If all goes according to plan, the Ballito Dolphins could have their own clubhouse and two new rugby fields ready for the upcoming rugby season.
With the help of Sugar Rush, the club has finally found a place they can call home and they plan to create an all-round sports club, which will be the first in the area.
The Dolphins’ chairman, Kevin Murphy, could not be more excited about the 2014 season.
“These are exciting times, it will be the first time we have our own ground. We have been working on it for six months,” he said.
The Dolphins have used fields at local schools as their home-bases in previous years and Murphy extended his gratitude for the help they received.
“The schools have been fantastic to us and we will be eternally grateful, but now we have a place where we can purpose build to the club’s needs.”
Murphy hopes to create a community club, not just a rugby club, that locals can associate with and support.
“We hope to create an environment at Sugar Rush in which the venue and the club compliment each other. We will have a playground area for kids so that families can come down, watch good rugby and have a great time,” he said.
The new club will also help get the junior rugby development programme into full swing.
“We want to get young players coming through and we want them to be part of the club,” said Murphy.
On the rugby side of things, Mick Rumble will take charge as head coach of the 1st XV once again. The Dolphins also have the services of former Sharks massage therapist Bob Russell, who will be responsible for conditioning and video analysis, which will be a new resource for the team.
They finished in fourth place in the second division last year and coach Rumble believes they could have done far better.
“We were in second position at a stage, but let it slip when we lost two games,” said Rumble. “Having a look at the other teams, there is no reason that we cannot be in the premier division in three years. We want to muscle our way in and we want to do it quickly,” said Rumble.
Both Rumble and Murphy are trying to create a more professional environment at the club.
“It is a difficult balancing act, we are amateurs but we want to train like professionals,” Murphy added.
Players that want to join the Dolphins for the season need to register before the end of January.
Contact Mick on 071 069 1736 or Sue Robertson on 078 011 3388.
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