IT has been well over a year since Worcester Warriors supporters were last able to get together and enjoy the matchday experience at Sixways.
Fifteen months on, inside the clubhouse at Worcester RFC, fans got together once more in their bid to 'keep the flame alive'.
The Worcester Warriors Supporters Trust was officially formed in August and on Friday evening, held its official launch event.
Chairman Marcus Mulcahy updated members on the steps being made by the Trust to help the process in bringing Warriors back.
"We need to get people together," he said. "We need to have these events in order to support the club. We just want to keep the name alive and keep pushing where we can.
"It's been a challenging time, it's a good job I have time on my hands as it's a full-time job. We are starting to build momentum, we have got reasonable numbers but when we used to have 10/11 thousand people here to watch Warriors, there should be more people out there and that's what we want to do, build the number. The bigger the numbers, the bigger the voice."
Warriors remain in the dark for now. The current owners, Atlas Worcester Warriors, are still yet to complete the deal to buy the club and are into a second extension period to provide the remaining funds, which is just over £1 million.
Chris Holland, the owner of Wasps, currently owns 97% of Atlas, the original company formed by Jim O'Toole and James Sandford.
"We can keep the flame going but we are dependent on who owns the club," added Mulcahy. "We want somebody to come in and buy the club as a whole, with the aim of getting rugby back. We can help them, whoever it is, and we are confident we can help the process to get Warriors back."
One person who felt the loss of Warriors hardest is the former official Supporters Club chairman, Bob Low, who is now one of the board members of the Trust.
"My whole weekly routine has been upset, I have nothing to look forward to at the weekend, my grandson has nothing to look forward to at the weekend, there are groups of people I haven't seen for months so trying to fill that void has been a challenge," he said.
"But the mourning period is over, we have to get our chins up and look forward. Hopefully we can get some momentum but there is so much uncertainty.
"It would be easy to give up but we need to be here, prepare for something on the horizon which I believe there might be.
"We want more people to join us and we are planning some trips to other clubs, filling that space again and finding the love for the game.
"We have to keep hoping that something will happen and if and when it does, we want to be ready to help."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel