President - Alan Stobbs.

If you want time to fly-by can I recommend that you become President of Essex County Rugby Union. These past two years have gone so quickly for me. They have been packed with visits to clubs, playing in Vets games, going to all our County finals at Schools, Youth and Senior levels. Attending meetings of the County, Eastern Counties, Schools and of course over the past year our meetings to progress the application to become a Constituent Body.

The strength of feeling for Essex Rugby and an Essex identity is felt across all sections of our Rugby fraternity and I would like to say thank-you to all of you, not only the committee members, but everyone involved in Essex Rugby for the support you have shown me and your committees.

At our AGM I shall be handing over to Dai Davies who has given me and the County so much support not only as President Elect but as the Honorary Assistant Secretary. I have promised him that I shall be only too willing to turn out for his Presidents XV during his term of office as he did for me.

As a member of the Essex committee I still intend to participate in County matters and hope to be able to assist with our Senior County XV to ensure that we retain the Biro-Bic ECRU sub-county trophy and that we can develop a side worthy of representing the County at any level especially when our CB application finally gets approved.

Once again, Thanks to everyone who has helped to make my two years enjoyable and I hope to see you all again next season.

Alan Stobbs

President Essex RFU 2000 - 2002

Hon Secretary - Mike Drinkwater

A definite improvement on last year ! No petrol shortages, a drier winter and no foot and mouth. Barking had a great end to their season when they won the Eastern Counties Senior Cup beating North Walsham in an exciting final at Goresbrook Road.

In my view the play-offs were vindicated when Southend won their play-off against Portsmouth in convincing fashion watched by a huge crowd. This was as good as any cup final. My commiserations to Basildon and East London who also took part in play-offs but were unsuccessful. Both clubs are well positioned to reverse those situations during the course of the coming season. At the RFU AGM this year there is a proposal from two Yorkshire Clubs to do away with play-offs and I hope that clubs will not support that resolution.

The RFU is pushing Blackman Action as hard as it can to get more players and administrators into the game. Increased funding is also going to the grass roots clubs and constituent bodies. We will know fairly soon if these initiatives are having an effect on our Essex Clubs.

The RFU monthly magazine Touchline is essential reading and every club gets enough copies for its committee. The A – Z of community Rugby produced by the RFU is also important reading for all clubs and can also be accessed via the RFU web site.

Our application to become a Constituent Body was made to the RFU Council in April 2002, but they would not consider it until a conclusion had been reached with the Eastern Counties Committee and Clubs. The ECRU have decided to call an EGM to discuss the matter on the 22nd September 2002 and further information will be made available to all clubs well in advance of that date.

It has to be said that our discussions with the Eastern Counties management committee have not gone well. The only area where we agree is that the document produced by Essex is extremely professional and a credit to the County. Our thanks go to Ivor Smith for masterminding the production of the Essex case and to the working party led by our President Alan Stobbs. Although we have a long way to go, we are still aiming for approval at next years RFU AGM. In the ECRU Annual Report our application is described as a distraction. If this is an indication of how the development of Essex Rugby is viewed by the majority of that committee then everyone knows we would be far better off on our own.

As always, our thanks go to Shepherd Neame for their generous sponsorship of the county and Senior sides, and this year we are grateful to Kestrel Liner Agencies for their generous sponsorship of our youth development teams. Thank you both.

Alan Stobbs finishes his two year term at the AGM and has been a tower of strength, particularly in our dealings with Eastern counties. He is not , I am happy to say, leaving the committee. Fortunately, in Dai Davies we have a worthy successor. In my own case, I propose to stand down as Hon Secretary next year when I will have completed 14 years in that position. What I do thereafter will depend very much on the progress of our application to become a Constituent Body.

We have lost some great servants to the game in the past year and we should remember them all at this time.

Have a good rest over the summer and come back refreshed. Above all enjoy your rugby and who knows England may yet win the Grand Slam.

Mike Drinkwater.

Hon Treasurer - Roger Oakley

Our expenditure doubled in the year to over £14,000 due mainly to purchases of kit and the expense of our constituent Body application where printing costs alone were £3,500. Some of the expenditure on the brochure will however be recoverable we hope as copies are sent out to prospective corporate sponsors. Overall, a loss of some £2,500 was recorded against a profit of £3,200 in the previous year.

We now have only one year to run on our Shepherd Neame sponsorship of £5,000 and we need to give serious consideration to this matter as soon as possible as highlighted in our 5 year plan. I believe that Eastern Counties will also have to consider how to finance the sub-counties in the new era of conditional funding.

Roger is retiring this year and our grateful thanks go to him for his professionalism during his term of office

M. Drinkwater.

Playing - Scott Liebenberg

We played United Banks in November and recorded a substantial win. In the Eastern Counties Biro Bic sub-county championship we started slowly with a 5-19 loss against Norfolk at North Walsham. This was followed by a narrow win 23-10 against Cambridge at Shelford. In our last game, which was played at Thurrock against Suffolk we recorded a 48 – 0 win. The gods were on our side and Cambridgeshire beat Norfolk to give us the title for the first time in several years.

Our thanks go to the players who for they gave up their Tuesday nights for the County and to the playing chairman Scott Liebenberg. Our thanks also go to the host club, Thurrock, all the match officials, and our committee members and supporters who turned out on Tuesday nights to encourage and support our players. Scott will not be standing for re-election next season and we wish him well for the future. It is proposed that Alan Stobbs will take over the playing Chairman’s role.

Youth and Development - Peter Howard

Firstly I would like to thank all my Youth Managers, Coaches and other volunteers for what has been with out doubt a very successful season, for the Essex 14’s 15’s 16’s & 17’s (unfortunately we were unable to field an under 18’s this season) I would also like to thank my Vice chairman for all his work with the mini & midi sections throughout the County.

Our Under 14’s played 7 games winning they won 6 and lost 1 and notably beat a strong Bedfordshire side along the way.

The 15’s played 8 won 6 (including Bedfordshire & Middlesex)

The 16’s played 3 won 1 (in part due to the fact of a late start after Christmas)

The 17’s played 4 won 3 and at the E.C tournament won 1 lost 1

The under 15’s where invited to the Manchester 10’s precursor to the Commonwealth games, narrowly losing to Durham in their satellite final, we were also able to help with the formation and training of a Inner City development squad consisting of mostly non rugby playing youngsters. These lads went on to become runners up in the stadium on the final day. I would like to offer my congratulations to Martin White, his coaches and all the lads involved for this excellent achievement and in Essex shirts.

Both our under 15’s and the inner city development boys were then invited to partake in an Active Sports Talent camp held at THE University if East Anglia (Norwich) at which we were able to combine both squads with benefits to everyone involved (including I am sure all the coaches).

I feel we cannot over state the importance of working with the inner city development squad, as it offers the potential of a huge un-tapped pool of very talented young athletes just waiting to be introduced to rugby. Next season these links will be strengthened at other age groups.

The County’s thanks also go to Andy Thorn and his company Kestrel Liner Agenices of Basildon who this year have sponsored new playing kit for all our youth teams. This has been a tremendous benefit to the County and my thanks are extended to Steve Foster for "brokering the deal."

Harlow and Barking represented the County in the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society ECRU Youth Cup competitions. Harlow were a late replacement due to Westcliff being unable to fulfil the fixture due to tour commitments. Barking were beaten in their final by a strong Wymondham side in Norfolk. Thank you to both teams, managers and coaches for representing the County in these games.

In our competitions this season there were a few problems regarding the registration of players. According to the RFU we have one of the best and most efficient systems in England, but even so we have still not got it 100% right. I hate to think what some of the other CBs are like. Harry Hicks is our registrar and was recently awarded a Value the Volunteer award for his efforts with youth registration. He is always contactable for advice registration and remember all Youth Players must be registered. So please help Harry achieve that 100%.

The support I have had from the clubs’ youth chairmen during my first year, has been immeasurable and together I hope we can continue to develop the youth of our County into teams to be proud of and thus build the foundations for the survival of the game in Essex and its future. To these ends we are working hard with our RDO Nick Greenhall, who is putting in a lot of work in Essex, to provide lots more coaching courses and coaching clinics for all our coaches. All the courses will be advertised on our Essex Rugby web site and where we can, the courses will be subsidised and clinics will be free.

Next season will see the introduction of the Essex elite player Development centre under the manager Mike Hynard of Saracens. At the time of going to press it is believed that the centre will be run at the Brentwood School and will replace those long journeys for our academy nominated players. The EPDC will not only benefit Saracens but will ensure that those nominated will receive the very best of advice and training, whilst still being available for their clubs and county.

It has been a great pleasure both working as Youth Chairman and under 15’s coach this year and I hopefully look forward to continuing next season.

Peter Howard

Chairman Youth and Development

Active Sport

It was a shame that we as a County Union were not informed at an early stage of Essex Active Sport. Year one plans were well underway before we were invited to join the Sports Action Group made up of the Borough Sports Development officers, Essex Active Sport managers and a few selected clubs. We have now resolved that situation with our representatives taking a leading role in progressing the Active Sport year two plans for the development of the game in Essex schools under the chairmanship of our RDO Nick Greenhall. Nick Greenhall with Darrell Edwards and Ivor Smith are forming in-roads into this organisation to ensure a Rugby input and will also be trying to form links with our Clubs who are in the London Partnership area. Active Sport is essential in helping us to promote the development of coaches and steer clubs towards the RFU Seal of Approval. Clubs who achieve this accreditation will be eligible for consideration for funding opportunities in the future. Further details will be available on our web site and from Darrel or Ivor.

There is a lot of work in this programme which also fits into our County Five Year plan. We are hoping that funding will also be provided for at least an Assistant RDO for Essex (until we can get our own) as well as a RFUW development officer to encourage more girls and ladies to play rugby.

Ivor Smith

pp Peter Howard Chairman Youth and Development.

Essex County Schools Rugby Football Union - Bob Whittle

The past season has been a successful one for the County. Not only for our excellent representative results but the completion of a record number of schools competitions.

16 Group: An inaugural round robin festival was organised this year. Whilst not entirely satisfactory from a selection point of view, it did reduce the number of playing commitments from three days to one. Each of the District Unions played each other. We won our matches against Norfolk and Cambridgeshire but drew with Suffolk. From these matches ten Essex players went on to represent Eastern Counties SRFU. D. Murphy (Gaynes School) was then selected to play for the London Divisional Squad. I would like to record my thanks to John Roberts (St Helena) for his management of this group.

15 group: Our most successful age group squad and undefeated all season. Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk schools were all beaten in the District Union programme. The results against Surrey and Middlesex Schools show great promise for next season. It is hoped that a number of the squad will be involved with both the Eastern Counties development programme and the commonwealth Games festival. Thanks are recorded to Tony Richard, Paul McManus, P. Shepherd and Michael Eyers for their combined efforts in managing this group.

18 group: Regretfully not enough nominations were received for either a trial or playing squad to be identified. However fourteen Essex schoolboys went on to represent Eastern Counties Schools who had an undefeated season. Andrew Frost ( King John School) represented England 18G 1st September, and Michael Guess (King John School) represented both England 18G and the FIRA group.

Competitions: Two new tournaments were played this season as well as our regular competitions. All tournaments were well supported:

Competition

Winners

Runners Up

     

U13 Alan Lewis trophy

40 Schools entered

St Martins

King John

U14 Mike Dargon Trophy

44 schools entered

Anglo European

William Edwards

U15 County Knock Out

36 Schools entered

William de Ferros

Colne Community

U15 Plate

For 1st & 2nd Round losers

Helen Romanes

Phillip Morant

U16 County knock Out

21 schools entered

St Martins

Completed clean sweep of tournament victories having won as u13, u14 & u15

Coopers Coburn

U15 7-a-side

Heldey Walter

Campion

U17 10-a-side

Coopers Coburn

Robert Clack

     
     

The Campion School were unlucky this year not to retain the Daily Mail U18 KO cup when they lost to Oakham school in the final at Twickenham.

May and Baker RFC are to be thanked for hosting our Schools Day when the u13, u14 and u15 finals were played. Our thanks also go to the referees on that day, arranged by Michael Eyers. None of the above competitions would have been organised and completed without the efforts of Bill Coley the County Competitions Secretary to whom we record our vote of thanks.

Other thank you’s are extended to Alistair Newton and the Essex Referees society for their combined support and to the clubs and schools who made their playing facilities available to us. Campion School, Coopers Coburn School, Colchester RFC, Thurrock RFC, Chingford RFC, Romford and Gidea Park RFC. Our thanks also go to the Senior Essex County Union representatives who attended our meetings and supported out Schools day and finally to Harlow RFC for hosting our meetings.

Rugby politics has also played its part this past season with the announcement of the Structured Season and the presentation of the Schools, Youth and Students Report. Neither policies/reports were produced with the help and views of this District Union whose future as a schools organisation may well be threatened. Watch this space.

RW Whittle

Hon Secretary

Leagues.

Congratulation to Southend on their promotion to London 1 after comprehensively defeating Portsmouth in the Play- off. Basildon were unlucky to stay in London 3 NE when they narrowly lost their play-off. Chelmsford were relegated from London 3 NE and Canvey island were relegated from London 4 NE. I feel sure this will only be a temporary blip for both clubs. Wanstead were promoted to Eastern Counties 1 but Old Edwardians were relegated to Eastern Counties 2 South. May & Baker and Millwall were both relegated to Eastern Counties 3 South but Burnham on Crouch and Dagenham were both promoted to Eastern Counties 2 South. In an effort to help clubs in the lower leagues by reducing the amount of travelling they have to do, the ECRU competitions committee is reviewing the league structure and will be proposing before the start of the season that leagues from EC1 down will be regionalised.

More details will be published when they become available on our web site at www.essexrugby.com and in our newsletter "In Touch". The league secretary’s for the leagues affecting EC2S and EC3S will be our own committee members Beiron Rees and Len Hymans.

M. Drinkwater.

Competitions Committee - Anthony Guest

This past season was unique as one in which we had two Seven-a-side competitions. In September we held the postponed 2001 competition which was poorly supported, but nevertheless an enjoyable day for those participating. The 2002 sevens went ahead as planned but again the number of clubs participating in this competition was disappointing. The lack of enthusiasm does sometimes seem strange, as those who turn up always have an excellent afternoons rugby and fun.

In contrast the 15-a-side competitions were well supported. With Eleven Essex Clubs in the Eastern Counties Cup, there was the opportunity for the lower ranking sides to experience cup glory. The senior cup final saw the form book thrown away and the trophy go to an Eastern Counties League 2 South side. The final attracted the largest crowd for several years at Ilford Wanderers RFC

The Presidents Shield final at Witham RFC was also watched by a big crowd with both finalists receiving their first Essex Shields. A reduction in the number of clubs in the ECRU cup next season will mean that both cup competitions will include sides from higher league positions and thus raise the opportunities for "giant killing"

A new second XV competition for the smaller clubs was also successfully introduced. The trophy being supplied by the Essex Referees Society in hour of John Alder a long time stalwart for the Society. Both second team competitions were enthusiastically supported by the competing clubs and a new trophy was also obtained for the "senior" second XV competition.

A number of clubs have thriving youth setups but the entry for both the |u17 and u19 Cups was small by comparison. The finals at Rochford were well supported with another large crowd enjoying the two games.

Registration of youth players was a problem for some clubs and this is something that the clubs themselves must sort out. The current lists of registered youth players will be sent to clubs shortly and clubs must check that all their squad are listed at the start of the season. Harry Hicks who runs our youth registration scheme was recently praised for his work and efficiency by the RFU and Essex County and is only too willing to ensure we have 100% compliance and registration of all the youth players in the County.

Finally a big thank-you to all the clubs who help us by hosting the games, and to our referees and members of the competitions sub-committee without whose efforts the Essex Competitions would not exist.

Competitions Results:

Competition

Winners

Runners Up

     

U13

Westcliff

Brentwood

U14

Braintree

Romford & Gidea Park

U15

Barking

Westcliff

U16

Brentwood

Thurrock

U17 Buffs Cup

Westcliff

Harlow

U19’s Colts Cup

Barking

Westcliff

2nd XV Senior Cup

Romford & Gidea Park

Thurrock

2nd XV Junior Cup

East London

Wanstead

Presidents Shield

Burnham –on Crouch

Rayleigh

Senior Cup

East London

Upminster

     

Seven -a-side

   

Sept 2001

   
     

Colts Plate

Romford & Gidea Park

 

Colts Cup

Westcliff

 

Senior plate

East London

 

Senior Cup

Eton Manor

 
     

April 2002

   
     

Colts Plate

Rochford

 

Colts Cup

Romford & Gidea Park

 

Senior plate

Rochford

 

Senior Cup

Eton Manor

 

 

A.C. Guest

Chairman Competitions Committee

Press and Publicity - Ivor Smith

Another very busy season for Press and Publicity with many clubs visited during the season. Those I have not been able to get round to so far will be top of the list next season Unfortunately I was not able to publish as many editions of In Touch as I would have liked, but that was due to a number of factors not least the amount of time spent in producing our five year plan promotional brochure for our CB application. I appreciate the many positive comments that have been made about it but you should not forget that it was a team effort from your working party.

At the March General Committee meeting it was suggested that a one pager should do to enable all those without internet access to be kept informed. This is a good idea and we hope at least next season that I shall be able to publish a monthly edition of In Touch. The hardest part of putting together the newsletter is obtaining the information. Contributions from anyone are most welcome and will help to make the newsletter more interesting and easier to produce.

Communication is vital in making everyone feel that they are part of our Union and are being kept informed about everything that is going on. I am in the process of building up a mailing list of Club Secretaries and club members who wish to be kept informed electronically. If you are not yet included on that list please e-mail me your details via the Essex Rugby Union Web site at www.essexrugby.com. The site will give you access to all the latest news, results, league tables from the RFU and progress of our own County Competitions.

As part of our Youth and Development strategy you will also find details of courses for coaches and referees. We shall also publish details of information on our Development squads and the newly formed EPDC (Elite player Development Centre).

There is a lot going on in Essex and we are developing a partnership with our local press as well as BBC Essex to compliment the club reports and to raise the profile of EssexRugby. Next season is going to be equally busy as we build up for the ECRU EGM on September 22nd 2002 which is being called so that all clubs can vote on our proposal to separate from Eastern Counties and become a County CB. We shall be campaigning not only in Essex but in the sub-counties, to get the message across that the separation will be good for all of us and the future development of The Game.

Discipline - Ivor Smith

As an Essex member of the ECRU disciplinary Committee it has been disappointing this year that Essex heads the table of sending offs. Though we have 50% of the clubs in the ECRU and therefore would head any table, we are having a higher proportion of disciplinary offences to deal with compared to the other three sub-counties. A disturbing trend has been verbal abuse of the referee as well as the number of youth players being sent off. I am asked to remind you that disciplinary offences are totalled up against a club not just seniors or youth. It would be a shame to see the antics of football creeping into our game. Everyone in the club has a part to play in improving the image and observing the Fair Play Code. As a CB it would be great for EssexRugby to be recognised for all the right reasons, not indiscipline.

CB Working Party.

As secretary of the Constituent Body Working Party it has fallen upon me to say a few words in our Annual Report regarding the progress of our application to become a County CB of the RFU. It was very disappointing for all concerned that despite receiving 40 letters of support out of 43 clubs, (only two clubs failed to reply though we were informed positive replies had been submitted, and one club did not support the proposal), our application was rejected by the RFU Council and referred back to Eastern Counties to resolve. It is our view that the RFU Council saw this as the easy way out of having to make a decision, despite our very strong case.

Your committee is however steadfast in its resolve to continue to pursue the application in the interests of the development of the game of Rugby Union in the County of Essex. The ECRU management committee have decided that all the clubs in Eastern Counties should have the opportunity to support or reject our proposal with the result being referred back to the RFU council.

In the meantime we shall embark on a programme to ensure that all clubs in the remaining three sub-counties are informed of the benefits which they are likely to accrue should they take up the challenge to develop the game in their areas with the same positive attitude as we have in Essex.

The details from our 5 year plan will not be lost either. The brochure will be sent to some of the major companies in Essex seeking to involve them in sponsorship of EssexRugby. Action plans from the 5 year plan are also being prepared to ensure that we meet the challenges which have been highlighted and that your management and general committee ensures EssexRugby achieves its true potential as a Rugby County

Ivor Smith

Chairman Press and Publicity.