August 2018

The next meeting of RFU Council is Friday, October 5^th. Community Game Board met at Twickenham in Wednesday, 29^th August, with the next meeting planned for Thursday, 18^th October.

RFU Staff Consultation  - As many will be aware it has been a busy time at the RFU as the Staff Re-Structure has almost finished. In terms of YRFU we had to lose one of our RDOs.  This was achieved when Gregg Bayliss (Central District) took voluntary redundancy. The aftermath of this was to re-organize the clubs that Gregg had previously serviced and those clubs previously in Central District should be aware of who there RDO is.

The situation was then further compounded when Mike Barnett left his role as Area Development Manager to become National Age Grade Manager. I’m sure we all wish him well in his new role.

This meant a vacancy which was, we are happy to announce, filled by Hamish Pratt who moved from Yorkshire West to become the Area Manager.  Congratulations go to Hamish, we wish him every success as Area Manager and look forward to working with him. The vacancy left behind in Yorkshire West has yet to be filled.

A new post of Regional Competitions Development Officer was created under the re-structure and the Northern post has been appointed with Matt Bryan taking up this position.  Matt is currently RDO for Durham which leaves another vacancy to be filled in the near future.  Again, we wish Matt all the best in his new post.

There has also been some movement in CRCs and your RDO will provide you with details of the CRCs who will cover your club.

Nationally, there have also been plenty of movement. Once the restructure has been finalised Twickenham will issue a new contact list, so that clubs will be able to find the correct person at Twickenham for any queries that you may have. 

England Women vs Canada Women – as part of an attempt to bring the game out to regions the Women’s November Quilter International fixtures were recently announced. As I’m sure you have seen England Women will play Canada Women at Doncaster RFC on Sunday, 18^th November, kicking off at 2:00 p.m.  Tickets are available from drfc.co.uk and we would urge you to visit and buy a ticket for the fixture. With plenty of interest I’m sure the RFU will look to arrange further fixtures at grounds in our area.

Activities in August (Jim Chapman)

Date
03	Meeting with Steve Grainger (Wetherby)
06	YRFU Committee (Pontefract RUFC)
14	Meeting with Rob Briers (Chairman, CGB) (Birch Services, M62)
15	Yorkshire Competitions S-C (County Office)
20	Adult Competitions Development Sub-Committee (Twickenham)
28	North DOC (Skipton RUFC)
29	Community Game Board (Twickenham)

Activities in August (Ted Atkinson)

Date
03	Meeting with Steve Grainger (Wetherby)
06	YRFU Committee (Pontefract RUFC)
17	Conference Call ref. England Counties
21	Conference Call ref. England Counties & Counties U20

Ted Atkinson & Jim Chapman

August 2018

July 2018

The next meeting of Council is Friday, October 5^th. This is preceded by Community Game Board will meet at Twickenham in Wednesday, 29^th August.

RFU Business Planning/Staff Consultation – as many of you will have read in the Press the RFU has been active in refining the Business Plan for 2018/19 and beyond.  This has also included a staff consultation exercise which resulted in a number of redundancies throughout the RFU Workforce. This blog is publicly available and is NOT the place for any expansion on the above remarks. Both Ted and Jim will attend as many District Meetings as possible over the coming months and will provide a fuller picture and background to the current financial situation at Twickenham.

In fact, at the time of writing, we are unable to provide a full picture of the situation as it is still developing. We have a meeting with Steve Grainger at the beginning of August which will give us a fuller picture and we will report on this meeting to both the County Committee (which meets on 6^th August) and District Committees. Much of the information to date is confidential and, particularly where it relates to individuals, cannot be released.

Suffice to say, some of the information that has appeared in the Press is inaccurate and, whilst there may be some truth in it, is often based on supposition. Sadly, we still have a problem at Twickenham where information is being leaked to the Press, often with a bias!

NW Leagues – again, many of you will have read about dissatisfaction amongst some Lancashire clubs regarding league structures in the North West. This has centred around concerns over travelling to Cumbria and led to a number of Lancashire clubs resigning from the RFU Leagues and establishing their own (independent) leagues.  The resulting league structure meant that some Cheshire clubs were faced with the prospect of making long journeys to fulfil fixtures in Cumbria. This led to a number of appeals by clubs across the North West.  The outcome of this was a meeting held in Lancaster and chaired by Jim Chapman to attempt to find a solution to the problem for season 18/19.

The meeting resulted in Cumbrian clubs agreeing to a Cumbria only structure at level 7 and 8 for one season whilst the RFU (and Competitions Development Sub-Committee, chaired by Jim Chapman in particular) examined the league structure at level 7 (equivalent to Yorkshire 1) and below. The ultimate aim is to provide a structure that suits all clubs across the whole of the North Divisional Organising Committee (North DOC) area. There will be consultation across the whole of the North DOC which will include Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland in addition to Cumbria, Lancashire and Cheshire. Further details will follow, and all clubs will have the opportunity to input into the consultation.

Activities in July (Jim Chapman)

Date
06	Graham Siswick, Funeral (Wetherby/Harrogate RFC)
09	YRFU Committee (Pontefract RUFC)
12	Meeting with Paul O’Leary (Central London) Morag Kelly Memorial Service (wife of President Elect Chris Kelly, Picadilly, London)
17	Meeting with Ben Lowe/Paul O’Leary (Twickenham)
18	Meeting ref. NW Leagues (Holiday Inn, Lancaster)

Activities in July (Ted Atkinson)

Date
06	Graham Siswick, Funeral (Wetherby/Harrogate RFC)
09	YRFU Committee (Pontefract RUFC)
11-12	Morag Kelly Memorial Service (Picadilly, London)
17	Meeting with Martin McTaggart ref. Player Development & Aspirational Pathway (Twickenham)
18	Commission into 17/18 yr old rugby (Twickenham)

Ted Atkinson & Jim Chapman

July 2018