It’s not often the West Lancashire Freemasons team get together for a rugby match these days, but for a charity match they pulled out all the stops. Their opposition, Typhoons RFC, were looking to finish a successful rugby season with a friendly charity match win.
The match was played at Preston Grasshoppers, who also hosted the last head-to-head charity game these teams had 2 years ago!
West Lancashire Freemasons RFC is a rugby club for Freemasons of West Lancashire. The team use to play fairly regularly, but with numbers low it was decided to reduce matches until appetite for the club grew again. Typhoons RFC are Lancashire’s first inclusive rugby club and welcome people of all abilities, shapes, sizes and sexuality to play rugby and be part of a friendly and supportive team.
Support for the match in general was low but that didn’t stop both sides giving a good show with plenty of hard tackles and speedy tries. The West Lancashire team only had one sub, so some players expecting to play 10 to 20 minutes played the full 80 minutes as they battled on together as a team.
The match ended 49 – 10 to West Lancashire Freemasons RFC, in a determined display of strength, skill and speed, from a group of Freemasons and contacts with a few only meeting for the first time that morning. It’s difficult to single out any players from either team, with many putting in a fantastic shift in their respective roles as part of the team, but some attending were not sure the score line would have been the same if West Lancashire Freemasons had been missing their number 15, M Chinn.
Chorley and Leyland Freemason Kieran Taylor-Bradshaw even scored a try, playing for the first time in 15 years and swapping his previous limited rugby league experience for rugby union on this occasion. A total of £155 was raised by the teams which will go towards local charities.
Following the end of the match, there were discussions of holding another friendly against Typhoons later this year. If the game goes ahead, it would be great to have more people there to support the team or even play if interested. If you are interested in playing you can follow and message the team on Facebook by clicking here.
