Name of project: Nutrition Support for Match Day Practices of an Amateur Rugby League Team

Name and affiliation of recipient: William (Will) Armour, MSc, performance nutrition consultant, University of Bristol

Grassroots partner: Bristol All Golds Rugby League 1st team, Bristol

Date of project: April to August 2025.

Northern born and bred, Will Armour is passionate about increasing the presence and profile of his favourite sport - Rugby League - in the south of England, where the game is less well known. On moving to Bristol in 2024, he started to play for the Bristol All Golds Rugby League team, but knee surgery meant he was unavailable for most of the 2025 season. So, Will, who has a wide range of experience providing nutritional support to both amateur and elite athletes from a variety of sports, decided to apply for a GetPRO Grassroots Sports Nutrition Grant. The grant would allow him to build on his skills as a sports nutritionist and provide benefit to the club whilst injured.

Rugby league is a very physically demanding sport, and studies show that even professional rugby league players struggle to meet their energy demands. Without any nutritional guidance, grassroots players are at risk of underfuelling, which could ultimately hinder performance, impair recovery and increase injury risk. 

Will’s goal, with the help of the grant, was to equip the 30-35 players in Bristol All Golds Rugby League 1st team with the knowledge and strategies to fuel themselves effectively for training and match days for the 2025 season and beyond, fostering long-term positive change within the club.

“When I moved to Bristol, the All Golds team made me feel immediately welcome, so it’s been especially rewarding to give back through this project,” says Will.

Will’s original plan for his project was to begin with three interactive workshops delivered after pre-season training sessions. He planned to build the players’ foundational knowledge by focusing  on fuelling and recovery strategies for training and match days, including meal ideas and interactive Q&As.

To assess outcomes, Will planned to collect players’ diet diaries before, during, and after the pre-season friendly and the final game of the season. He had originally planned to use Nutritics dietary analysis software to then measure the impact of his intervention on players' energy, carbohydrate, fat and protein intake..

Will soon found he needed to adapt his approach. The pre-season friendly was cancelled, so instead he focused on delivering nutrition education sessions after training sessions and gave hands on support to the players on match days.

Will quickly realised the importance of making positive nutritional habits easy and actionable. The rugby players were juggling work alongside their sporting practices, and so convincing them to fill out online diaries proved aspirational. Instead of diet diaries, Will retrospectively gave the players surveys to assess changes in their match day nutrition throughout the project.  

He also provided food and drinks at practice sessions to increase buy-in from players, and he developed practical take-home resources such as pre and post-match checklists. On match days, he supplied players with carbohydrate and electrolyte solutions, which were strategically hung up with the player’s shirts before the game. Then at half time, Will handed out gels, making the nutrition advice he had provided accessible and easy to implement for the players.

Analysis of the player feedback forms and self-reported data showed that 100% of respondents felt more confident making food choices before, during, and after matches. Furthermore, all of the players reported feeling that the nutrition support has positively impacted their performance. And perhaps most significantly, the vast majority said they now adopt good sports nutrition practices: 86% said they now implement a fuelling strategy, such as consuming extra carbohydrates (gels or drinks) during games where possible.

The project insights were shared with the coaches and used to shape nutritional guidelines for the club’s future use, so they could continue to use Will's guidance once the project had finished.

Both players and coaches were positive about the outcomes of the project.

The project and the season ended on a high note in September with a match in London; the Bristol All Golds won their plate final and qualified for the Challenge Cup, giving them the opportunity to play against professional teams next season.

Will's ambition is to put up posters in the changing rooms to remind the players about nutritional strategies for fuelling. He’s also provided nutrition goody bags for the players for the off season.

Will’s experience with the project has also helped with his day job as a performance nutrition consultant at Bristol University, supporting students with sports scholarships. “The students need to balance a student lifestyle with training to be a sportsperson and studying for their degree, and that can be tough. My experience of supporting grassroots players with the grant has helped me to find effective ways to educate the students about nutrition and how this can work for them in real life outside of match days.”

The GetPRO Professional Grassroots Sports Nutrition grant in funded by Danone’s GetPRO Professional programme and hosted in proud partnership with The Nutrition Society. Find out more: https://www.getpro.co.uk/getproprofessional/grassroots-grants.html