The colours of East London RFC took pride of place at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday (13 March) during England’s Six Nations international against France.
With rugby fans not able to watch England at Twickenham or at the East London clubhouse in Memorial Park, West Ham, during the national lockdown, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) came up with a way for clubs to be there in spirit if not in person.
Throughout the Autumn Nations Cup in 2020 and the Six Nations this year, as part of a new #ShowYourShirt campaign, the RFU displayed club shirts to create a visual representation of the community game. Each shirt reminded the England players where they started their rugby careers, that supporters are still cheering them on from home and, perhaps most importantly, underlined to everybody watching on TV of the importance of grassroots rugby and the impact the pandemic is having on our community game.
More than 300 shirts were sent to the home of England Rugby. The maroon and blue of East London was captured briefly during TV match day coverage.
East London chairman Simon Crick said: “Under normal circumstances our clubhouse would be filled with people gathering to watch England on TV. We are sadly not in normal times so it is great that England Rugby wanted to do something to recognise the clubs and volunteers who are working tirelessly during the toughest of times to keep clubs going.”