Finsbury Park RFC is appealing for donations to renovate their Downhills Park home and grow grassroots rugby in the area.
The club has received £10,000 from the RFU to cultivate their women’s team, The Panthers, in recognition of the Women’s World Cup coming to England in August.
Unlocking the funds, however, is contingent on the grant being matched by the end of the season.
Sean Burke, who founded the club in 2011, has worked very hard to build it from the ground up.
He said: “We pride ourselves on being a very friendly and open club that anyone can join.
“It’s built around the social side of the sport, our aim is not to win, and win, and win.
“It gives people a community to not feel alone in London, especially if they’ve just moved here.”
The money will go towards building a better, more inclusive facility that would attract underrepresented groups to the sport.
The current clubhouse has no hot showers, one toilet shared by three teams, and a dilapidated exterior with no social space and opposition teams have avoided playing the team at home due to the poor conditions.
Treasurer Will Monk, who joined eight years ago, said: “We are a grassroots rugby club, pretty much everything is funded by our members.
“It is very community-oriented, every penny that comes in goes out again to support the playing of rugby by people of all ages and backgrounds.”
The club formed their women’s team two years ago, and have already grown an impressive squad.
Burke added: “A lot of the Panthers are brand new to rugby so we’re teaching them all the basics, getting them built up and trying to promote female rugby in this area.
“That’s one of the main drives for the development of the clubhouse, it needs to be more inclusive in catering for both men and women.”
Panthers’ player Eve Maddock-Jones has been with the club since last year, and is excited about the potential this grant could unlock.
She said: “Finsbury Park boasts an incredibly diverse club and the money would support us in building a team which has put so much effort into getting where it is now.
“Women’s rugby may be the fastest growing sport globally but it is still its early days and Finsbury immediately recognised we were a club with a men’s and women’s team, not two separate entities.
“What Finsbury Park means to me is hard to put into words. I had a major accident in 2023 and thought I’d never be able to play again.
“Finsbury gave me the chance to play a sport I thought would be impossible and to be among a group of people with so much heart and care for each other is incredible.”
Jay Moriarty, who has been at the club for five years, is spearheading the campaign, and is hopeful that the renovations will allow them to train at home more often.
He said: “We’ve got Barnard Park right now, which we hire from the council because the conditions on Downhills aren’t great in the winter.
“The idea is that when we’ve improved our outdoor space we can utilise that a bit more, because that is our home at the end of the day.”
Moriarty was also optimistic about how their development plans are progressing.
He added: “Everything’s moving well, Haringey Council has been really helpful.
“I’ve got a meeting with the Parks team at the start of March to agree how we’re going to deliver the works.”
The club will be running fundraising events over the coming weeks, with a quiz scheduled at Burke’s Warehouse in Dalston at 7pm on March 4th and a fun run on the 23rd.
Further details can be found on their social media and website.
To donate to the cause, please visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/Finsbury-Park-Rugby
Feature picture: From Finsbury Park RFC on X with permission. Other images Joe Mannion
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