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Club Layout |
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| Clubhouse |
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| Grounds |
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Club History |
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| Club History - Taken from articles previously published - 2001. |
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| From RFU Touchline Magazine January 2001 |
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Six years ago, the two existing
rugby clubs in the Somerset town of Yeovil were faced with a
serious predicament. Yeovil and Westland each had their
strengths and weaknesses. But the predicament they were faced
with was simple - they had to merge or one of them would
eventually die. |
The clubs made the decision to form one brand new, single club
- Ivel Barbarians. So when Fran Cotton opened the
Barbarians' excellent new headquarters at Yeovil Showground
on the outskirts of the town last September, it may only have
been five years on from the initial decision to merge the
clubs but in terms of the provision of a platform to give
members of the community the chance to play competitive rugby
in top-class facilities, it was one million light years on
from the days when the two clubs stood alone. |
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"Rugby in Yeovil was faced with
a choice," Ivel official Philip Evans said. "Either the
extinction of rugby in the town because of poor facilities which
were getting worse - or to take the challenge on board and
develop and provide a facility which actually met the
community's needs for the sport, with facilities of the
highest quality. We took up the challenge and I think we can now
concentrate on rugby again." |
Club officials looked at seven
potential sites before settling on Yeovil Showground. They also
had to overcome the hurdles of local government bureaucracy and
obtaining funds from the National Lottery, in addition to the
club's own fund raising, which was vital in obtaining the
eventual sum for the development of the facilities. "If any
one of those aspects failed, the project failed," Evans
admitted. "It was a major challenge." |
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The total sum which had to be
raised for the project to go ahead was in excess of £800,000.
The bid to the National Lottery, where the success rate for
applications was only one in eight at the time, was successful
and the club gained £460,000 from that source - the first major
Lottery award in the town and the first Lottery award for a
project without priority status. |
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Club official John Davidge wrote
to 250 different sources and with a lot of effort and dogged
determination from club workers, the cash was raised for the new
facilities. From the time planning permission was granted in
1998, to the completion, the club was often playing at three
different venues in the town. Now it is widely conceded that the
club has set the standard for the rest of the league. And, on
the field, they are living up to the aims set out in its mission
statement, which reads: "To provide a community-based rugby
facility for all age groups, abilities, male and female,
creating the basis for the development of rugby in the district
and be recognised as a centre for excellence." |
From under 7s to veterans, with
four senior sides and a women's side they are thriving. "We
have now created a facility which should help the development of
the game in the Yeovil area," Cox said. "I suppose I would
say one club would have died and the other would have continued
as a pub side. But now a lot of people who were connected with
both clubs are coming back because they want to watch a better
quality of rugby." |
Somerset will play all its Colts
games at Ivel's home this year, and the club will also welcome
the South West Colleges team. The facilities house three pitches
and a training pitch, with the first-team and training pitches
floodlit. And with club membership doubling since its inception
and a passion for the sport evident, the future for Ivel
Barbarians is a long, long way from the uncertainty of the final
years of the Yeovil and Westland clubs. |
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Barbarians' new home is 'perfect place for rugby' |
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IVEL Barbarians
claim they have the "most perfect location for rugby in Yeovil" at
their new home.
That is the belief
of club spokesman Alan Young as the Barbarians settle into their new
base at Yeovil Showground. He said: "We are absolutely delighted to
finally have a home of our own. After years of playing in the wilderness
this is the best thing to have happened to us."
"There is a real
buzz about the place, membership is on the up and we are looking forward
to a very bright future. In the past we had played at many different
sites around Yeovil and for the last four or five years we were at
Mudford Road Recreation Centre."
"The pitches at
our new ground boast free-draining soil so we do not expect any matches
to be cancelled because of poor pitches. Last season we were forced to
call off an awful lot of games due to the state of the Mudford pitch."
"The facilities
are superb. We have a proper social club. We want to attract families
because in the past this is something we have had problems doing due to
inadequate facilities."
"The minis and
junior section will also be able to train and will play on one site for
the first time too.
There are four pitches, two of which are floodlit (the 1st XV and
training pitches). The six changing rooms all have showers and toilets."
A large function
room caters for up to 200 people. There is a fully-equipped kitchen, bar
and committee room. The building is air-conditioned and there is
disabled access throughout.
The bar area overlooks the 1st XV pitch. There is a stunning view of the
countryside to the south of Yeovil. It is possible to watch a game of
rugby in comfort while the senior side are having to endure the
elements.
Outside there is a
storage area for rugby kit and parking facilities for up to 70 vehicles.
Coach George Cooper is not forecasting a promotion season for his
Southern Counties South side in 2001-2. He said: "There is a huge gap
between our league and the one above (South West Two) - we are not
ready for that. But I hope we will have a good run in the national and
Somerset cups. It is now important that the players of the club work as
hard as the people who raised money for the ground."
The ground
project, which cost approximately £800,000, was part-funded by a Sport
England grant of around £470,000 and a £32,000 donation from the
Foundation of Sport and the Arts, plus contributions from local
businesses and individuals and other fund-raising activities. |
A hand-carved clock is one
of the centrepieces at the club's new headquarters.
Tony Nesbitt carved the clock in the form of the club logo from a piece
of lime. The first of the four dates, 2001, commemorates the opening of
the new facilities, the other three dates being 1875 and 1954 when
Yeovil RFC and Westland RFC were founded, and 1995 the year they merged
to form Ivel Barbarians. The clock was fitted above the club's bar in time for the star-studded
opening ceremony |
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Rugby heroes open Ivel's new ground |
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A LARGE crowd of spectators turned up at
the Yeovil Showground site on Sunday to help celebrate the official
opening of the Yeovil-based Ivel Barbarians Rugby Football Club's new £800,000
headquarters.
Highlight of the day was when an Ivel
team played against an England all-stars side consisting of former
international players such as Peter Winterbottom and Mike Teague.
Former England and British Lion prop,
Fran Cotton, who in 1997 managed the Lions' tour of South Africa,
officially opened Ivel's new superb clubhouse.
Ivel's new ground includes four pitches,
two of which are floodlit, six changing rooms and the wonderfully
equipped clubhouse which has a large function room, kitchen, bar and
committee room.
Earlier in the day Ivel's Colts' team
played their counterparts from Chard and then the junior and mini
section of the Yeovil club gave a demonstration of their skills to the
crowd of 1,500 rugby supporters. |
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Convert Yeovil to rugby says ex-Lion |
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FORMER British Lion Fran Cotton hopes
that Ivel Barbarians can help turn soccer stronghold Yeovil into a
rugby town. Cotton was guest of honour at Ivel's Yeovil Showground
home on Sunday. The ex-Lions and England prop performed the ceremony
to officially open the new ground, which cost around £800,000.
After receiving a commemorative tankard
from the Barbarians, Cotton said: "It is a truly fabulous
facility which will do young people proud over generations to come. On
behalf of the game I thank Ivel Barbarians for what they are doing in
this area. Yeovil is regarded as a soccer
town but with these facilities they can reverse that and make a hotbed
of rugby in Somerset." |
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Gordon Clark of Sport England presented
Ivel with a cheque for £460,163 - the value of a Lottery-funded grant
for the ground's development.
The rest of the money for the venue
came from donations and fund-raising by the club.
The main draw of the day was a match
between 1vel's lst XV and England Classics. The fixture, which took
place after the opening ceremony, was watched by a crowd estimated by
club president Dave Sloggett to be in the region of 1,500. |
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Former Harlequin Peter Winterbottom and
ex-Gloucester man Mike Teague appeared for the England side which
proved far too good for the Barbarians. The Classics' backs ran the home side
ragged and the 51- 14 scoreline in England's favour was a very fair
reflection of play. |
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| Official Opening by Fran Cotton - Sunday 16th September 2001 |
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The format of
the day is yet to be finalised but it is expected to start around midday
and run on into late evening. It is anticipated that the full membership
of the Club will be involved in what is expected to be a memorable
occasion. Selected guests will also be invited.
We
are extremely fortunate that none other than the 1997 British Lions Tour
organiser and former International Fran Cotton will perform the opening
ceremony (has anybody got any ribbon and scissors?!) |
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| Who
is Fran Cotton? |
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This now famous shot was taken of Fran
during one of his appearances for the British Lions', was it
against New Zealand? you can ask him on the day if you can recognise him
without the mud - he will be the one with the scissors (by the ribbon). |
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Born
and raised in Wigan, the heart of Rugby League country, Cotton's father
and brother were noted professionals with Warrington, and Cotton's
boyhood heroes were Rugby League legends Billy Boston and Bev Risman.
Yet Cotton became a major force in Union as player with England and the
Lions, and as a businessman (he owned Cotton Traders, who at one stage
supplied kit to half of the world's top national sides). He was also
chosen to be the 1997 tour manger of the British Lions' tour to South
Africa.
At 6ft 2in and over 17 stones, he had all the raw materials
for a prop, but it was his innate strength, inner drive and technical
appreciation that helped him accumulate 31 caps. |
One of the fittest
players of his generation, Cotton was also one of the most versatile and
because of his technical acumen became as proficient on the tight-head
as he was on his more accustomed loose-head.
Cotton's top-level career
began as a 23-year-old when he led the north to a famous victory over
the 1972 All Blacks at Workington - the first time an English province had
beaten the All Blacks. Over the next decade, until his retirement in
1981 after an on-field heart attack, Cotton was a central figure in
British rugby. The first choice Lions tight-head in South Africa in
1974, Cotton also played three of the four Tests in New Zealand in 1977
as a loose-head, and returned to South Africa with the 1980 Lions' tour. |
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| The John Merry Lounge Opening - October 2003 |
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The new facility was opened
on 4th October 2003. The John Merry Lounge will provide extra space and
enable the club to host more than rugby-related functions on Saturdays.
The lounge has been named
after local businessman and club benefactor John Merry who officially
opened the room with the help of club chairman, Phil Evans. |
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| RFU Community Rugby Seal of Approval - 2008 |
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At a meeting of representatives of the RFU and Somerset rugby club chairmen on Friday 18th April 2008, junior chairman John Evans and club chairman Harold Williams received Ivel's RFU Community Rugby Seal of Approval.
This award is the culmination of two years work by John Evans, Liz Spencer and Alison Bennett. The club would like to thank them for their work and congratulate them on their successful achievement which is a great honour for the club. |
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