Grassroots Pulse

16/06/2026

If you fancy a bit of decent exposure the Mansfield boys are getting down and dirty with their bucket and sponge. If you’re in the area go and get your motor cleaned and donate to a grassroots rugby club.

Well played lads… great idea. 🙌

YOU ARE NOT GOING TO WANT TO MISS THIS!

Car wash raising money for our ‘70 for 70’ Fund!

Your car will be expertly cleaned, it'll help raise some much needed funds, we are sure you'll have a laugh doing it ...
.. and it will all be done in the best possible taste!

14/06/2026

When finishing 3rd gets you relegated

Macclesfield RUFC finished third in National 2 North this season. A stellar campaign by any measure. Their reward? An administrative reshuffle that left them with a choice between moving to Nat 2 West stretching to Cornwall and Devon - which they told the RFU upfront they could not operate in - or dropping to Regional 1 North West. A level below where their performance and results said they belonged.

They chose to option 2. Not because they failed. Because the system left them no viable alternative.

This isn't an isolated case although slightly different in context . Stewarts & Lloyds RFC finished 9th in Counties 1 East South and found themselves relegated while the club they finished above retained their Level 7 status after being moved south. Worse still, they found out not through official communication but through the grassroots grapevine.

The RFU isn't staffed by villains. Running a national pyramid on a volunteer budget, balancing geography, merit and club sustainability is genuinely hard. But there is something fundamentally broken in a model where excellence can be punished, where finishing top four triggers a geographic tax, and where end of season fate can be decided by a result three leagues away in a different region.

We'd like to know your stories, the ones that dont normally get air time.
Has your club been caught in the crossfire of an administrative league shift?
Has the travel burden impacted your players or volunteers?
Have you seen the recent Halifax RUFC post? If not, go and look it's brilliant.

Full story on the website link in first comment.👇

Which trade-off are you willing to live with?

12/06/2026

Burton Will replace Loughbourough Students in R1, Loughborough Students handed a reprieve from relegation will take the place of Macclesfield and remain in N2 West. This appears to be the only impact on Mid leagues at the minute

Following extensive meetings over the past 10 days, the composition of National Two has been finalised for next season.

Read the full statement below ⤵️

https://nationalleaguerugby.com/national-league-rugby-statement-composition-of-national-2/

12/06/2026

ICYMI… interesting developments in the North leagues emerged yesterday surrounding Macclesfield that will likely ripple into the mids leagues. North Rugby are following the story, if your interested you should follow the page the work that guy does is amazing.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆’𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘀𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻?

Firstly, nothing is officially confirmed yet. However, based on the information currently available and the rumours circulating within the game, this appears to be the most likely outcome following Macclesfield’s placement into Regional 1 North West.

🔹 Loughborough Students would receive a reprieve and move into National League West.

Why? Our assumption is that this would be based on a combination of their league position, points accumulated during the season, and geographical suitability for the division.

🔹 Burton Rugby Club would move from Regional 1 North West into Regional 1 Midlands.

While we’ve loved having Burton in the league, and we know they’ve enjoyed being part of it, the travel demands have placed a significant financial burden on the club. A move into the Midlands division would likely provide some welcome relief and make much more sense geographically.

🔹 Macclesfield would then take Burton’s place in Regional 1 North West.

At North Rugby, we’re not interested in bashing clubs, individuals or governing bodies. Equally, we don’t believe this story is over yet. There are still questions to be answered, lessons to be learned and discussions to be had about how situations like this are handled moving forward.

But our focus remains on what we can control.

Our job is to report on the game, promote the clubs, and champion rugby across the North.

So let’s look ahead.

🏉 North Rugby will make its Sevens debut at RugbyFest on 13th June.
🏉 The Big Match takes place on 27th June.
🏉 Let’s get behind our clubs and continue promoting rugby in the North.

At times it can feel like northern rugby is a forgotten corner of the game, with major decisions landing on clubs without much support or consultation. But as always, we move forward.

The game is bigger than any one decision.

Let’s focus on what comes next, support the clubs that make our game special, and keep flying the flag for rugby in the North.

10/06/2026

Anyone in the Luton area, get along to Stockwood Park on July 7th. An ambitious club with rugger and meat on the menu!!

🔥 NEW COACH. NEW IDEAS. NEW VISION. 🔥

The countdown to the new season starts here.

Join newly appointed Head Coach Ronnie Speakman for an informal BBQ evening at Stockwood Park RFC, London Road, on Tuesday 7th July.

Whether you’re a current player, returning player, thinking about pulling on a shirt for the first time, or want to join a new club, this is your chance to meet the man leading the club into an exciting new era.

🏉 Hear Ronnie’s plans for the season ahead
🌍 Learn from his wealth of coaching experience across two continents
🔥 Discover the standards, ambition and culture he wants to build
🍔 Enjoy a BBQ and catch up with teammates old and new
💬 Ask questions and find out why Ronnie believes Stockwood Park is the only place in town to play rugby

Come and meet the man, the myth, the legend, and see what the future of Stockwood Park Rugby is all about.

📍 Stockwood Park RFC, London Road
📅 7th July
🍔 BBQ • Rugby • Good Company

Luton’s Premier Community Rugby Club

09/06/2026

1️⃣2️⃣0️⃣ nominations in so far
The Midlands Counties Teams of the Year, and volunteer of the year are coming together nicely
Counties 1 and 2 have responded brilliantly, theres already plenty of headaches about who makes the cut. But there are still a few gaps and plenty of time to nominate your clubs players of the year.

But Counties 3 and 4 - we need you.

Levels 9 and 10 are still a bit light... Not because the players aren't there. Because nobody's spoken up for them. Yet!!

Think about your season. The tighthead who carried the scrum on his own for half the campaign. The openside who was smashing boys every week regardless of where the team sat in the table. The volunteer who turned up before anyone else and left after everyone had gone home.

Those people exist at every level of this pyramid. They deserve to be in this conversation. anyone can nominate

Thanks for everyone who has nominate so far...
Nominations close 30 June. Two minutes to complete.
🔗 👇

08/06/2026

🏆 And that's a wrap.

North Midlands RFC clinched the RFU Senior Men's County Championship Division 2 title on the very last game of the very last day of the season, a fitting end to a season that gave us everything.
From Bournville lifting the Regional 1 title back in March to North Midlands holding on in the final breath of the county season, ( I dunno what they put in that chocolate but ive just brought a big box) the 2025-26 campaign across the Midlands has been extraordinary. Thousands of players. Hundreds of stories worth telling.

To every player who booted up this season, thank you. To every coach who stayed late, every volunteer who lined a pitch, every fixture secretary trying to get a suddenly rearranged fixture on a Friday, you are what this game is made of.

Now go and chill a minute. You've earned it. 😄

A few of you clearly can't switch off, sevens season is calling for the complete psychos, social touch has already started, and some clubs have already started pre-season. We see you. We respect you. We also worry about you slightly. 😉

For everyone else - here's what's coming on Grassroots Pulse:
📋 New fixtures lists should be dropping any day, we'll be sharing them the moment they land
🥇Teams of the year (Counties 1, 2, 3 & 4)
🎖️Volunteer of the year
📊 Division by division previews for 2026-27 starting soon

What are you up to this off-season? Pre-season already? Touch rugby? Or sensibly sitting in a beer garden somewhere with a cold one? Drop it in the comments it would be great to hear from the Midlands rugby community. 👇

We'll still be here. If your club has anything going on - recruitment drives, pre-season festivals, end of season parties, charity events, anything at all , let us know and we'll share it on here. This page exists for the whole Midlands rugby community. The more you share, the more we can shine a light on what makes this game special. 🏉

Please like, share, follow if you enjoy any of the stuff i post. It all makes the algorithms sing.

07/06/2026

🏉 North Mids 30 - 28 Northumberland

Congratulations to the North Mids
2025/26 snr men’s cup winners 🏆

What a final, that was epic!

played players 🙌