AN Old Otliensians volunteer has been nominated for a regional award which could led to him attending a national ceremony at Twickenham.

Ensians treasurer Gordon Longfellow is up for the Mitsubishi Motors Valued Volunteer award for his services to rugby union.

Longfellow, who has been involved with the club since 1964, had been nominated by his peers and received a letter from Yorkshire RFU last week.

If successful at the regional stage, he would then get invited to a national event, where three volunteers will be chosen as winners and gain the prize of using a Mitsubishi car of choice to drive for one year.

Unfortunately, the supposed regional ceremony was unable to go ahead due to the pandemic, but Longfellow will find out if he has made the national shortlist later this year.

He was surprised when he found out the news and thinks there should have been more people on the list from the club.

Longfellow said: "It is nice to be worthy enough to be nominated. I thought others should have been nominated as well.

"It is one of these award schemes that clubs can nominate as many as they want. There are others that merit a nomination. It was bittersweet.

"It is extremely pleasing that someone has taken their time to put me up for nomination.

"We had a virtual committee meeting and I mentioned that other people deserved a nomination. The boys were reluctant to say who put my name forward."

The Ensians legend doesn't fancy his chances of winning the ultimate prize though.

"I would be extremely surprised given the numbers," he added.

Longfellow is the first to recognise the crucial role volunteers play in every amateur sport.

He also praised the togetherness Otliensians has shown throughout his 50 plus years of service.

He said: "You can't run clubs without volunteers. Part of the trick is to try keep people involved and interested.

"You need to keep that interest alive so they are happy to give their time.

"I have met good people and had some great times (at Ensians).

"In all that time, the club has had a nucleus. There are excellent volunteers and they all get on.

"It is a club where people always reach an agreement in which way we should go. To have that for 54 years continually is quiet something."

Otliensians season came to a premature end last term with them finishing fifth in Yorkshire Three, thanks to the RFU's formula that determined the final standings of the community game.

Longfellow is looking forward to the return of rugby whenever that may be.

He said: "We are waiting for the RFU to give information on what the fixture structure is going to be.

"Are we aiming for the September start as usual? Or is it going to be a bit later?

"Some organisations are looking to start league games after Christmas. It is a bit of a challenge to play rugby under social distancing. We don’t know when it will start."