Steve Blackburn elected Lancashire Rugby Union President

Steve Blackburn, President of Lancashire Rugby Union

Steve Blackburn, County Representative of Rochdale Rugby Union FC, has been elected as President of Lancashire Rugby Union for 12 months.

Mr Blackburn, who was elected in June, has been involved rugby union for 30 years, being one of very few to be involved with both clubs in Rochdale and Littleborough, where he was chairman for eight years.

He and his family moved to Rochdale when one of his sons played for the club.

He has previously coached all ages at Littleborough, and was chairman of the mini and juniors in Rochdale last year.

He said: “I am loving it so far, it is an absolutely fabulous honour. This award is also an honour for Rochdale RUFC as it is for Rochdale borough.

“I am quite lucky that my wife, Valerie, is as involved. This is as much for her as it is me as she has been there on the way.”

Steve’s wife, Valerie, is currently the Lancashire mini and junior U13 waterfall secretary after 10 years of working as the mini and junior fixture secretary at Rochdale.

Mr Blackburn, an electrical engineer, has also been involved with the Lancashire disciplinary committee for the past 11 years ago, and club and community for 12 years. He is also a RFU leadership accredited mentor.

Rochdale has previously had at least one president, Eddy Deasey, who was bestowed the title in 1991.

As president, Mr Blackburn has already visited some of the 63 rugby union clubs across Lancashire. He has presented volunteer awards and attended a pre-match lunch at Bolton RUFC, presented the Duke of Edinburgh Awards at Eccles RUFC and travelled to France with the U16s from Firwood Waterloo to remember fallen soldiers who were also rugby players in the first world war.