Silhillians RUFC

Hello and welcome to the official SNAP Sponsorship profile of Silhillians RUFC.

We're delighted to announce that we’ve now partnered with SNAP Sponsorship and we’re looking for sponsors who are excited about affiliating themselves with a successful grassroots rugby club in Warwickshire. Originally an ‘Old Boys’ school team, we’re now a community club with a long history and big ambitions.

We strive to craft a partnership with our sponsors that meets their specific objectives, whether that be community gifting, social responsibility (CSR), direct sales or brand building.

Whatever your motivation, find out more below. Thank you for visiting our profile. Please be aware that invoices will be sent per annum.

Why Sponsor Us?

In order to survive and to continually improve our facilities for the local community, the club relies on sponsorship from local businesses – and this is where we would like to work alongside you.

Increased brand awareness, raising the profile of your business in our community

Do you want to raise the profile of your business or organisation? Silhillians RUFC is keen to develop new relationships with businesses who can offer beneficial products and services to our local community.

Sponsoring us will raise the profile of your business and benefit you in the following ways: 

• Exposure to hundreds in the local area and players and spectators from visiting teams 
• Publicity in local papers 
• Increased brand awareness on our website and social media accounts
• Satisfaction from giving back to the community 
• You’re supporting a much-needed local amenity which brings enjoyment to many. 

All revenue raised is returned to the club to improve facilities for our players and spectators who are passionate about rugby and Silhillians RUFC.

Engage with our many members and capitalise on our strong social media following

Silhillians RUFC is in the heart of community with links to a sizeable audience base surrounding the club. In addition to our large membership and extensive supporter network, Silhillians RUFC understands the importance and power of the internet and social media. We therefore use our website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to promote our club, fixtures and sponsors to a total following of over 3000 people.

We’re an extremely social club who pride themselves on being warm, friendly and family-orientated. We regularly host events throughout the year and we’d be happy to host a sponsored networking event if desired.

Silhillians RUFC has an array of sponsorship opportunities which can be tailored to meet your objectives. Through sponsorship, our club will promote your company in a wide variety of ways enriching the profile of your business in our community. 

Get involved in grassroots sport and remove economic barriers making sport affordable, accessible and inclusive for all

Sponsorship of a grassroots sport delivers a much higher return on investment than traditional advertising. This is because sponsorship allows your business to become directly involved in activities that are highly valued by local consumers.

Silhillians RUFC is proud of its strong bonds with the community and enjoys supporting and engaging with local initiatives. Consumers are known to form strong positive associations with sponsors who support the development of grassroots sport and also contribute to the local area and by directly supporting us, you’re helping to remove economic barriers — making rugby affordable, accessible and inclusive for all in the community.

Contact us now to find out more and explore what Silhillians RUFC can offer you!

The Club Today

Who are we? Watch our introductory video here.

Silhillians RUFC or ‘The Sils’ as we’re more commonly known, lies at the heart of our community and now has more members than ever before. We have over 400 mini and junior girls and boys from 5-18 years old; a squad of over 50 senior mens players and more than 30 registered ladies playing for our Sirens team.

We are located at the Memorial Ground in Copt Heath near Solihull. Although the site is skirted to the south and east by rural land, it’s only 150 yards from the M42 motorway and the easy access has made Silhillians a popular fixture for touring teams or as a pre-season friendly.

We share our Memorial Clubhouse with the Old Silhillians Association (OSA) – the ‘old boys' club of Solihull School. The building houses a gymnasium, squash courts, changing facilities, a rifle range, a function room, a members' bar and administration offices for the rugby club and OSA.

Our club is governed by The Committee. Members are comprised of stalwarts of the club and current players and within the club it is considered an honour to serve or have served on The Committee.

Although the club is now open to those who are not former pupils of Solihull School, the link between the school and rugby club is still strong and many Old Silhillians represent Silhillians RUFC.

We continue to improve and add to our facilities to keep up with the demand of our members and the wider community and we’re currently crowdfunding to raise much needed funds for refurbishments and to improve disabled access to the pitch and clubhouse, but we also rely heavily on sponsorship for the day-to-day running of the club.

The Sils is a family-orientated and friendly club with strong traditions as a result of our long history and we’re passionate about giving back to our members and our local community.

History of Our Club

The club was formed in 1932 as Solihull Old Boys. They played at Broomfields which was at that time, grazing land. The changing rooms were in Mill Lane with a tin bath and cold water until the outbreak of war. After the war, the club had the great fortune to obtain the wartime decontamination centre at Solihull Hospital for changing with an unlimited supply of hot water.

The headmaster Mr A. R. Thompson, was the first president of the rugby club and attended every meeting from the club's formation through to his retirement in 1947.

From the 1930s until the late 1940s the Cooper family ran the club, while during this time Bill Wigley's snooker room was used for selection.

All of the first XV were called up immediately at the outbreak of war except GE Sanders and CT Coton.

The Club was reformed in 1946 by Alan Bradbury, CT Coton (CTC) and Mel Cooper. Harold Wheatley was the first founder member to become president, while CTC was put on the committee immediately after he left school in 1936 to represent the 'younger element'.

Stuart Sanders and CTC represented the County side while playing for the Sils and the first Easter Tour was in 1953 to Southend Rugby festival. The touring party shared the hotel with Kings Lynn Ladies Hockey Club and this was the only time that wives and girlfriends went on tour.

In 1953, the Sils moved to Dingle Lane and the opening game was between WC Ramsey XV (President elect of the RFU) and an Old Sils and Midlands combined side, watched by a crowd of 3,000.

In 1959, the Birmingham and Warwickshire Old Boys seven-a-side competition was started and for the first time, dinner jackets were worn at the annual dinner.

The Club then moved to their current home at Copt Heath in 1967 and won the Old Boys seven-a-side competition for the first time – beating Old Saltleians 13-5. In the same season, they also beat Cambridge University 8-3, whilst being captained by Old Boy Martin Green. From this time until the mid-1970s they were probably one of the best Old Boys sides in the area.

The club then went through a lean spell and decided to go public in 1982, opening its doors to non-Old Boys of the school and dropping 'Old' from their name.

The Sils gradually improved, culminating in promotion in 1991 to Warwickshire Division under the captaincy of Alan Elliott.

The Sils have enjoyed three more promotions since; in 1994/95 under the captaincy of Nick Savage; 1998/99 captained by Andrew Durrant and in 2000/01 lead by Andrew Clutterbuck. They now play in Midlands 2 West (South).

Undoubtedly the club’s greatest achievement to date was their appearance in the 1999 Tetley's Bitter Vase Final at Twickenham. Unfortunately, we lost 3-19 to Billericay but the experience was one that nobody will ever forget.

As part of our 90th Anniversary Celebrations, we have been funded by the The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with thanks to National Lottery players to create a documentary about the history of Silhillians RUFC. Please watch our videos on the history of our club here.

Aspirations

With membership and crowd attendances rising, we have ambitious plans to continue to develop the infrastructure at the club and grow our teams.

Naturally, we want to support our sponsors and build them in to our club on a strategic level — allowing all of our partners to benefit from our ever-improving facilities, expanding audience and our community involvement.