LITTLEMORE RFC may be about to celebrate their 40th anniversary season, but plans are being put in place to ensure this year marks the rebirth of the club.

Availability and injury hampered last season’s BB&O Premiership campaign and they were expunged after being unable to fulfil at least three league fixtures.

They are now looking to build a larger base of players ahead of their Championship opener against Oxford on September 12, when they will compete in the ninth tier for only the second time in their history.

New head coach Nick Todd has 30 players on the books and is looking to find at least another ten.

Training begins at the club’s base at the Oxford Academy on June 30 and Todd is eager to attract players of all abilities.

He said: “I’m fairly confident in my coaching ability to introduce the game to anyone who has never played.

  • Sport

“Also anyone who is disillusioned at another club, who is nearing the end of their career, and people who get inspired by the World Cup in September are welcome to come and have a go.”

Todd added: “I want, by the end of the season, to have fulfilled all the league fixtures and have given a good account of ourselves.

“Results and league positions will come secondary to getting a squad of 18 out each week.”

Littlemore start their recruitment drive at Oxford City Council’s Flo Fest event in Florence Park on Saturday.

President Tim Stevens said as well as the communities of Littlemore, Blackbird Leys, Rose Hill, Cowley and Sandford, the club would also work closely with Oxford Brookes University.

He added: “Doing it on the back of it being the 40th anniversary will hopefully be a springboard to encouraging more adults to come back and play.

“We are in the middle of extensive housing and we don’t know until we go out if the interest is there.

“We have not been in this position before to know, but hopefully we can enthuse them to play.”

As part of the 40th anniversary celebrations, the club hopes to screen World Cup matches.

Meanwhile, an event will be planned on November 21 to mark 30 years since the erection of the clubhouse.

On April 29 and 30 next year, Littlemore’s 40th season will culminate in a grand finale with an anniversary dinner at the Four Pillars Hotel on Abingdon Road and various rugby events.

The club has also confirmed that Timmy James has stepped down as chairman due to poor health, while Darren Massey replaces Darren Warne as captain.