'The future of any club lies with their youth' This is a statement that Eton Manor RFC firmly believes in and why we put such an importance on the smooth running of our Mini and Youth section. Eton Manor has for a long time been fielding youth sides, in fact the first time a youth team played under the Eton Manor name was way back in 1948. Since then the youth section has always flourished and many members of the youth section have gone on to greater things. The current first team includes a number of players that joined the club as boys. Eton Manor can proudly state that a number of other players have gone on to play representative rugby, be it for Essex, Eastern Counties or even higher. We have had players who have been part of the England Schools squads and currently a product of the Eton Manor Youth Section is an integral part of his countries national side. I hope that you will agree that this is quite an achievement and one that we are very proud of and keen to build upon on.


Whilst in the past Eton Manor have been able to field a Colts team, we were unable to offer ‘rugby to all ages' due to the lack of a permanent ground. This was rectified shortly after the purchase of our new facilities in Wanstead and in 1997 with 5 boys and a ball, the mini section was born. Within a short space of time the mini and youth section began to grow and now on a Sunday morning we can have in excess of 130 boys and girls training and enjoying the game that we all love. We now run our own annual mini festival of rugby and have teams from far and wide making enquiries about how they can be included in our festival. Our 2005 festival attracted in excess of 900 young players, quite an achievement for a youth section as young as ours and one that makes us one of the largest festivals in the county.


Family values are something that we are very keen to promote and everyone is encourage to become part of the extended Eton Manor family. We offer a safe environment for children from the age of 6 upwards to come and have fun. Safety is also a major consideration at Eton Manor and for this reason all our coaches are fully qualified and endorsed by the RFU and we have a dedicated Child Protection Officer should there be any welfare concerns.


We welcome new members from all walks of the community male and female and try to offer ‘Rugby for all'


The parents of the players are not forgotten either, they are encouraged to use our superb clubhouse and social events are run for the youth section. This culminates in an end of season May Ball that over the years has proved to be an extremely enjoyable event.


We hope that these few words have given you an insight into the ‘Eton Manor Family' and should you want any further information then please feel free to speak to me, Martin Pearl, on 07973424139 or our Youth Chairman, Terry Burton, on 07710344583 . We look forward to speaking to you hope that this is the start of many years of your child's enjoyment of rugby.