four) which currently competes in the sport as a norm. 

Even by targeting just three new schools, the BATs, who now have 130 playing members, are actively encouraging the growth of rugby in the area, putting more players through the ranks and creating a larger playing pool from which talent can be identified.  This is the foundation of grass roots rugby – introducing young people to a sport they may not otherwise have ever discovered.  If initiatives like this were developed across Scotland, in any activity, not just rugby, our sporting populous would mushroom to unprecedented levels.

But the BATs’ strategy doesn’t stop there.  They work with the lesser supported university teams in Edinburgh, Napier and Queen Margaret, who don’t enjoy the same standard of facilities and rugby playing tradition as their local counterparts, Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt.  They also run rugby camps throughout the year where players can enjoy up to four days of skill development.

The next step up is even more impressive, as Wright mentions:  “We give our high performers opportunities to be coached by our partner club coaches, some of whom have international coaching experience.” (Including Edinburgh Accies Coach and BATs Director of Rugby, former Scotland internationalist Ian Barnes.)

He added: “The best are given the chance to play with the senior teams and can even get involved with the SRU’s Pathway Programme, which takes talented youths into specialist development groups within the Edinburgh district.  The best will move onto Scotland-wide pathways.”

And how do the figures read so far for the ‘high performers’?  “At the end of last season eight BATs joined the three senior clubs, with fourteen more coming this year.  The Scotland U19 World Cup squad has five BATs lads, and the U18 squad have five more.” 

And the crème de la crème: “Paul Loudon and Chris Kinloch have played for the full Scotland Sevens team.”  Not bad for a club less than two years old. 

So now that the club is strong in player power, what comes next for Edinburgh BATs?  “Financially we have sailed close to the wind but we will manage to keep delivering through to June.  After then things will become tighter and we still need to raise more funds to ensure we keep delivering all next year.  But we are optimistic we will manage that with some graft and by finding a couple more sponsors.”

So far, BATs’ fundraising has been undertaken by Accies’ Vincent O’Donoghue, Trinity’s Johnny Else and Broughton’s Gerry Love, but the club could indeed be a wise investment for any philanthropical rugby enthusiast.  Not only are the BATs making waves with their rugby talent, they are embracing the benefits of the sport in a wider context as well:  “In the real world a winning mentality is hugely important, as is teamwork and fair play.  With our coaching, and general attitude to life, we attempt to instil a combination of all three in the BATs players, whilst at the same time having fun.”

And, with foresight to the safeguarding the future of rugby in this country, that is the most important thing.

RO

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