Members of the Rockcliff Rugby Club in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside do a great deal to promote rugby union but received very surprising news from Denmark. In June of this year, as part of a p.r. exercise, they arranged for two of their younger members, Benjamin and Alexander to add a number of used training balls to a toy chest at Longsands Beach. Each ball had the slogan ‘Have fun playing Rugby’ and the name of the club written on the side and the hope was that other youngsters would start playing with them. Rugby club ball touches down in Denmark after a miskick Clearly someone wasn’t too accurate during their rugby practice as can be attested to by a German family who caught the ball whilst fishing off the coast of Lønstrup in Denmark just a month later. According to the father of the family, Bernd Terbeek, his son Hauke saw it drifting in the waves, so Bernd decided to retrieve it. Having read the slogan on the ball, he was amazed and considered it interesting enough to contact the Rockcliff club by email to let them know that the ball had been discovered after a journey of around 750km away from Whitley Bay. Rugby club ball touches down in Denmark and was claimed by German family It was agreed that the finders would keep the ball as an interesting souvenir although they have promised to play a game with it before preserving it for good. Speaking to the BBC, The club’s chair, Andrew Sugden, said: “You need teams to play against and you constantly need people who just enjoy the sport, whether that be touch rugby or playing rugby. “We are always happy to welcome new players or even just people who want to enjoy the atmosphere of rugby club and the game.” With some 650 members, Rockcliff Rugby Club is thriving, but now has its own supporters club in Germany.