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Joe Bedford - A Rugby Life in Lockdown - Sandals 1stXV Head coach
Justin English6 Sep 2021 - 13:49
Sandal Head Coach talks about life in lockdown
Joe Bedford - Head Coach
When the country went into lockdown in March 2020 and everything including rugby ground to a halt, it was surreal to say the least. By April, the season was cancelled and all the hard work the team had put in to be in second place in the league with four matches left, was wasted. The algorithm meant we finished fourth and we had to get on with it! We remained positive and looked forward to September, but it never came. The squad pulled together to raise funds for the club through a 100-mile charity bike ride in August and £17,000 later things looked positive again. There was talk of the season starting in November, December and so on… but it never did.
Rugby has been a huge part of my life, and to no longer be on the ‘treadmill’ or have the focus of the next match was very strange. From a young age, my life has revolved around rugby and as a professional for eleven years it was twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. It may sound selfish or weird but that’s just how it was, and I am very grateful to my wife and two daughters for their support. When I retired as a professional player in 2013, I joined Sandal as a coach but by the end of pre-season, I was playing again! I missed the buzz, being one of the lads and the competition. I played my last game for Sandal in March 2020. I was thinking, ‘has lockdown brought my playing career to an abrupt end?’
My day job is the Head of Rugby at Woodhouse Grove School where I have coached the 1st XV for five years. I combine this with my role at Sandal which means I sometimes miss Sandal matches or end up coaching two matches in a day. This also stopped and Saturdays seemed very quiet. An opportunity arose to coach the newly formed Yorkshire Rugby Academy Under 18 team in the Premiership Rugby Academy League. Throughout lockdown, I coached them on a Monday or Friday night at Yarnbury RFC from November until May. The Academy was allowed to continue as it was classed as ‘Elite’ sport and this was my saving grace. We had a successful season beating Wasps, Newcastle Falcons and Northampton Saints, displaying the quality of the young players we have in Yorkshire and why the RFU continued to fund it.
During this time, I was also made aware of a role that was coming up for election in March 2021. It was the role of RFU representative for the Yorkshire RFU on the RFU Council. The 96 clubs in Yorkshire vote for who they want to represent them and there are two representatives, as Yorkshire is such a large Constituent Body (CB). I threw my hat in the ring as someone who is still very close to the players, coaches, and match officials on a weekly basis. I felt I could provide a ‘view from the dressing room’ and give back to the game that has given me so much. I was duly elected, and my three-year term began on 1st August 2021. The RFU Council hold the RFU board to account in the best interest of the game as a whole and I am honoured to be able to have a say in how the game is run in the future.
Sandal RUFC has done some tremendous work throughout the last 18 months. As well as the bike ride, the club has facilitated the delivery of 125,000 Covid vaccinations to the community. We have also tried to stay ahead of the game by arranging some senior Ready4Rugby fixtures in October and November and we had over 50 players attend a touch and pass tournament to conclude the 2020-21 season in April. The plan was always to build for the new season, and we started in mid-June, a bit earlier than normal to improve fitness levels and to aid player retention. Hopefully today, we will see the benefits of this, and the players will be excited to be back playing league rugby.
It has been a turbulent 18 months for the whole world, not just the rugby world. I hope we can put that behind us and look forward to a full and rewarding season both on the pitch and in the bar afterwards!
When the country went into lockdown in March 2020 and everything including rugby ground to a halt, it was surreal to say the least. By April, the season was cancelled and all the hard work the team had put in to be in second place in the league with four matches left, was wasted. The algorithm meant we finished fourth and we had to get on with it! We remained positive and looked forward to September, but it never came. The squad pulled together to raise funds for the club through a 100-mile charity bike ride in August and £17,000 later things looked positive again. There was talk of the season starting in November, December and so on… but it never did.
Rugby has been a huge part of my life, and to no longer be on the ‘treadmill’ or have the focus of the next match was very strange. From a young age, my life has revolved around rugby and as a professional for eleven years it was twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. It may sound selfish or weird but that’s just how it was, and I am very grateful to my wife and two daughters for their support. When I retired as a professional player in 2013, I joined Sandal as a coach but by the end of pre-season, I was playing again! I missed the buzz, being one of the lads and the competition. I played my last game for Sandal in March 2020. I was thinking, ‘has lockdown brought my playing career to an abrupt end?’
My day job is the Head of Rugby at Woodhouse Grove School where I have coached the 1st XV for five years. I combine this with my role at Sandal which means I sometimes miss Sandal matches or end up coaching two matches in a day. This also stopped and Saturdays seemed very quiet. An opportunity arose to coach the newly formed Yorkshire Rugby Academy Under 18 team in the Premiership Rugby Academy League. Throughout lockdown, I coached them on a Monday or Friday night at Yarnbury RFC from November until May. The Academy was allowed to continue as it was classed as ‘Elite’ sport and this was my saving grace. We had a successful season beating Wasps, Newcastle Falcons and Northampton Saints, displaying the quality of the young players we have in Yorkshire and why the RFU continued to fund it.
During this time, I was also made aware of a role that was coming up for election in March 2021. It was the role of RFU representative for the Yorkshire RFU on the RFU Council. The 96 clubs in Yorkshire vote for who they want to represent them and there are two representatives, as Yorkshire is such a large Constituent Body (CB). I threw my hat in the ring as someone who is still very close to the players, coaches, and match officials on a weekly basis. I felt I could provide a ‘view from the dressing room’ and give back to the game that has given me so much. I was duly elected, and my three-year term began on 1st August 2021. The RFU Council hold the RFU board to account in the best interest of the game as a whole and I am honoured to be able to have a say in how the game is run in the future.
Sandal RUFC has done some tremendous work throughout the last 18 months. As well as the bike ride, the club has facilitated the delivery of 125,000 Covid vaccinations to the community. We have also tried to stay ahead of the game by arranging some senior Ready4Rugby fixtures in October and November and we had over 50 players attend a touch and pass tournament to conclude the 2020-21 season in April. The plan was always to build for the new season, and we started in mid-June, a bit earlier than normal to improve fitness levels and to aid player retention. Hopefully today, we will see the benefits of this, and the players will be excited to be back playing league rugby.
It has been a turbulent 18 months for the whole world, not just the rugby world. I hope we can put that behind us and look forward to a full and rewarding season both on the pitch and in the bar afterwards!
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