The RFU will be promoting its Go Play Rugby intiative at the Leisure Industry Week show at the National Exhibition Centre near Birmingham from September 25 to 27.
The RFU are regular attenders at the LIW, Europe's biggest health and fitness event, and will be running demonstrations of TAG rugby, a non-contact version of the sport, this year to help highlight the Go Play Rugby campaign.
"We shall be looking to continue promoting the work of the RFU, to showcase rugby within the leisure industry and also recruit some new players as part of the Go Play Rugby initiative," said Dan Brown of RFU Leisure Rugby.
The Tag Rugby demonstration will take place at the NEC on September 27 and there will also be a facilities seminar organised by Ross Baxter, the RFU's facilities and funding manager for the Midlands.
Go Play Rugby is believed to be the largest sporting recruitment drive ever mounted by a single sports governing body in the United Kingdom.
It involves more than 600 clubs and 130 universities and colleges in an ambitious effort to bring players back to the game and win new converts.
It is a £1million campaign, supported through a generous £500,000 grant from the National Sports Foundation that backs up investment of £300,000 from the Rugby Football Foundation and £200,000 from Go Play Rugby sponsors the Chelsea Building Society. England Rugby sponsors O2 are also supporting the project.
The RFU believes that there are thousands more adults out there who have either drifted away from the game or are potential new recruits and we will reach out to them during the build-up to this year's tournament and while Brian Ashton's side are in action in France this month.
The RFU wants the campaign to recruit and retain at least 6,000 extra players in total, people whose lives will be enriched by the social, health and fitness benefits of our game.
To do so the RFU campaign team will be engaging a group of 18 to 30 year-olds using highly sophisticated methods.
A nationwide print and broadcast media campaign, innovative promotional materials and the use of email, the internet and text messaging will help the RFU connect with a generation that uses such technology every day. The www.goplayrugby.com website and 64411 text number will direct new players to clubs ready to welcome them into the rugby family.
The methods were successfully trialled in a pilot Go Play Rugby project in Surrey last season that increased adult player numbers in the county by seven per cent in less than three months.
The Leisure Industry Week is a showcase event for all aspects of the leisure and fitness industry including latest sports equipment, leisure facility management, sports consultancy and recruitment.
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