Maximise Participation In College Rugby Last year, we reported that participation in men’s College rugby had been disappointing, with many matches played with less than full teams and with uncontested scrums. Subsequently, discussions with Captains and the Management Committee resulted in structural changes to the League to address these issues. Colleges have been encouraged to appoint Recruitment Officers specifically to target new players, and this has worked well. There has continued to be an understandable resistance to joint teams. It isn’t easy to attract new men players because they’re up against players who’ve played throughout school. For this reason, we focus on different formats and put on centralised training events, to make it easy to learn the rules and the skills. The changes to the League structure have required more student referees to be recruited and trained. 12 student referees completed a training course in the Easter Term, and eight of these have been active during the season. We will run another course this June and are expecting each College to send someone to this. Students who are new to the game of rugby have been encouraged to play via Development Days. There have been five women’s Development Days and two women’s Development Tournaments, where they are given a first opportunity to play competitively. We have encouraged a new, mixed University Touch team, who train at Grange Road on Thursday evenings and who are entering a number of tournaments.
Provide a challenging competitive environment At the time of writing, we are part-way through men’s Cuppers. This is an historic competition (since 1922), with significant kudos and (lifelong) pride to the winners. This year, all three men’s finals (Cuppers, Plate and Vase) will be played on the same day (Saturday 28th April), which we hope will enhance the occasion and increase the number of spectators. Last year’s Cuppers winners (St. John’s) played their Oxford counterparts at the start of the Michaelmas Term in the first ever “Super Cuppers” match in aid of the UMRio charity. Pleasingly, they won convincingly. Women’s College Rugby Women’s rugby at Cambridge has expanded considerably over the last few years, which has been great to see. In terms of how we support it, there are lessons from men’s rugby that we can apply, but also differences that we need to recognise. These include: The fact that many women players have not played rugby before they come to Cambridge; The need to create a structure for competition between the Colleges (as opposed to maintaining and adapting an existing structure, as we do with the men); The different experience of playing rugby that women may want: 1. centralised tournaments/matches have been a significant success this season, and are something we want to continue with moving forward;
2. clusters are more successful when there is a focus College where the captain is located, and we should develop these. The priorities we have set ourselves in the short-term are as follows: To support and build on the cluster concept, which recognises that most Colleges are unlikely to be able to field standalone teams. We see the cluster as the primary unit both for development of players and competition between Colleges. The organisation of the clusters needs to be kept under review. To provide the opportunity for women to play rugby in a variety of formats, e.g. Touch, Sevens and X Rugby, as well as traditional 15 a-side. This is important for maximising participation, development and enjoyment. The summer Touch at Grange Road organised by Deborah Griffin and John Naylor, in which many women participate and have their first experience of playing rugby, has been a considerable success over the past four years. To provide as much coaching support as we are able. We see this as a key priority. It’s very clear that the availability of good coaching is fundamental to people’s development, enjoyment and continued participation, particularly when they are starting to play the game. In Michaelmas Term next year, we have set ourselves the target of recruiting coaches who can work on a regular and consistent basis with each of the clusters, as well as continuing to provide coaching support for the Development Programme which we run for new starters. We aim to ensure that the timing and other logistics around coaching sessions enables the maximum number of players to join in, i.e. it needs to be player-led. Saturday afternoons at Grange Road seems likely to be the best answer for this. To provide appropriate financial support to enable the necessary playing and training resources (balls, bins, cones etc.) to be available. The availability of equipment is important for the success of the clusters. Georgina McCoig (Emmanuel) has contributed significantly to many of the initiatives which have had a positive impact on women’s rugby. |