Ahead of our next home match against Munster, we want to update supporters on the initiatives and projects we have been pushing forward with at the Scarlets.
We have recently appointed Paul Fisher as Scarlets Community Foundation Manager and Paul is working closely with schools, clubs, colleges and various organisations to enhance our engagement in the community.
- As part of the URC Origins round of matches, we are running a minis rugby festival involving 35 grassroots clubs. Those young players will be invited to Parc y Scarlets for the pre-match parade before the Munster clash on February 16. There is still availability to represent your local club at the parade.
- Our club visits, where our senior and academy players take training sessions for minis and junior teams at our community clubs, has been continuing through the season, with more of our squad heading out across the region next month.
- It has been fantastic to see so many schools attend our Captain’s Run training sessions. More than a thousand schoolchildren have attended Parc y Scarlets where they get a chance for an autograph and photo with the players. Our community team have also delivered close to 150 sessions at primary schools.
- A weekly Inclusive Community Club which is open to children with additional needs is being delivered at Coleg Sir Gar every Wednesday. The Foundation is working towards starting similar clubs in Ammanford, Carmarthen, Haverfordwest, and Aberystwyth. Parc y Scarlets also hosted a Deaf / Inclusion event before Christmas.
- There is a Wheelchair Rugby Roadshow planned for April across the three counties.
- The Scarlets Community team are facilitating 30 ‘Fit, Fed, Fun’ camps around the region in socially deprived areas.
- We are hosting our first Walking Rugby Touch festival at Ysgol Dyffryn Amman this evening (Friday, February 9).
- The Foundation has been delighted by the success of our Sporting Memories club – which provides a weekly get-together for members of our community to come in to have a cuppa, quiz and reminisce. We are in discussions to launch further clubs across the region.
In terms of matchdays, we have received a lot of positive feedback from our junior clubs and visitors about the FSG Supporters Arena and the refurbished Tanner Banc bar, which has increased in popularity thanks to the work of a number of our supporter volunteers.
The Scarlets Ambassadors scheme, now in its second season, has also proved a big success, providing information and interaction before games.
We are always looking to improve the quality of spectator experience at the Parc and as a result Scarlets are delighted to appoint Helen Davies as the club’s first volunteer Supporter Liaison Officer.
A fluent Welsh speaker, Helen will become a direct link between the Scarlets supporters and club staff, the point of contact for fans to deliver feedback, ideas for improvement, provide matchday information to travelling fans and help us deliver a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment for all supporters. Helen will also help co-ordinate the club’s away travel and supporter events during the season.
Scarlets COO Phillip Morgan said: “We are delighted to appoint Helen in this role. We regularly conduct supporter surveys to gauge various elements of the matchday experience, but in Helen we will now have a single point of contact where fans can email any feedback or concerns and she will attend our post-match meetings where any issues can be addressed swiftly with each department.
“We are immensely proud of the facilities we have at Parc y Scarlets. We receive a lot of positive feedback from our community clubs and fans, home and away, about the family experience at our indoor FSG Supporters Arena, the Tanner Banc Bar has been a big success pre and post match, while it is great to see so many of our young supporters taking the opportunity to have autographs and selfies with players in the shop and Supporters Arena before the game.
“We have worked hard to improve the food and beverage offering at the stadium and to reduce queuing, but we are always striving to improve what the stadium can offer on match days and want to make Parc y Scarlets as welcoming a venue as we can to all our fans.
“Together with our supporters’ groups, we look forward to working with Helen on a number of exciting initiatives over the coming months.”
Helen said: “Having been a life-long supporter, I am honoured to be taking up this new opportunity. Supporters are a vital part of any club and it’s great that this is being recognised by the Scarlets. We’ve seen from the feedback that our ambassadors receive on matchdays that not only are any issues highlighted, but our supporters have a clear vision on how we can continually improve and I’m excited to share those ideas and help action them.”
Helen can be contacted on [email protected]