I always hate to hear tales of unhelpful web designers but at the same time, it always provides an opportunity for RuckinRugby to come to the rescue. I chose wordpress for this site build as it was the best way I could find to address the ‘hurdle’ of having to allow content in both Finnish and English – not to mention the functionality to allow news stories to be added in either languuage and automatically sent off by email to interpreters for translation … neat.

So – that’s where we started and after a couple of weeks I got some fantastic images, a beautiful logo … and we were really off and running. I love this site and I do hope that we can keep working together and making it work for the guys over in Finland, maybe put their domestic rugby fixtures, results and league tables etc on the site … food for thought.

See the live site here: www.rugby.fi

A year or so later Rob contacted me and asked about a website for the newly formed UAE Rugby Referees’ Society and here we are. Although the UAERRS are not using the classic RuckinRugby CMS (I have chosen to use WordPress on this occasion to mix it up) – our core values are still very apparent in the design and the attention to detail.

I am confident that this website will continue to grow as the society add more and more content for the public to see and in the ‘secure’ area for their members to use. As the dust settles in the Middle East and the rugby community start to get to grips with ‘Gulf Rugby’, the ARU, the UAERA and all the other bits and bobs that are flying around at the moment, I hope that the UAERRS will remain at the very core of it all. After all, they have a saying down at my club about referees: “You can’t have a game without one!”

See the live site here: www.UAERRS.com

Have a great season.

“What began as a rag tag bunch of kids tossing a “funny shaped” ball around on a rough patch of grass and dirt has evolved into a highly competitive program that includes more than 90 high school and middle school boys and girls from the Hyde Leadership Public Charter School in Washington, DC.

Their unique story as one of the first all African American rugby programs in the USA has defied stereotypes and changed perceptions. It is not just playing a game that makes them special, it is more than that. The experiences shared between the rugby players at Hyde, their opponents and the larger community, have helped change minds, hearts and futures…”

Once we were agreed and ready to go, Tal sent me over some photos taken of the boys, the school and the team in action – all taken by an extremely talented local photographer … I was blown away. Usually I get a handful of jpegs that are 50% sky and 50% grass with a few teeny people in the distance that my clients think can be miraculously salvaged and transformed by the wonders of photoshop, but on this occasion I had several hundred images, EVERY single one of which I fell in love with – HELP!! I love this website, and I went above and beyond to get every single inch of it spot on and it is probably still my favourite website from an artistic/design viewpoint.

Hyde are still our only club from over the pond, despite my constant nagging of clubs from Canada to Los Angeles – we shall continue to ‘poke’ in hope.

Thank you Tal and Thank you Hyde for this great project.

You can the website here: hyderugby.com

Meanwhile – I stayed in touch with Martin Hansford, Trev and the trust. Just recently, as a reward for the pro bono projects I have done for the likes of the Nile Crocs and Mbale elephants etc; the TRT decided to let me have a go at their own website – which I have been nagging them about for some time. Result!

As I was in the process of moving RuckinRugby over onto WordPress, I thought this would be a great opportunity to get stuck in and I designed the whole TRT website around a bespoke wordpress theme. I experimented with some new plug-ins, a new navigation tool and a widgetized sidebar, all of which I think have turned out well.

Over the next month we will really hone the nes updating and distribution services built in to this website and I hope to add a full report here once that is all running smoothly. I am aiming to get a really comprehensive approach to the social media channeling but with the absolute minimum of fuss – using things like Ping.fm and Dlvr.it to do the hard work. We will see.

You can see the website live here: TagRugbyTrust.co.uk

Have a look at it and let me know what you think, – I really like it.

Jeddah have a proud history and this is reflected through the design of the website and in the manner in which they keep it. The whole design was themed on their colours and worked around a fantastic, circular image they sent me which features on their home page.

A lot has changed in Gulf Rugby over the last 12 months so I am hoping that the new season will see an opportunity for Jeddah and other clubs in Saudi Arabia to play more rugby and get in shape before the Dubai 7s every December.

You can see their website here: jeddahrfc.com

We created a great website for the Falcons but Laurence wanted to take it up another gear and gave me complete freedom to go as mad as I wanted – so I did. TOA Dubai’s website still stands out in our portfolio as a completely different website. The entire top half of the layout was redesigned, the navigation is bespoke and the vimeo screen is too. The footer was stolen from my Q8 Saracens domain but the TOA image does it more justice I think …. I love this website and I really do hope to attract more 7s clubs that are looking for something more funky and individual like this that will really catch the imagination and make them stand out.

From their website:

“Introducing TOA Dubai (formerly UAE Falcons), the newest most exciting rugby club in Dubai. In Polynesia, TOA means warrior and in keeping with the clubs South Pacific roots, TOA Dubai aims to promote intelligent, enjoyable & winning rugby through Courage, Excellence, Comradeship, Respect

TOA Dubai started as a ladies Team, the UAE Falcons Ladies. In 2009, a men’s squad was created and the Falcons were rebranded TOA Dubai. Instantly recognisable, through their bright blue and pink colours, TOA Dubai quickly made an impact on the UAE and Gulf rugby scene, bringing internationally renowned players on the pitch and offering great scope for development in the region. TOA Men are particularly committed to developing the sport within the Arab community and counts many Arab nationals within their ranks.”

I really hope that the men get more involved this season and I hope I start getting video footage and more images to build the site further.

You can see the website here: toadubai.com

The new season saw Cardiff go from strength to strength, achieving their first ever back to back varsity win over Swansea and a complete makeover for their website, which now looks fantastic! Martyn has spent a great deal of time adding content and pushing for his members to get involved.

RuckinRugby hope to strengthen the website again in time for the 2010/11 season with embedded fixtures, results and player stats courtesy of our new relationship with FixturesLive – watch this space.

You can see their website here: CardiffUniRFC.co.uk

Tiverton are my first club, my home club. I first played for Tivvy in 1978/9 as a hooker I believe and I never went back in the pack again! I played for Tiverton all the way up to Colts before joining the Army and leaving town, but they will always be my real home club. All these years on I am now back home and just a 10 minute walk from the club once again.

RuckinRugby was formed on the back of a pro bono, bespoke, cobbled together website that I did for them back in 2005/6. It worked for a while but then a better offer came along, or at least – the promise of one. This never materialised and halfway through last season, on my return from Dubai – I took up the slack and put up a temporary website to see out the season. We are now getting geared up for 2010/11 with a new coach, a new website – it’s all go and it’s all exciting and I have half an eye on the 3rds bench …. you never know.

Tivvy are a great club and they are MY club – you can see their website here: tivertonrugby.co.uk

The Tauranga colours were never going to be easy on the eyes but we got there and they were absolutely adamant that we were not to touch the logo – so that stayed too – hey, the customer is always right – right? Seriously though, we did a lot of work on the typography on this site to try and make it a little different and probably got more involved with graphic links than we normally do. Tauranga are a great club in a beautiful location and I look forward to working with Mike and the Club for a long time to come.

You can see their website here: taurangasports.com

As anyone who has travelled to India will know, to be addressed as “Uncle” (or “Aunty”) is both common and respectfully affectionate.

At the end of 2008 one of Rugby Uncle’s trustees was visiting India to see for himself the work of the Jungle Crows rugby club in Kolkata. He was struck instantly by the imapct that the club was having with many young and underprivileged people. Many of the participants in the playing sessions were looking not only to improve their play but also to benefit more generally from the community established by the club. It was obvious that relatively small amounts of money could go a long way in creating social benefits for the members of clubs like Jungle Crows.

From his visit, Rugby Uncle was established with trustees in the UK and India. In the UK the emphasis is very much on fund raising; in India, Rugby Uncle looks for suitable projects to support.

Rugby Uncle has been set up to provide support to rugby players in disadvantaged communities. Setting out we are focussed on India as this is where we have first hand experience of the effect of rugby on young people and how it can change lives.

As Rugby Uncle begins its journey we will begin by focussing on two main areas; giving youngsters access to organised rugby and support to players who want to better themselves. Within each area there are many ways Rugby Uncle will look to support players always bearing in mind the rugby ethos of teamwork, understanding, co-operation and respect.

You can see the website here: rugbyuncle.org