Bucks Rugby Football Club (BUCKS)
With the SRU National Leagues already kicked off, we will be doing an exclusive feature of each Premiership Club each week. This week, we will be focusing on the Bucks Rugby Football Club!
50 years of sporting tradition and achievement
Founded in 1967, Bucks RFC is half a century old this year! Since its founding, it has been one of the most active sports clubs in Singapore. The sports they are involved in includes Premiership rugby, Championship rugby, Women’s Premiership rugby, touch rugby as well as netball. Of course, for this article, we will be focusing on their Premiership rugby sides.
The Bucks Premiership side is the current Premiership league champions having come close the previous few years! In fact, this team has qualified for the knockout rounds of the Premiership league consecutively for over 20 years. The team trains hard to maintain this streak, having sessions on either Tuesday, Thursday and/or Saturdays at Turf City every week. They also played several friendly games before this season against other local rugby sides for preperation.
In the recent successful campaign by the Singapore Men’s 15s side at the Asia Rugby Championship Division 2, Bucks RFC contributed 4 players that were instrumental to the team winning – Charlie Lambert, Jonny Barber, Brice Derouet and Alex Cook.
Andy Kelleher, the Bucks Premiership captain, when interviewed, was quoted as saying, “Bucks RFC are a very competitive rugby club with a huge history in Singapore, having recently hit the big 50 years old mark, but beyond all that, we are best known for our welcoming approach to the game socially. We regularly have great support at games and after matches, and I believe this is a huge support to all our teams and motivate us to do well.”
When further queried as to who are the players to look out for this season, Andy highlighted that this is going to be a very exciting year for Bucks RFC, not least because they won the title the year before, but also because they have made a few new signings, namely Andy Wallace and Adam Field, that have not only given their team a new look and excitement to their backline, but also has strengthened their squad as a whole, especially when coupled with the returning Singapore Men’s players.
Moving on to the Women’s team, they have been a very successful side in their own right as well! They have seen success across competitions in the past few years having won the Bali 7s in 2015, the KL Tigers 10s international competition in 2016 as well as coming in as runners-up in the Women’s League last year.
However, more than just striving to be successful, the Bucks Women’s side aims to be an all-inclusive and welcoming side to every girl that wishes to try rugby. Their claim to be the most diverse Women’s rugby team not only in Singapore but globally is not unjustified! They cater and welcome all types of players, even hosting “come and try days” for interested girls who may have never played rugby before. With regular weekly trainings, many of the newcomers have quickly developed their rugby skills and improved immensely. Some of these players have even gone on to represent Singapore in the different international competitions.
True to Bucks RFC’s motto of “Training, playing and drinking since 1967”, Bucks RFC is more than just a sports club. Inclusiveness is a key principle of the club and as such, currently they have over 30 different nationalities involved with the club at the moment. Hence, Bucks RFC is also a social club that acts as a gathering hub for both locals and foreigners to mingle together and form unbreakable bonds of friendship. They regular hold eating, drinking and match watching sessions as well as regional tours and other activities such as golf days, for their members!
Here is wishing them the very best for the upcoming season! BUCKSAAAH!!!!!
Bucks RFC Website: http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/bucksrfc
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2352196901/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bucksrugbyclubsingapore/