|
Essex County |
ANNUAL
REPORT
Season 2000-2001
Annual General Meeting
BRENTWOOD RFC
7th July 2000 at 7.30pm
| Index to report | |
I have thoroughly enjoyed the first season of my term as President and
look forward to an even better one next year. This is an extremely important
period in the history of Essex rugby and I look forward to receiving the support
of all the Essex clubs as we strive to change our status within the RFU. I am
grateful to all of those who put in a great deal of time and effort to ensure
that the County provides the service expected by the member clubs. I would like
to single out Dai Davies in particular for his work on competitions in what was
an unusually difficult season. We are pleased to receive the continuing
support of Shepherd Neame and look forward to developing our good relationship
in the future.
I look forward to meeting many more people around the County during the
next 12 months.
Alan STOBBS
Barking maintained their consistency of recent years at level 4. In
London 1 Thurrock were relegated as were Romford & Gidea Park and Chelmsford
from London 2 North. Southend were clear winners of London 3 North East but
runners up Rochford Hundred were well beaten in the play-off to stay where they
are. Braintree were relegated from London 3 NE.
Eton Manor and Upminster were promoted from Eastern Counties 1 but
Wanstead and Bancroft were relegated from that league. Stanford-le-Hope had
another great year being unbeaten in Eastern Counties 2 South. Upper Clapton
were runners-up and were promoted after winning the play‑off. Old
Cooperians were relegated from that league. May & Baker ran away with
Eastern Counties 3 South. Millwall were also promoted. Kings Cross
Steelers had the worst record in our leagues conceding 1,169 points in 20
matches but they did have the best conviviality.
M. DRINKWATER
PLAYING
REPORT
Len Hymans (Chairman)
We were unable to fulfill our fixture with United Banks which was a
great disappointment but the reasons have been well documented. We intend to
continue our fixtures with United Banks. We started our Eastern Counties
Biro‑UK sub‑county championship with an incredible game against
Suffolk at Ipswich RFC. It was 45 points all with a few minutes to go and
we lost 45‑52. Jeff Woods (Romford & Gidea Park) was awarded Man of
the Match.
The game against Norfolk was also great entertainment but we lost
27‑29 at Thurrock RFC. Rob Early (Chelmsford) was Man of the Match.
We did however manage to beat Cambridgeshire at Southend RFC. Paul Ansell
(Thurrock) had an outstanding game and was Man of the Match. I am very
grateful to the players for turning out on Tuesday evenings in all weathers and
to the host clubs and to Shepherd Neame for their Man of the Match awards.
The referees and officials were also greatly appreciated.
L. HYMANS
COUNTY
COMPETITIONS
Tony Guest (Chairman)
This must have been the most difficult year ever for competitive rugby.
For a successful club there are few spare weekends and this causes problems when
games have to be postponed. The combined effects of the poor weather and foot
and mouth, not forgetting the petrol dispute, resulted in the postponement of
numerous cup games. The Youth programme is as congested as the adult game.
A talented youngster could spend the majority of the season unavailable for his
club due to representative calls It is still possible to run viable Essex
competition but clubs must be prepared to be flexible in the face of
disruptions.
The season's competition winners were:
U 15 ‑ Thurrock. Runners‑up Woodford.
U16 ‑ Barking. Runners‑up Westcliff.
U17 ‑ (Buffs Cup) ‑ Rochford Hundred. Runners‑up
Westcliff.
U19 ‑ (Colts Cup) ‑ Barking. Runners‑up Braintree.
2nd XV Cup ‑ Southend. Runners‑up Woodford.
President's Shield ‑ Stanford‑Le‑Hope.
Runners‑up Old Bealonians.
Senior Cup ‑ Campion. Runners‑up Chingford.
The Sevens competitions were cancelled due to the disruptions in other
competitions but we hope to run them in August/September as an opening event to
next season. Thanks must go to Southend RFC and Bancroft RFC for hosting finals
at short notice and to Ravens, Basildon, Canvey Island and Eton Manor who were
scheduled to host events which were then postponed. I hope to offer these clubs
events next season if possible. Many thanks must go to Grounds
Secretary Dai Davies and to Eric McLaughlan of the Essex Referees Society. Both
had to organise matches at very short notice and the fact that all the cup
competitions were completed is largely due to their efforts.
A.
C. GUEST
FINANCE
& SPONSORSHIP
Roger Oakley (Hon. Treasurer)
Our sponsorship from Shepherd Neame of £5,000 pa enables us to function
as an organising body and run at a profit. We have two more years to run on this
sponsorship and then must either re‑negotiate with Shepherd Neame or find
a new sponsor. A strict control of expenses allowed us to show a profit of
over £3,000. The winners of the various Shepherd Neame awards are listed
below. These awards will not be available next year due to budget constraints at
Shepherd Neame. We have appreciated the awards over the last two seasons and our
thanks go to Shepherd Neame and to Robin Hazel who organised everything.
Summary of
Shepherd Neame Awards 2000/2001
Team of the
Month
September
May & Baker
October
Stanford le Hope
November
Burnham on Crouch
December
Barking
January
Southend
February
Southend
March
Millwall
Essex Man of the Match
Jeff
Woods
Romford & Gidea Park
(Suffolk)
Rob
Early
Chelmsford
(Norfolk)
Paul
Ansell
Thurrock
(Cambridgeshire)
Paul
Larner
Campion
Essex Senior Cup
Gavin
Scott
Stanford le Hope
President's Shield
Shepherd Neame Spitfire Try Race
Lloyd
Williams
Basildon
17 Tries
Essex
Team of the year
Southend
Rugby Football Club
Essex
Player of the Year
Kevin
Harman
Southend Rugby Football Club
YOUTH
Steve Foster (Chairman)
Essex
Squads
To the managers and coaches of the Squads we must extend our thanks for the
consistent hard work that they have put in throughout last season. In particular
our thanks go to Barrie and Conine Winwood of Braintree RFC who have been the
manager of the under 17s Squad. Following Barrie taking on the role of President
of Braintree RFC they are now standing down. We wish them luck in the future.
Thank you goes out to all those who took part in this season's Essex squads and
to those coaches for putting names forward. Any clubs that did not put names
forward for this season it is our hope that they try to encourage players, who
it may be felt have what it takes to expand their ability, in to attending next
season trials and training sessions. It is also of note that without the
assistance of the coaches in the various age groups there would be no Essex
squads. To that end we are looking for volunteers to help with the training and
running the various squads next season. If there is anyone interested in seeing
teams excel at County level we ask that they please do not hesitate to contact
the Chairman, Steve Foster or Brian Jones.
Registration
With regard to this season's registration, most clubs have now started
to settle down to the routine of ensuring their players are registered, however
some clubs are leaving it very late in registering their players for Cup
matches. Players must be registered and in the case of new members they must be
registered a minimum of 21 days before the round in which he is to play. If a
club has quite a lot of players not registered 21 days before a match they may
well forfeit the match.
In respect of the Essex Cup matches, checks are now being made on the
team sheets submitted by the participating clubs. This means that the player's
eligibility by age is being checked. Also that a player is not being played in
two separate age groups. We are therefore stressing the importance of ensuring
that the registration forms and team sheets are completed as accurately as
possible. This will ensure that no club is put in the embarrassing position of
being asked to withdraw or being disqualified.
2001
‑ 2002 Season
The calendar has not been drawn up yet for the forthcoming season. As with last
year it is hoped that we can liaise with Essex Schools to ensure that important
dates do not clash. It would be some assistance, when setting next year's
calendar, if we had any dates when clubs are on tour. We cannot give any
guarantee that any Essex or Eastern Counties’ fixtures will be held on the
tour dates supplied.
Essex
YDO
Nick Greenhall is our new Essex Youth Development Officer. We look
forward to working closely with him in the forthcoming season.
Other
matters
There can be no doubting that last season was the worst any can remember
for the abysmal weather conditions that prevailed. This affected the Under 13s
Festival which has yet to be played. It had a drastic effect on the Under 18s
Development Squad early on in the season with only a few training sessions held.
It is hoped to pick up where we left off and have a squad to be reckoned with.
All other squads struggled to get training sessions and our thanks go to the
clubs that had training pitches available. This was a generous gesture given
that the pitches were also required for their own teams.
B.Jones
Essex
County Schools Rugby Football Union
Hon.Secretary's
Report: 2000/2001
This past season has been affected by the poor weather with a number of
fixtures being lost by poor weather conditions although the first three finals
"Schools Day" was completed despite the mud!
Results:
18 Group
Only two fixtures were completed. V Cambridgeshire Schools L
17‑43; V Suffolk Schools W 68‑19. Only two of the County playing
squad represented Eastern Counties Schools although a number more progressed
directly through the E.C. 18G trial. A.Frost & M.Guess (King John,
Thundersley) went on to represent London & SE Division 1 St.Jan. Squad.
16
Group
Won all three of the DU fixtures: V Cambridgeshire School 39 ‑ 17;
V Suffolk Schools 19 5; V Norfolk Schools 17 ‑ 14. Fourteen County players
went on to represent Eastern Counties Schools. J.Beith & P Roberts
(Campion), A.Brandon‑Tyrell (King John), D.Slade (St.Edwards CS);
D.Richardson (Westcliff HS) all represented London & SE Division. B‑T
went on to represent England 16G A XV
15
Group
Were hardest hit by the weather playing only three of their seven
fixtures. V Cambridgeshire Schools W 26 ‑5; V Suffolk L; V Surrey Schools
L 21 ‑38. A change in the playing structure will affect the 16 &
18G next season with their inter DU matches being played on a "festival
basis" on the same day!
Competitions
Once again all age group competitions were well supported by member
schools. The early season U17 X Aside
Tournament was won by Robert Clack NEC beating Coopers Co. in the final. Our
second Schools Day at May & Baker RFC survived the mud with three finals
being completed: U13 (Alan Lewin Trophy) was
won by The Anglo‑European S. with Saffron Walden C.H.C. runners up; Colne
Community S. beat Robert Clack C.S. in the U14 Final (The Mike Dargon Trophy); and St.Martins won the U15
KO Final beating Coopers Co.& Coborn S. The Coopers Co.& Coborn S.
beat Davenant RG.S in the final of the
U15
Sevenaside Tournament.
It should be noted that St.Mardn's S., Brentwood reached the fifth round of the Daily Mail open 15G national KO; that Campion S. won the prestigious 18G final at Twickenham beating Durham S.
A vote of thanks are to be recorded to Bill Coley, the County
Hon.Comp.Secretary, for his efforts in organising and completing all of our
tournaments on schedule. The season of representative schools' rugby would
not be possible without the support and commitment of the age group team
managers, area representatives, schoolmaster selectors, host clubs and the Essex
Referees Society.
Team
Managers:
15G
‑ Tony Richards & Dominic Argyle; 16G ‑ John Roberts and his
helpers; 18G ‑ Chris & Gary Jones.
Schools
& Clubs:
Campion
S., Coopers Co.& Coborn S; Brentwood RFC, Colchester RFC, Thurrock RFC. A
special thank you to May & Baker RFC for hosting our Second Schools' Day.
Area Reps: Scott Borthwick (Boswells S.), Martin Polkinhorne
(Mark Hall C.S.), Lee Marshall (Coopers Co.) & Martin Eyles (Wm.Edwards S).
A final thanks to the committee for its continuing support especially on
School's Day.
R.WHITTLE
Secretary's Report
What a year! Petrol shortages at the outset followed by the wettest year
on record and the worst foot and mouth epidemic ever. We seem to have survived
it somehow but clubs will have suffered financially. Many of our clubs
performed well in the leagues and play‑offs figured for the first time.
Essex clubs did well in the U19s and U17s with Barking winning the Eastern
Counties title at the U19 level and Rochford Hundred taking the Eastern Counties
title at U17 level in convincing style. Woodford did well to get to the Eastern
Counties senior final but lost to North Walsham.
The loss of players is a continuing problem but the RFU is addressing the
problem through the Blackman Report and this coming season you should see
various initiatives being actively pursued. I will try and keep you fully
informed. We need a successful England team and a successful premiership
but we also need a successful and progressive game at grass roots level. The RFU
Strategic Plan envisages increased funding at the grass roots level for the
foreseeable future.
You will have seen the proposed resolution to be put to the Essex AGM Concerning
Constituent Body status. I have said on many occasions that CB status will be
difficult to achieve because the RFU does not encourage the creation of new CBs.
We will however discuss it fully with Eastern Counties and then make the case
with the RFU whose consent is required at both Council and AGM level.
George Ford has indicated his intention of retiring from the Essex and
Eastern Counties committees and will not therefore be on the Essex committee
next year except as a past President. His career with Essex goes back to 1949
when he was a referee. He was Assistant Secretary
of
Essex
in
1971
and became Secretary in 1974
until
1981
. He has been on Eastern Counties Competitions Committee since 1972 and was
Essex President between 1981 and 1983. He has been involved with London Division
since 1976 and has been league secretary for London 1 since 1988. I have not
included all of George's achievement due to lack of space! I am pleased to
report that although he is retiring, George is to be Chairman of what we know as
London Division.
I hope you all have a relaxing summer and that the Lions win in
Australia. I am sorry that I will not be at our AGM and I hope that it goes
well.
Good luck to you all next season.
M. DRINKWATER