Getting to know: Steve Frost

Well-known around the club, as he has filled many roles over the years at Taunton RFC, Steve Frost is currently the Titans’ Team Manager. What better excuse then to get to know Frosty better?

From a Taunton family, Steve’s association with the club began when his work in the forces brought him back to town. His son wanted to start playing junior rugby and Steve thought it would be a good idea if he could be there to help with the logistics. Within a couple of weeks he’d been upgraded from spectator to assisting with the running of the team. This naturally evolved into coaching and sports conditioning with the Rebels junior team alongside Jason Wallace, in so far as his work commitments as Training and Safety Adviser for cadets in schools across the South-West allowed.

Many of you will know that Steve coached that junior team’s forwards and then, in tandem with Julian Graham, oversaw their progress to the Regional title as Under 17s and National semi-finalists in the Under 18s. You might also recognise him for his work when he was Youth Chairman at TRFC and the club’s safeguarding officer. Steve’s prowess in organising led to Tony Yapp asking him to take on the role of Team Manager, a sort of facilitator or Mr Fix-It post but vital in getting the Titans organised and allowing Tony and his team to focus on coaching.

“I enjoy the role,” he says. “It’s not without its challenges but for me the most important word in the job title of Team Manager is ‘Team’. You only get the dream to work when you get the team to work and I’m all about that.” So much of his work goes unseen. Take the start of the season when players have to be registered with the RFU in London before they can represent the club on a Saturday. It means lots of work in the background to ensure that the club abides by league rules – and all of this from someone who is, in his own words, “at the end of the day just a club volunteer.” By the time Steve has listed some of the other tasks that fall to him that a supporter or spectator might not even think of – turning up after his day job to take care of all the administrative duties such as preparing the players’ post-training meals and ensuring that everyone has complied with the latestCovid-19 guidelines – I’m convinced it takes a special character to step up to this mark unpaid.

But what about the Steve Frost you don’t get to see on the touchline at Veritas Park? Steve rose to the rank of Warrant Officer and says, “You’d expect someone who has been in the military for 30-odd years to have leadership and organisational skills.” He’s proud too of being “a great family man” and says that one of the most appealing features of TRFC is that it is a “family club with a welcoming family atmosphere”. Steve was heavily involved in the establishment of Armed Forces Day which happens annually at the club and for which the club has been recognised with awards in Whitehall no less.

Father of a son (currently at university) and a daughter (who has proved that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree by marrying a Royal Marine), Steve is quick to stress that he wants to give his two the best start in life he can. Of his own childhood he recollects growing up as an “English kid in a Welsh village” where his father had been posted in the RAF and, though it was a happy childhood, it meant that young Steve Frost had to work hard to create opportunities for himself. He chose to move away and join the army, with whom he played rugby and he cherishes the core values of respect and service that come with the sport. Along with his wife, Kerry, they took the decision to return to Taunton and his job working with school-age army cadets followed soon after.

In his rare moments of down-time Steve enjoys walking the dog and trying his hand at gardening and DIY tasks – “I do read the instructions these days,” he admits. He and Kerry like to go away for a few days when work commitments for both allow – she is busy enough herself working with the ambulance service. My abiding memory of our conversation will be that he spent the last minute and a half or so of it telling me how lucky he had been to meet and spend his life with Kerry and to bring up a family with her. Which brings us back to Steve’s place in the Taunton RFC family and his philosophy of good family values and teamwork...