Exeter Athletic Rugby Club was formed on the 1st June 2018 by the merger of Exeter based clubs Wessex RFC and Exeter Youth RFC. the newly formed club will be based at Bravelands, Oil Mill Lane, Clyst St.Mary on the outskirts of Exeter. The decision to merge the clubs would be beneficial to both clubs as Wessex RFC only had 2 adult teams and Exeter Youth RFC had youth teams ranging from under 7’s to under 18’s so the merger would offer junior players a pathway to progress from into adult rugby without moving clubs. This is a very exciting time for everyone involved with Exeter Athletic RFC.

We are now leasing our own land at Oil Mill Lane and developing this for the Club. This has involved so far a lot of hard work from our volunteers and we now have superb pitches used by all ages.

Each of our 11 teams has a team administrator and the section now has over 40 coaches. In addition, each team has a person qualified in first aid. Most teams have volunteers who carry out numerous other roles from photography to washing up. None are paid or receive re-imbursement of any kind. Most are parents who support their child’s love of our game. Their reward is seeing their proud son or daughter run out wearing a Chiefs shirt and having fun. Their sons and daughters will remain ardent supporters of the Exeter Chiefs for the rest of their lives and will forge lifelong friendships with their team-mates.

The Club relies heavily on volunteers and this is apparent also for fund raising. The majority of volunteers are passionate about rugby and without them it would be hard to provide what can be viewed as a great opportunity for the youngsters in the community in Exeter and surrounding areas.

We are now the envy of many local clubs since Exeter Youth RFC agreed to with merge with Wessex RFC to form new club Exeter Athletic RFC with the pitches that we have at Oil Mill Lane. Changing rooms, showers and catering facilities are now in place, albeit in porta-cabins and catering van, we now need to target the next step in the new club’s development. The goal for 2018/19 has been to put planning in place to build our own club house. This will be no easy task and a lot of fundraising is now needed to make this a reality.

For more information visit the facebook page here