The Ealing Trailfinders 1871 (ET1871RFC) Executive are pleased to announce that Rodger Hitchcock has been appointed as Chairman, replacing Steve Weekes who stood down in the autumn due to personal reasons.

We welcome Rodger and wish him all success in this new role which strengthens the management team tasked with guiding ET1871RFC to success over the coming years.

Rodger is well known to us having guided three rugby playing sons through the Minis, Youth and into the Men’s Section, alongside his wife Jan who was Chair of the Youth from 2010-2016 and is a Vice President of ETRFC.

Rodger says “Thank you to ET1871RFC for my appointment as Chairman to what I see as an exciting opportunity to be involved in the progression and future development of the Club, with three teams pushing for promotion every season.

We moved to the UK from New Zealand in 2002 and immediately signed the boys up to the Minis Section of ETFRC where we were made very welcome.

Very quickly I got involved with coaching at the Minis’ level and then into the Youth Section, seeing the boys winning leagues and festivals throughout these years, highlights being a coach for the under 13s playing barefoot rugby on the Namibian tour in 2008 and winning the Herts Middlesex under 13 league 1 competition.

I’m proud of the fact the ET1871RFC  1^st team have 5 players that I coached back in the Minis and Youth days, their passion for the club and rugby is one of the reasons I considered this position.”

Rodger’s appointment becomes active with immediate effect.