Somerset

For more information on any of the news items or if you have any news to share
contact
mattbray@rfu.com or call 07889601261.

Please find the December 2018 edition of the Community Game Update. We hope you find the update a benefit to your club, and if you have any feedback, queries or content you would like to feature, please email Tom Ainscough, RFU Senior Communications Manager (tomainscough@rfu.com).

NatWest RugbyForce 2019 is open for registrations

This season, NatWest RugbyForce will take place across 22nd / 23rd June 2019. It promises to be another great event bringing local communities together.

Registration to be part of the NatWest RugbyForce 2019 weekend is open until 17th March 2019. To register your club, simply click here, before completing and submitting the provided form.

The next wave of Inner Warrior Camps will run from 12th – 27th January. The campaign has been hugely successful in getting more women involved in rugby, many of them never having had a chance to pick up a rugby ball before. This video from Alban Barnes, Head of Girls Rugby at Fullerians RFC, details how they have maximised the impact of Warrior Camps for the benefit of their club. The club’s first Warrior Camp in January 2017 saw 28 women take part, and since then numbers have continued to grow.

If you have any questions about Inner Warrior or Warrior Camps, please email InnerWarrior@RFU.com, and make sure your club has signed up to host a Warrior Camp, here.

XRugby7s: an opportunity for clubs to grow memberships

XRugby7s is a format that has been developed by the RFU and World Rugby to assist with the recruitment and retention of players. Played over half a pitch, XRugby7s allows informal, social, mid-week games to be facilitated, and can be the answer to identifying a new player pool to support club membership.

Clubs are encouraged to identify two or three players to champion XRugby7s and facilitate regular sessions to target a specific group at the club. This will provide players with the opportunity to play contact rugby, but with the flexibility to drop in and out, and self-manage game time. Regular groups are then more likely to fill in for teams at the weekend if familiar with the club.

For more information, please visit the XRugby7s website, or email DomTripp@RFU.com.

YRA volunteer programme update

For the past five years we have run a highly successful Young Rugby Ambassador programme - part of our RWC2015 lead up and legacy. Over the last year we have been pulling back the central control in favour of some excellent local work. We have kept alive a reduced central facility to log hours, in partnership with national charity, VInspired. VInspired have recently announced that they will be closing down their operation and hence we won’t be registering any more volunteers on this system.

We are reviewing options for alternatives and will communicate these once known. In the meantime, we would like to thank the YRAs who continue to volunteer and make a difference in the game. If you have any queries, please contact YRA2015@rfu.com.

An update for rugby clubs from Motion Picture Licensing Company

Following a change in Copyright Law, any premises (including a rugby club) not charging an entrance fee, can no longer rely on the previous exception for showing ‘film’ in a broadcast (‘film’ covers a wide range of broadcast content, including TV shows) and may now require a license.

To understand if your club needs a licence, please call the RFU Alcohol Licensing helpline (managed by Poppleston Allen Licensing Solicitors) on 0115 934 9177.

Quilter Kids First achieves milestone

We are delighted to announce that Quilter Kids First has reached the milestone of 1,000 clubs and schools having now taken the pledge. Thanks to clubs and schools' commitment to put children first, we can make sure that boys and girls are getting the most out of playing rugby and stay in the game for longer.

Aimed at U7 – U13 boys and girls, Quilter Kids First upskills coaches and creates a great rugby environment. To find out more about the approach or to take the pledge, visit the Quilter Kids First website. Hinckley RFC were November’s Quilter Kids First Champions and were awarded a very special experience at Pennyhill Park, which can be viewed here.

RugbySafe ‘A-to-Z guide’ released

RugbySafe is the RFU’s overarching player safety and wellbeing programme to support clubs, schools, colleges, universities and participants at all levels for the games. We have produced an A-to-Z guide that aims to equip those in the game with the information and guidance to signpost appropriately following any questions or enquiries on player welfare and associated topics. Please click here to download the guide.

England Rugby launches Disability Action Plan

In partnership with Activity Alliance, we have launched a Disability Action Plan for the next three years. Running from 2018-2021, the action plan sets out a series of interventions and partnerships, which aim to grow participation levels among players with different impairments within club rugby. Please click here to view the action plan.

‘Early years’ – practical guidance and support for clubs

We have released a series of guides to support clubs and third party providers who offer early years activity (i.e. 18 months to 5 years). Produced by a working group including the Youth Sports Trust and Centre for Research in Early Childhood, the guides cover a number of topics such as safeguarding and insurance, as well as different forms of suitable activities. The guides are available for download:

• Creating ‘Early years’ activities
• ‘Early years’ guidelines

We have also produced a video showcasing ‘early years’ guidance that can be viewed here. If you have any questions on ‘early years’ rugby, please email agegraderugby@rfu.com.