RFU National Youth Council

The National Youth Council (NYC) was established by the Rugby Football Union in September 2009 after ten young people from all over the country were selected to be its first members. With 74 per cent of participants in the game are under the age of 25, the NYC was formed so the RFU could listen to the voice of young people involved in rugby union.

To be a member of the NYC you need to be aged between 16 and 24 and feeding directly into the Community Game Board via the School, College and University Sub-Committee, the National Youth Council has direct input into shaping the future of the game.

What 09/10 brought for the NYC

The first year was all about getting up and running and making sure that decision makers knew who we were and started taking us seriously. With only three meetings in the season this was a hard task, but we managed to input into a number of RFU projects and campaigns, and we also got to do some fun stuff!

• We all formed part of the guard of honour at England v New Zealand and stood proudly as the teams ran on the pitch. This was as part of special Schools showcase which had a visit from Ed Balls the then Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families
• Gave our ideas through an interactive workshop to the RFU web team. This was to input on the Digital Youth Strategy
• Attended a Play / Play On 2011 workshop to give our opinion on the project plan for the next stage in the campaign
• Several of us worked as young volunteers Daily Mail RBS Cup and Vase semi-finals and finals as well as Tag to Twickenham finals, while others got involved in shaping the content for the first solo RFU Young Leaders Camp in Aug 2010
• A couple of ambitious members created a DVD  for the Youth Sport Trust for National School Sports Week, filming two three minute film clips of rugby union warm up activities to be launched nationwide

What to look out for 2010/11

Now we are up and running we really want to hear from you. We want to get your opinion on the game, what works well, what the problems are and take your opinion straight to the top. Give your views in the NYC youth survey to make sure you have your say on the game we all love.

Want to be part of it?

There are currently no vacancies on the National Youth Council but there are plenty of ways to get involved locally, for more opportunities please contact your local Volunteer Executive.