Peebles RFC Development News

Extract from SRU TeamTalk

The post of the Peebles RFC Development Officer was resurrected in 2007 following a gap of over two years when the previous post holder, James White, returned to his native New Zealand . The club secured the necessary funding through sponsors First XV Rugby Store, Sportsmatch and the Scottish Rugby Union in order to create a part-time vacancy.

Following interviews the former player, 2 nd XV coach and current Colts coach, Graeme Paterson, was appointed to the role. He would combine his rugby duties with that of his other occupation – a police officer – and look to develop rugby within the region.

As he says, ‘My first priority was to re-establish curriculum based rugby activity within the local primary schools to create as wide an audience as possible at this grass-roots level.’ This was achieved in collaboration with the area’s Active Schools co-ordinator, Paul Murray, and a structured programme is now in place throughout the Peeblesshire Primary Schools with all pupils from P4 upwards receiving rugby within the school environment. This has led directly to the successful re-structuring of the Peebles Mini Rugby set-up, The Piranhas, with increased interest in the game generated by these school visits.

Three local training centres have been established, with another soon to follow, in a player/coach/volunteer/parent friendly scheme to cut down on travelling commitments in previous years. This has resulted in a tremendous increase in numbers of players and volunteers – a recent Games Day attracted over 100 players with numerous coaches/helpers in attendance.

The links with Peebles High School , the largest in the Scottish Borders, are vital to Graeme’s work in securing the rugby players of the future, not only in Peebles but throughout the country. He assists the PE staff at many of the lunchtime training sessions for S1 – S6 age groups as well as running after school training sessions for S1 – S4. ‘Peebles is getting more populated every year – easily seen by the numbers in our local schools – and it is vital that I maintain these strong links with all the Primary Schools and Peebles High School where I have found all staff and pupils most receptive to rugby,’ he adds.

Another new venture in the area is girls’ rugby, which has been introduced at Peebles High School alongside the current SWRU drive to recruit more girls at secondary schools into the game. Graeme explains, ‘I have set up a lunchtime based training group at the High School which has been well supported by the girls and encourage them all to take part in this new SWRU coaching programme running throughout the country, with our local centre based at Gala. The girls really enjoy taking part in the sessions and I’m sure many will continue playing the game.’

Time management is a big issue for Graeme as he currently works part-time as Development Officer and has reduced his police hours to part-time status in order to fulfil his dream of working in rugby as a career. ‘There are so many different areas and projects that I would like to explore in respect of rugby in the Peeblesshire area, however it comes down to prioritising my workload and budgets! This is especially vital when your hours are restricted but I think we as a club have made a good start to this venture. By concentrating on the base layers of the age-group pyramid I am confident it will be successful for the long-term game. I am thoroughly enjoying my time as Development Officer. It’s great working with all the kids and seeing them getting involved during the classes, progressing as individuals and as groups, but most of all enjoying themselves.’

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding rugby in the area please get in touch with me through email (graemeipaterson@aol.com) or telephone (07812 028 172)

back