ON Tuesday, June 13, Somerset Rugby and England Rugby presented the Honda Volunteer of the Year Awards 2023, hosted at Howards Honda in Taunton.

The Honda Volunteer of the Year Awards is a nationwide initiative that allows anyone involved in rugby to nominate a volunteer at a grassroots rugby club.

To recognise the outstanding contribution that volunteers have made to both their rugby clubs and the wider community, this year’s national awards programme focused on three specific categories:

With over 30 volunteers or groups of volunteers nominated from clubs all over Somerset, the event was a great opportunity to get the rugby family together and celebrate the fantastic work that the volunteers do to facilitate the running of rugby within the county.

Out of these deserving Somerset winners, one is invited to the National Honda Volunteer of the Year Awards at Twickenham in September, where three national winners will be announced.

  • The winner of the Unsung Hero Award was Matt Giles, North Petherton RFC.
  • The winners for Challenging Spirit were Gary Webster and Will Pearn, Frome RFC.
  • The winners of Game for all were Simon Chambers, Dave Copeland, Alex Peters, Sam Trevor and Trevor Wallace from Walcot Warriors & Walcot RFC.

The National Finalist chosen by England Rugby was the team from Walcot Warriors and Walcot RFC.

Walcot Warriors continues to break down barriers to sport by providing mixed ability rugby to members of their local community.

Walcot Warriors is volunteer led and operated, yet they provide a common ground for everyone to get fit, socialise, and compete. 

Matt Nebel, Volunteer Co-ordinator for Somerset Rugby said: "We are delighted that we can celebrate our volunteers through the Honda Volunteer
Recognition Programme, and celebrate the exceptional work done so that others can play
rugby and clubs can continue to be at the heart of their communities.

"The tireless work that the team at Walcot RFC have been doing is fantastic and we wish them all the best of luck at the national awards at Twickenham.”

Somerset Rugby, like all its member clubs, is run by a team of volunteers and are currently looking for volunteers with new ideas and a passion for rugby. To find out how you could make a difference to Somerset Rugby, please email matt.nebel@somersetrfu.co.uk.