It gives me great pleasure to announce the arrival of the newest member of the Vale
of Lune RUFC coaching team.
Mark Goodman will be joining the team for the 2024/25 season, I have had the
pleasure of knowing Mark for the last few years, first meeting him when he was in his
role as a Community Rugby Coach for the RFU. As part of his role in the RFU Mark
delivered CPD coaching courses, targeting the increase in player participation
numbers and mentoring club coaches.
Mark also has quite a playing career, he first started his rugby union journey at Fylde
RUFC making 50 first team appearances. Mark’s most notable playing achievements
came when he joined Sedgley Park RUFC where he has played for the last 7
seasons, helping them to be National League 2 North champions 2022-23 and
gaining promotion to National League 1 where they exceeded many people’s
expectations by finishing 9 th in the 2023-24 season.
Mark has also represented Lancashire at senior level 9 times, being part of the team
that that were crowned National County Champions at Twickenham in 2016.
When asked about joining the Vale of Lune for the 2024-25 season Mark said “I think
it is important to work with people who hold the same values as yourself. I have
known Dan Rainford and Dan Williams for a few years now. They are both honest
family men that put the club first and help others. I admire the time, patience, and
effort that they put into making the club a better place. I have developed trust in what
they say…. my gut feeling is that this is the right move for me to make.
I know that last season there was a real emphasis on the environment and culture at
the Vale and I want to continue to drive that forward. Ultimately, we want to make the
club a place where people want to be as much as possible. People want to be here
because they enjoy spending time with their family and friends, they feel cared for off
the pitch and because they want to get better on the pitch. I believe that when this
happens, you will start to see that the results will take care of themselves…. with the
squad we have and the young colts coming through, that is really exciting!
It is a privilege to be asked to coach at a club with the rich history and prestige the
Vale of Lune has, it has a reputation as one of the top clubs in the Lancashire. I do
feel pressure and responsibility to make a positive impact, but I am comfortable with
that. I think it shows that I care, and it’s an exciting new challenge and I can’t wait to
get stuck in when pre-season arrives”
Final bit from me, thanks for taking the time to read this and I for one am really
excited about what Mark will be bringing to the already outstanding coaching team at
the Vale of Lune.

I look forward to seeing you all over the summer and more importantly lets kick the
pants out of pre-season and show the leagues what we are made of COTV!!!
Your Director of Rugby
Dan Rainford.