CS Stags 1863 – November 2025 Newsletter

• The season so far – nearly half way in!

Hello everyone, I hope this finds you and yours all well, as we creep up to Christmas and the New Year, and the half way mark of the season! The club continues to do well, with some mixed results (mostly successes) on the field, and with your support and goodwill, we are looking forward to a strong second half of season.

We are now just about to play ‘game week 10’ of the 2025-26 season this coming Saturday, and the club 1st XV finds itself in the Regional 1, South Central League (level 5), with a 5 wins / 4 losses record, a healthy +129 points count, 5 try bonus points, 3 losing bonus points, and standing 5th in the league table out of 12 teams, with 28 points on the board. Since the last newsletter in October, we have picked up further wins and try bonus points against Camberley and Wimbledon, and narrow losing bonus points to Bracknell and Jersey. Our biggest loss so far came this previous Saturday, going down 42-14 away to London Scottish Lions, and not being helped by a red card for an alleged tip tackle after just thirty minutes of play.

The Staghounds club 2nd XV have made fairly decent progress in the new reserve league set up and organised by Surrey Rugby, and involves some higher level club 2nd XV’s. After seven matches, they have won 3, lost 3, and drawn 1 – lying 7th in the table. 3 try bonus point, and a losing bonus point make up the stats, along with a +/- points count of -7. A further good victory against Blackheath Heathens (2nd XV) and a narrow loss to Barnes (2nd XV) have been the highlights since the last newsletter. So, a good showing so far, and the team are holding their heads high in a tough league. Chinnor, a Championship side, have now withdrawn from this league, so please note that with regards to the printed fixture schedule. Lastly, we wish all our current injured players well, and a swift and full recovery, with special mentions to Alex Jones and Ikenna Obonna, who both suffered harsh injuries within ten minutes of each other against Tunbridge Wells earlier this season.

• The season ahead – an exciting second half to come!

With December just a few days away, we have lots to look forward to in the run up to the Christmas period. Next up is a home fixture against Worthing this Saturday, a team that came down from National 2 (Level 4) at the end of last season. Then it’s Farnham away on 6th December, a newly promoted team to Level 5, and following that is our designated “Vets Day” fixture on Saturday December 13th, when we host our fellow south Londoners, Old Alleynians, at home. Please take note of the attached poster for this day, and it would be great to see as many of you as possible on the day, to enjoy good company and rugby fellowship, and hopefully a cracking game. Get your names down for pre-match lunch as early as possible! Our final pre-Christmas game is away to Tunbridge Wells on Saturday 20th December, which promises to be a good game, given their rejuvenated form this season that sees them lying in second place, just ten points clear of CS Stags.

• Six Nations 2026 tickets for England home games – all at the Allianz Stadium Twickenham (with some away tickets also available).
Thanks to all those who responded to, purchased, and enjoyed the Autumn International tickets the club were allocated by the RFU. We now have received the first few tranches of our Six Nations allocations for the England home matches, so please get your requests to me soonest. Only a couple of months to go!
For the Six Nations England home matches at Twickenham, starting in February 2026, we have availability for the following: England v Wales Saturday 07 February 2026 - 16.40 kick off, plus England v Ireland Saturday 21 February 2026 - 14.10 kick off. We have just a few away tickets if interested – two tickets each for the England away match against Scotland at Murrayfield, Saturday 14 February 2026, kick off 16.40, and four tickets for the away match against France at Stade de France, Saturday 14 March 2026, kick off 20.10.

• Save the dates!
Vets Day: Saturday 13th December, when the 1st XV play Old Alleynians at home. The 2nd XV Staghounds have a bye that day, and this will be our last home game before Christmas. Please confirm your availability with either Nick Alway or myself. Members & Sponsors Day: The committee have designated a joint members and sponsors day for the last home game of this season – Saturday 28th March 2026, when the 1st XV play Farnham. Please save these dates, and confirm availability!

• Volunteers!
The club are always looking to encourage extra personnel to volunteer and assist in a variety of roles and essential tasks. Regardless of whether you are Civil Service or CS Stags 1863 vet of a more recent (or even relatively distant) era, or even if you have no current connection to the club at present, we would welcome you to participate should you be able to spare a small amount of time and commitment. There are various roles and tasks available in coaching, team assistants, admin, media presentation, RFU liaison etc., and this would not only help the club greatly, but also hopefully offer satisfaction and a sense of team benefit to the holder. Please put your hand up, or let the committee members know if you are interested. Thank you.

• Membership:
Thank you to everyone who paid in or renewed a playing or non-playing membership, or have sponsored the club in any format. Your support is greatly appreciated. For those of you undecided, here are the membership options again:

Membership options:
Playing -
- Annual £250 either straight into the club account or via this link - https://buy.stripe.com/7sY5kDa5na9g1oPfoG5os0c
- Quarterly £60 upfront £55 per quarter via this link - https://buy.stripe.com/28EdR92CV1CK2sT4K25os0b
- Monthly £60 up front £20 a month, via this link - https://buy.stripe.com/4gMeVddhza9gaZpfoG5os0a
- Players Sponsorship - £350 either straight into the club account (in group bio) or via this link - https://buy.stripe.com/cNidR9a5n8189VlfoG5os0d
If you have an existing direct debit set up from last year, please cancel it, otherwise it'll keep charging.

Non-Playing -
- Affiliate Membership - £120 into the club account or £15 a month via the link - https://buy.stripe.com/dRm6oHcdv8185F5gsK5os0g
- Social Membership - £300 into the account or £30 a month via the link - https://buy.stripe.com/28E00jb9r2GO6J9ekC5os0f
- Full Membership - £1,000 into the account or £100 a month via the link - https://buy.stripe.com/6oU28rgtL818d7xccu5os0e

Club bank details included here, should you wish to do this direct electronically, rather than through the Stripe link on the Pitchero CS Stags 1863 club web site:

CS RUGBY 1863 / 56-00-33 / 48028053