Beckenham RFC 2011-12 - Pre-season Press Release
Beckenham RFC is an ambitious rugby club in the South East London/North Kent Area offering everyone the chance to play rugby. We are one of very few clubs in the country, and certainly the only one in the local area, that can field a team in every RFU category at every age group – Mens, Ladies, Boys and Girls!
We are continuing our policy of investing our resources in providing the very best coaching and player support that we possibly can to continue our ambitious plans for the future.
London 1 South has become an extremely competitive league over the last few seasons and we are delighted that we have been able to compete with the top clubs and will continue our challenge for promotion this season.
Chairman, Paul Skelly confirmed:
“Last season we were right in the mix in the early part of the season, winning our first six games until a devastating run of injuries seriously tested the depth of our squad. It was not until well into the New Year that we fully recovered and we proved our ability when pushing both the eventual first and second place teams to the limit on their home turf.
We really believe that with our youth rugby set-up that we can only continue to improve and with our Academy now in its fourth year, we fully expect to see more of the players involved in the 1st XV squad this season. National league rugby is our aim and we genuinely believe that it is within our grasp. It is our intention to attract, maintain and develop players that want to improve and get the best out of themselves.
Anyone considering coming to Beckenham can rest assured that they will receive high quality coaching and player support at the best facilities around.
We are only able to achieve this with the continued support of our army of volunteers and our many sponsors; in particular our main squad sponsors; Patrick’s Bar of Beckenham, Whitten Timber and David Lloyd Leisure; who have given an incredible amount of support over the last few seasons”
After the run of injuries we had last year we recognised that we need to increase the depth of our squad and with our setup and facilities we believe we can attract and develop players to help us achieve our ambitious targets.
We are delighted that one of last year coaches, Matt Leek, will be joining the playing side this season and with his Premiership and Heineken Cup playing experience, he will be a fantastic addition to our squad.
In order to realise our ambitions we decided to focus on our coaching set-up. Two years ago we appointed Dan Leek as our head coach and he is continuing for this season and we hope for many more seasons to come. Dan has already made plans for pre-season this year and will be presenting these to the players on Saturday 25th June at the Club.
Dan has confirmed the coaching structure for the coming season and in particular the continued services of James Brown and Matt Leek. He confidently stated that this was the best coaching setup at this level and indeed, than at many higher level clubs. Dan is also thrilled that last years’ 1st XV Captain, Luke Aylward would be continuing for this season.

The details of the coaching and support teams are as follows:-
Head Coach - Dan Leek
Dan is continuing in his third season as Head Coach with Beckenham and aims to continue to build on last year’s league position having taken us from second from bottom of the league the season before he joined. Prior to being at Beckenham, Dan was with Wasps for two years before moving on to play for Clonakilty and Munster U21’s, he then captained Staines before spending two years at London Scottish. Dan is a full time Community Rugby Coach with the RFU and we are delighted that he is able to continue to lead our coaching team.
Backs/Attack/Defence Coach - James Brown
James became a valuable member of our coaching staff two years ago and we can confirm he will be continuing this season. A gifted fly-half, James has been capped by England A, England 7’s, England Counties and of course the Barbarians. He has also played over 80 Premiership games and a host of European and domestic cup games for London Irish, Neath, Worcester and Coventry, including winning the Powergen Cup with London Irish in 2002. James, a qualified Level 2 coach, currently plies his trade as a player coach with the ambitious London Scottish club and as well as coaching our backs will be providing video analysis of our games and offering strategic advice to our coaching team.
Assistant Coach – Matt Leek
We are delighted that Matt will be continuing this season and also that he will be joining the ranks on the front line as a player. Matt, a talented fly half has played rugby at the highest level for more than ten years. He first came to prominence when he was capped by England U16’s and U18’s and was quickly snapped up by Saracens. A fine performance for England in the U21 Sanzar tournament in Australia in 2001 brought him to the attention of Wasps where he played a few seasons before moving on to play for Leinster alongside one of the most talented backlines in recent years that included Brian O’Driscoll, Felipe Contepomi , Gordon D’arcy, Denis Hickie and Shane Horgan. In this time Matt picked up a host of Heineken Cup, Premiership and Celtic League appearances including an Ireland 7’s cap.
More recently Matt has been captain of Blackheath until increased work commitments forced his early retirement from top class rugby.
1st Team Manager – Breda Neville
In what will be her sixth season as 1st Team Manager, Breda will continue to ensure that the Coaches and Players have everything they need in support of their preparation for training and games. Breda’s attention to detail is second to none and emphasises that good communication is vital to ensure that everyone is aware exactly what is going on. Also, through her network of contacts built up over the last five seasons as Manager, Breda is able to ensure that we are at the forefront of what is going on in the world of rugby and other clubs are not able to steal a march on us.
2nd Team Manager Ken Hill
Ken, a stalwart of the club, needs no introduction to the Beckenham faithful. A former captain of the club, Ken has previous experience of managing the Super 2’s and can boast several Invicta League titles. Ken is looking forward to working with new 2nd Team Captain, Christian Scade and re-establishing our challenge in the Invicta Leagues.
The above coaching team is supplemented by our rehabilitation and conditioning team lead by Nick Coleman, who will be able to give the very best support and advice to get the squad in the right shape to what promises to be an exciting season here at Beckenham.
Pre-season training for all sections starts on Tuesday 28th June at 7:15 pm. If you need more information about training or playing, please contact 1st Team Manager, Breda Neville – breda.neville@gmail.com or call/text 07946 581185.