It is a huge honour to return as President of Hamilton Rugby Club – a little bit older and hopefully a little bit wiser! I’m looking forward to reconnecting with old friends and building new relationships across the club.

Clearly the last 18 months has been exceptionally challenging for us all and undoubtedly Covid-19 will continue to have an impact on how our Club functions for some time to come. However, I am very much looking forward to working alongside our club community in mapping out our vision for the future.

There are unlikely to be many simple or quick fixes. It will take hard work, commitment and focus from everyone throughout Hamilton Rugby Club – committee, staff, volunteers and players. I believe if we refocus on the core values of our game and work as a team, taking collective ownership and responsibility for the job ahead, we can soon return to being the vibrant, innovative and competitive Club that we all know and love.

On behalf of both the Committee and the wider membership, I’d like to thank Ross Whiteside and Ali Anderson for their respective contributions as President and Secretary. There will be few who will recognise the amount of time, energy and personal sacrifice that is needed to perform these roles on top of family and career responsibilities. We should all be very grateful.

Likewise, thanks are due to Ian Smith who has stepped down as Vice President. Ian will be continue to focus on his key role in securing the sponsorship money which is so vital in keeping us afloat. Again, a debt of gratitude is owed.

I am delighted to be joined on the Committee by Ian McKillop as our new Vice President, Cameron Millar as Marketing Coordinator and Adam Ryan as Club Secretary. It is particularly encouraging to see two of our younger players stepping forward to get involved in the running of our organisation. These new additions will strengthen and augment the existing pool of very skilled and talented Committee members. Please give our Club Committee all the support and encouragement you can.

It’s going to be a tough season and it’s been made all the harder by repeated breaks in training and little preseason preparation. There will be no easy games at any level! The role of the wider membership and supporters is more important than ever before. I ask everyone to be positive, get behind our players and coaches at all levels throughout the Club, and enjoy the game!

#BullsFamily