Foreword by Mike Drinkwater (President)
Now that Essex has been a Constituent Body for four years it is an appropriate time to review the progress of the County. There is no doubt that we have made significant advances in many areas. On the playing side, we are very strong in most age groups. Our U18s were awesome this season and won every game. It was a privilege to watch them and they beat some very good sides. The U20s were undefeated but two draws meant that they did not progress further in the County Championship. Details of these and all the other sides appear later in this Report.
Financially we are very sound and we are building up solid reserves. Our budgetary system gets better every year.
Under Chris Dyer, we have implemented a Volunteer award scheme coupled with a volunteer recruitment drive. These are great initiatives, instigated by the RFU, and it is always a pleasure to present these awards personally when I go round the County. Chris Dyer has also been instrumental in helping clubs apply for loans and/or grants mainly through the Rugby Football Foundation. Essex clubs have done very well through this initiative.
As I go round the clubs I can see the huge advances being made in the development of clubhouses and playing facilities. More clubs are receiving their “Seal of Approval” from the RFU due to the proactive stance of our new Rugby Development Officer, Keith Green, who has made a huge impact since his arrival this season.
Gerry Mansfield advises me that discipline has improved at the senior level but there have been significant problems at youth level, much of this coming from parents and coaches. The RFU has expressed concern about the number of serious incidents in Essex. We will be tackling this problem!
Alan Gold has reported an increase in referee numbers but you can never have too many. My own view is that there should be zero tolerance of abuse of referees and that message will be put across firmly.
I don’t want everyone to think that everything is perfect within our County organisation. We have a small Management Committee and it is difficult at times to cope with demands of the RFU and the everyday requirements of a busy County. We do need more manpower at a high level so put your name forward if you feel that you can contribute.
So my conclusion as to our progress over the last four years is that we have made huge strides but still have a lot of work to do. The work load has to be spread more evenly and between more people.
It is always difficult to single out clubs but I have to congratulate Billericay on getting to Twickenham again, Southend for winning National 3 South and Upminster for getting to the national U17s Shield finals.
This was a bad year for the County in that we lost five great contributors to Essex Rugby. Roy Digby from Barking, Marine Thomas Curry from Wanstead who was on active service in Afghanistan, Ron Johnson from Romford & Gidea Park, Brian Godden from Thurrock and Brian Seymour from Brentwood. They represent a great loss to their clubs and the County.
My considerable thanks go to the Management Committee and particularly to Ivor Smith who bears the brunt of our administration.
Mike Drinkwater
Essex Very Valued Volunteers
In a scheme recommended in 2005 by Chris Dyer of our Community Development Committee the County continued in its mission to recognise the work and efforts of the County’s Very Valued Volunteers. These volunteers have been nominated by their clubs and presented with a unique Essex County Very Valued Volunteer tie and certificate. This is an ongoing process as County representatives visit your clubs. This season the receiprients of the award have been:
David Jaffrey Clacton
Ron Wade – Upminster
Neville Potts - Braintree
Barrie Winwood – Braintree & Essex County U14’s
Steve Killington – Brentwood
Ken Light – Southend
Andy Pudney – Barking
Tim Sullivan – Kings Cross Steelers
In addition to the above the County also made available two pairs of international tickets for Club nominated volunteers. This year they were awarded to
Barry Robinson – Dagenham RFC
Alan Bultitude – Barking RFC
I look forward to receiving your nominations for next season and meeting your volunteers.
Mike Drinkwater
President Elect – Gerry Mansfield
As the season ends and we finally put away our boots and flags, and I complete the first year of my apprentiship as President Elect, I believe it is time to reflect on what we did “well” and what we did “not so well”.
On the plus side, our selection of venues for finals was “spot on” in every case and so I would like to thank, on behalf of the County, Old Brentwood, Barking, Upminster, Eton Manor, Thurrock, Southend and Ilford for their hospitality. The finals themselves were all keenly contested and a credit to all the competing teams.
Our County Championship games played at Southend and Barking proved to be somewhat disappointing as we failed to win a game. So maybe a rethink is in order. Looking ahead, our Under 20’s and Youth sides all gave good accounts of themselves, so the outlook for the future seems bright.
On the minus side, I believe that those of us on the competitions committee most probably made a rod for our own backs in trying to accommodate everyone whims and wishes, In trying to please everyone we left ourselves open to criticism. Player registration and the alteration of dates for matches proved to be a big issue, so much so, that this will be addressed before we start next season.
I would now like to give a few thanks. To Alan Gold and his band of referees, I say well done because as we all know, without them our games would not be played. Also, thanks to all the club volunteers throughout the County, whose help often goes unseen by many of us. My last thank you goes to the 21 clubs taking part in the RFU Go Play Rugby initiative. I hope their efforts prove fruitful.
To close, I hope you all enjoy the close season and return suitably refreshed and raring to go and willing to “SUPPORT ESSEX”.
Remember – Rugby’s a ball, pass it on!
Gerry Mansfield
Hon Secretary’s Report (Ivor Smith)
Our President and President elect have began this year’s report with the many positives that have been achieved by the County this season and I would like to add a big thank you to all the Club Hon Secretary’s for their efforts this season. Your prompt responses to queries and constant communication have made my job a lot easier. I would also like to thank you and your clubs for your kind hospitality, be it at a match, a meeting or on some other occasion.
The highlights for me this year must be the efforts made by our young players, both boys and girls. Later on in this report you will read about some of their achievements. One thing about this job is that it does give me an opportunity to go around the County in support of our County events and fixtures. It has certainly has been a pleasure to watch so many of our youngsters representing our County and achieving such notable successes and above all it is most encouraging to receive such positive feedback on what the County has been doing for these players from the youngsters themselves as well as their parents, without whose support the County could not do without.
The feedback reflects well on our team of volunteers who look after players, coach them and help develop them. The County and our young players are indebted for all their efforts. There are far too many people involved to name them here but they know who they are and their contribution to the County’s successes is immeasurable, it involves a lot of hard work and dedication for which we are all grateful.
We also recognise that the ground work for this success originates from the efforts of our clubs and schools. Rugby activity is vibrant throughout the County, with coaching, training friendly matches and many competitions be they Festivals, leagues or Cup. It is estimated that on a Sunday morning, there are probably over 8,000 youngsters playing Rugby in the County and if you take into account the midweek activities of the clubs and schools, there is a tremendous amount of Rugby being played.
Most of this activity is supported by volunteers. It is incalculable to put a value on their contribution to the Game, but I too would like to say thank you to them through this report for the work they do in support of the Game.
Visits to clubs are an important feature of my role and once again I have been fortunate enough to have been able to visit quite a number of clubs this season. There are still some on my list who I must ensure receive a visit next season, so if you would like our President, President elect or any member of our management team to visit your club then please let me know.
Improvements in technology have certainly made improved the speed at which we can communicate. Most of our communications to the clubs and schools is now done electronically by e-mail and information is put onto our web site. Those who visit our site will have noticed that we are now starting to use the facilities offered by the RFU on their Rugby First Community pages. This has been most useful as it means that other members of our committees can now have responsibility for updating their various sections of the web site. I feel sure that as more people get used to it, then we shall be able to improve on our processes of communication. However, we must also bear in mind that there are some people who still do not have access to the internet and we must make sure that we meet their needs as well.
The year commenced with our Annual General Meeting once again held at the Anglia Ruskin University Chelmsford. Though our numbers were down slightly on last year those that did attend were presented with a number of presentations and workshops involving RFU professional staff as well as our own County Volunteers Many went away from the sessions greatly enhanced in their knowledge of Rugby matters and with a great deal of additional information and feedback.
The County is grateful for the contributions made to the conference by the RFU professional staff, Alan Black for his presentation on Sustainable Clubs, Carole Thelwell-Jones on the The Value of the RFU Questionnaire and Community Club Pages and the role of the Club Coach Coordinator by Des Diamond. We also held workshops on the CBRDP led by the chairman Alan Stobbs, Rewarding the Very valued Volunteer, by Chris Dyers, Facilities and funding by Rick Bruin of the RFU and Essex RFUW led by their chairwoman, Mrs Chris Emerson.
Sean Stone gave a presentation on the recruitment of Referees and the Essex Referees Society and the day ended with an open forum led by our President Mike Drinkwater. The general feedback from the conference was very positive and the day had been very worthwhile.
Following a short break after the AGM, it was straight down to business with the Summer Camps at Felsted school. These summer camps which were managed by County Coaches and staff were attended by over 100 youngsters. At the end of the summer camp for the youngsters we also introduced the first U18’s three day development camp.
September began in earnest with the start of the leagues, RFU EDF Energy Cup rounds, and our own Cup competitions. The age group preparation attracted tremendous support in readiness for the inter County programmes. The first of these took place towards the end of October with the U16’s and U18’s vying for places in the London Division trials.
Post Christmas the U14’s and u15’s programmes began with notable successes and the U15’s national 10’s squad went on to win the plate competition at Rugby School at the beginning of May. At the national 10’s our Inner London Development team led by Martyn White of Rokeby School and Paul Cook of Robert Clack came third in their competition but winning the Fair Play award which was presented to them by Jason Leonard.
At U20’s our team took part in the RFU County Championship and gave a very good account of themselves just missing out on a play off place to an extra time penalty goal by Hampshire. Many of the boys taking part in that competition should also be available for next season and under the guidance of coaches Dean Cutting and Chris Green, I team hopeful that they will go further next season.
Our Senior side failed to win any of their matches this season. Though the team did their best it was obvious that we need to rethink the value of the RFU County Championship at this level.
The introduction of youth leagues into our County programme encouraged a full programme of matches at U14, and U17. The U14 league was won by Romford and Gidea Park whilst the U17’s league Champions were
In our new format the top two U17 teams in our two leagues took part in a play off as to who would represent the County in the National U17’s Championships. Thurrock represented the County in the Cup competition but were defeated by Dorking in the regional finals at Westcombe Park, Westcliff were defeated by Shelford 13 5 in the Quarter finals of the Regional stages of the Plate competition. In the Shield competition Upminster went through to the National Finals at Worcester where they were the runners up 27 -8 to Caldy RFC in an exciting final supported by a large contingent of supporters from the Club. In the Bowl competition Brentwood were defeated by Welwyn at the semi final stage of the Regional competition.
The format of this competition and our leagues showed that there is great strength at this age group in the County. The leagues produced some excellent competitive matches and next season will be expanded to cover all age groups from U13 – U17. Our thanks go to the league organiser Peter Raine of Woodford RFC who did a tremendous job in getting these leagues of the ground and to Bob Smith of Westcliff RFC the U17 League Secretary. Next seasons leagues have now been organised and Peter is already looking to the formation of the leagues in season 2008-9.
The leagues did not produce any London League champions but Southend gained promotion to National Division 2 whilst Barking swapped places and were relegated National Three South. It just goes to show had hard it is as you get nearer the top.
The most sterling performance of the season though, came from Billericay RFC who made the final of the RFU EDF Energy junior vase. They were most unfortunate to meet Hartspury College who are basically an academy side from Gloucester RFC. In a competition which is organised for ordinary grass roots competition it distorted the result. Still, Billericay really put on a show, enjoyed the day and have the unenviable distinction of having played in a final at Twickenham – twice. Well done lads.
With the end of the season you would think it was time to put your feet up – but no. You will read later on that we now have “Go Play Rugby” as part of a recruitment campaign for clubs which is planned to coincide with the build up to the Rugby World Cup. We have our AGM and Club Conference and the launch of the Schools of Rugby in August. There are recreational events taking place throughout the County and many players have taken up the gauntlet of trying their hand at Rugby League, cricket, athletics and in some cases a bit of fishing to prepare themselves for the rigours of the start of the season in September.
Finance in the County is an important matter and none of the above could take place without the support and assistance of our sponsors. I say a bit thank you to our sponsors, Trevor Bowers of Hills Oasis, Andy Thorne of Kestrel Liner Agencies for sponsorship of Essex Youth, Derek Locket for his sponsorship of the County Championship matches and to Phillip Miller of Adventure Island for his sponsorship of the Mini Midi Festivals.
Finally I would thank everyone for their continued support and I look forward to meeting up with as many of you as I can during the season.
Ivor Smith
Hon Secretary
Essex County RFU
RFU Representative Ivor Smith
This year it has been an honour to represent the County on the RFU Council. Mike must have known what was about to happen as I feel he stood down, just at the right moment. My first year has been about finding my way around the various committees and trying to bring my-self up to speed on the issues and politics that abound at the RFU.
A major part of this years work has been on a consultation process known as “The Way Forward”. “The Way Forward” project is an important piece of work as it aims to address the needs of the elite game whilst balancing that against the needs of the Community game. Though the project is looking at reviewing the Elite end of the game, decisions will have to be made which will impact on the Community game. The project has invoked much discussion and focus for Council members and you will all be aware of the publicity surrounding the relationships between the PRL and the RFU. There has been a strong feeling amongst the Council members to resolve the problems the game faces at the elite level and I am pleased to report that it looks as though there is light at the end of the tunnel
Amongst the other issues that have been dealt with this season was Councils refusal to increase the two lower ticketing bands for International matches ensuring that once again the Community game is not priced beyond what Rugby supporters are able to afford to participate in the Twickenham experience. This is always going to be a contentious issue but Council are determined to ensure that the club supporters are not priced out of the opportunity to attend.
The RFU business plan for 2007-8 is focused on making reductions in the overall budget due to the fact that it is world cup year from which the RFU receives no income. There will not be the usual Autumn Internationals to generate income and in the Six nations there are only two home matches next season. However, it is our stance on Council to make sure that the Community game does not suffer. The RFU does look at this situation as a trough in the four year world cup cycle and the Union will obviously pick up in the build up to the world cup in 2011.
The South stand is now nearing completion and has increased the Twickenham capacity to over 82,000. The hotel complex is due to open in the summer of 2008 after which all meetings and events will take place at Twickenham. Moving meetings to Twickenham from central London venues will in itself bring in considerable cost savings.
A task group is also looking at the “Constitution” of the RFU and though this project has been put on hold until the outcomes of the Way forward have been completed, the outcome could introduce a radical reform.
As well as attending all the Council meetings I have also taken the opportunity to support the England U16, U18, U19 and U20 matches in which we had young players from our County taking part. I have been proud of their efforts and it has been a pleasure to meet the lads and their parents after the games.
As a way of recognising the contribution made by our volunteers the RFU President each year welcomes a Volunteer from the County to an international match. This season it was a great privilege to introduce and host Mike Parnell of May & Baker RFC for the day along with our Sponsors from Hills Oasis.
Ivor Smith
RFU Council Members for Essex.
Treasurers Report (Eugene Walsh)
DISCIPLINARY RPORT 2006/2007
In last years report I described the season as that of a “curate’s egg”, some good some bad. This season again saw two conflicting sides, Seniors and Youth. It was in fact pleasing to see a 30% drop in senior dismissals this season. Players attending disciplinary hearings also fell by significant numbers as clubs came to terms with the way tariffs are awarded and suspensions given.
On the downside, youth rugby has been a major concern as discipline by players, coaches and supporters alike have reached unacceptable proportions. My biggest concern is the “win at all costs” attitude, most prevalent in cup matches. This goes completely against the ethos of our game. The instances of match official abuse by coaches and supporters are now a major issue in the County and have been noted at the highest level. So much so, that drastic measures may have to be taken next season before the epidemic kills our game. Clubs will be and must be held responsible for the conduct of their coaches and supporters as well as players and will be held accountable if they fail to do this.
A positive measure by one of our clubs is that of Zero Tolerance of unacceptable language and behaviour at their club. This is something I hope the County can promote and clubs buy into. Hopefully this policy will be posted on the County website shortly.
Turning to match officials, we must all accept that games would not be played without them and it is with respect that I extend my thanks to all “ whistle blowers” for their efforts this term.
Due to my commitments as President Elect next season, I shall be stepping down as Chairman of Discipline, a position I have found both difficult and enjoyable but never dull. I hope players have found my Committee and I both fair but firm and believe that under the new Chairman this will continue.
Finally, a big thank you to my committee of Simon, Lawrence, Martyn and Denise for all their hard work and support which I have come to rely on.
Gerry Mansfield
Two key County objectives for the 2006/07 season were, support for the development of club facilities and for the creation of a strong volunteer organisation in our clubs. The Club’s Conference on the 2nd July provided an ideal forum to promote these programmes. Both of these are an important part of the RFU “impact strategy” and we were well supported by Carole Thelwall-Jones on Volunteer initiatives and Rick Bruin on many of the issues surrounding the funding of improvements to club’s facilities.
The vitally important area of funding for the improvement of ground and clubhouse facilities has once again proved to be the area that has required the most involvement. Over the course of the season we have had meetings and worked with 20 of our clubs on funding issues, ranging from replacement of a mower through RFF (Rugby Football Foundation) to supporting major clubhouse developments and ground re-location.
Through the excellent support of Rick Bruin (Funding & Facilities Executive, RFU.) we have been able to secure CCDP (Community Club Development Programme) funding for six of our clubs. This is “matched” exchequer funding channelled through Sport England and the RFU essentially for ground improvements. The number of clubs that we have been able to support in this way compares extremely favourably with any other CB.
In addition a further four clubs have profited from the RFF ground match scheme and further applications for this scheme and the interest free loan are anticipated next season.
It is key to the success of funding applications, not just to the RFF, that there is in place a “whole club development plan”. This is not as onerous as it may sound and clubs are encouraged to at least have some outline plan in place before they embark on the formality of funding applications.
Volunteers
At the last conference we decided we would put special emphasis on “Valuing the Volunteer” with a County scheme providing recognition for a special contribution often over many years made by an individual to the running of their club. We expected a greater response than we received but the scheme will nevertheless remain in place and we will continue to promote the opportunity this provides for clubs to give County recognition to one of their outstanding volunteers.
Next season we hope that all clubs in the County will appoint to their committee a Volunteer Co-ordinator. This will provide three main benefits; focus for the retention and recruitment of volunteers, somebody to implement club and County recognition schemes and a further important point of communication between the County and the club. We would particularly appreciate it if the appointment was included in your entry in the County handbook.
The County are very much indebted to Gerry Mansfield for agreeing to head up and co-ordinate this important RFU initiative. This campaign is intended to maximise the added publicity that will be generated for rugby in the build up and during the World Cup in the autumn. The aim is to provide clubs with strong support for a campaign for recruitment to adult rugby. After a successful County launch earlier in the year we now have some 20 clubs participating and this has already had the benefit of a new group of volunteers working on a RFU/County/Club scheme.
Whilst this has not been a top priority for our relatively small team we are anxious to encourage any schemes or plans that Clubs may propose. This summer in addition to the now traditional beach event run by Clacton RFC we are working with Barking RFC on an event planned for the 4th August.
Chris Dyer – Chairman Club Development & Community Rugby.
Competitions Report 2006/7 (Alan Gold)
The competitions season was completed with a number of small problems, mainly registration and withdrawals. With regard to registration the committee will look at the County rules and make a few small amendments. Regarding withdrawing - if a club cannot be bothered to fulfil competition matches, why do they enter in the first place? Clubs which failed to play their Essex Cup matches will be given away draws in the first rounds next season.
The Essex finals were well attended and a big thank you to Old Brentwood’s, Eton Manor, Ilford Wanderers and Southend which hosted the Essex Finals this season.
All the competition winners are listed below:
Senior Cup Southend
Intermediate Cup Chelmsford
Presidents Shield Millwall
2nd Team Cup Barking II
John Adler Cup Upminster II
U19 cup Thurrock
U17 cup Thurrock
U16 cup Chelmsford
U15 cup Woodford
U14 cup Romford & Gidea Park
U13 cup Westcliff
We also this season for the first time ran an U14 and U17 league – my thanks to Peter Raines and Bob Smith for administrating these competitions, a difficult job brilliantly done!
The standard of Essex rugby can be illustrated by the performance of the U19 and U17 sides. A number of Essex clubs (Brentwood, Upminster, Westcliff and Thurrock) reached the regional finals – well done to you all. We also cannot forget Billericay who reached Twickenham yet again in the final of the EDF unfortunately not able to repeat their early success losing to a Gloucester Academy side this time.
The Essex League Champions were Billericay (Essex 1), Millwall (Essex 2) and Witham (Essex 3). Also promoted were South Woodham Ferrers (Essex 1 play-off winners), Old Brentwood’s (Essex 2) and Kings Cross Steelers (Essex 3).
The B.L. Office Centre Essex Merit Leagues continue to go from strength to strength with 64 teams competing this season in 8 different leagues. My personal thanks go to Brian Larman for his continued sponsorship of this competition. This year saw its 20th year – a long way from the original nine sides. To celebrate the 20th year this year saw a cup competition at the end of the season with the top four in each league going into a cup competition and the bottom four in each league going forward to a plate competition. All 16 finals were held at Westcliff RFC on a wonderful sunny April day, superbly organised by Chris Radley and his team from Westcliff. Having nearly 700 players keenly contesting their respective league trophy was a great spectacle of rugby and showed what Essex rugby was all about.
The winners this year:
Division 1 Colchester II
Division 2 Southend III
Division 3 Eton Manor II
Division 4 Millwall II
Division 5 Dagenham II
Division 6 Thurrock IV
Division 7 Upminster IV
Division 8 Canvey III
All trophies will be presented at the annual Essex dinner by Brian Larman.
The cup competition winners were:
Division 1 cup Chingford II
Division 1 plate Harlow II
Division 2 cup Southend III
Division 2 plate Campion II
Division 3 cup Eton Manor II
Division 3 plate Thurrock III
Division 4 cup Millwall II
Division 4 plate South Woodham Ferrers II
Division 5 cup Westcliff III
Division 5 plate Braintree III
Division 6 cup Thurrock IV
Division 6 plate Brentwood III
Division 7 cup Upminster IV
Division 7 plate Southend V
Division 8 cup Canvey III
Division 8 plate Dagenham III
We must not forget the referees. Despite recruitment difficulties the Essex Referee Society have maintained a committed group of officials without whom we would not have games in the first place.
May I also express my thanks and gratitude to the unsung hero’s that make up the competitions committee.
Alan Gold
CBRDP
Essex County Schools Rugby Football Union
Schools Union’s Hon.Secretary’s Report – AGM 2007
Despite the ongoing absence of school’s union based representative rugby it would be safe to say that a successful season has once again been concluded.
Membership is at an all time high of 164 schools; competitions are proving increasingly popular with record entries in all age groups. However, it is disappointing, that increasing entries are matched by the number of walkover results! A new tournament was offered this year and successfully completed; a County U14 seven aside competition.
County Schools Tournament Results 2006-7.
U13 The Alan Lewin Trophy
K.Edward VI S. 27 v Coopers Coborn S. 12
U14 The Mike Dargon Trophy
Chalvedon S. 12 v King John S. 10
U15 KO Trophy
Campion S. 24 v King John S. 12
U15 KO Plate
William de Ferrers S. 22 v Boswells S. 10
U16 KO Chairman’s Shield
Robert Clack S. 10 V Campion S. 0
U17 X Aside John Phillips Shield
Campion S. 12 v Coopers Coborn S. 7
U14 Sevenaside Shield
Coopers Coborn S. 25 v Southend CHS. 5
U14 Sevenaside Plate
St.Martins S. 17 v King John S. 15
U15 Sevenaside Trophy
William Edwards S. 12 v Colchester RGS. 7
U15 Sevenaside Plate
William de Ferrers S. 19 v Jo Richardson S. 14
U16 Sevenaside Shield
Coopers Coborn S. 19 v West Hatch S. 15
U16 Sevenaside Plate
William Edwards 15 v Robert Clack S. 5
As U14, County champions Chalvedon School went on to represent Essex in a Divisional U14 Festival played at Thurrock RFC. Five of the eight counties were represented. Each played the other and Chalvedon S. were winners on try count. It is hoped that this festival will continue next season with our U14 winners continuing to represent the County.
Eighteen schools entered the U15 Daily Mail national tournament; eleven the U18 Daily Mail tournament.
This being its third season the Essex CBRDP continues to be supported by the School’s Union. Both the 16 & 18G had their most successful representative season todate.
16G Played three inter county fixtures; won 1;drew 1; lost 1. Never the less they were successful in fielding A & B XVs through out the programme. Four went on to represent L&SE Division; Nico Fraser of Campion School and Barking and Jackson Wray of the King John School represented England 16G at the Four Nations Tournament; whilst Craig Ratford of Bowers Park School and Barking represented England 16G A, at the Millfield Festival.
18G The 18 group is a joint Club and school age grade which is reported on by their manger Michael Norris later in this report.
I am pleased to announce that the Schools Union has received a generous donation from R.Thorpe, a retired referee, which, by agreement of the Committee will subsidise ELRA courses for practising teachers. This is currently being offered to the membership with the support of the RFU Referee Dept.
Schools of Rugby
This new RFU initiative has resulted from recommendations of the 2006 Age Grade Review. Whilst the concept of developing elite players is not in dispute interpretation of the SoR document differ widely throughout the land including Essex! The concept of CB representative rugby has been reduced with, at the moment, wide ranging views on the continuation of CB development squads. The 16G is safeguarded under the guidelines of the RFU Age Grade 2006 report.
A number of thanks need to be recorded to all those who have supported the Union this past season. The Essex Referees Society; St. John’s Ambulance; May & Baker RFC; Dagenham RFC; South Woodham Ferrers RFC; Campion School; Coopers Coborn School. To W.Coley. Competitions Secretary for organising all of our tournaments; to Michael Eyres for May & Baker referees; our representatives to the CBRDP, L&SE Division RFU & ERFSU committees.
Bob Whittle
Mini Midi Rugby report
End Of season Report For Mini Midi (U-7 – U12)
The Mini Midi Season for Essex County RFU has been another success culminating in the County Mini Midi Festivals held at Southend RFC, Chelmsford RFC and Westcliff RFC. Particular praise is given to Southend RFC for hosting the U- 7 and Westcliff RFC for hosting the U-8, 10,11 and12 who stepped in late to host the Festivals due to extenuating circumstances with both the original hosts Chelmsford RFC and Barking RFC.
The Festivals attracted over 1700 players to the hosting clubs
Due to the number of late drop outs in the previous season the Festivals were reduced to 16 teams at each age group which meant that some Clubs were unable to be allocated an entry given the considerable number of Clubs within Essex now running strong Mini Midi sections. This is evident with the emergence and participation of “smaller” Mini Midi sections within well established Rugby clubs such as Malden RFC, Southend RFC and Epping Upper Clapton RFC and highlights the significant and ever increasing number of children now playing Mini Midi Rugby in Essex – both male and female.
The Festivals were a big success and feedback has been received on how the events could be further improved for next season, which would include accommodating additional teams whilst still complying with the RFU Continuum, which would create even greater of participation of Rugby in the County
Due to the strict enforcement of pre registration of players and the and insistence of RFU numbers as a prerequisite to player participation Harry Hicks saw an upsurge in player registration requests in the 8 week lead up to the Festivals with up to 100 players requesting registration. Whilst this is a positive, it leads to the question that a considerable amount of Mini Midi players have been playing for the past several seasons with no RFU registration which can only be put down to poor administration at Club Level
The Essex Mini Midi Festival has now been running for three seasons in its revised format and continues to grow in strength each year, with the level of rugby played being of an extremely high and competitive nature at all ages.
It is felt that more could be done and indeed needs to be done for the Festival sponsors Adventure Island and after this years Festival Mark Illott of Ram Rugby has made enquiries about becoming more involved in Essex.
Dean Martin is hoping to continue on with next seasons County Festival but taking more of a back seat so as to hand the reigns over to a successor the following season of which further discussions will take place in the new season.
To conclude it is now very evident that all Mini Midi Teams see the Essex Festivals as the top priority in their Seasons Fixture List and the feedback from Parents and Coaches is one of a big Thank you to Essex Rugby.
Dean Martin
The County would also like to pay tribute to the many, many volunteers who helped out at these festivals and in particular to Dean for all his hard work over the past few seasons and to Ray Mills who we hope is willing to carry on.
County Representative Rugby
Under 14s End of Year Report
The overall season started very early with Under 13 Master classes being held during May 2006. Four classes were held with in the region of 50 players attending each session. These sessions gave both the playaers and the coaches an important insight into the standards and expectations of this age group in preparation for them moving up into the U14 age group.
The U14s coaching team was selected as follows: -
Manager/ Head Coach - Barrie Winwood (Braintree RFC)
Coaches - Mark Taylor (Romford & Gidea Park RFC)
- Gary Savill (Chelmsford RFC)
- Ugo Norcaro (Eton Manor RFC)
Administration &
Welfare - Corinne Winwood (Braintree RFC)
The under 14 trials were split into two groups, inner M25 and Outer M25 with a total of 192 players being looked during these sessions and enabling the management team to reduce the squad to 48 players who were then chosen to go through to the next stage.
Squad sessions were held every 2 weeks from September alternating between Thurrock RFC and Braintree RUFC, who I would take this opportunity to thank for making their facilities available.
A further trial was then held at Braintree RFC on October 2nd and an additional 12 players added to the squad before the squad was trimmed back to 47 players after two more training sessions at the end of October. The players came from 15 clubs with 2 of the players being unattached.
Sessions continued twice monthly and the players improved throughout the year and, with one exception, they have all shown good commitment. It was a great disappointment having to release one player who regularly missed training without excuse and arrived 15 minutes into a game against another County.
The first game was under floodlights against Suffolk. In a very close County game Suffolk almost snatched victory at the end only to see the lead extended by Essex with a breakaway try giving Essex a 14-5 win. The Development squad really clicked and ran away 41 points to nil winners.
With Bedfordshire crying off in early January a hastily arranged fixture was put in its place with Norfolk, who fielded a strong pack in the County game. Although smaller, Essex matched them and gave the Essex backs sufficient ball to seal a 17-7 win. The Development squad were once again rampant winning 46-3.
Next up were Middlesex and the County squad showed they were improving as a team game by game by winning 29-5. The Development squad suffered their first defeat when a strong Middlesex ran in two tries in the first ten minutes and Essex lost 14-5.
In their last full game Essex County proved too strong for Hertfordshire winning 33-7, as did the Development Squad with an excellent 50-27 win.
With the RFU not funding a London North Festival this year it was decided to run an Inter-Counties Festival at Braintree RUFC with Essex, Middlesex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk all fielding two teams. In the first game against Norfolk Essex had both wingers injured and this probably proved to be crucial as Essex County came runners-up on points scored to Suffolk who held Essex to a 5 all draw. In the other games Essex County beat Norfolk 5-0, Middlesex 8-0 and Cambridgeshire 20-5. Although Development only lost the one game to a strong Middlesex 10 nil, draws against Suffolk, 10 all, and Cambridgeshire, 10 all, meant they finished 3rd in their group. In the other game they beat Norfolk 10 nil. They were not helped by two key players being unavailable and their fly half being promoted to the County squad because of injury.
Overall it proved to be a very successful season with the County squad remaining unbeaten and the Development squad, although suffering losses against Middlesex, had some resounding wins. A special mention needs to go to Iain Meads, who led by example, and was an inspirational captain. A significant number of these players are expected to be nominated, and probably selected, for the Schools of Rugby.
Barrie Winwood
Essex U14s Manager/ Head Coach
U15
Tony Richards took over the mantel of U15’s manager this year and our thanks go to him for a job well done. The season commenced with trials for those boys not members of the U14 A squad to ensure that newcomers and late developers could be seen and trialled. They were then joined by last years selected boys to form the County Development Squad. Though the post Christmas inter County matches did not bring about any startling results it was the efforts of the boys selected to represent the County in the National 10’s that proved vital to this age groups success. Though they finished runners up in their pool having lost just one match to the eventual winners from Yorkshire, the team won all their matches in the plate competition to win the trophy presented by Jason Leonard.
On the adjoining pitches the Inner London Development boys coached by Martyn White of Rokeby School and Paul Cook from Robert Clack put in an amazing performance to come third in their competition and were awarded the Fair Play award.
Our thanks go to the coaching team led by David Paton of Millwall RFC and to Mike Redding for making all the arrangements for and excellent weekend at Rugby School. There is no doubt that the County will be strong again at U16 next season.
U16’s a report on the u16’s is included in the school report above.
U17
The U17’s contained many boys from last seasons U16’s and continuity between the two age groups was provided in the shape of head coach Simon Hoult. This age group only had two fixtures in the later part of the season the most notable of which was a difficult match against a well organized Kent XV who made the lads work hard for their 22 – 17 win at Gravesend RFC. The county would like to record a big thankyou to the coaching team which included Joel Johnson and Craig Lyons who supported the fitness coach Simon Nainby and Physio Victor Bellamy
Next season we look forward to picking up from where the U16’ left off this season and welcome on to the coaching staff Tom Webb and David Paton. I am pleased to see that the majority of our U17's are moving up into the U18 age group and will be involved at our development session at Felsted during the summer, leading to what I envisage and hope will be another great season.
U18
I consider it to have been a privilege to have managed, with the coaches, this group of young men. The match results and personal success of these boys has been down to their hard work, dedication and the superb work of lead coach Gary Cook and his coaching team of Chris Green, Dave Catchpole, Joel Johnson, Simon Hoult, Simon Nainby and their physion Vic Bellamy.
With Simon Hoult and Chris Green having been involved with last years U17 the transition of bringing this group of players into the U18 age group was a lot easier than in previous years. It would appear that we now have the management and continuity in place to ensure success at these age groups . This continuity is maintained through to the U20’s and their manager Ivor Smith and his coaching team of Dean Cutting and Chris Green and Joel Johnson.
Despite bringing forward some of last years U17’s squad, the County still held pre season trials and training to give other youths and late developers an opportunity to be seen and contend for places in the squad. These sessions allowed the coaching team to select a squad of thirty players to take part in the development weekend at Felsted school. The weekend was viewed as a team bonding opportunity and apart from coaching and development sessions they received a talks from Adrian Gilbert of the Engalnd U19’s management team and David Locke of the Essex Referees Society. The highlight of the weekend was the attendance of Tony Diprose who led the morning session which was greatly appreciated by the players and coaches.
I firmly believe that the direct attitude of Gary Cook and team and the positive response from the squad helped to bond the lads together to form a confidence within to go forward as they did. Five games five wins, nine boys selected to fo forward to London Division James Mitchell, Stefan North, Ian Dartnell, Robert Gash, Rob Smith, David Cosgrove, Chris Vaughan, Sam Cook and Sam Foster. Sean Morris, Reece Durrance. It was pleasing to see that Reece Durrance has joined up with Michael Stanley and Alex Brown to join the England U18 to tour to Australia this summer with Sean Morris being selected for the England AER squad who played in the U18 AER festival in Portugal and France. This is probably the biggest input from one C.B. this year in the country.
Well done all concerned.
Thank you all,
Mike Norris
U20’s
Continuity in players, coaches and management over the past two years has ensured that our three age groups from U17 and U20 have some of the best preparation for the RFU County Championship matches available. This season I am pleased to report that the U20’s completed their programme with the following results
4th February 18 – 18 Draw vs the Army at Aldershot
11th February 17 – 12 Win vs Surrey at Barking
25th February 3 – 3 Draw vs Hampshire.
Though we ended second in our pool following a last minute injury time penalty to Hampshire which drew the match, the squad was far better prepared than last year. Many of the lads came through from last years U17’s and this years U18’s which in many cases will ensured that we have continuity built into the process.
I am grateful to the coaching staff of Dean Cutting, Eddie Jones and Chris Green with help from Southend RFC. Having Dean and Chris on board was a great help and their experience and coaching style ensured that the boys benefited from the pre match training and coaching sessions.
I would also like to thank Ray Steadman from Barking and the Physio “Charlie McCall” also from Barking. They all made a significant contribution to the success of this squad.
A special mention must be made of Adam Ferrier (Thurrock and Bedford) as he was asked following these matches to join the London Division Squad to play against the Midlands at the end of March. (Albeit as second choice Hooker to a lad who plays hooker for Canterbury first XV this was a terrific effort on his part).
Once again the East Midlands National Colts Cup competition and the British Colleges trials caused a few problems for selection. I understand that next seasons County Championship will come under the auspices of London Division, an initiative which we should support. This would be a positive move to ensure that dates do not clash and we could have the best players in the County available for training and selection, and judging from the success of this years U18’s the potential to get through to a final at Twickenham is there.
There is now the possibility that we could keep these lads working together as an U23 side and in talking to some of the other Counties it would appear that they too have or are considering putting together U23 representative sides. I would like to suggest/or recommend that the County should also adopt this approach.
Ivor Smith
SENIOR XV ANNUAL REPORT 2006-07
For anyone who has read this article in the last few years, it may seem like deja-vu, but it is, in fact, this year’s report!
Once again, in order not to conflict with the club programmes, we did not start our warm-up sessions until March, hoping that many league matters would have been settled and all of the clubs would release players. Unfortunately, this was not the case, so we ran several sessions without some of the key players, but nevertheless, developed a suitable playing system and a good team spirit.
Our plans were further scuppered when the County found it necessary to hold the Intermediate Cup Final on the same day as our first fixture against Staffordshire. Not only did this deprive us of some of our first choice players, but the large numbers at the ground interrupted our preparation.
We went on to lose 13-22 to an efficient Staffs side who had had the benefit of some useful squad sessions and a warm-up game.
A week later, we went to ‘God’s country’ to play Durham, with a much-changed side and went down 5-44, to a well-drilled side who went on to win the Plate competition. We took heart from the fact that it was very close at half-time, and we had actually missed a couple of scoring opportunities. The resultant second half may have been due to the long journey we had to endure on Friday afternoon! All this after a long, hard season for everyone.
In the final fixture, we lost 20-34 to Leicestershire in a game where we certainly had chances to win it. This, in itself, leads us to believe that, with support and assistance from Essex clubs, we can actually discover the formula that has made other counties regularly successful over the years.
My thanks go to all of the management team, coaches, administrators, medical staff, and kit managers alike, and I hope that our deliberations on 18th June provide us with a plan for the future which will provide a framework for success, starting with next season.
Alan Stobbs, Team Manager
Essex RFUW
The Essex RFUW Committee are very proud of our players this season as we have had some outstanding achievements both in the younger age groups and with senior players.
The Under 14s were a very successful squad this season but also we had a number of successful players in this age group. Although we need to recruit more players at this age group the standard of the players is extremely high.
The following players went on to join the Regional squad and although we had several trialists for the coverted places in the Elite Schools of Rugby we had one player who was successful.
Alex Grant Elite School of Rugby place
Megan Robson Trialist for Elite School of Rugby
Francis Hughes
Emma Dorrington
Jess Harris Trialist for Elite School of Rugby
Yasmin Pemberton Trialist for Elite School of Rugby
Layla Pickering
Ellie Martin
Alice Wright
At the Under 17 age group we were also very fortunate to have some very talented players in the squad and the following players went on to play Regional Rugby:
Natalie McClarnon
Sarah Carmen
Charelle Alphonse
Charlotte Micallef
Gemma Galbraith
Siobhan Franklin
Sophie Russell TDG Player
Emily Scott TDG Player
Beverly Ely
Rachel French
As the Regional squads were selected by a closed trial in which only the top 15 players in each county in the region could go for trial, selection was a significant step along the player pathway.
Natalie McClarnon made it through to the second set of trials for the England Under 19. Holly Le Grave and April Brown both secured a second year in the England Under 19 squad
We were also successful at England Under 19 Colleges with 3 players from SEEVIC College being selected to represent their country at this level. Charlotte Micallef, Lauren Searles and Kat Emerson.
Essex Seniors went on to play Regional Rugby too. However this is not a closed trail at the present time and not all players selected to represent the Region played at County level. We hope that these talented players continue with their successful progression along the player pathway and hope we can assist them in the future.
Among those players selected to play at Regional level are the following:-
Holly Le Grave
April Brown
Sarah Howard
Christine Walker
Becky Prosser
Sarah Stimpson
Jo Convoy
Kat Emerson
Veronica Ely
Michelle Napier
Sophie De Ronde
Chloe Van Dopp
Veronica Ely
Emma White
Louise Micklewright
Francesca Tomassi
Kelly Cotterill
To name but a few.
As you can see we are well represented at Regional level in all sections of the game.
Essex County RFUW are also proud to have members of our coaching and management team who go on to perform regional duties and these were
Pete and Tina Turner, who are tireless campaigners for women and girls rugby.
The Essex RFUW is working to raise the profile of the women and girls game and need support in a number of areas including funding and media. We have just selected a strong team of staff to enable us to help players develop next season and these are as follows
County Coaching Co-ordinator Chris Emerson (Mr)
Lead Senior Coach Dean White
Senior Coach Gerry Mills
Senior Coach Sean McCann
Senior Manager Chris Emerson (Mrs)
Lead Under 18 Coach Gavin Scott
Under 18 Coach Chris Spooner
Under 18 Coach Tony McClarnon
Under 18 Manager Paula Bates
Lead Under 15 Coach Pete Turner
Under 15 Coach Rebecca Howard
Under 15 Coach Phil Robson
Under 15 Manager Tina Turner
Program Manager Phil Robson
Treasurer Sam Irvine
Secretary Paula Bates
Kit Man Darren Coomer
Chair Chris Emerson (Mrs)
We are a proactive forward looking group and welcome constructive feedback and support. If you need to contact us for any reason please feel free to email Mrs Chris Emerson at the following email address MrsChrisE@blueyonder.co.uk
Thank you for the support you have given over the last year and we look forward to working together to take the women and girls game forward.
Information regarding current events etc can be found on the Essex RFU website and also our unofficial blog site which is the replacement for our newsletter. The blog site is http://essexgirlsrugby.blogspot.com . We welcome input in the form of reports and photos from all women and girls teams to go onto the website, promotion of events and timetable of training, training opportunities for staff and players.
Chris Emerson (Mrs)
Chair Essex RFUW
Coaching
The County has introduced a Coaching committee this season under the Chairmanship of Mike Redding who had tutored many coaching courses throughout the County. The coaching committee has been proactive in setting up coaching courses, and to ensure that coaching standards are kept up the courses will be backed up by coach education sessions at various clubs throughout the season. As the committee gain more information about the needs and wants of the Club and School coaches we should see a rise in the standard of coaching throughout the County with the aim of also improving the levels and standards of our players at all levels.
As part of the process of improving standards Mike has already started on the processes of selection for County Squads and the new School of Rugby. The School of Rugby will also give club and school coaches the opportunity to build on their personal development as experienced and guest coaching come in to take the various sessions.
Rugby Development Officer
Following the resignation of Matt Davies to take up a coaching post with Saracens Academy Scholarship scheme we were without an RDO for several months. The first set of interviews did not produce a suitable candidate, so the post was re-advertised. This time we were fortunate in that Keith Green the RFU RUSLO joined the applicants list. Following the interviews Keith was offered the post and accepted it. He has already made an impact on the County with Witham and Rochford both being awarded the seal of approval, supporting the Coaching committee, focusing of club development and making many other visits to our clubs and schools throughout the County.
ESSEX RUGBY UNION REFEREES SOCIETY
With two extra BL Essex merit table leagues, coping with three Essex leagues and eight merit leagues put a considerable strain on our resources this year with not enough referees on league Saturday’s but with spare refs on non league Saturday’s. The society coped reasonably well also with all the Essex County fixtures and cup matches on Sunday’s although we weren’t able to cover the Essex matches with teams of three for every match. We also managed to cope with the extra demands with the ad hoc arrangements (mainly by youth managers) who, seemed to ask for referee cover only as an afterthought, although we weren’t able to supply referees for many of the new Essex U14 and U17 league fixtures.
Referee abuse was again in existence this year with all the cases a result of parents or coaches at junior games. We ask all clubs to police this football mentality which appears to be creeping into our beloved game. The result of this abuse is that we have lost five referees who have decided to hang up their boots and a sizeable number that will not now ref on a Sunday.
Referee numbers increased by seven but work, injury and domestic requirements meant that we did at times struggle although help from Cambridge, Kent and Suffolk saved our blushes at times.
The Society has invested heavily the last couple of seasons in new kit and the latest training aids to help our new referees and we can now boast in having such training aids as communication radios for the team of three, DVD cameras, referee mikes, projector and other classroom equipment. We also changed our training venue. We now meet on the first Wednesday of each month at Essex Cricket Ground in Chelmsford where we have available to us a large well appointed hall with breakout rooms for specific training. This season we have had a number of external speakers visiting us varying in topics from the management of the game from a level 1 referee to an International advisor and his requirements from a referee. As these talks have been especially interesting we plan to do the same again this year with an outside speaker every other month.
The season saw a large increase in the number of matches scheduled, with initial requests for an average of 28 referees each Saturday. An average of 1 match per week was added and 3 matches per week was cancelled, several of which occurred after the referee was at the ground. We had an average of 23 refs available each week which for those mathematicians out there works out that 3 matches each week did not have a Society ref.
The mid-week and Sunday fixtures created another set of problems – the large number of Essex Cup competitions especially in the early rounds resulted in 171 cup matches being played on a Sunday refereed by the same small number of referees – my thanks go to you all.
A majority of the Wednesday fixtures were taken up between Writtle College, Essex University, SEEVIC and their BUSA league with a number of Schools e.g. Brentwood, interspersed. On the whole, for most of the fixtures a referee could be found, but occasionally it was a struggle.
We are always requiring new referees so please don’t hesitate to give me a call. With our welcome pack, new training aids and mentoring we will give you all the help you need to achieve your full potential. Please go to the referee link on the Essex rugby web site for more information.
Alan Gold
Secretary
The Future
2007-8 is a recruitment year in the RFU four year cycle which is timed to coincide with the Rugby World Cup which takes place in France during the end of September and October. The RFU Go Play Rugby theme will address some of the potential recruitment ideas but clubs and schools should put together plans to ensure that they maximise the impact that the World Cup could have on the sport.