Marist Eastern have started the 2021 PIC Junior Rugby season in leaps and bounds after having to make the hard decision of closing their clubroom doors due to the implications of COVID-19 in 2020.

Marist Eastern Rugby Club, a young club in the heart of South-East Auckland, celebrating only their 12th year of existence will be extremely proud of their achievements coming out of a tough year for any business, let alone a non-for-profit organisation.

The club has seen an 80% growth in teams from pre-COVID numbers, almost doubling their registered number of teams from 2019.

The club made the tough decision in 2020 to close its doors for the season after the pressures that came with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marist Eastern President, Ross Blenkinsopp said although the club put 2020 on hold for their patrons, the committee, lead by himself and Club Captain, Choppa Casey, worked relentlessly behind the scenes to ensure they could come back in 2021 with their best foot forward.

“We spent a lot of 2020 building and restrengthening the connections we have in our community. Going out to local schools in the community and advising them of our plans for the 2021 season.

We worked hard on securing grants for the club’s sustainability and function moving forward as well” says Blenkinsopp.

A club that is built on family values, Blenkinsopp believes this is one of the main factors why the club have been able to significantly grow their registration this year.

“Over the last few seasons, we are starting to see a trend of younger siblings of current players registering to play for a team and this creates good foundations for a club that is still growing.

Every registered player is recognised and known by name to at least one committee member. This is one thing that I believe brings people back and makes people feel like they belong to our club.”

Blenkinsopp put a lot of what the club has achieved in recent years down to the approach of ‘giving it a go’ and learning from your mistakes along the way.

“We have a good idea of what works and what doesn’t work. Yes, we have made some mistakes along the way, but having the numbers begin to show after years of hard work is extremely rewarding.”

As the Marist Eastern club moves through its 2021 PIC Junior Rugby season, Blenkinsopp cannot help but look forward to the future and what he and his seven committee members could possibly achieve in the next few years.

“The focus will remain within our junior teams and to build these numbers further. We are excited to look at entering an U21s team in 2022 as well. 3 to 5 years from here, we are hoping Marist Eastern to be the biggest junior club in Auckland, with a couple of senior teams as well”.

If the numbers are talking, who knows what this junior club could achieve with some more momentum under its hood.