Clubs across Scotland are in the final stages of their pre-season preparations, with the return to league action looming later this month.
It is no different at Dalkeith RFC, who are looking to build on an outstanding 2023/24 campaign that ended with a double celebration at King’s Park.
The club’s 1st XV lost only one match in East League Division 2 – a single-point reverse at Hawick Linden last September – as they stormed to the title.
Off the field, there was further cause to celebrate as club stalwart Stevie Halliday was recognised as Youth Volunteer of the Season at Scottish Rugby’s Community and Recognition Awards, before Dalkeith was named Club of the Year.
The summer has seen new faces join the playing squad, a new addition to the coaching team and good attendance at training.
President Jamie Simpson – a stalwart of the club for almost three decades - explained: “Pre-season has gone really well, with good numbers across the board.
“Senior men’s rugby has seen a number of new players join including players stepping up from the youth section. This season we will have two men’s sides and they will again be led by head coach Jason Hendrie, with support from newly appointed forwards coach Neil Paterson, who has joined from Leith, and club captain Clark Young.”
It is not just the men's teams that are thriving at the Midlothian club. Their women’s side was founded last year and will aim to build on their successes in 2024/25.
They will be coached by Lynsay Halliday and captained by Yvonne McCathie and kick off their pre-season campaign against Kelso on Sunday.
Reflecting on the Club of the Season achievement, Simpson said he was “incredibly proud” of the whole club’s efforts.
He said: “The club has put a lot of work in over the last 10 to 15 years to go from having a small minis section and struggling at youth level, to create a whole pipeline of rugby.
"The award is a reflection of all of the hard work that has gone in over a long period of time by a lot of people at the club.
“It couldn’t have been much better a season for us, and I’m not quite sure how we surpass what we achieved last season.”
Like so many other clubs, player retention and recruitment is an issue for Dalkeith, with the lure of university and job opportunities taking some of their players away from the local area.
But Simpson believes having a good age-group set up has future-proofed the club for years to come.
He continued: “We’ve set up a structure for the long-term. We’ve set up Little Ruggers which offers rugby from the age of two to primary one. That is amazingly helpful because it means kids get into rugby at such a young age.
"The other thing we’ve done is to employ our own development officer, Jason Hendrie, full-time. He works with three high schools in the area and that’s been hugely successful in growing our youth set-up.”
Simpson, who works for the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home when he’s not running the show at Kings Park, also praised the work of Halliday as he claimed the youth volunteer of the year prize.
He said: “I was absolutely delighted when he won the regional award – I was in no doubt he should win the national award.
“Anyone who has heard of Dalkeith rugby club has heard of Stevie. The amount of work he’s put in over a long period of time, as captain or president, has been second-to-none.
“You cannot over-emphasise the impact he has had in getting the club to the place it is in now. He has been instrumental.”
They might have been crowned Scottish Rugby’s club of the season, but there’s no hint of resting on their laurels for Simpson and the Dalkeith committee.
"We’ve got our own five-year development plan, and we‘ve done a lot of work on that over the last year,” he said.
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