Rugby Football Union - Coming for to carry me home

Coming for to carry me home


	Mike Tindall and Pilot Sqd Leader Simon Jessett

By Dave Barton, Regional Media Manager

The Sweet Chariot Tour is in full swing and on target to touch two million people - many new to the game of rugby union.

As Touchline went to press, 250,000 people had seen the Webb Ellis Cup in seven of the Rugby Football Union’s Constituent Bodies - North Midlands, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, Cumbria, Northumberland and Durham.

Crowds are flocking to the biggest sporting road show in England which is visiting around 290 venues, including rugby and soccer clubs, schools, art galleries, shopping and leisure centres in 86 days.

In line with the RFU’s IMPACT strategy to provide an enjoyable and accessible game for more people at all levels, from the Zurich Premiership to grassroots, it is being taken to new people and places.

In association with sponsors EA Sports, Ford, Holiday Inn, Land Rover and Lucozade Sport, an army of volunteers, staff from the RFU and tour managers Activate UK have kept the tour rolling.

Terry Burwell, the RFU’s Director of Community Rugby and Operations, said, “The response has been incredible and just shows how much interest there is in rugby union. People may not be actually able to touch the Cup itself but they have been touched by it.”

The tour has maintained the flying start given to it by England World Cup winner and Bath centre Mike Tindall when he flew the Cup faster than it has ever been at 650mph into RAF Cosford in Shropshire on February 5.

Alan Black, the RFU’s Community Rugby Manager, said, “It has been sensational. We didn’t know what to expect at the beginning but we are getting phenomenal numbers and the response wherever the tour has gone has been overwhelming.

“The amount of work that the volunteers have done ahead at the places we have been to has been fantastic. We are meeting our key objectives of recruiting new participants, rewarding volunteers and establishing stronger club-school links.”

Stuart Potts, North Midlands RFU secretary, said, “We are delighted with the way our leg of the tour went. It was always going to be a challenge as the first Constituent Body to have the trophy, but I think that our small army of volunteers responded superbly. The clubs we invited to host the trophy did a fantastic job and the numbers of people who wanted to have their photograph taken with the World Cup exceeded our expectations.”
John Owen, the RFU’s Council Member for Cumbria, added, “There were some great moments, but it couldn’t have happened without all the volunteers. Over the two and a half days, we had at least 120 volunteers involved with the tour and they were marvellous. It was a fantastic couple of days and hopefully it will help us develop rugby in Cumbria through our cluster club project.”

The tour has had a dramatic effect on people, with RFU Council Member for Cambridge University Richard Moon recounting, “I was a guest on a phone-in for BBC WM. A caller said he had been to Walsall to have a photo with the World Cup and that it was the proudest moment of his life. It was now on the wall at his home.”

Ernie Neely, tour co-ordinator for Lancashire RFU which held events across the county, said, “We hope that by bringing the Cup to Lancashire we will have got not only individuals wanting to play the game but to administer and referee as well.” At the shopping centre venues, people can kick for World Cup glory in an inflatable kicking cage, score a try on a bungee-style elasta rugby and play on a Playstation 2 with the latest rugby games from tour sponsors, EA Sports.

Carole Thelwall-Jones, CB Volunteer Manager, said, “Volunteers are making a huge effort but they give freely of their time week in week out for the benefit of the game.” As well as the Cup, a specially commissioned 40 ton open-out travelling exhibition unit (TEU) is a key part of the tour.

Assembled since November 22, the unit also contains the RBS 6 Nations Championship Trophy, the Calcutta Cup, the Women’s 6 Nations Trophy and the Zurich Championship Trophy. It also includes computers linked to www.rfu.com, a history of English rugby, as well as information about how to get involved in rugby.

Laura Stedman, TEU designer and RFU Museum Officer, said, “This is the first of its kind ever produced for English rugby. It is an interactive exhibition unit that can travel around the country offering people information about all aspects of rugby - playing, spectating, refereeing, coaching and administration. We are sure that everyone will enjoy the experience.”

The tour is non-profit making, the RFU is aiming to raise a significant amount for Wooden Spoon, a charity dedicated to helping disadvantaged children. There are no entry charges, but donations are collected pn behalf of the Wooden Spoon. In the last 20 years, the charity has raised £8m.

A book of the tour will be produced and anyone wishing to pass on their memories should click on the Sweet Chariot Tour Forum on www.rfu.com or contact davebarton@rfu.com.

Forthcoming Constituent Body Visits

March 19-20 Essex
March 21-23 Kent
March 28-30 Surrey
April 2-3 Sussex
April 4-5 Hampshire
April 6 Jersey
April 7 Guernsey
April 8-10 Dorset & Wiltshire
April 11-13 Cornwall
April 14-16 Devon
April 18-19 Somerset
April 20-21 Berkshire
April 22-24 Gloucestershire
April 25-26 Oxfordshire
April 27-28 Students Rugby Union
May 1 Army/Navy Rugby Unions (Twickenham)
May 2-4 Warwickshire
May 5 Oxford University
May 7-8 Buckinghamshire
May 9-10 Hertfordshire
May 12 Cambridge University
May 26-28 Middlesex

Forthcoming Regional Events

March 20 Lakeside, Essex
March 21 Bluewater, Kent
March 27 West Quay, Southampton
April 13 Trago Mills, Bodmin, Cornwall
April 24 Cribbs Causeway, Bristol
May 8 The Centre, Milton Keynes
May 9 The Harlequin Centre, Watford
May 16 The Oracle Centre, Reading

Sweet Chariot Tour Highlights

• 3,000 lined the route to Burton RFC in a parade of honour.

• 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.”

• Telford mother Alex Powell had her photo taken with the Cup and ten-week-old daughter Chloe. “I wasn’t a rugby fan, but I watched the final when I was in labour,” Alex said. “The photographs we have had taken will go in Chloe’s album and it’s something special to remember.”

• Cheshire 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.”

• Fans dressed in the white and red of Stoke City Football Club queued at the Britannia Stadium to see the Cup.

• At the Victorian Gothic Barrow Town Hall, around 1,500 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.

• The Cup was taken to assemblies at Cramlington and All Saints Schools in the west end of Newcastle as part of the drive for stronger club-school links.

• World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson (pictured centre) was present on the Millennium Bridge in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne for the handover of the Cup from Northumberland to Durham Rugby Unions. Also pictured are John Armstrong, President of Northumberland Rugby Union (right), and Durham County Rugby Union President, Keith Wallace (left).

• To transport the Cup around Notts, Lincs and Derbys, the largest of the RFU’s constituent bodies, a helicopter has been hired, sponsored by online bank, Egg.