The next
meeting of RFU Council is on Friday 14th June, 2019 this will be
followed by the RFU AGM. Both meetings will be at Cowdray Hall which is in
Cavendish Square in London. Community
Game Board will meet on Thursday, June 17th
New CEO – The new CEO, Bill Sweeney took up post
on 9th May. He is currently
in the process of meeting staff and Council Members but, we understand, will be
attending the Volunteer Dinner in Yorkshire on 8th June. I’m sure we’ll
give him a proper Yorkshire welcome and will value the opportunity of getting
to know him.
RFU Cups/County Championship/YRFU Cups – as always the end of season brings
with it the climax to a number of cup competitions both nationally and
locally. Congratulations go to Northallerton and Thornensians who both won through to national RFU Cup Finals.
Sadly, results did not go their way but we are sure they enjoyed their day out
at Twickenham.
Domestically congratulations
go to Sandal, Old Brodleians, Yarnbury
and Knottingley who lifted the
Yorkshire Cup, Shield, Silver Trophy and Bowl respectively. Thanks should also
go to Sheffield, Heath, Wetherby and Leeds Corinthians
who provided their opponents.
Yorkshire U20s once again lifted the Jason Leonard Trophy with a fine win over
Lancashire and whilst the Senior Men’s team also beat the Red Rose they did not
qualify for the Final. Lastly, congratulations to Yorkshire Women who will take on Sussex Women in the Final of the
Gill Burns Cup – at the time of writing the game has yet to be played.
RFU AGM – this takes place on the evening of 14th
June (5:00 p.m.) at Cowdray Hall in Central London. All clubs should have received the Calling Notice
which is, these days, delivered electronically.
Part of this will include the opportunity to cast a Proxy Vote. As usual
if any club wishes to appoint Ted or Jim as their Proxy then please fill in the
appropriate section and either post to Ted/Jim or pass to County Office. We will then arrange to collect and cast your
votes accordingly.
Data Collection – we have been asked recently about
data that is collected and utilised by the RFU. There are two surveys carried
out during the year that provide data on the state of the game. The first of
these is a national Survey carried out by Sport England. This is carried out by
telephone and asks the respondents whether they are involved in any physical
activity. Follow up questions interrogate what sport, how often and for how
long. The data has been collected for a
number of years and now gives a useful picture of trends. Sadly, the major trend is that team sports in
the U.K. are declining with people preferring “individual” activity such as gym
usage, running, cycling etc. This fits
in with societal change where people want activity to fit in with their
personal circumstances, rather than fitting these into the requirements of team
sports. Rather better news is that Rugby is one of only two sports (the other
being basketball) where we are designated as “no change”. All other team sports have been designated as
“in decline”. As clubs, we need to take
heed of this and need to begin to explore how we can adapt to the requirements
of society.
The second
survey is the National Rugby Survey, commonly referred too as the NRS. This takes place twice throughout the year
and is administered by an email containing a link to the survey which is sent
out to all people whose details are recorded on GMS (and have opted to receive
the email). Again, this has been running
for a couple of years so we are now in a position to look at trends which are
emerging through the data. Each County
(CB) receives a breakdown of the data showing how they compare to national
trends. Again, some interesting trends
are beginning to emerge with, again, people calling for a more flexible
approach to the way that our sport is played.
RWC Warm Up Games – tickets are now available for
England’s Rugby World Cup Warm Up games.
11 Aug (Sunday)
|
v Wales
|
Twickenham
|
14:00
|
17 Aug
|
v Wales
|
Cardiff
|
TBA
|
24 Aug
|
v Ireland
|
Twickenham
|
15:00
|
06 Sept (Friday)
|
v Italy
|
St James Park, Newcastle
|
17:45
|
Payment of Players – a reminder that Payment of Players
Declarations need to be completed and submitted via the RFU website prior to 30th
June. This applies to ALL clubs at level 3 (National 1) and below
regardless whether players receive payments or material benefits. Full details
of how to complete and submit the declaration are available on the RFU website
and clubs have already been given details in the Community Game Update (March
2019) which is sent to every club. Failure to complete the Declaration could
result in losing RFU Benefits (e.g. Travel Payments, RFF Loans etc). If you
have any questions regarding the Declaration you should, in the first instance,
contact your local RDO.
Joint Home Nations Community Game
Conference – this took
place at the beginning of May and was led by EY who presented their vision of
the future in 10-15 year’s time. As expected the vision was dominated by the
use of technology and the notion that people will plan their lives in a much
more individual way and will expect the provision of services to meet their
individual needs. The conference then split into groups to consider the impact on
our sport of this vision. In particular the question being asked was “What will
YOUR club look like in the future?”.
There is not space in this blog to begin to share the width of
views that were expressed but the main concerns expressed across the groups
were how we, as clubs and as a Game, can begin to provide a flexible framework
in all our offerings that will continue to provide us with viable clubs
catering for the needs and requirements of the next and future generations. The
clarion call that went out at the end of the conference was the need for EVERY
CB and CLUB to begin to consider what they need to do to provide an answer to
the vision that was presented.
The Conference also considered problems that
surround pitchside behaviour. There is a
common problem throughout all four nations when it comes to people feeling they
could intervene in the running of games and ways that we could begin to modify
this behaviour. The Conference did not
begin to posit any solutions but did begin to look at ways that bad behaviour
could be challenged and also ways the good behaviour could be positively encouraged
and rewarded.
Activities in May
(Jim Chapman)
Date
|
|
01
|
Aire-Wharfe Plate Final Presentation (Roundhegians
RUFC)
|
02
|
RFU Appeal against North League Re-Structure
(adjourned after 15 mins)
Yorkshire Shield Final (Heath v O. Brodleians) (Keighley
RUFC)
|
08 & 09
|
Joint Home Nations CGB Conference
(Twickenham)
Community Game Board (Twickenham)
|
11
|
Yorkshire v Cheshire (Huddersfield YMCA RUFC)
|
12
|
Yorkshire Women v Cumbria Women (Wharfedale RUFC)
|
16
|
South Yorkshire District Meeting (Doncaster Phenix
RUFC)
|
18
|
Lancashire v Yorkshire (Fylde RFC)
|
19
|
Lancashire Women v Yorkshire Women (Leigh RUFC)
|
23
|
RFU Appeal against North League Re-Structure
|
30
|
Conference Call with Ben Lowe (Rugby Growth Manager)
& Paul O’Leary (Competitions Manager)
|
Activities in May
(Ted Atkinson)
Date
|
|
04,05 & 06
|
RFU Cup Finals (Twickenham)
|
07
|
Meeting Re Sevens (York)
|
09
|
Player Pathway Meeting (QEGS, Wakefield)
|
10
|
Volunteer Presentation (Driffield RUFC)
|
11
|
Yorkshire v Cheshire (Huddersfield YMCA RUFC)
|
12
|
Divisional Selection for England U20s Counties
(Derby RUFC)
|
15
|
Education Sub-Committee Meeting
|
18
|
Lancashire v Yorkshire (Fylde RFC)
|
21
|
Developing Player Pathway Meeting (Bridlington RUFC)
|
22
|
Player Development Sub-Committee (Twickenham)
|
24
|
Conference Call with Don Barrel (Academies Manager)
|
Ted Atkinson & Jim Chapman
May 2019
