South London Silverbacks

Can clubs dial into this meeting.

The Silverbacks RLFC play out of Club Langley. So only down the road from you.

Money is one thing, but the biggest challenge we have always had within South London and Kent boarders is that rugby union is the dominant sport. A lot of clubs are trying to build off of a union clubs and become dependant on union players. I know this as when we were the Bears we made this mistake. This is why ground selection is so hard. The Silverbacks approached many clubs and mainly targeted the ones with no rugby association and we had many rejections. Finally we found a privately owned ground were we could create our own economy bubble of Rugby league players. The club has sign off for a 4g pitch to be built. Current space for 8 pitches, changing facilities and family environment. But the biggest problem is the RFL do have money but spend it in the wrong way. They should be visiting existing club locations to see what facilities are the future of rugby league and developing them.

Hello Gents, my name is Jody Freeman and I am the chairman/Co founder of the South london Silverbacks. It has been really interesting to read all your comments. I just wanted to support and let you all know about The South London Silverbacks. The club started as an Idea back in 2015 after managing a previous club named the Beckenham Bears. From running the bears we learnt that the only way for an open age to run in London is to create an atmosphere we're players run the club and in turn creating club assets and volunteers. Sounds scary but Wow has it worked. We created a club built for the players by players eliminating all club politics and dictatorship from a selection group of inderviduals. The rule was you pay your membership you have a say in how the club is run. Over 80% of our members have paid membership in full allowing the club to be sustainable. Within the first 4 weeks that's 4 training sessions we had 42 players registered via marketing and Word of mouth and half of them had never played rugby league before. Many players were ex players who have came out retirement from Greenwich Admirals, Beckenham Bears, Crawley Jersey, Kent ravens to name a few but with these numbers coming in we started our Preseason in February 2016. As word got out about more players came and tried it out and more became part of the Troop. We then had Nigel Wright join us has director of rugby who heard of what we was doing and those that know of him know what a class player he was back in the day for Wakefield, Wigan etc do all our coaching plans with his help had structure. Then another example super league player Junior Paul joined the coaching team as Head coach. The team now includes. Club Chaplin who has spent the last 15years as The London Broncos Chaplin but retired and joined the Troop. The club had many aspirations to grow but growth is built either via volunteers or acquisition. For Example. Silverbacks Masters Rugby League has now launched, as the Silverbacks are currently merging with South London Storm Masters and as of next year Storm will fully be under the Silverbacks Brand. Silverbacks Masters is being Run by Chris Ashton however, he has the full support of chairman and General Manager Michael Farrow, in marketing and growing Masters in the South East. Silverbacks Rugby League Touch has also started being run by our Head coach on a Monday and Sunday open to all ages. Junior manages this section with the support of the Chairman and General Manager. Silverbacks juniors will be the next area but volunteers are needed to help make this a reality so a quick plug from he to everone here, if you would like to help create a junior Silverbacks and have the support please let me know. Slsilverbacks@gmail.com. I hope I have given you all a further insite to the Silverbacks. Hope to see you all at a game. If you have any questions please drop me an email. Jody Freeman. Www.slsilverbacks.com

Rugby League goes Primal FOUNDED IN SEPTEMBER 2015, SOUTH LONDON SILVERBACKS ARE ALL SET FOR THEIR COMPETITIVE DEBUT IN 2017 AFTER 18 MONTHS OF CAREFUL PLANNING... SILVERBACKS' MIKE FARROW TELLS THEIR STORY. "After the Beckenham Bears had fizzled out due to moving out to East Surrey, the goal was to return Rugby League to the borough of Bromley and start afresh with a new branding and a new approach. The Bears had been successful to a point, but the club had never been able to put down real roots and had tried to run before it could walk - we felt that the club hadn't done itself or its players justice in the preceding three years. So the new committee put together a plan of action which excited players and administrators. The only spanner in the works was finding a suitable home. After an exhaustive search and two false starts, our self-imposed deadline for 2016 expired and we decided to put off starting until 2017. Shortly afterwards, our first choice ground became available at Club Langley in Beckenham. The delay proved to be a blessing in disguise as it allowed us to really get our ducks in a row. We have landed a highly-experienced Director of Rugby League in former Wigan Warriors player, Nigel Wright, whose depth of knowledge just astounds us. Our landlord is also incredibly supportive and views this as a multi-year project. We've already become part of their long-term plan, which is really encouraging. We have a contact book of great players who all just want a home ground to play at - ultimately, we're very positive about the season ahead. Pre-season starts on the 8th of February at 7:30pm Club Langley, Beckenham, BR3 3SR. We plan to start playing pre-season games in March with a home-and-away fixture already set up against the Sussex Merlins and we are also in the process of arranging a fixture against North Brussels Gorillas of Belgium RL in early May, which is an exciting and encouraging fixture for both of us." Any new players, no experience required, should report to Club Langley; 2 Hawksbrook Lane, Beckenham BR3 3SR every wednesday at 7.30pm For more information, visit slsilverbacks.com, contact slsilverbacks@gmail.com or drop them a message on Facebook, search: South London Silverbacks. Welcolme to the Troop