NELSON’S COLUMN
The Future of English Rugby … a 10 point “to do list“ and a 3 minute read. [Mark Nelson writes in a personal capacity.]
Where does the game in England go from here? That surely must be the biggest question on the agenda at HQ and as Joe Walsh sang “The future is wide open“. It really needs a visionary approach to get things back on track and give a sense of purpose at all levels. This season has seen the demise of two Premiership Clubs, devastating falling player numbers in the community game, England being ‘also rans’ in the 6 Nations, a looming exodus of players to lucrative contracts in France, the rise and rise of French and Irish Rugby, the abject failure of the Papa Johns Pizza Cup, “High Tackle Gate“ causing a peasants’ revolt, a Championship that is hard to fathom as to what purpose it serves, the disrespect towards County Rugby in terms of credence and funding, English Clubs struggling in Europe, the dementia crisis, low referee and AR recruitment …… have I missed anything? .... Probably. Anyone can carp from the sidelines but there is so much going on that it just seems that the game is fire fighting one crisis after another. So instead of whinging here is a list of 10 suggestions that I have to offer a way out of the mire. 1. Decentralise the RFU and re empower the running of the game at regional, county and local level. 2. Re introduce the Youth Development Officer Programme across the Country linked to Counties, local authorities and Club Clusters, working with Schools and Education Centres. 3. Link each Academy to a University rather than cede control to Premiership Clubs. 4. Focus on Male Colts Rugby, concentrating on transition from youth to adult rugby in Clubs. 5. Create Central Contracts for England Players and RFU take control back off the Elite game from the cartel of the Premiership. 6. Restructure and properly finance Club Rugby below the Premiership based on input from practitioners on the ground, not theorists at Twickenham. 7. Give representative rugby a proper stage and provide aspirational players an opportunity to showcase their abilities on a County stage. 8. Reinstate England Counties XV. 9. Engage with key personnel at Clubs, schools and counties at all levels and devise strategies based on what they need on the ground as opposed to generic processes. The same applies to Coaching and Referee development. 10. Properly fund league rugby at level 2 down, based on travel, resources, player welfare, facilities etc. The overriding factor is that the RFU recognise it exists to service “The Game“ ie WE are the RFU .It does not exist to service the careers of its employees. There are very talented people who work at the RFU. I’ve met and worked with a good number of them, and Bill Sweeney is a true rugby man. This aligned to the elected Council Members should give us the foundations to create a brave new world for English rugby. The Key is for us all to say “Its Our Game“ so lets have a game in England that we all contribute towards, get behind and be proud of. Our Clubs, Schools, Counties, Universities are full of incredibly dedicated and knowledgeable people who make the game happen week in, week out. Let’s get them on board with the decision making processes and counsel the professional staff as to how the game goes forward, ie the RFU employees become facilitators rather than have autonomy as to policy. One thing is for certain. We cannot keep going as we are and hope things get better on their own. Positive action is required and that begins with positive engagement, not surveys, or groovy sounding departments and sound bites on Twitter and Podcasts. It is not all doom and gloom. As I say, there are talented people at the RFU but by the same token there is a legion of talented people who are practitioners of the game at the coal face. Between us both we should be able to sort out a bright future …. surely?
www. fylderugby .co.uk
19
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker