After an incredibly successful men’s 1st XV league campaign, we find ourselves top of Counties 1 Hampshire. Karl Finn said at the beginning of the year he wanted to turn Hampshire Avenue into a fortress and yet again he was true to his word. Unbeaten in 2025 at home!!

The effort put in by the whole squad and coaching team has been nothing short of monumentous and to see that effort paying off in such a way is fantastic. Of course, I couldn’t write an end of year piece without mentioning the last fixture against Chichester. Victory for Bognor on the day, but a huge win for rugby as a sport. A massive rivalry, played out in front of 800 plus supporters, with many youngsters amongst them and not a bad moment throughout. Credit to Chichester for bringing so many of their own supporters and enjoying the day and evening with us. Hopefully the day will create rugby players and supporters for the future.

Our men’s 2nd XV team are flying high in third place in the Premier South East. A frustrating season for the squad so far, as there has been numerous cancellations from other clubs, something which I’ve raised with Hampshire RFU, as it kills enthusiasm across all clubs. I guess the price we pay for having such a talented 2nd XV team.
The ladies team continue to push and expand with a number of great fixtures this year. Again I have to say, if there are any girls or ladies out there thinking about giving rugby a go, there’s no friendlier club to start at.

Our mini & youth section continues to grow and flourish at pace, creating a continuous conveyor belt of talent that thankfully doesn’t get lost to other clubs nowadays – just look at the average age of our 1st and 2nd teams! There have been some fantastic results throughout 2025, far too many to list here, but just take a look at the socials, or the website to see what an incredibly bright future we have ahead of us. A massive thanks to all the volunteer coaches who make this happen week in week out.

The cherry on the top is that we’ve also had a number of players gaining their county colours, finishing the year with Charlie Donoghue starting again for Sussex.

We celebrated our 60th Anniversary in style in October with a great evening had by all and it was fantastic to see so many friends, young and old at the event. A big thank you to Justin Fitzpatrick who flew over from the states, whilst refusing to take a penny, to be our main speaker. On the back of that we then had BJ Botha (South African international world cup winner) run one of our training sessions, passing on his wealth of experience to our teams.
The club itself is flourishing in terms of financial stability and being packed out at the weekends both when teams are at home, but importantly when they’re away. The bar is always the lifeblood of any club and we’re fortunate enough to have a great bar and a great relationship with Greene King, meaning we are still one of the cheapest bars around.
I couldn’t end a year’s roundup without mentioning our incredibly generous sponsors. I won’t mention them all, as you see them regularly across our social media pages and on the shirts, but a special mention to our main sponsor Heatload. Yet again supporting us in the background whilst asking for pretty much nothing in return.

Where do we go from here? There’s still a huge effort to be had from the men’s 1st XV team to continue that push for promotion. We hope to ensure less fixtures are cancelled for the 2nd XV , giving them more game time, plus look to build on that team and potentially a 3rd XV, dependant on the throughput from our youth section.

The ladies team and the Mini & Youth sections will continue to receive all the support they need from the club, cognisant that they are the future of the club. Build now for a brighter tomorrow, I believe the saying goes.

The only low point for me in 2025 in terms of running the club, has been trying to secure the club’s lease renewal with Arun District Council. Many of you have quite rightly been asking me where we are with it, especially in these uncertain times with building developments appearing on sports grounds. This has been an incredibly frustrating process for what should be a straightforward renewal and has held the club back from being able to apply for all important sports funding and grants. It’s been ongoing for multiple years but will absolutely be my top priority for 2026.

My final word of thanks goes to our volunteers. It’s important to remember that every member of the committee, every coach (senior and mini & youth), every ground’s person, in fact everyone you see going about their business in the club are all volunteers and do what they do for the love of the club. Something which is increasingly rare these days and something that I think our founding members, both those with us and those unfortunately not, would be incredibly proud of.

So, there we have it. A whistle-stop tour of 2025 from where I sit. I would like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your continued support, be that at home or from afar. I raise a glass to you all and especially to those members who are no longer with us.

Enjoy your Christmas break and here’s to yet another exciting year at Bognor RFC!!

Shaun Rimmer
Chairman