Village Spirit shown at local Touch Rugby Competition

lakeldmtnguides
Jun 23
3 min read

On the night of 20th June, the newly formed mixed touch rugby team the ‘Brigham Bandits’ joined together for their first competition together up at Cockermouth RUFC. Chance Camp, an organisation known for their fun provision of sporting activities to kids and adults alike, were hosting the ‘Touchdown Beats Bash’ Mixed Touch Rugby competition after the success of the ladies only edition a couple of months ago.

Matt Le Voi of Hill Crescent, former amateur rugby player, and proprietor of Summit Push Fitness (who provide circuits classes on a Monday evening in the village) had earlier this year established an Adult Mixed Tag Rugby ‘play date’ in the village, primarily as a means of scratching an itch to play rugby again after his kid’s recent involvement with rugby league club, Broughton Red Roses. When the competition was announced, Matt pulled together a team of 11 friends and family, many of which reside in the village. Touch Rugby is a simple, yet fast and competitive style of rugby. Only a small portion of the Bandits had played rugby before, but all enjoyed an active lifestyle, and a fun outlook on life. The team managed 4 pre-tournament training sessions, during which huge developments were made, and the extent of this was seen immediately at the competition.

Many of the teams at the competition were affiliated to rugby clubs, with some teams essentially being young rugby squads. The first match for the Bandits was against a Muay Thai gym, who brought great physical presence to the pitch. An early try from the Bandits eased the nerves. The game had a superb ‘back and forth’ nature to it, and the Bandits came out on top with a win.

This win was to be the only win on the night, but the subsequent games were all close contests, with the team losing by just 1 point in 2 of the remaining 4 matches. Every game saw moments of individual brilliance. Daring runs, great passes, and try saving touches. Every single member of the Bandits ran themselves ragged, often against teams with far more technical skill, and far fewer years in their legs. It’s estimated that the average age of the last team the Bandits played was at least 15 years their junior. To lose by one point to a team of young folks who can turn on the head of a nail really could be considered a win for the Bandits. Overall, the team came 7th out of 12 teams.

Matt’s desire for this ‘fun loving team’ was to have fun on the night and walk away from the competition knowing they’d achieved that. The team got together on Saturday night at the Le Voi household on Hill Crescent to celebrate and reminisce the experience, during which a small tongue-in-cheek awards ceremony was conducted for categories such as ‘Player’s Player’, ‘Most Improved’ and ‘Top Try Scorer’.

The Bandits will more than likely be entering themselves into the next Chance Camp Competition, and in due course Matt will post up some more ‘play date’ sessions up on the school field for anyone to come and have a go. You can WhatsApp Matt on 07557022362 to get added to a group in order to receive updates.

The Brigham Bandits team of 2025 are:

Matt Le Voi (of Hill Crescent) [Top Try Scorer]

Naomi Le Voi (of Hill Crescent) [Most Improved]

Paddy Gorrill (of High Brigham)

Nicola Gorrill (of High Brigham)

Emma Williams (of Butterfields) [Most Over-Competitive]

Tim Gleed (of Butterfields)

Jai Bridgewater (Of St Bridget’s Close) [Champagne Moment]

International Players include:

Kyle Fulton (of Broughton Moor) [Most Valued Player]

Owen Le Voi (Of Lowca) [Player’s Player]

Hannah Le Voi (of Lowca)