Alton Rugby Football Club

Weekly update w/c 14 March

TRUE SPORTSMANSHIP!

It was excellent to have so many players available for last Sunday's friendly v Totts, and a very good result on the day.

Many thanks to all for turning out, it was testing to ensure everybody got game time, especially as we had 6 flankers! Sorry that you could only get 20 minutes each. Everyone else got at least half a game.

Particular thanks to those who stuck their hand up and volunteered to play for the opposition who were short of forwards. We recognise that it's not what you want, we all prefer to put our own club colours on, but it's a major difference between this sport and others that we respect the opposition and show true sportmanship rather than take advantage of our opposition's misfortune.

I have a son who has played football and his team regularly played with less than a full team against opposition who had a full bench of subs. It left a very bad taste in my mouth. This kind of win-at-all-costs attitude shown by the football clubs and their coaches is a very poor example to set to youngsters.

We've loaned players out to our opposition on three or four occasions this season and I'm proud of the sportsmanship shown by our players in volunteering to do this. On this occasion it was Alex Seisun, Richard Blizzard and Fonzy Ledesma. On the plus side these guys got a full game - Alex played for Totts throughout, Richard and Fonzy played one half for Totts and the other half for Alton.

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