Middlesex Rugby

Mini-Festivals 2008

Details of this seasons event supported by the MARIE CURIE CANCER CARE

To help you on your visit to the Marie Curie Middlesex County Midi Festival this weekend (9th March) please do visit the following website which has been setup to help you enjoy your day. The weblink is

Click

Can I ask that visitors, coaches and parents abide by the code of conduct and respect all our volunteers. Please do park considerately and pray for a nice day, but do remember the possibility of inclement weather and come appropriately prepared.

I have yet to get the figures through from Marie Curie, but there were many full buckets at the end of the Tag Festival, this weekend we’ll be continuing the fundraising so please do all bring your spare change (notes and cheques are also MOST welcome!) for this absolutely super cause … they would be delighted to hear from any company who would be able to donate to their great daffodil appeal. Contact details with more info is below

Middlesex Mini Rugby Festivals 2008 supported by Marie Curie Cancer Care

Since the introduction of Mini Rugby across the county a decade ago clubs have seen a swarm of children learning and enjoying the game on most Sundays during the season. Indeed the success of Middlesex in growing the players of the future is one of our greatest successes.

For many of the players and coaches the highlight of the season is the County festivals where all our mini sections contest for honours through our U7 through to U12 age groups.

Over the past few years the scale of these events has grown dramatically and this season we’ll have 3000’s players in some 200 teams involved in the Festivals with over 12,000 visiting to cheer the teams on. These numbers pose major challenges to the Festivals organisers and this year we are experimenting with a new format to try and ensure that our Festivals really provide as positive an experience as possible.

For the first time we’ll be splitting the Festivals into age bands to mirror the level of development of the players. Our youngest players in the U7 and U8 age groups will participate in ourTAG Rugby Festival to be held Grasshoppers on 2nd March. The following weekend (9th March) Teddington RFC are hosting the Midi Rugby Festival at Imber Court for those playing in the U9 to U11 ages and the finale weekend (16th March) features the U12’s at Wasps in their own Championship Festival geared to deliver an experience to prepare them for Youth Rugby.

Organising events on this scale is no small feat and we are particularly please to have sponsors contributing to help us with the costs.Marie Curie Cancer Care are our primary sponsor in this their 60th anniversary year and they will be attending all the festivals adding to the fun atmosphere and through their great Daffodil Appeal fund-raising for more Nurses in the Middlesex area. There is a special Marie Curie Cup on offer to the club that raises most for the charity. For more information on theMarie Curie and the work they do please do follow this link

Click Here.

We are also pleased to have Trailfinders – The Travel Experts again sponsoring the Middlesex Mini Festivals and for more details on how they can help with the perfect Holiday we’ll all need after these festivals please do follow this link

Click Here.

We would also like to thank RAM Rugby for their generous contribution to the costs of all the equipment and kit needed to stage such large events.

Click Here

This year’s Festivals have a new format as an experiment. With 3000 players contesting these Festivals, we had to look at doing things a little differently and this has result in a number of changes being agreed. As always compliance with the Continuum is especially important at a CB event and we have also had to balance the other matters such as the resources needed and the Pitch Space available

The 2008 Festival format comprises:

1. Three festivals, one for Tag, one for Midi and a Separate U12 competition
2. All ability teams (A, B, C and more if you have them) play on the same day at the same place.
3. A playing format based on Cup, Plate and Bowl. With an additional Trophy competition in the main Festival and a special Cup and Plate just for Development teams (C and Development squads)

At both the TAG and Midi Festivals there are TWO Competitions. Firstly the Cup for A and B teams, secondly there is a Development Competition for C teams and below. At U12 who will soon be transiting to Youth the format involves a finals day after a couple of fixtures held during the season and this sets up an A, B and C festival where the focus is all on them.

The Format for the TAG and Midi Festivals is that there are 8 pools comprising 3 teams in each pool, split into two groups.

After pool games the pool winners go into the Cup competition, the second place team go into the Plate and third place go into Bowl. No-one goes home after the pool stages and they are now playing for a County shield. Losing Qtr finalists in the Cup competition also have a Trophy to play for.

The Development Competition is organised into pools and there is a Shield and Plate for them too.

What in practice should (hopefully) happen is that all the teams from the pools progress into a competition best suited to their abilities and a more equal playing field in the second round onward.

Importantly what we are trying to achieve is more rugby for the Kids. Through this format rather than just the Finalists getting to play 5 games 8 teams at each age-group get to play 5 times, that’s a third of the entries! This benefit cascades down through the whole competition format with more games, at the right level of development for the teams being played.

By having a separate Development Cup in this format, clubs which have large age sections can enter more than one C team (especially important for TAG Rugby) ensuring that the County Festivals is open to more players to enter.

We are also for the third year in a row fielding officials from the Middlesex Festival Junior Referee Panel at these festivals. This year the Panel is bigger than ever before with over 50 referees, all qualified and taking charge of the games across the various competitions. These Referees are part of a county-wide initiative encouraging Clubs to find and develop officials through Mini and Youth Rugby into the senior game. This groups work has already dramatically reduced injuries and adds to the quality of games seen, for more information on how you or your club can get involved with the Panel please contact Pete Paterson directly Click Here

Especial thanks must go to clubs and volunteers involved in hosting these Festivals, but particularly Philip Lundberg at WASPS, David Gilbert and Robert Lee at Teddington and last but by no means least Marion Mason at Grasshoppers.

Lastly, if you or your company would like to discuss how you can play a huge part in helping to support and develop Mini and Junior Rugby in Middlesex either through Sponsorship or donation contact Russell Price on 07770 666004.

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THE MARIE CURIE CANCER CARE

MIDDLESEX COUNTY RUGBY FESTIVALS

MARCH 2ND, 9TH & 16TH 2008

RAISING MONEY FOR

CELEBRATING 60 YEARS OF MARIE CURIE CANCER CARE

For the first time the MIDDLESEX COUNTY RUGBY FESTIVAL is supporting Marie Curie

Cancer Care with all clubs being invited to compete for the Marie Curie Cancer Care Cup. The

winning club will be the one that raises the most money for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

All money raised will be spent on providing high quality nursing, totally free, to give terminally ill

people across Middlesex the choice of dying at home supported by their families.

The Marie Curie service is always free to patients and carers.

“I am sitting in the living room just staring into space and I keep thinking about not just Mum, but you.”

“You arrived that night and you knew straight away that Mum was going to die. You made her so

comfortable, she was having so much trouble breathing and you helped her because you knew how to position

her in the bed, nobody else knew that, nobody else had done that. She smiled at you; she had not smiled or

opened her eyes for days.”

“When she was taking those last few deep breaths I remember looking at you and you said: ‘Go on tell her,

she can still hear you’ and I told her for the last time that I loved her and I would never forget her. I don’t

think I would have known to say that if you didn’t tell me, and I felt better because I was able to say it.”

Jack, aged 15

Being at home with her family meant everything to Jack’s Mum – Our nurse made that possible.

How will your club raise the money?

• Collections will be arranged at the three Festivals – all teams, parents and supporters should

bring ALL their spare change.

• Each club should organise local press about the fundraising – with the help of Marie Curie.

• Each team should carry out fundraising activities to raise money.

• A Marie Curie fundraiser will be present at each of the three events to support you with your

fundraising and provide you with Marie Curie goodies, including:

o Collection tins and buckets

o Promotional material, balloons, posters, leaflets etc…

o Daffodil Pins