TAVISTOCK Rugby Club is set to enter a new era in its history, following confirmation of a substantial grant from the RFU.

The club, which is based at Sandy Park, is to invest almost £100,000 in its pitch facilities, after receiving one of the first substantial allocations of cash in the county from the RFU, via Sport England.

The club has had to make major changes in its make up to qualify for the grant funding, which will finance the complete construction of a brand new, top class pitch, plus the installation of floodlighting for its training areas.

Simon Mills, RFU spokesman, said: 'We are given a large amount of money from Sport England every four years to invest in clubs.

'There is a stringent set of criteria that clubs must meet, as it's all about providing, sustaining and increasing participation in rugby.

'Devon RFU work with our people to identify the clubs in Devon that need the money most to do this, and Tavistock is one of the first in Devon to receive money from this new fund.

'The club has had to do an enormous amount of work to get this money, and it's fantastic that Tavistock has been able to do this.

'More and better playing surfaces ultimately mean more people playing — and that's our business.'

Nigel Larcombe-Williams, chairman of Tavistock RFC, said the investment meant Tavistock would be able to boast the highest quality pitch in the South West after Plymouth and Exeter.

He said: 'We have spent two years putting together a rugby development plan for the community, which rightly has to involve the entire club, including women, minis and seniors — that's why we've started a new men's thirds team, which is brilliant news.

'We have had to show we are supplying rugby for everybody.'

Nigel said the club had also raised a significant amount of money independently and everyone involved with Tavistock RFC was hugely appreciative of the generous support it had received.

'The whole project is being RFU-managed by their experts and we are incredibly grateful to them.

'We feel we have done our bit to show we are a responsible rugby club, and we are very proud of the recognition of our work by the RFU,' said Nigel.

'I thought it would probably take us about five years to get everything in place to reach this point, but it's taken two years and that's down to a tremendous amount of hard work by a significant number of very dedicated people.'

Tavistock Rugby Club is now running three senior men's teams, a colts side, ten junior sides and two girls' teams.

Apart from the pitch development project, the clubhouse has been re-painted and now complies with disability legislation.

Nigel said the club had always had close links with schools in the area and these would be maintained and extended in the future.

'We are up for sharing and including everyone in the community. We wouldn't have qualified for this funding through our development plan if we had not been able to show we had everything in place, like disabled facilities and such like.

'Sport should be for sharing, and for everyone — that's what it's all about.'

It is hoped the new facilities at the club will be finished by August next year, when an official opening ceremony will be held jointly with the RFU.

Former England rugby captain and Tavistock player Phil de Glanville, who now works for Sport England, said: 'High quality pitches are crucial for ensuring rugby players have a good experience when playing their sport. Sport England has worked with the RFU who have run an excellent process for identifying which clubs need capital investment into their playing facilities.

'As a former Tavistock rugby club member, I am delighted the RFU have made this award and hope it will help the club to grow the numbers of people playing rugby union, and ensure the sporting experience for those who are already members is as good as it can be.'