MARCH Bears are fighting for survival and chairman Barry Feetham has pleaded for more support in a bid to save the town’s rugby club.

Captain Aaron Boxall resigned last week as players’ unavailability spiralled out of control and forfeited fixtures began to stack up.

But with the Bears on the brink of folding, Feetham is determined to rescue a club which has represented March since 1968.

“We’re at an all time low,” he said. “But I’m not prepared to roll over and see this club go without putting up a fight.

“If this club goes it will ruin the diversity of sport in March. There are kids here that want to play rugby and they deserve that opportunity.

“We could lose a club that’s been in the town for almost 45 years. It’s part of March’s history.

“It’s now about having a bit of pride in the town you live and playing sport for them. I’m appealing to people who have been involved in the club before to put something back into it.”

The Bears have only managed to field sides for a handful of games this season, with 114 points conceded in their two heavy league defeats.

Feetham said the club needed more help on and off the pitch at Elm Road Sports Field, with the number of players and volunteers dwindling.

But he insisted that the Bears could still run a successful youth section, especially if the club could link with Neale-Wade Community College.

Feetham said: “The groundwork is in place to run a junior section and we’re starting to get offers from people who want to run it.

“If it means we have to put the first team in a lower league to rebuild, then so be it.”

Hundreds of people, including several generations of the same family, have played for the Bears over the last five decades.

Since forming in 1968 the club has played at several locations in the town, including the former Hereward School and Grounds Avenue Recreation Field.

Its clubhouse has been based in pubs, a band room in the Braza Club and even a potato company canteen.

Anyone interested in playing or volunteering with the Bears should contact Feetham on 07817 490285.