The WWST / WWRFC Partnership

The Supporters' Trust board of directors met with management at Sixways a couple of weeks ago to discuss our role within the future of Worcester Warriors Mk2.

We aim to continue working closely with the club for the good of the business, the team and the supporters.

We feel it is important to remain as an independent organisation enhancing supporter engagement without negatively impacting the ability of the club to pursue a sustainable business path.

Although we are keen to voice any concerns that supporters may have, we are not a "Customer Service" department for the club and do not intend to act as such.

Key outcomes form our discussions with the club are as follows:

• WWST board member will attend and have input at the quarterly operational management meetings at Sixways. Regular informal contact will continue as necessary.

• WWST to have a presence at Sixways Stadium in the form of a portable cabin/office (to be acquired by WWST) sited appropriately close to the East Stand & Fan-zone. Our match-day presence is primarily to engage with home and away supporters but also to promote fund raising activities and sell nominal WWST merchandise and membership packages.

• WWST will provide “Away Day” travel services to WWST members and all supporters for the Warriors fixtures in the coming season. We will liaise closely with the club about each trip.

• We also discussed several ways in which we could use raised funds to support the club including player sponsorship, contributing to player accommodation costs and a future Warriors Academy.

Away Travel

WWST will be arranging coach travel to all away fixtures for the coming season provided there is enough demand.

If the Ampthill pre-season friendly is anything to go by then demand will not be a problem. We are not far off filling 3 coaches for this fixture so, if you are intending on joining us don't leave it much longer or you may end up disappointed.

We are aware that match tickets for Hartpury Away on 11th October have already been advertised.

Our plan is to advertise coach travel tickets to each away fixture at least 4 weeks prior to the match.

The London fixtures (ie Richmond, London Scottish & Ealing) are likely to need special attention due to the potential for traffic congestion etc.

The Pirates game, as alluded to above, will also require extra thought as it's not a journey that should reasonably attempted in a single day.

WWST Grant scheme

Three months ago we invited all member clubs of the Worcestershire and Herefordshire RFU to apply for grants to put towards small projects.

We had intended to particularly target clubs which would otherwise struggle to fulfil those projects.

The application process was far from onerous with a handful of simple questions and a lengthy period in which to apply.

We are pleased to say that two clubs have been successful in their applications and have both been awarded a grant of £1000 to put towards their schemes.

The successful applicants were:

Upton-upon-Severn RFC who will put the money towards the hire of all-weather pitches during such time as their pitches are water-logged (unfortunately an increasingly common occurrence).

Bromyard RFC who have had to prioritise the purchase of a new tractor for pitch maintenance over modifications to their club-house social area as their previous equipment is no longer fit for purpose. The grant will go a small way to helping cover costs.

Somewhat disappointingly these were the only two clubs to apply for grants.

We can only imagine that the other clubs in Worcestershire & Herefordshire RFU have comfortable enough finances to pass up the opportunity.

We intend to revisit the idea of our grant scheme in the coming months to establish whether our members' money might be better used for projects more directly linked to the Worcester Warriors community.