{"id":53178,"date":"2024-03-08T09:00:04","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T09:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/?p=53178"},"modified":"2024-03-07T10:40:56","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T10:40:56","slug":"crawley-rugby-volunteers-flying-the-flag-at-twickenham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/crawley-rugby-volunteers-flying-the-flag-at-twickenham\/","title":{"rendered":"Crawley rugby volunteers flying the flag at Twickenham"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Flying the flag is often used as a figure of speech, but for Crawley Rugby Football Club it is set to become a reality.<\/p>\n<p>This is because 25 club volunteers have been selected as flag-bearers for England\u2019s Guinness Six Nations clash with Grand Slam hopefuls Ireland this Saturday.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_53185\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53185\" style=\"width: 815px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-53185\" src=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_3282-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Crawley RFC scrum down at Willoughby Fields\" width=\"815\" height=\"611\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_3282-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_3282-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_3282-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_3282-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_3282-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 815px) 100vw, 815px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-53185\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crawley RFC scrum down at Willoughby Fields<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Club Chairman Dan McGurran believes this is recognition for the club\u2019s hard work within their community.<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cWe continue to strive to be the most inclusive club across the whole of Sussex and over the past five years we have been accredited with three national awards for our work as a community club which is all underpinned by our valuable volunteers, players, and supporters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis opportunity is a great way to give something back to the volunteers of the club who do so much and to say thank you to them for all they do with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is a sentiment echoed by Juniors Chairman Michael \u2018Tank\u2019 Wiltshire.<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cI believe the RFU wouldn\u2019t just pick anyone for this opportunity the fact we have been recognised as a club for all our efforts and multiple awards says it all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The most recent of these awards came at the end of 2023, when Crawley were named Community Club of the Year at the nationally recognised Sport and Recreation Alliance\u2019s Community Sport and Recreation awards.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, Crawley were also named as Club of the Year at the Guinness National Rugby Awards.<\/p>\n<p>These accolades came because of the club\u2019s commitment to their community, including the founding of Crawley Jets Wheelchair Rugby Club, supporting adults with learning difficulties to find jobs, and the establishment of youth girl\u2019s teams within the club.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Guinness National Rugby Awards 2019| Crawley Rugby Club win Club of the Year\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CWTpD3qwpmU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Club Captain and former Wales women\u2019s international Dee Croft-Webb described the honour as a very proud day.<\/p>\n<p>She said: \u201cThe club has been a part of my life for 32 years now. The wider family who volunteers week in week out have earned this opportunity to show the rugby community what Crawley brings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Crawley\u2019s men\u2019s first team currently play in the Counties 2 Sussex league, with much of the squad comprised of former youth players.<\/p>\n<p>Flag-bearer and safeguarding officer Lesley Morgan expressed her pride at seeing her two sons rise from the Mini\u2019s section at the club to representing the senior squads.<\/p>\n<p>This seamless transition into senior rugby is something that the women\u2019s set-up will hope to replicate.<\/p>\n<p>For Under 14s coach Nick Hughes, a sense of completion will come with his role as a flag-bearer.<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cLast year my son&#8217;s U14s team were able to train at Twickenham and I had to watch from the stands, so I cannot wait to be on that pitch as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There will be a live viewing of the match in Crawley\u2019s clubhouse to celebrate the occasion, with members and supporters encouraged to use the hashtag #CrawleyRFCatTwickenham to show their support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Flying the flag is often used as a figure of speech, but for Crawley Rugby Football Club it is set to become a reality. This is because 25 club volunteers have been selected as flag-bearers for England\u2019s Guinness Six Nations clash with Grand Slam hopefuls Ireland this Saturday. Club Chairman Dan McGurran believes this is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":53179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[43,3080],"tags":[4922,4921,291,1774,507,1372],"ppma_author":[4692],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v15.9.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Crawley rugby volunteers flying the flag at Twickenham - Sports Gazette<\/title>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/crawley-rugby-volunteers-flying-the-flag-at-twickenham\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Crawley rugby volunteers flying the flag at Twickenham - Sports Gazette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Flying the flag is often used as a figure of speech, but for Crawley Rugby Football Club it is set to become a reality. 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Club Chairman Dan McGurran believes this is [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/crawley-rugby-volunteers-flying-the-flag-at-twickenham\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports Gazette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-08T09:00:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-07T10:40:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/LUC_2254-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@henryollisbrown\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sportsgazette\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"Sports Gazette\",\"description\":\"The sports magazine brought to you by the next generation of sport writers\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/crawley-rugby-volunteers-flying-the-flag-at-twickenham\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/LUC_2254-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Supporters at Crawley Rugby Football Club watch on\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/crawley-rugby-volunteers-flying-the-flag-at-twickenham\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/crawley-rugby-volunteers-flying-the-flag-at-twickenham\/\",\"name\":\"Crawley rugby volunteers flying the flag at Twickenham - Sports Gazette\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/crawley-rugby-volunteers-flying-the-flag-at-twickenham\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-08T09:00:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-07T10:40:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/076265da492a8c2e2ad57055c18045f7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/crawley-rugby-volunteers-flying-the-flag-at-twickenham\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/crawley-rugby-volunteers-flying-the-flag-at-twickenham\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/crawley-rugby-volunteers-flying-the-flag-at-twickenham\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/crawley-rugby-volunteers-flying-the-flag-at-twickenham\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/crawley-rugby-volunteers-flying-the-flag-at-twickenham\/\",\"name\":\"Crawley rugby volunteers flying the flag at Twickenham\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/076265da492a8c2e2ad57055c18045f7\",\"name\":\"Henry Ollis-Brown\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/IMG_1849-Small-96x96.jpeg\",\"caption\":\"Henry Ollis-Brown\"},\"description\":\"Henry is a sports journalist with a passion for rugby and motorsports. 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