Supermarine RFC Donation & Honda UK Guinness World Record

It was brilliant when Honda UK announced a multi-year deal with England Rugby Football Union, earlier this year. So, you can imagine our delight when we had the opportunity to donate rugby balls used in a new Guinness World Record to a local club.

Our Service Manager, Chris Smy, was lucky enough to attend the record-breaking day and to hear all about the commitments that Honda is making to not only the future of the automotive industry but the community as a whole.

"Power of dreams is the Honda slogan for a reason. Being able to suprise our customers and our colleagues with an activity like this is incredible. It's unconventional, but it's also an amazing opportunity - especially becasue so many deserving local clubs are going to benefit from it. Sports and community are import to us, and we're looking forward to continuing our pursuit of both."


It didn't take us long to find the perfect local club, our Workshop Controller, Hagen Schwarz, has a nephew that plays in the youth section at Supermarine RFC and mentioned the brilliant setup of the club.

Supermarine RFC has teams for everyone, from U6's all the way through to Veterans and Ladies, formed over a long history within the community reaching back to 1958 when they were founded. Their history also crosses paths with Honda of the UK Manufacturing (HUM) where Vickers Properties, the company where Supermarine was founded as Vickers Armstrong factory side, sold the land to Honda UK in 1980. This led to Supermarine RFC temporarily playing on land just outside the Honda perimeter fence, when the wonderful story below was captured.

"For 2 years we played on a patch of land outside the Honda perimeter fence, affectionately known as "the rockery". One other drawback was if the ball went over the fence, we had to wait for the security patrol to come along and retrieve it."

Meeting Colin Harris, Supermarine RFC Treasurer, Grants and Sponsorship Officer, and hearing about the wonderful community spirit of the club and the massive emphasis they put on their youth section and grassroots rugby, we knew we had partnered with the right club. This is a club that has the community and youth at the heart of everything they do and fit perfectly with the Honda slogan, The Power of Dreams.

We were lucky enough to get Zac from the Supermarine U14's and Chris Smy, our Service Manager, together to exchange the bag of rugby balls at the home of Supermarine RFC.

Colin Harris of Supermarine RFC commented.

"It seemed fitting that Zac from last year's U14's Youth team should recieve the donation of rugby balls from Fish Brothers Honda. Zac has played rugby at Supermaring RFC since the age of six in the Minis, and is a current Bath RFC Academy player which use the facilities at the club. His Mother, Charlotte Murray, has volunteered as a team coordinator, and the family duo epitomise Supermarine "Bluefamily", giving everyone a chance to fulfil their dreams within a caring environment. With over 200 players in the Mini and Youth sections, the club has seen great progression from the junior teams to the two senior men's and women's teams. We thank Fish Brothers and Honda for their kind donation, and hope Honda's sponsorship of English Rugby gives further inspiration to grass roots rugby."


If you were interested in finding out more information about Supermarine RFC or are interested in joining, then you can find further details via their website, supermarinerfc.rfu.club.