The Royal Signals Rugby Club

The Royal Corps of Signals Rugby Football Club is proud to be sponsored by   

The Royal Corps of Signals Rugby Football Club encompasses all facets of Rugby from across the Corps, including both Union and League, Ladies, 7s and 10s. The Committee has been restructured in order to reflect this wide remit and now represents a solid foundation from which we will look to spread participation across the Corps and build on recent success.

Corps level rugby has grown in strength and quality over recent years and we are constantly battling with heavy operational commitments and the associated need for extensive specialist training, coupled with the demands on training support, prior to deployment. Against this backdrop, we must not turn our backs on sporting endeavor and we must remember the importance of sport to the social and physical well being of our soldiers. It was George Orwell who, in 1941, with war waging and Britain contemplating a grim future, wrote: "Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play; it is bound up with hatred and jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all the rules and sadistic pleasure in unnecessary violence. In other words it is war minus the shooting.''

To paraphrase Brendan Gallagher, who reviewed an exhibit called “The Greater Game” at the Imperial War Museum (North) in 2004, “sportsmen make great soldiers because they are generally fit, courageous, aggressive, skilled, self-sacrificing and disciplined. What Orwell overlooked is that most sportsmen bring a generosity of spirit, dignity and integrity to everything they do, including going to war. With few exceptions, they behave better on the sporting field than the rest of mankind do in their everyday lives and over the years they have taken those qualities into the battlefield. They raise the bar, especially when the going gets tough.” He describes Orwell as “a solitary, introvert man who had no concept of teamwork and no comprehension of the passion which motivates sportsmen and women,” and it is essential that our hierarchy across the Corps and the Army does not fall into this trap of devaluing the true value of sport in a time of war.

Rugby requires dedication, time and practice to master as a team and the continued support of all units and their chain of command is both vital and greatly appreciated. With strong representation at the junior Army Rugby Union levels, in Ladies Rugby Union and in Army Rugby League we are in a solid position to expand and develop. To adjust to our growing commitments we have reviewed our fixtures and relocated to Blandford in order to bring Corps Rugby back to the home of the Corps.

For those of you who have realised that this is the place to come for Army v Navy Tickets then please spread the word around the Corps. A special edition corps shirt will also be available for the 2012 fixture.

The Club is also pleased to announce that C3IA have kindly agreed to sponsor the Club.