On July 19, 1970, Stewartry Rugby Club held their first ever meeting followed on September 12, 1970 by their first ever game at “Fortress Greenlaw”.
In September 1992, the new clubhouse opened at Greenlaw and now, 52 years later, the club fields male and female senior XVs, a male seconds XV and seven youth teams. They also support the local community with their full-time development officer.
July 2020 saw the club enter its 50th year of existence and should have seen celebrations at Greenlaw, but due to Covid the events were postponed. Finally, on Friday and Saturday, the long awaited 50th celebrations were able to go ahead.
The weekend kicked off with a black tie ball of 450 glamorous guests, which had sold out even before the original date, and had to be expanded to accommodate the demand of more tickets.
The marquee was decorated beautifully by local girls Nicky Poland and Leanne Neary from their company Rustic Love, who did all the balloons for the event including the tables, and a balloon arch and stack.
The delicious meal included beef carved at the table and was provided by Sheena and Derek Cartner from Cartner Catering, one of south west Scotland’s leading event catering businesses. Advice and guidance was also gratefully received from Peter Wilson Walker from Caterbirds.
The guests enjoyed after dinner speakers, music and dancing to Ritchie Hamilton into the wee hours and Allen Henderson, Jim McLelland and all the bar staff there with Sulwath Brewers, ensured that they never went thirsty
The Saturday saw the family, community event Party on the Pitch go ahead, with bands Shore Road, Sweet Craze, Torrs and Doohamer Disco ensuring people were able to dance the day away with a drink or two. Anyone who was feeling peckish was able to treat themselves to a hog roast kindly donated by Tom Grierson of Grierson Butchers.
Unfortunately, the strong winds meant the planned inflatable obstacle course wasn’t able to go ahead but the kids didn’t let that spoil their fun and some of the younger rugby players pulled together some rugby themed activities for them.
They were also occupied with trying to win some kit from men’s first team XV captain John Picken’s popular tombola.
All kit was either brand new or had been worn by professional rugby players for their respective clubs.
This was a massive hit, especially with the kids, with one lad exclaiming he’d won “a pair of shorts by a famous player – I can’t remember who wore them for his first ever game at Glasgow Warriors”. This was in fact former Stewartry Shark Stafford McDowell, who had donated the shorts, and he was pleased to hear how well they’d been received.
All in all, the weekend was a huge success and supported by both the Stewartry RFC community and the local community.
It was fantastic to see all sections of the club mix together, including gym members, current club members, players, supporters, older members who perhaps haven’t visited the club for a while and lots of other members of the wider community, and a real mixture of ages.
Anyone not already involved with the club who would like to enquire about how they can should get in touch through the Stewartry RFC website or Facebook page. There are also a variety of sponsorship opportunities available.
The club has a number of events planned, including a come and try session for Stewartry Sirens in July to encourage some new players for the women’s team.
There will also be a DIY and community weekend including car wash, barbecue and games of touch in August, with Stewartry 10s tournament on August 13.
