Page 14 - All Shapes & Zebras From Treorchy
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Clubhouses, Changing Rooms and Committees
The club - including the clubhouse, with its club men and women, various committees, and sacred changing rooms - there’s much to dissect here.
If rugby clubs were a physical being, the clubhouse would be its beating heart. Within it, its swinging doors are the ventricles and various rooms the atria. If walls could talk... well... they’d tell a thousand stories of Saturday nights and early Sunday mornings. The good, the bad and the ugly.
They vary up and down the land, ranging from traditional pubs to bistro bars, pavilions to working men’s clubs. In terms of turnover too, some clubhouses have to beg, steal and borrow just to keep the electricity meter ticking over, whereas others turn over tens of thousands of pounds per month.
But, the real, genuine clubhouses are special places. They’re all individual but, then again, they all seem the same. High vaulted ceilings are a common feature – along with cabinets full of old jerseys, ties, club plaques, caps and cups. A plethora of team pictures from bygone ages line the walls and, if a club is lucky enough, there may be a few men or women in their international colours gazing down into the room, smiling proudly from their photos.
12 ALL SHAPES & ZEBRAS FROM TREORCHY