Jamie Campbell-Baldwin Appointed to the Executive Committee
The Royal Navy Rugby Union is delighted to report that Jamie Campbell-Baldwin has taken over as the Director of Communications(DoC) with immediate effect.
Jamie joins the Union’s Executive having been out of the UK for the last five years, which has included a Bahrain OpTour, a three-year appointment to STRIKFORNATO in Oeiras, Portugal and latterly an OpTour to Japan as part of USN 7th Fleet in Yokosuka.
During this time, he still had time for rugby. He moved from the backs to the second row while playing for Japan’s oldest team, Yokohama Country and Athletic Club. In Portugal he played for a Cascais invitational team as well as attending various tournaments around the country on the Touch-Rugby circuit. In Bahrain he played for the Bahrain Select XV as well as the ‘Golden Oldies’ alongside coaching the Colts. While abroad he leaned in and helped the incumbent DoC staff by producing match reports and articles.
Jamie’s first taste of military rugby was with the Army Colts vs Swansea RFC! Since then, he has played for Ships, Establishments and the Mariners. Suffering an injury in Japan may well put paid to his playing days but in his own words, “he was never really that good anyway!”
He first started with the RNRU in 2015 as a volunteer media type, taking photos, writing match reports including games he played in, and supporting major events such as the visit of the US Eagles to Temeraire for RWC15. At this time, he also got in on the act of escorting the Webb Ellis trophy around Portsmouth. A personal favourite of the rugby calendar for Jamie has always been the opportunity to support the Beach Rugby Tournament in Weymouth. Another highlight was his involvement in the ‘Born in Bridgend, Definitely Made in the Royal Navy’ Gareth’s Story campaign.
In addition to his new role within the RNRU, Jamie is a returning mini-youth coach for Gosport and Fareham RFC and has been recently elected as the Vice-Chair of United Service Portsmouth RFC.
In Jamie’s own words when asked how he intended to deliver on his terms of reference, he said, “The communications side of rugby is hugely important whether it is in support of the Union’s marketing campaign, the collation of records in the form of match reports, articles and images or used to promote and encourage participation across the service from grass-root level to representative at Twickenham. Now that Service Sport is back to pre-COVID conditions, there is more opportunity to focus on all the favourite social media platforms and producing meaningful content for the website.”
He continued, “…but this is not the responsibility of a single person; any help to write articles, draft match reports and take photos would be very well received. Indeed, if an individual discovers something rugby newsworthy with a navy flavour do get in touch at docrnru@navyrugbyunion.co.uk.”
To get involved in Royal Navy Rugby or if you have any queries, please contact info@navyrugbyunion.co.uk.
Images by Alligin Photography, Keith Woodland, Kyoko Obayashi