BBC News, North East and Cumbria
A rugby club has made a new international connection after one its balls travelled hundreds of miles before washing up in Denmark.
Rockcliff Rugby Club in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, was contacted by a German family who found the ball while on holiday in Lønstrup, about 470 miles (756km) away.
The club’s chair, Andrew Sugden, said the used training ball had originally been left on Longsands Beach so families could play with it while at the coast.
“Clearly, on this occasion somebody’s chosen to hoof it into the sea, which we’d rather they didn’t do, but it’s made a great story,” he said.
Rockcliff Rugby Club left the ball in a toy bin at Longsands Beach to encourage more people to play the sport.
Two of the club’s young players, Benjamin and Alexander, placed the ball in the bin on 15 June and in just over a month it had travelled hundreds of miles across the North Sea.
It was found by Bernd Terbeek and his son, who spotted it floating in the water when they went fishing.
Mr Terbeek then emailed the club to tell them of his family’s discovery and said they planned to use it to play rugby later that day.
“My son Hauke saw it drifting in the waves and I picked it up,” he said.
“Later on we checked for Whitley Bay Rockcliff and the rugby club and were surprised about the distance the ball had managed to drift across the North Sea, from the British to the Danish coast.”
Mr Terbeek said his family planned to keep the ball as a memento and would continue to check on the club’s activities in the future.
Rockcliffe Rugby Club has about 650 players, including its adult teams, youth teams, and walking rugby teams for senior players.
But Mr Sugden said the club’s main ambition was to continue to get more people involved in the sport.
“You need teams to play against and you constantly need people who just enjoy the sport, whether that be touch rugby or playing rugby,” he said.
“We are always happy to welcome new players or even just people who want to enjoy the atmosphere of rugby club and the game.”
