I had not played sport in a decade. Then I started coming to Crawley RFC.

I am going to be honest about where I was a year ago.

I was 38, about a stone heavier than I wanted to be, working from home most of the week, and spending every Saturday either doing chores or sitting on the sofa watching sport I used to play. I was not depressed, I was not miserable, but I had stopped being a person who did things and started being a person who watched other people do them.

My son had been at Crawley RFC's Minis for a couple of seasons. I was one of those parents on the sidelines who does not really speak to anyone. I would stand with my coffee, watch for an hour, and drive home. I knew some faces. I did not know anyone.

Then one of the coaches said something to the parents on a Saturday morning. He said: the 2nd XV are short of numbers. If any of you have played before, or even if you have not, come along on Tuesday evening and just have a look.

I had played a bit at school, twenty years ago. I thought about it for two weeks. Then I went.

The first session was fine. I was slower than everyone else and completely lost tactically. Nobody made me feel bad about that. There were a couple of other blokes in the same boat. By the third week I had people I was texting about training. By Christmas I was in the squad.

I am not going to pretend I am a brilliant rugby player. I am not. But I am fitter than I have been since my twenties. I have got five or six proper friendships that I did not have this time last year. And Saturday mornings have a point again.

The season starts in September. Pre-season for the senior teams begins the week of 5th July, Tuesdays and Thursdays at Willoughby Fields. If any of this sounds even slightly like it might be you — give it a look.