Brief History of Mini rugby at Stanford

A small group of players and parents led by David Payne, founded the Mini and Youth section of the club in 1999. It was not the first time however, that Stanford had fielded youth teams because in the 1980's there had been several matches played at colts level. Some of those colts are still playing today. After a long summer of recruiting local boys and girls the section had its first proper season fielding teams at U12, U10 and U8 age groups.

We attracted sponsorship from local companies and bought a set of shirts. The teams played in Festivals at Upminster RFC, Dartfordians RFC and Wanstead RFC. The season went far better than anyone could have expected with the U12 side winning most of their games and the U10 and U8s gaining experience that would be invaluable in the next season.

The 2000 / 2001 pre-season started with a fund raising, coaching courses, fund raising, attending school fetes, fund raising, attending carnivals and more fund raising!! We now have a team of coaches and a very supportive group of parents. With a full fixtures list for U9, U12, U13 and U14 it was going to be a busy year. A number of our players went for Essex trials at U14 level and were rewarded with "caps" – Grant Ferguson, James O'Sullivan, Dean Barter and Louis Orr.

In the 2003/2004 season, the U6 squad won the Eton Manor Festival, the U8's reached the plate final at Upminster, the semi-final at Eton Manor and the final at the Essex Festival, with the U12's also reaching the semi-final at Eton Manor.

In 2004/2005, we were even more successful, with 4 plate competition wins, 3 Festival semi-finals and 2 finals. Daniel O'Sullivan and Jack Payne were selected for Essex.