Saturday 9th January 2021 would have, and should have, been the eagerly and celebrated return to club rugby for Falmouth RFC with fixtures for the 'Eagles' and the 'One and All' scheduled with our near neighbours Truro.....sadly, as for lots of sporting activities, families and local business, the whole thing has come to a stop as the message of 'Stay at home' has come into place.

The Falmouth Rugby Community had followed and were completely on track with the RFU and CRFU Road back to rugby protocols with plans in place. Both the rugby and COVID safety and hygiene protocols had been well imbedded within Senior Players and the Colts, both playing Ready for Rugby formats alongside the allowed first steps back to full-contact matches.

The Academy and the rapidly developing O2 Touch had been flourishing with the restart of rugby competitions eagerly anticipated for mid-January.

Additionally, the Falmouth Rugby Clubhouse activities, properly organised to welcome the rugby community to enjoy the important off-field aspects of the game, were well proven and in place to welcome all.

Despite 'Lockdown' the spirit lives on and club members have continued to work together to keep the club, but more importantly the game, alive for our players, our members, and the wider rugby community.

Plans are in place to keep our club's facilities and pitches in good order throughout the lockdown so that when the time is right, all aspects of the club, both rugby but also social, can be accessed and enjoyed by the whole rugby, and wider Falmouth, community.

To ensure the club looks after the welfare of its most important assets, the players, the club's Director of Rugby, Graham Whitmore, has forwarded fitness and training plans, available from the RFU Website, to all players including the Academy age-grade players.

Pete Collett, the Head of the Falmouth RFC Youth Academy, and his respective age group coaches, have also contacted their players to ensure that our young players have full engagement with their teams and the Club.

James Bunt, Head of O2 Touch, has also contacted all O2 players about future Monday nights under lights, again supporting all our player's welfare. The idea is to keep communications open in the Rugby community and so prevent, or help reduce, the isolation that lockdown can cause; please do your bit and pick up the phone and talk with your rugby mate.

The Club's wider communication networks are maintaining contact with the whole of the Falmouth community and you will see the support the Club is giving outside of rugby with COVID testing and School Children immunisations.

And so, to the future; The Club Management team will be meetings (on-line) every fourteen days and the outcome of these 'Planning For Falmouth's Rugby Community Return' will be communicated to 'our' community on a fortnightly basis. This will be accessible through the Club's website, our local press and through the normal social media channels.

Until the Club reopens, the message of 'stay at home, stay safe' is a must, it also means that the club facilities and pitch are not available for individuals and groups to use – sorry but we are sure you understand, and it will ensure it is pristine for rugby's return.

It will not be forever………. the future's bright, the futures Black & White.

[H3] Don't forget, you can keep up to date with all the latest news on our Twitter and Facebook pages. [.H2]