ONE NEW TEAM

The recent RFU conference for constituent bodies was considered to be the most successful to date. Here are some of the salient points shared by representatives of the game.

Please click on one of the following links to read more about the conference:

Conference success

THE CONFERENCE was hailed as a success by the 166 delegates who attended from Constituent Bodies across England.

RFU Volunteer Manager Carole Thelwall-Jones said: “The delegates’ conference experience was overwhelmingly encouraging and the workshops and presentations were generally well received.

“The variety of delegates was positive with new faces, more women and a spectrum of roles so that was really encouraging. The feedback questionnaire showed that the majority of delegates found the conference worthwhile and support the ‘one new team’ theme.”

Shaping the game for a generation

“What we do in the next five years will shape rugby in England for a generation.”

That was the message to emerge from this year’s Constituent Body Conference in Hinckley, Leicestershire as volunteers from the grassroots game gathered to shape the way forward for rugby in England towards the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Middlesex Rugby's Rob Udwin, Chairman of Community Rugby, said: “Hosting the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England gives us a once-in-a-lifetime chance to create a legacy for the game that will still be felt long after we have gone. This journey starts now, by helping each of our clubs to grow one more team.”

The drive for each club to recruit one more team was the central theme of the conference and Udwin added: “We must embrace all forms of the game, and deliver rugby opportunities to our potential participants in a way and at a time and place that is attractive to them. This includes women’s rugby, touch or tag rugby, sevens, the traditional 15-a-side contact men’s and women’s game.

“We must ensure that our game is easily accessible to whoever might want to play it; be they young or old, male or female, able bodied or with disabilities, and from all parts of the diverse population that characterise modern England. And we must ensure that the game is accessible wherever it could be played: at our clubs, schools, colleges, universities, or indeed in public parks and other spaces. The days have long gone when we were a Saturday afternoon only game for white middle class men.

“But to be relevant and effective, our plans must reflect the needs of our clubs. By working together in true partnership, by listening to our clubs and to what they need, and by working to deliver what our clubs are telling us, we will make the most of this amazing opportunity.”

John Douglas, RFU Council Member for Surrey, added: “We can either grow or we can contract. It’s not an option to stand still. No business ever can. And nor can a sport. There’s growing evidence of increased demand from people who don’t want to play XV aside, growing demand for touch, tag and sevens. And with sevens becoming an Olympic sport in 2016 there’s every likelihood that sevens will in time match XV aside in clubs in terms of frequency.

“Similarly touch rugby, already widely played in clubs as an additional social club activity has the potential and ability to grow and attract new people – for whom contact rugby holds little appeal – into clubs, or back into clubs. Touch rugby, probably more than tag, will grow beyond the ‘additional activity’ status it has currently. Leagues and competitions may well grow. And touch has the advantage in that it can mix participants in a way contact never can. Mixed ages, both sexes, the athletic, the unathletic.”