Former England and British & Irish Lions forward Simon Shaw MBE was guest of honour on Friday (6 May) at East London Rugby Football Club’s annual end of season awards and dinner.

The gala evening staged at the clubhouse in Memorial Park, West Ham, celebrated the efforts of players, volunteers, supporters and sponsors throughout the season with Shaw, who won 71 England caps from 1996 to 2011 and was a member of the 2003 Rugby World Cup winning squad, handing out the trophies.

Players honoured in the 2021/22 season awards were:

• 1st XV Player of the Season – Kevin O’Donoghue
• Vixens’ ladies Player of the Season – Steph Smith
• 2nd XV Player of the Season – Fabio Ogunfowora
• 3rd XV Player of the Season – Roberto Finelli
• 1st XV Most Improved Player – Paul Bortnowski
• Vixens’ ladies Most Improved Player – Sophie Bywater
• 2nd XV Most Improved Player – Zac Tyler
• 3rd XV Most Improved Player – Nick Pocock
• 1st XV Best Newcomer – Frazer Wilson
• Vixens’ ladies Best Newcomer – Marie Schaller
• 2nd XV Best Newcomer – Charlie Dunn
• 3rd XV Best Newcomer – Flavio Rossetti
• Young Player of the Season – Bank Khamtonwong
• Club Person of the Season – Aoife Farrell
• Chair’s Award – Ben Hogan
• Special Recognition (The Birdy Awards) – Katie Gemal and Karim Russell Ketfi

The Special Recognition awards are given to those who have gone above and beyond either on or off the pitch. They will in future be known as The Birdy Awards in honour of former Vice-Chair and club treasurer Deborah Bird who died in January.

Special guest Simon Shaw shared anecdotes from his playing career and also spoke about the Love of the Game project of which he is President. The project is a pioneering study designed to tackle the growing concerns around long-term concussion-related issues in contact and non-contact sport. It is looking to develop technologies to prevent, diagnose and treat head injuries.

East London Club Chair Simon Crick said: “We applaud all the players, volunteers and supporters, and our sponsors who have helped us stage the awards and for their generosity throughout the season. We also thank Simon Shaw for sharing some of his valuable time to be with us. We continue to try to make East London Rugby Club part of a successful sports hub at the Memorial Ground of which the whole community can be proud.”