Reminder: Extraordinary General Meeting at 12.30 pm at the clubhouse today, Saturday 3 December.
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Thanks to Tom Fitzcharles for pointing out that the Slaughter and May report on the governance of the RFU was posted on the RFU website today.
It’s a long read and a bit heavy at times but it touches on matters important to all of us who love the game of Rubgy Union and want to see it flourish in England.
Here are some extracts…
1.12 According to the annual report of the RFU, England has more rugby union players and clubs than any other country: the game is played by around 2.25 million players in around 2,000 clubs, 3,100 schools and 140 universities. They are assisted by more than 37,000 referees and more than 74,000 coaches. All of these volunteers and participants are supported by the RFU’s 52 rugby development officers and rugby development managers and around 150 community rugby coaches, who provide around 30,000 coaching sessions a year. 1.15 Despite these successes, according to Sport England’s ‘Active People’ survey covering the year to April 2011, the game is missing its growth targets. Both ‘once-a-week’ and ‘once-a-month’ participation levels are now at or below their lower critical values. The drop in participation comes mainly among 16 to 19 year-olds. Participation among 35 to 44 year-olds is now significantly below the lower critical value for the first time. 1.16 The number of participants in alternative forms of the game, such as Touch, Tag and Sevens, is however, increasing. The RFU has acknowledged the growing popularity of these alternative forms of the game and the need to cater for them as a key strategic priority. 3.14 Member clubs’ entitlement to apply for an allocation of Twickenham tickets should be phased out. Designing and implementing the RFU’s policy with respect to the pricing and allocation of Twickenham tickets should be a matter for the executive under the supervision of the Board; Council approval should not be required.
To see the context of those comments and recommendations, you’ll need to look at the whole report.
Meanwhile, both Minety’s senior teams play at home this Saturday.
The firsts play hosts to Bradford-on-Avon while the Dreamers welcome Supermarine seconds. Kick-0ffs: 2.30 pm.
This is also the Saturday when we hope to take the Minety moustache team photos to commemorate everyone’s efforts to raise money for prostate cancer research through Movember.
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