Coming up Roses...

Last month the post of Head of Development was advertised (as mentioned in a previous article), and it has now been announced that Guinness Premiership Referee David Rose will take on this £40k per year post from September.

Rose's post is a new job (which RFUW press releases seem to confirm that it is not Carol Isherwood's old post, as some have speculated) is to ensure that women’s and girls’ rugby becomes a fully integrated part of rugby in England. He will have to work closely with the RFU, Sport England and other bodies to to ensure that there are as many opportunities as possible open to women and girls to play rugby.

As well as being a referee David Rose is also currently the RFU's Midlands Referee Development Manager and he has also worked for the IRB as a Regional Development Manager, the National Coaching Foundation as a Coaching Development Officer and as a Youth Development Officer for the North Midlands Rugby Union.

His appointment gives us the linguistic - even horticultural - coincidence of two Roses at the top of RFUW (well, a Rose and a Rosie), but aside from that RFUW's new development supremo claims to be fully aware that "that there are several new challenges ahead. I am very much looking forward to getting stuck in, in September”. His floral namesake Rosie Williams is also reported to be “really excited that David is joining us. The RFUW is continuing to grow and women’s and girls’ rugby is becoming an important part of the game across the country. That is why this is such an important appointment.”

There is hardly any part of the domestic game that David will not be in some way responsible for - including the "integration" with the RFU, a task which it is all the more important he gets right now that we know the role that the rulers of men's game see for women. Its going to be a tough job.

However, maybe he can start by finding out how much of O2's new £16,000,000 sponsorship deal with the RFU will be coming to the women's game (after all, the England Women's team will be wearing their shirts). The RFU press release is a little quiet on the subject.