THREE volunteers from Tynedale Rugby Club’s youth section have been nominated for prestigious national awards.

Nick Oliver, Janine White, and Stan Blackburn have been shortlisted as part of England Rugby’s Volunteer Recognition Programme, which recognises the role of community representatives in the sport.

The trio attended a county awards ceremony in Morpeth on Friday, where they received invitations for the national awards evening at Twickenham Stadium in London, in September.

It was a double boost for Stan, who was also named volunteer of the year for Northumberland.

He is a stalwart of the club, serving as both a player and coach over many years.

For the past six seasons, Stan has managed the Tynedale Colts (U18) team, which reached the final of the National Colts Cup last month, finishing runners-up to Maidenhead.

Janine White has supported Tynedale RFC for the past nine seasons in a variety of voluntary roles. She is currently the club’s youth registration officer, registering almost 450 children each year.

Over the years, Janine has been a versatile member of Tynedale’s youth section committee, running the club’s kit shop, looking after the finances for rugby tours, and preparing the club for changes to data protection law.

Janine has volunteered to take on the role of youth chairwoman next season. If elected, she will become the club’s first female youth chair of rugby.

Nick Oliver has been coaching youth rugby at Tynedale for the past two decades. Over the past three seasons he has taken girls rugby to new levels of success.

Tynedale Panthers now have active squads at U13, U15 and U18 level, with several of the girls featuring in county, North of England and national development squads.

Current chairman of youth rugby at Tynedale, Gary Robson, said: “The contribution of Janine, Nick and Stan has been outstanding over many years and it is fantastic to see them all being recognised.”