Firstly, I must add that I have a vested interest in Shoreham Rugby Club, being its youth co-ordinator and having two sons who both play, with a third desperate to join when he is old enough to be able to.

It makes me very uncomfortable walking into a café, that I have used over the past two years, past a barrage of one-sided, pro-café publicity, that vilifies the members of the club who put a substantial amount of capital into the till.

I'm uncomfortable having to explain to growing children why the smiling faces behind the counter don't want us in there, why members of the non-rugby-playing public despise and do not want to mix with us, despite our being part of a community club and one of the first in Sussex to gain the RFU Comm-unity Rugby Seal of Approval.

Surely this is something to be celebrated, that a small town club like Shoreham can achieve it before such established clubs as Worthing, Brighton, Hove and Pulborough.

Just to dispel the myth once and for all, the club attended the West Sussex Festival at Chichester on Sunday, when more than 800 children from eight different clubs congregated to play fast-paced, exciting rugby that was a joy to watch.

They were awarded the West Sussex Minis Fair Play Award 2008 from Sussex Rugby, having achieved consistent top marks across all the age groups against all the competition, for the quality of sportsmanship and cleanness of play.

So, for any of you out there who think that rugby players are nothing but loud-mouthed, beer-drinking, curry-eating yobs, please think again and spare a thought for the players of tomorrow.

You should all be proud of this community club that fosters and nurtures a love of the game, celebrates the ethos of sportsmanship and can beat the rest of Sussex hands down.

Jo Fowler
via email

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