Recently, I was lucky enough to sit down With Southport Rugby Clubs' newly appointed Chairman, John Vandermeer, to discuss his thoughts on the boots he has to fill and his vision for the future of the grass roots club.

How did you feel about taking over from the previous two Chairmen who seemed to have transformed the club?

I think when Andrew and Steve [Former Chairmen] asked me to get involved with the club, I was a little apprehensive because I didn't really know all of the people in the club, I knew some of them, obviously, from when I played down there, but then I went down a few times and thought actually, in terms of making a contribution, the step change from Andrew sorting out all the facilities and the step change Steve made from a commercial point of view, lots of sponsors and events, meant it [the club] was actually very viable from a financial point of view.

In terms of one of the things I'd like to work on is improve the link between the juniors and the seniors to see more of the colts coming through and playing in the seniors.

I know we toyed around with paying players, but I think the club, and where it's at, need to develop the team

there are still some things we can add to the club in terms of improving both the facilities and the people playing as well.

You said you were a little apprehensive at the start, a few months on do you feel settled now?

The first few months there weren't that many matches. It's different in regard to being a club as opposed to a business in that you're reliant on volunteers. I know you have some paid members of staff, but you need that. Ultimately, it's down to volunteers and if you have volunteers who are keen and eager then I think the club will go from strength to strength.

I do actually feel now, particularly after the match up in Aspatria, catching the bus there with all the blokes and the bus back, I'm starting to get to know players, the people involved and the parents of some of the players so I'm starting to settle in to it all now.

You mentioned briefly before about how to go forwards, but with a new Head Coach in Darren and off the back of a few wins, do you have any definitive Plans for the future?

I wouldn't like to set goals and targets in terms of 'in two years we'll be at level six and then level five' etc. I think the most important thing is that the club is there for the community so we have lots of kids coming through the age groups and then hopefully those young kids will then come through and play in the senior teams

The more people that play in the senior team, if it's successful, I think success breeds success, so you get more players to come in.
I know at the start of the season it was challenging because Darren [Head Coach] only had a short bit of time with the players and I think his coaching is different to before so it's getting used to that. I think, as evidenced by the last few results, the guys are now starting to gel together and from what I've seen, particularly in that trip up to Aspatria, they're actually bonding together and feeling like a team.