Yorkshire RFU has two Representatives who are elected by the Clubs in the County to sit on the RFU Council. They also participate in Sub-Committees of the RFU which report to the Community Game Board. Keep checking back on a monthly basis as your Reps keep you up to date with relevant matters from the RFU.

May 2020


RFU Council is scheduled to meet on Friday, 12th June and will be followed by the RFU AGM (See below). Community Game Board is scheduled to meet on Thursday, 2nd July but, in all likelihood, an interim meeting will take place following a change in Chairmanship at the AGM


Firstly, both Ted and Jim hope that you and your club and family members are safe and healthy.  As someone said at a recent meeting “The only certainty is uncertainty”.  We hope that you have found recent communications from both the RFU and CB helpful and we would certainly encourage you utilise the information contained in these communications as the best means of finding out what is currently happening and what is planned to happen.
The RFU are in constant contact with DCMS and Sport England, plus Dr. Simon Kemp, RFU Medical Officer, is part of wide ranging group containing Medical Officers across various Sports. Individuals are reporting back to the RFU regularly and information will be released as and when it becomes relevant to our game.
Whilst Lockdown restrictions are beginning to be eased it is likely that team sports, and Rugby in particular, will not be de-restricted until the very end of the process.  Above all it is important that you Stay Safe and operate within guidelines released by the RFU.

Payment of Players – as previously communicated the Declaration relating to player payments in season 19/20 is due to be completed by 30th June 2020. The Declaration MUST be completed even if you club DOES NOT pay players. Failure to complete the Declaration will mean that your Club will NOT be able to access any RFU Benefits in the forthcoming season (20/21).  Given the current economic circumstances this could have far reaching consequences.
In Mid-May over 40 YRFU clubs had not even started the process of completing the Declaration !! Please, please ensure that the Declaration is completed. We would hate to think that clubs cannot access well needed funds because of administrative reasons.
If you require help with the Declaration then please contact either Hamish Pratt (Area 6 Manager) or Andy Fradgley (RDO). To date we have found that difficulties often relate to permissions within GMS which are easily remedied.

RFU Nominations Committee – a number of members of this Committee will end their term of office at the RFU at the end of this season.  We are happy to announce that Ted Atkinson has been interviewed and was put forward to serve on this Committee for the next 3 years.  Congratulations to Ted, we hope the experience is both rewarding and worthwhile.

RFU AGM – for the first time in it’s history the RFU will hold a “Virtual” Annual General Meeting on Friday, 12th June at 17:00. Every club in membership of the RFU should have received an email giving details of the AGM which also included an individual RFU ID and PIN number for the AGM.  These details will have been sent to the Club Secretary details which are recorded on GMS.  You are required to pre-register for the AGM. This will give you access to the papers relating to the AGM and also details of how your Club can vote.  Proxy votes are available and both Jim and Ted are happy to act as your proxy if this is your wish – details of how to arrange the Proxy Vote are included in the on-line details. We hope that as many as possible are able to attend the AGM – a good turnout of clubs in YRFU reflects well on the County.
If your clubs has NOT received details of the AGM then please contact CoSec@rfu.com

Re-Boot/Rugby Re-Start – As you may imagine the RFU is currently planning how we will cope with the re-start of Rugby and a number of possible scenarios are being contemplated.  A variety of groups have been established and we mention a few details below:

·         Future Competitions Structures Group – this Group pre-dates the current lockdown but it’s method of working has been impacted by the current pandemic.  Jim Chapman is part of this group.  The original intention was to consult with the Game on the structures that had been considered.  Obviously this was not possible but the RFU felt it was necessary to hold a series of Webinars to explain and explore the structures that have currently been considered.  Details of these webinars were released in the recent Community Game Update –
o   3rd June – levels 3 and 4
o   4th June – levels 5 and 6
o   8th June – level 7 and below (North)
Each of the sessions will commence at 7:00 p.m. and hopefully, will conclude by 9:00 p.m. As with other Webinars taking place at the moment it is necessary to pre-register and a link for this was provided in the last Community Game Update. This link will take you to the relevant page and it is recommended that you visit and explore some of the supporting materials before attending the webinar.

·         Adult Competitions Advisory Group – has been set up by RFU Governance Committee to explore the organisation of 1st XV league competitions in the light of a) a delay in the start of the season and b) a possible interruption during the season if lockdown is re-imposed.  Again, Jim Chapman is part of this group. The group has met on a number of occasions under the Chairmanship of Terry Burwell (Hants and Chair, Adult Competitions Management Sub-Committee) and has considered both Male and Female Competitions.  It is now compiling a final report which will go to Governance before being release to the Game.
There is also a parallel Group under the Chairmanship of Phil Atwell (Student RFU and Chair, Age Grade and Education Sub-Committee) which has explore competition structures in the School and Age-Grade arena.

·         The RFU has also established further groups looking at the Rugby Re-start landscape. These are mainly centred around re-establishing clubs and details will be published in due course

Community Game Update – this has been established on a twice weekly basis and will contain lots of information that is relevant to the Community Game. It is delivered to Club Secretaries as identified on GMS. We would encourage its wider distribution throughout all relevant club members.  If you have any feedback then please do not hesitate to contact Ted or Jim



Activities in May (Jim Chapman)

Date

05
Area 6 (Cumbria, Northumberland, Durham & Yorkshire) – Response Group
06
Payment of Players Group
Future Competitions Structures Group
07
Community Game Board
12
Community Game Board
14
Adult Competitions Advisory Group
15
RFU Council
19
Area 6 – Response Group
21
Adult Competitions Advisory Group
27
YRFU – Response Group
Future Competitions Structures Group – Webinar Test
28
Adult Competitions Management Sub-Committee
Competitions Development Sub-Committee
Adult Competitions Advisory Group
29
Future Competitions Structures Group



Activities in May (Ted Atkinson)

Date

05
Area 6 (Cumbria, Northumberland, Durham & Yorkshire) – Response Group
06
Nominations Committee
15
RFU Council
20
Nominations Committee
21
Education & Age Grade Sub-Committee
27
YRFU – Response Group

NOTE : all meeting are, at the moment, virtual meetings using either Skype or Zoom

Ted Atkinson & Jim Chapman
May 2020
at