# @englandrugbyunis on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DaVqQUnjJuz
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/67561349-englandrugbyunis-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/bcfbb5b441.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-07-03T17:04:13.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** England Rugby Universities (@englandrugbyunis) — https://gondola.cc/englandrugbyunis

## Caption

Vaughan Parry Williams Award 🏆

It is an honour to award the Vaughn Parry Williams Award to Tom Simms, nominated by King’s College London RFC. 👏

Tom’s story is remarkable: after being told in his first year that he would never play rugby again due to injury, he didn’t step away.

Instead, he poured his energy into serving the club and ensuring that those who could play had the best possible environment to do so. As Treasurer, he inherited a club in serious financial difficulty. Through alumni engagement, commercial sponsorship and grant applications, he personally raised over £15,000 in a single season to stabilise the finances and put the club back on a sustainable footing. He then tackled facilities and provision head-on. 

But he didn’t stop there. Recognising that the club needed more than a postcode, he brokered a new partnership with Chiswick Rugby Club and relocated the club’s home, creating genuine community links, supporting mental-health engagement work, and helping grow membership by around a third, with first-year retention reported to have nearly tripled. 

Throughout it all, he has continued to coach twice a week. Across his leadership, he has helped secure over £95,000 of investment, rebuilt systems, grown participation, and raised ambition—not for personal recognition, but to leave the club stronger than he found it.  

Huge congratulations Tom 🙌

#UniRugby #UniversityRugby #StudentRugby

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## Tags

studentrugby, unirugby, universityrugby

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