Alnwick rugby youngsters all set for Marbella tour after months of fundraising

Alnwick Rugby Club's U12s in the kit they designed themselves for their trip to Marbella. Picture: Alnwick Rugby Club

After months of fundraising, a team of young rugby players from Alnwick Rugby Club are heading off to play a tournament in Spain.

The party of 68, which includes 22 players, their siblings and parents, will head to Marbella on April 5 after 16 months of planning and fundraising.

Their coach, Tony Manners, said: “It has been a lot of hard work by the kids and their mums and dads.

“Every playing child is going free and their siblings and parents are heavily subsidised. We wanted every kid to have the same experience.”

Normally clubs taking part in tours like this would stay in a youth hostel or similar, but this tour sees the party staying in a three-star hotel on the beach because the club wanted to create a lasting memory for the children.

The idea of the tour came about because in England girls have to stop playing rugby with boys after U11, but in Spain they can keeping playing with the boys until they’re 16.

Tony said: “We wanted to do a farewell tour with the girls last year and then we found out about this tournament and mothballed that idea.

“The girls are very talented and this tournament gives us a chance to play with them again – a last hurrah and a great adventure.”

As part of the fundraising, the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland gave the club the atrium at Alnwick Gardens for free so they could host a fundraising ball, and Dan and Caroline Smith allowed them free use of Northern Bootcamp for a sponsored fun event.

Tony said: “We have raised in excess of £30,000 thanks to some extremely kind gestures and hard work.

“The kids have also worked hard, they sold raffle tickets for the ball, helped with the Christmas tree selling and have been ball boys.

“It has been a huge team effort, everyone has been given a role and fulfilled it, and everyone is still friends.”

The team have designed a special kit for their trip that has the sponsors’ names on it and has writing “here, there and everywhere”, according to Tony.

The tournament is on April 8, and Alnwick will be fielding two teams.

Tony commented: “The standard of rugby in Spain is really high, but we’re going there to be competitive.”