Go Play Rugby was launched at England’s World Cup training camp in July with the support of international coaches and players. A target of attracting 6,000 people was ambitious but the outcome by March 1st this year was that we had exceeded the campaign target by 57% per cent, equating to 617 new teams.
Over the summer months coastal beaches and those created with tons of sand in city locations, including London’s Trafalgar Square, have seen fans and England players in the thick of the action as the Play On campaign took over from the Go Play recruitment drive.
As our volunteers made Go Play Rugby such a success it is very pleasing to note that the campaign also secured 2,000 new volunteers. The average club involved has recruited 19 new players this season as opposed to five the previous year, making them 14 players better off. We have also recruited more coaches and referees.
The next phase, Play On, is about retaining the players, volunteers, coaches and referees to drive on the future of the game. Involving everyone is essential if we are to understand what those who make up the game want from it.
During the year a task group commissioned focus groups at every level and throughout the country and an online questionnaire to discover what people thought special about rugby union and what they wanted protected. From this detailed study the Union can safeguard important aspects of rugby union and promote its unique qualities. The core values of rugby union were identified as: teamwork, discipline and respect, sportsmanship, enjoyment and friendship. The task group concluded that the essential values of the game must be preserved, with the RFU having a crucial responsibility to ensure that this happens.
We also went to the game to determine the true feelings about the Internationa Rugby Board (IRB) Experimental Law Variations (ELV’s) approved on May 1st by the Board’s Council for global trial at all levels of the game. Before this decision, in order to discover what participants in rugby union actually felt about the Variations, and to assist the RFU in formulating their response to the proposed changes, the Union compiled an online questionnaire. Over 20,000 responses were received from the UK. These showed a 75% view that for the professional game the number of proposed ELV changes to current Laws was too great to trial simultaneously and an 86% view that for the grassroots game the number of proposed changes was too great to trial simultaneously.
He has served the Union with distinction in a number of positions and I am pleased that his special talents will continue to be available to us.
At Twickenham all of our Test matches have seen 82,000 capacity crowds during the South Stand redevelopment. The London Marriott Hotel Twickenham opening will coincide with the Investec autumn internationals and the conference and banqueting facilities and the theatre, now to be called The Live Room, at the same time and the Virgin Classic Health Club should be in operation during next year.
We also secured permission from the local authority to host five concerts during the year and staged four: two for Bon Jovi, an Iron Maiden concert and an REM concert. It is clear that Twickenham Stadium has become a leading concert venue and a popular choice with headline artistes.
Despite the financial burden placed on the RFU and other northern hemisphere Unions by RWC 2007, the RFU’s investment in community rugby remained at the same level as for 2006/07.
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP, said of our Go Play Rugby recruitment drive, “What’s impressive about this governing body and this sport is that it has always shown that the top of the game has obligations to the bottom of the game.”