Exactly a year shy of its golden jubilee, the Young Blues Rugby Klub is primed to become a force in Boland rugby.
The club, which has deep roots in the farmlands of Wellington, welcomed a funeral cover specialist on a health mission as its new title sponsor at a formal function in the town over the weekend.
Chairperson Tony Julies said the deal was destined to elevate the club’s status and, in doing so, hopefully lure top-class players.
He admitted that life had not been easy for their first, second and third teams since winning their spot in the elite Boland Grand Challenge Wit-Sentraal league two seasons ago.
The players, many of whom are farm labourers, struggle to find the time to train during the week, while transport challenges make travelling to different parts of the district for weekend matches problematic.
Even so, the club’s recent growth has been fast-paced.
A few years ago, its entire player base was hardly big enough to field a single team. Now it has 70 men available for selection every week of the season.
While the players still train at Koplande Farm where the club was born in 1976, the playing surface falls short of Grand Challenge requirements and therefore “home” games take place at the Newton grounds in Wellington.
The Multisure Young Blues are full of cheer for the future following the title sponsorship deal with the funeral cover specialist. Photo: Supplied
With its first XV currently hovering at 11th on the log, Julies was confident that the partnership with Multisure Corporation would breathe new life into their 2025 campaign.
Other teams on the Garden Route and in the Eastern Cape have already shown the value of such support.
Evergreens, who play their rugby out of Pacaltsdorp near George, are currently leading the pack midway through the season after years of mid-table finishes in the South Western Districts Super League.
Similarly, Gardens in Uitenhage have risen to the top after an impressive run that included an exciting victory over then pace-setters Despatch.
Julies envisaged a similar path for the Young Blues and was particularly keen to treat the club faithful to better times.
The first step, however, is to finish among the top 10 this year.
“We still have quite a few games in hand this season so we are aiming to finish eighth or ninth,” Julies said, pointing out that the uprights showing off the sponsor’s branding were already motivating the players.
According to him, the partnership represented a major turning point for the club as it would encourage players from other areas to come knocking and don its trademark blue jersey.
Despite its relative lack of success in the Grand Challenge to date, the Young Blues setup has produced provincial representatives at senior and U21 level.
With the bulk of the players in their early-20s, Julies thought the club had a decent foundation to produce a championship-winning team down the road.
In due course, he also expected more of its players to be called up for duty by the Boland Cavaliers.
He anticipated that the sponsorship would eventually take care of all their logistical challenges, including transport, allowing the players to focus on producing their very best rugby.
CEO Denton Goodford said it was Multisure’s mantra to give back to the people and that there was no better way of doing so than through a sport like rugby, which was hugely popular in the Boland.
“I am really excited about the future and what this rugby and business partnership can deliver,” he said at the official announcement last Friday.