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Community Rugby Season Delayed
What the RFU’s latest announcement means for TWRFC, our pitches and the start of the new season
If you’ve seen the state of our pitches at St Marks recently, you’ll probably understand why the latest announcement from the RFU hasn’t come as a huge surprise…
The 2026/27 competitive community rugby season has been delayed, with competitive fixtures now set to begin from the week commencing Monday 21 September. The RFU has made the decision with player welfare and pitch conditions firmly in mind.
After one of the driest periods we can remember, and with the hosepipe ban doing absolutely nothing to help our already rock-hard pitches, it’s probably a sensible call.
We don’t think we’ve ever found ourselves wishing for rainy days quite like this before! That said, we’d happily settle for a steady, slow supply of light rain that the ground can actually take; rather than a month’s worth arriving in one afternoon and leaving us with flash floods.
So, perhaps we can keep the warm weather going a little longer… but with a little sprinkle of light rain throughout the day.
And if our pitches still aren’t up for it at St Marks by the time the season starts, we could find ourselves having to rent an AGP pitch to fulfill our fixtures …
Another pretty good reason why that shiny new 4G at the proposed new club site might not be such a bad idea after all…..* wink wink, nudge nudge, Council Planning Committee.*
You may notice that the fixture dates currently showing on our website haven’t yet caught up with the latest changes.
We’re working with Pitchero and the RFU to get these updated, but the fixture information is centrally managed, so it can take a little time for the changes to filter through to our website.
For now, our first game of the season is Saturday 26 September. ?
Our 1XV will travel away to CS Stags, while the 2XV will get their campaign underway at St Marks against Medway 2s.
We’ll keep everyone updated as soon as the fixture list is amended and everything is confirmed.
In the meantime, training and friendly fixtures can continue where conditions allow, with pitch safety remaining the priority.
For now, we’ll enjoy the sunshine, keep everything crossed for some sensible rainfall, and look forward to getting back to competitive rugby at St Marks.
Come on rain… just a little bit.