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Bury St Edmunds Rugby Club’s Minis Festival hailed as a big success




A deliberately scaled back version of Bury St Edmunds Rugby Club’s Minis Festival – which still saw close to 900 budding players in action – has been hailed as a big success.

Teams from 11 other clubs – aside from he hosts’ own raft of sides across the under-7s to 12s age groups – were invited to participate in this year’s junior festival extravaganza at the Greene King IPA Haberden on Sunday.

It saw the youngsters put their training skills to the test in front of their families and friends in a non-scored tournament where development and fun were the big winners.

Bury St Edmunds Under-10s line up for our camera during their club’s Minis Festival at the Greene King IPA Haberden. Pictures: Mark Westley
Bury St Edmunds Under-10s line up for our camera during their club’s Minis Festival at the Greene King IPA Haberden. Pictures: Mark Westley

Issues around car parking, which had been a negative from last year’s event, were said to have been ironed out by less clubs being invited and the help from Greene King allowing use of their Cullum Road site to reduce congestion.

Bury’s Minis chairman, Nick Tuffs, said: “I would say it was better than last year.

“Last year we had some problems with the parking at the different locations and we probably had a few too many teams so we turned down quite a few teams from coming to make it a bit more manageable.

Stowmarket Under-10s, like others, had a mixed gender team and coaches
Stowmarket Under-10s, like others, had a mixed gender team and coaches

“We also marshalled people to and from Greene King as it was the second year using their site, and that made it a bit easier as well.”

On the standard of play he witnessed on the pitch, along with Bury’s director of rugby, Jacob Ford, who turned out with the men’s first XV players, he said: “It good and we didn’t have too many injuries either, though we had St John’s Ambulance there to help.”

Bury Under-10s look to halt an attack
Bury Under-10s look to halt an attack
A Bury St Edmunds Under-12s player offloads the ball against Ipswich
A Bury St Edmunds Under-12s player offloads the ball against Ipswich
A Bury St Edmunds Under-10s player runs through to score against Cambridge
A Bury St Edmunds Under-10s player runs through to score against Cambridge
Bury St Edmunds Under-10s players look to halt a Cambridge attack Picture by Mark Westley
Bury St Edmunds Under-10s players look to halt a Cambridge attack Picture by Mark Westley
Bury Under-7s against Stowmarket
Bury Under-7s against Stowmarket

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He said they had good feedback and thanked the club’s volunteers for making the event possible.