Dowty Rugby Club have NOT folded.

That’s the message that club secretary Russ Brookes wants to get across to rugby fans in Gloucestershire, even though he admits the club are experiencing some very difficult times.

The one-team club, who play their home games at Longlevens, have not played a match for a couple of months and Brookes told The Local Answer: “Yes, we have withdrawn from the Gloucester Reserve League but we haven’t resigned from the North Gloucester Combination.

“We haven’t officially folded.”

In fact, Brookes, who has been playing for the club for the past decade, still hopes that the club can be revived, although they’ve almost certainly played their last game this season.

“We’re taking what I suppose you could call a gap year,” 37-year-old Brookes added. “We’ve taken the decision not to try to struggle on with the players we’ve got.

“In some ways we’ve been our own worst enemy because if we had the minimum of 10, we’d always try to play the game because we wanted to fulfil the fixture.

“But then we’d get pasted and morale would inevitably suffer.”

It’s got worse this season and for some games they’ve had only five or six players available.

Their last game was a reserve league clash against Tewkesbury 2nds in November and – almost typically – the match had to be abandoned with the score 7-7 after one of the Dowty players broke his hip.

“Our playing base has declined in numbers over the past couple of seasons to the stage where we just can’t get a side out,” said Brookes, who in the past has been captain, vice-captain, players’ rep before “stumbling into the secretary’s role”.

Brookes’ commitment is unquestioned, of course, and he refuses to believe that the club that were founded in 1961 has no future.

“It’s just a case of find a way of getting more numbers,” he said.

But in an age when so many clubs – across all sports – are struggling for players, how will he and the club go about attracting new faces?

“That’s the magic question,” he admitted. “We haven’t got very far with it at the moment. Everyone was burned out before Christmas.

“If we’ve only got six players at the start of next season then that makes it very difficult, but I really don’t want to be part of a decision that calls time on a club that were celebrating their 50th anniversary not so long ago.

“That was in 2011 and it looked like we had a bright future back then.”

And while the future doesn’t look so bright now, Brookes, who can play anywhere in the front five, will certainly be leading from the front as he tries to ensure that Dowty Rugby Club live on, however tough that task may appear to be.

Anyone interested in joining Dowty can email Brookes at brooksey1981@gmail.com