What it Meant - Feature on England Winning the RWC in 2003
RWC 2003 – What it meant to win
Within 12 months of winning the World Cup, English rugby is celebrating the arrival of 33,098 new players.
Figures released by the Rugby Football Union at the end of 2004 revealed a 16 per cent growth across all age groups, taking the total playing club rugby to more than 230,000.
Based on a sample of 1079 clubs, an additional 8,488 adults have taken up the sport, with 9,317 more in the Under-12 to Under-18 sector.
The biggest increase comes in the Under-7 to Under-11 age range, with an additional 15,293 players - a 32 per cent growth.
And with 500 clubs reporting at least one extra team as well as new clubs forming, the RFU’s IMPACT strategy for increasing participation was bearing fruit at grassroots level.
As well as players, an additional 3135 coaches and 783 referees were recruited in the same 12 month period immediately after Johnson and Co lifted the Webb Ellis trophy, bringing the totals to 22,469 and 6,060 active in the game respectively.
The number of volunteers had also risen by 8.6 per cent in the year, from 33,225 to 36,081, with more than half aged between 25 and 44.
Terry Burwell, RFU Community Rugby and Operations Director, said at the time: ‛We are very encouraged by these figures. They show that the strategy we have put in place for a lasting legacy from winning the World Cup is working.
‛The information is based on a robust sample of our member clubs but we also know of similar percentage increases in schools, students and forces rugby.
‛The challenge now is to retain those new players in sustainable clubs. That’s why the growth in volunteers, coaches and referees, as well as the Ј28.5milllion invested in clubs last year is integral to the growth of the game.“
Sports Minister, the Rt Hon Richard Caborn MP, said: "The Rugby Football Union has really shown itself to be at the forefront of community participation in sport.
"Instead of just basking in the glory of winning a World Cup it has put in place workable plans to engage people in rugby and for this they should be applauded.
"As a Government we are doing everything we can to support the RFU with their projects to increase participation."
Roger Draper, Chief Executive of Sport England, said: ‛One of our main aims is to encourage more people to get actively involved in sport at all levels. We are therefore delighted that through its IMPACT scheme the RFU is successfully leveraging England’s fantastic success in winning the Rugby World Cup to get more people to play rugby.“
Sweet Chariot Tour
When England brought home the Rugby World Cup trophy, a tour was organised to take the trophy around the country and let fans from the length and breadth of the nation share in the team’s achievements.
Thanks to the Sweet Chariot Tour, which took in shopping centre, rugby clubs and hospitals, over one million people saw the Webb Ellis Cup, whilst an estimated 100 million in England and around the world followed the fanfare that swept the nation through its media coverage.
Here are some of the highlights of the tour:
- 400 events held
- 1,000,000 people saw the Webb Ellis Cup
- 250,000 actively participated
- 24,000 miles covered (equivalent to a round the world trip)
- 18,800 people registered to join the game
- 100,000,000 media audience
- 1,000 media articles
- Ј52,000 raised for the Wooden Spoon charity
World Cup hero Mike Tindall kicked off the tour in style by flying the Webb Ellis Cup at 650mph into RAF Cosford. The pilot, Squadron Leader Simon Jessett of RAF Strike Command at Wittering, said: ‛I was a lot less nervous flying him than I was watching the World Cup final!“
Martin Johnson, Kyran Bracken, Trevor Woodman, Ben Kay, Jonny Wilkinson, Richard Hill, Dorian West, Martin Corry, Jason Leonard, Steve Thompson have also appeared on the tour
At 13 major shopping centre venues, people have been able to kick for World Cup glory in an inflatable kicking cage, score a try on a bungee-style elasta-rugby and a Playstation 2 with the latest rugby games from EA Sports.
The tour has been non profit-making with Ј32,000 raised in donations for the Wooden Spoon, a charity dedicated to helping disadvantaged children and young people.
England World Cup heroes Martin Johnson and Dorian West brought smiles to the faces of sick children when they paid a visit to the Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry, while Jason Leonard visited Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.
The Landrovers which have transported the Cup have traveled more than 26,000 miles – almost the equivalent of a round the world trip.
3,000 people lined the route to Burton RFC in a parade of honou
Republic of Ireland soccer star Steve Staunton arrived at Lichfield RFC to have his photograph taken with his young son, quipping "It's the nearest we (Ireland) are going to get to it.
Cheshire Sweet Chariot Tour co-ordinator Dave Finlay said: ‛I would be surprised if there was a child on the Isle of Man that didn’t see the Webb Ellis Cup during our time there.“
At Barrow Town Hall around 1500 turned up to see the first sporting silverware in the town since the FA Trophy in 1990.
Cumbrian police fixed the traffic lights on green and provided motorcycle escorts as 10,000 people saw the Cup in 60 hours between Barrow, Netherhall, Whitehaven, Carlisle, Kendal and Penrith.
Two thousand people cheered in Carlisle City Centre when the Cup was put on display
Jonny Wilkinson was present on the Millennium Bridge in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne for the handover of the Cup from Northumberland to Durham Rugby Unions.
In a partnership between the RFU, Rugby Football League and Bradford City Council, 16 teams aged between 8 and 9 played tag rugby in World Cup T-shirts on an artificial pitch in Centenary Square. Instead of the normal chime the City Hall clock played ‘World in Union’ at 1pm.
To transport the Cup around Notts, Lincs and Derbys, the largest of the RFU's constituent bodies, hired a helicopter sponsored by on-line bank Egg. Pilot Geoff Dodd said: ‛I have flown the Duchess of Westminster, Robbie Coltrane and even Russell Crowe around London, but never a World Cup!“
RFU Chief Executive Francis Baron accompanied the trophy into Lincoln Prison where he handed over a Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire plaque to the sister of Neil Higgins, a prison warder and member of the HMP Lincoln rugby team, who died in a road accident three weeks ago.
It was a day to remember for 12 Sports Management and Leadership students from Telemark University College central Norway, who were on a trip to Leicester and Loughborough Universities. They played their first ever game of mixed tag rugby and had their photograph taken with the trophy. Assistant Professor Rolf Novsett said: ‛We don’t play much rugby in Norway but we are enjoying ourselves. It was a bit of a surprise to see the World Cup!
So too for 15-week-old Emily Maclean, born six hours after Jonny Wilkinson dropped the winning goal. Emily and mum Nikki had their photo taken with the Cup at Leicester University’s Oadby playing fields. Tigers’ fan Nikki said: ‛I was in labour on November 22 but I listened to the final. My husband went out and bought a radio because there wasn’t one at the hospital.
There was a more spiritual note to the Cup's arrival in Essex. The day started with a service at the church of St Mary Magdalen in Magdalen Laver, where William Webb Ellis, whose name the Cup bears, was the rector from 1855 to 1870.
Tessa Jowell, the Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, joined the tour in Kent when it arrived in her Dulwich and West Norwood constituency and London Wasps fly half Alex King led a coaching session for children in Lambeth, where the local council and the RFU want to establish a community club.
4,000 young players and fans descend on Dorking RFC, where schools and youth sides took part in a day of competitions and coaching for all ages.
In Hampshire, 702 Naval Air Squadron provided a Lynx Helicopter to take the World Cup crew from Southampton to Jersey, Guernsey and back to Portsmouth.
In Cornwall the RAF’s 2625 regiment gave the Cup a three-day escort, planning the route with such precision that they took left turns wherever possible to minimise delay.
Adding to the festive atmosphere on Lemon Quay, Truro was the St Keverne Band and the Philleigh Shout singers under the direction of Cornish bard and prop Brian Chenoweth.
For the Army versus RAF match at Newbury RFC, a Chinook helicopter flew the Cup from RAF Benson to make a dramatic landing on the adjacent pitch before kick-off.
