‘We want to put Fareham Heathens firmly on the map’ – chairman Dave Wheaton on the hard yards put in during lockdown

Club chairman, head coach and player Dave Wheaton has used the spare time brought about by the pandemic to lead the drive to put Heathens 'on the map'.

The club stalwart, 54, and the committee have overseen a number of changes since the club's last senior competitive fixture, which came more than a year ago on February 22, 2020.

Following just five wins in 20 matches, Heathens were relegated from the Hampshire Premier at the end of that season - after the RFU worked out finishing positions using a points-per-game methodology - and they've not had the chance to put right what turned out to be a testing campaign since.

But multi-role man Wheaton has been pleased the club have been able to at least begin a 'reboot' off the pitch.

Heathens have redesigned their logo, are getting new kit for all teams and will use money from a Sport England grant to purchase new training equipment.

Wheaton and other committee members have also been hard at work on giving the clubhouse a revamp.

Initially, the first phase is to brighten up the downstairs changing rooms before moving onto decorate and refurbish the upstairs bar area.

All the work has been done in a bid to make the club a more attractive proposition, with Wheaton hoping all the efforts do not go to waste.

He said: ‘Fareham Heathens had looked a little bit tired, I think is the word to use, so a little bit of organisation because that’s what it is - it’s not me doing all the work - it’s organised and I’ve come into organise it.

'We’re throwing everything at it, so I hope so (bright times ahead).

‘I’ve thrown a lot of time and effort at it, and lots of other members of the committee have also thrown a lot of time, social media increase and advertising.

‘We’ve got more interest from the council and local clubs already coming to Fareham Heathens over the summer which is fantastic.

‘We’re a community rugby club and we want to make sure we can offer a better facility and rugby for the community, and that’s what we’re doing.

‘Every club has its day, now it’s our turn, now we’re coming back. That’s our plan, that’s our enthusiasm and that’s what we’re hoping.

‘In between the lockdowns, when we were able to train, we had quite a lot of players we had coming to the club that we had attracted through successful advertising, so that’s why we’re focusing even more on the advertising for new players.'

Wheaton does not like the idea of players from Fareham looking to play their rugby at neighbouring clubs.

He feels in recent times the club might have been overlooked with people choosing to overlook them and join Gosport & Fareham or Portsmouth instead.

But this big lockdown push has been partly done to make Fareham Heathens an integral part of the community it serves.

Wheaton said: 'I do not like players that live in Fareham playing elsewhere. You need to come to this club, there’s a club on your doorstep.

‘In a nutshell, what we’re looking to do is put Fareham Heathens firmly on the map that people will come and see.

‘People move from club to club, coaches move around, but we’re looking to put this club back on the map.

‘We’ve always been on the side; people have driven past Fareham Heathens and gone, ‘oh, there’s a rugby club there, but I’m going to play at Gosport or Portsmouth,’ but no, we want people to come and play at our ground as opposed to driving past our ground.

‘The whole club is being refurbished from top to bottom.

‘We’re having much-needed maintenance and repairs within the clubhouse.'

Heathens are now counting down the days until they can host some kind of rugby once again.

As part of the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown, the sport can return from March 29 - although contact training is not permitted to include scrum or mauls.

At present, Wheaton says the club are planning to have senior and youth players back at Heathens from the first day the restrictions are eased.

He also revealed - should things go to plan with the rugby return - the club could have a busy summer as they look to host several tournaments to make up for plenty of lost time.

Wheaton said: ‘It’s funny because normally this time of year people are going, ‘what a season that was, I’m battered, I’m bruised, I’ve had enough and can’t wait for the summer.’

‘Now, you’re looking at no-one battered or bruised and they can’t wait to come back.

‘It’s going to be different because we’re not normally expected to be playing the end of May, June, possibly even July - I don’t know, people might still want to stop because it is summer - but the lads are keen to play as long as we possibly can provided we’ve got the numbers.

‘In terms of the seniors, we’re looking to host tournaments ourselves. I’ve been on cluster meetings with the RFU and the Hampshire RFU in discussions with other clubs as to when these could take place.

‘Obviously, when the Government allows us to, and what sort of level the RFU come back with.

‘We’ve got mixed touch on March 29, which is when we can open, and senior rugby training will start on March 30.'