Abrahams and Maids part company

Star fullback Warren Abrahams rang the Advertiser sports desk this week to exclusively confirm that he will not be playing for Maidenhead RFC next season.

South African Abrahams - who was the stand-out player for Maids last season in their relegation-plagued South West 1 campaign - wanted to put an end to the confusion over his future which has surrounded him since the club’s demotion to Division 2.

He said: “I have just come back from playing for the Emerging Springboks Sevens in Kenya and am now going back to South Africa for two months where I have signed a national one contract.

“I will probably be back in England at end of September. I don’t know where I will be yet, but I won’t be at Maidenhead and I have told them that.”

He added: “Although I had offers from clubs, the RFU told me I can’t play in national leagues over here because I have a working holiday visa and am not allowed to.

“I can play South West 1 or London 1 which is probably what I’ll do, but I definitely will not be coming back to Maidenhead as playing in South West 2 does me no favours for the future. I need a higher standard to play in.”

However, Abrahams had only good things to say about his time at Braywick, saying: “I want people to know that Maidenhead were awesome and I made some very good friends there. They were very good to me and I appreciated all they did.

“I feel honoured to have played for them and am proud that I was selected for the Emerging team as a Maidenhead player.”

Maids coach Ricky Khan, who said of Abrahams: “I wish him well for the future wherever he plays”, was more interested in highlighting the positives which are happening at the Braywick club, especially their first bonding session at the weekend.

Khan said: “It went really well, better than I expected. I was a bit nervous because the club have never done this sort of thing before, but it was a massive hit.

“On Saturday the club paid for the guys to go paintballing which they loved and then we had a barbecue.

“On Sunday it was about game play and strategy ending in a match which, because it coincided with the mini’s barbecue, was watched by a healthy crowd. The match included a veteran, Mark Bates, and four colts, not just the elite squad, so it really brought all sections of the club together.”

Khan added: “It made for a brilliant weekend and afterwards the guys were buzzing.

“Things are really positive at the club at the moment and progressing well.”