A rugby player with a special place in Chosen Hill’s history will captain the club this season.

Rob Panting, who was the club’s first ever registered junior player almost 20 years ago, will lead the men’s flagship team in Regional 2 Severn in 2023/24.

The appointment of a new skipper is significant for any club but this appointment is particularly poignant, with Richard Planchant, who heads the club’s coaching set-up, saying: “The club are very proud of our junior to senior pathway and Rob is a great example of this.”

And back row Panting, now 29, is very proud of the pathway he has been on and very proud to take on the role as captain.

“As anyone who knows me will say, I live and breathe Chosen Hill so to have my name on the board above the bar alongside other recent former captains such as Dan Probin, Tom Gyde and Jonathan Wand means a lot to me,” he said.

Panting has certainly come a long way since first joining the club in the mid-noughties.

“The juniors first formed in around 2004 and I was the first player to officially register,” he said. “My good friend Thomas Darby managed to persuade to me join along with Niall Spencer while we were watching our brothers play football when we were about nine years old.”

And Panting soon showed leadership potential because he was captain of the club’s age group teams once he was around 14.

He was also captain of his school teams and while he was obviously a good leader he was also a good player too.

“I have been in Chosen Hill’s first team since my first year in senior rugby,” he said. “I was lucky enough to begin senior rugby in the back row next to my brother Mike who was a big part of me actually starting to play rugby in the first place.

“I originally began in the front row but after seeing Joe Short having to play in the 2nds every week and following advice from former youth team coach Richard Mellor, I made the move to back row and I have played there ever since.

“Luckily, Joe Short can get a game now!”

Chosen Hill’s first league game is at home to Winscombe on Saturday 2^nd September and the club are looking to improve on last season’s mid-table finish in Regional 2 Severn.

The 12-strong division has five new teams this season – Old Centralians, Drybrook, Royal Wootton Bassett, Swindon and Devizes – and Panting is looking forward to locking horns with them.

“It’s a really tough league this year with plenty of talented local teams,” he said. “Top four would be a good achievement for us and that is possible with our current group of players and coaching staff.”

Panting succeeds second row Dan Probin as captain. Probin is stepping down after six years, but will still play this season and is described by Planchant as “a great bloke”.

Panting was Planchant’s choice as captain and he said: “Rob is the epitome of what we’re trying to do. He’s been at the club for a long time and he’s been our talisman on the pitch. Big moments often come through him.”