The two days before the weekend are always special at Johnny Whiteley Park, the home of National Conference League giants West Hull.
THE West Hull Hub is a real hive of buzzing activity each and every Thursday and Friday and grassroots clubs around the land could do a lot worse than seek to emulate a highly important social event.
Supporters of professional outfits Hull FC, Hull KR, Hunslet and Leeds Rhinos have already embraced the facility while, as Anji Gardiner (who, with her husband Carl, is a driving force behind in important element of the local community) reveals: “Our Saturday homework club, run by our daughter Heather, sees a number of the junior section’s players and their siblings come along to do their homework and have lunch, which is yet another very successful initiative.”
The clubhouse is invariably packed on Thursdays and Fridays for the hugely popular WarmWelcome
@JWP events and although we may be heading towards spring, memories remain vivid of the visit shortly before Christmas of the 24-strong Hull FC Academy squad who, having been brought along by coach Francis Cummins and support staff, happily served lunch to around 160 members of the local community.
A warm welcome is, in fact, guaranteed all year round, with local folk gathering for a truly communal get-together, driven by Anji and Carl and centred on simple entertainment, good grub and great company.
West Hull’s players and coaches have, like those of Hull FC, enthusiastically bought into the initiative and one Hub member reflected: “We can’t help noticing a phenomenal change in their attitude, from where they’re verging on shy and being slow at coming forward to being proactive and very involved, including training with the local LDRL (learning disability) team.”
A telling factor in Cummins’ approach is that his players sit with someone at each Hub event, find out something about them, and give a short presentation about it a week or two later. That’s music to the ears of the Gardiners, who first became involved a couple of years ago.
“Carl retired a few years ago and was a volunteer down at West Hull rugby club, doing general grounds-and-facilities maintenance along with being the first team physio for a few seasons, particularly whilst our son Will was playing for the first team,”Anji explained.
“He gave that up at the start of the 2023 season to be able to watch Will play Super League with Hull FC, and then volunteered with Jimmy Lloyd (Mr Miyagi), who very sadly passed away shortly after the turn of this year.
“Jimmy’s nephew wanted to hold a fortnightly coffee morning for local carers and we helped host it. It grew from there, with three or four people turning up each week, to where we are today, with around 80 or 90 gathering here just on a Thursday.”
Anji, who is on the RFL’s Community Board, is also a trustee of the new RFL Community Trust and is a member of the National Conference League’s management committee. After having previously worked full-time at the University of Hull for 26 years, she is now part-time at the University of Salford and confides: “That gives me the time to devote to the hub on my days off (as well as many evenings and weekends doing ‘hub stuff’!)”
The Gardiners have tremendous active support from a host of volunteers, including Tony Cotson (Andy Last’s father-in-law, who is also chaplain of Hull FC and West Hull in addition to being a trustee of the Hub), John Clarkin (a neighbour of Anji and Carl) and Andy Gibson.
Simply in terms of rugby league, however (which is naturally Rugby League World’s main focus) perhaps the most relevant aspect, other than helping develop the nurturing skills of the young players who act as ‘waiters’, is that of ‘marrying’ the pitches and other land with nature. Anji says: “Kim Whiteley (Johnny’s daughter) is a great friend and supporter of our hub and she often pops in when she is not at work – she has spent a good amount of time on our wildlife area and it was in part a conversation that I had with her after we were sat chatting at an NCL game one Saturday that led us to create the wildlife space.”
Trustee Andy Gibson adds: “I’m from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and became involved with the hub because of the wildlife element. Anji approached us because she wanted a couple of birdboxes, to which I said ‘you have no ambitions’, but then I saw their trophy cabinet!
“I walked around the fields with Mick, the groundsman, and saw that the club is about much more than just rugby. West Hull had 5.4 hectares of land and, of that, they turned over 1.9 hectares to nature and haven’t lost any land from sport.
“The first thing we did was a litter pick and 300 people turned up, which is the most for an initiative like this in the city.
“Mick, meanwhile, cut a footpath through the grassland and, partly with that in mind, I’d like to see an element of groundsman’s courses given over to nurturing nature. The benefits can be massive, not least in reducing the impact of flooding.”
The Hub, Gibson continues, runs regular coach trips for such as the disabled and refugees to local beauty spots like Spurn Point and Flamborough Head, often followed by fish and chips in Withernsea. He says: “It’s very wide-ranging. The Rugby Football League’s CEO Tony Sutton has been here. He’s from Cottingham and now lives in Beverley and his dad was a nature reserve warden.
“Tony gets it; sport is the catalyst for all this. It’s brought so many people in. Any amateur club, in any sport, can do this, if they have the vision, drive and desire.”
