Letchworth blog wins major RFU award

A real surprise in the post this morning from the RFU...

Dear John.

Thank you for you application to the 2007 RFU President's XV Recognition Awards. The Panel are delighted to announce that Letchworth Garden City has been chosen as the winner in the Category of Modernisation and have therefore been awarded a cheque for £500 for your club.

Although an award for the club, the nomination was entirely based around the work of the girls' section in general and the development of this blog in particular. The nomination went something like this:

Effective communication with players is always a problem – and especially with juniors. Verbal instructions are forgotten, letters undelivered, newsletters end up at the bottom of muddy bootbags, and even email is unreliable when – as Letchworth’s girls team discovered – most of the players have half a dozen or more addresses each.

The girls’ management team therefore decided to try something new – something that better matched the girls’ preferred method of communication. And so was born the Letchworth Girls’ Blog (http://letchworthgirls.blogspot.com/).

More than a website, a “blog” is an electronic newsletter which can be updated in real time by any number of editors – in the case of the Letchworth team all the girls’ managers and coaches. This can be done by any computer anywhere – even from a mobile phone – and can incorporate pictures, links, and other simple attachments.

In addition the blog has generates an “RSS feed” – producing an electronic alert which can automatically appear on girls’ computer “home pages”, which means that they do not need to regularly check the site, or even their email are – they are alerted to new entries whenever they turn on their computers.

The result is a system that is both simple – and extremely powerful. It is easy for anyone to use – no special software is needed, and no training. But the result also meshes almost perfectly with the way that young people communicate today.

And there's more. As well as £500 the RFU are giving a further £150 for us to organise a "presentation event" for club members, local dignitaries, the press etc. at which we will be presented with a trophy by some senior person from the RFU (possibly a former or current player).

We will also be featured in a forthcoming RFU publication called "Models of Good Practice" which will be sent to every club in the land.

This is a BIG THING everyone - anyone any good at organising parties?