A Young Farmers Club influencer has urged fellow young farmers nationwide to give online dating with Muddy Matches a fresh look after COVID-19 put paid to the traditional social scene and its usual opportunities to connect with likeminded singles.
23 year old Anna, who has been an active member on the county YFC circuit in Leicestershire, thinks more of her YFC friends should get themselves out there with Muddy Matches now the country dating website has become awash with outdoors-loving 18-25 year-olds seeking to broaden their social horizons in the wake of the pandemic.
National lockdown and local restrictions have ravished YFC social calendars, with opportunities to meet new people limited to virtual chats, online hangouts and the odd socially distanced meet up.
Anna now calls upon her fellow young farmers to rediscover what Muddy Matches, the original home of farmer dating, has to offer when it comes to filling that void.
“I think Muddy Matches is a great place to start” she says. “More members of YFC should sign up even if it’s to connect with other members from different counties for friendship and dating.
“There are no social events going on at the moment due to COVID where you might normally meet someone from a different club. Luckily my 2 closest friends only live 5 minutes down the road from me so we had plenty of social distanced walks and we even had a social distanced BBQ in the field- that was interesting – but I also spent a lot of time with my dog Ruby. We went on lots of walks.”
It was disappointing with the annual young farmers rally being cancelled as that is always a “stressful” but fun time of year! And they always have a great party in a barn with copious amounts of Rodneys.
“With it also getting to dinner dance season that will be missed as they are always a good laugh and a chance to celebrate the year and wake up the next day with the worst hangover ever!
But with the number of under 25s flocking to Muddy Matches having increased 6-fold in the 200 days of lockdown, references to YFC are starting to become a familiar feature in dating profiles.
Muddy Matches has, in the past, has had a bit of reputation for being a little old school with young farmers choosing more conventional, mainstream dating apps.
However, Anna’s experience suggests says differently and the traditional values of Muddy Matches are finding favour.
“I chose Muddy Matches as i was hoping to find someone who shared the same interests as me and you find that the people are a lot more genuine. You don’t come across fake profiles opposed to those on the likes of Tinder.”
“When I’m online dating, it’s always funny when you recognise someone from a local young farmers and you know not to message them. I do favourite the odd person.” Anna tells us.
“On Muddy, 9 times out of 10 they will have some kind of shared interest whether it be farming, horses of even shooting.”
Anna knows her ideal fella would almost certainly be cut from a Tom Hardy mould. “Or Cillian Murphy – but only as Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders” she adds. “But they must have similar interests. My sister once dated someone who turned out to not like the country sports etc and, well, that was an experience when he came to the house to see pheasants hanging outside the back door ??.”