Fullerians chairman Kevin Brind is targeting promotion to the National League in the next three years.

Rich Hoskins’ men finished in ninth place in the London One North Division last campaign with 64 points, but their season would end in disappointment, having missed out on a chance of winning the Herts Presidents Cup after they were narrowly beaten by Bishops Stortford Blues in the final.

But with renovation work to their clubhouse being given the green light, Fullerians have lofty ambitions for the future both on and off the pitch, with club chairman Brind targeting promotion in the coming seasons.

He said: “First of all, we want to keep the senior side in the London North One Division. I’d love to maybe progress to the National Leagues in the future. We are only one promotion away from the National League so that’s one thing. In the short term, I’d like us to cement our place in the London North One and in the next three years, let’s see if we can push for the National Leagues.

“I’d also like to develop the ladies game. We are the fastest growing ladies game in England. That doesn’t just include adults, but girls from Under-13s upwards.

“Our minis and junior sections have always been massive. We’ve always prided ourselves on our junior section to fill our senior section. A lot of clubs lose players but of our first team, of the 18 we put out every week, I would say over half are from our minis and juniors, which is quite sweet.

“We got 64 points last season and 48 the year before, so let’s aim for 70 points this season. We finished in ninth and that six points could have propelled us up to sixth or seventh, so 70 points is what we are aiming for this season.”

Off the pitch, it promises to be a busy off-season for Fullerians, with their clubhouse set to undergo a makeover after long-awaited renovation work was given the green light.

The work will see the clubhouse extended by eight metres to accommodate a total of six changing rooms and an officials’ and medical room. There will also be a bigger social area which will be used for rugby and community events.

The renovations will be completed by the start of the new season and Brind is delighted the work will allow community members to use the facility.

He said: “This has been almost 10 years in the making with fund-raising, grant applications, planning and going out to tender. We have an excellent membership who support the club and a wonderful hard-working committee who keep the club running for all to enjoy.

“Baroness Dorothy Thornhill and Watford Council have been brilliant and supported us financially but also helped with the planning process. Other than our own funds, £50,000 grants were obtained from Sport England and the RFU to make up the £400,000 renovations. I was at a site meeting yesterday and almost half the roof is up now and it looks fantastic.

“Previously, it was just a rugby club and that’s all we could do. Now we’re getting other sport users and that now opens the area up to other community users. Now we’ve got separate showers, we can have males and females playing at the same time. It opens up that avenue of having more sports playing on those pitches and using the social area for other functions. The most important thing was that we got more changing rooms and more multi-use.”