From a concerned coach...

I received the following today, in response to the article earlier this week about the leagues. Its far too long to go as a comment - and also far too important (its also disturbing that people still feel the need for anonymity when criticising RFUW):

From a concerned coach

Over the last few years as more and more girls teams sprang up, unofficial leagues had sprung up to accommodate these teams. There were two distinct types, highly competitive leagues between clubs able to field full teams, and cluster leagues where teams clustered together to get enough girls to play a game. Not all the country was covered and not all the leagues worked particularly well. There was a county programme with counties finding their own fixtures and some running successful tournaments and there was a regional programme that had developed really well and culminated in an excellent tournament at the end of the year. In summary something fun to keep grass roots going and something more competitive to develop the talent. It did have a few problems in the way it took chunks out of the fixture list for those that didn't move up the ladder, but overall it was successful and fulfilling for the girls.

Adjustments could have been made to it to continue its evolution. However, in one go at the end of last season the RFUW got rid of the lot. Every team was told they would need to enter a RFUW league as none of the old ones could continue. Although it was not compulsory to enter, teams felt obliged to enter to ensure fixtures. Teams reluctantly did this without knowing playing numbers in case they couldn't find fixtures Teams were placed in leagues and corresponding fixtures were published, but it was evident from the beginning that many of the clubs registered didn't have the playing numbers to fulfil the fixtures, or were not at the playing level of other teams in the league.

In prior years lists of teams were published in categories relating to the number of players. These clearly showed few clubs with large playing squads and many who would struggle to field a 7's team. The league rules were lifted from the Women's league where there is a structure for relegation and promotion, something that is not present in the girls leagues and not appropriate. The additional try bonus point system also encourages teams to rack up points, something that doesn't help development. This has led to uncertainty in the league winners list published on the Letchworth Blog. In fact although some of these teams currently top their leagues now all the games have been played, the RFUW will be adjusting some points and in some leagues there will be new winners. Leagues also cause problems to teams emerging during the season, how do they find fixtures when clubs already have a fixture list in place? So we see in many leagues vast discrepancies in results and in many cases teams not playing a single game. What has happened to these clubs and their girls? Some have clearly folded, girls have quit rugby for other sports. This has been detrimental to the development of the girls game. Hopefully some clubs will return.

What leagues do is introduce competitiveness. Often this is due to the egos of the coaches involved, but witness the introduction of junior leagues in Boys' rugby. This has had an effect on fixture lists, relations between clubs and the development of boys as winning is vital to avoid relegation. At least with the boys' leagues there are enough to have promotion and relegation to ensure teams are in a fairly competitive environment. This is not the case with girls rugby as there are not the number of teams to do this. Examination of the effect of the introduction of the men's leagues shows a similar problem. Many clubs now run fewer teams. Clubs have folded as playing numbers diminished and old club rivalries were lost as teams moved up into different leagues. There is now a large influx out of the lower leagues into merit tables to find the lost ethos that competitive league rugby destroyed.


We need more girls in rugby and more clubs, the base needs to be very broad to support the ultimate goal of a successful world cup winning England team. However, that elite few need to be supported by a fun rugby many. There should be a fundamental principle that club rugby is about developing girls and supporting the growth of and increasing the number of clubs. We do not want to see the emergence of super teams who attract the best players in each county and who de facto become the county team. We want to see clubs growing numbers and new clubs emerging. The strength and support for a competitive league structure with promotion and relegation is not there yet. Concentration should be on growing the base. The leagues should be more flexible to allow new teams to join during the season. Try bonus points should be abolished, with a simple 4 points for a win 2 points for a draw and 1 point for a loss. Games should automatically stop after a margin of 30 points and a new game started with more evenly matched sides. Stronger clubs should be supporting the developing clubs as it is in their long term interest. Alternatively the old merit table idea could be used of ranking teams by the number of games they have won as a percentage of the games played against other teams in their league, so late joiners are not disadvantaged.

The move to Divisional rugby from the regional rugby has been good news for clubs as fewer girls are lost on average. But the divisional structure needs to be sorted out especially at U18 level. Are they going to be like the U15's a couple of practice matches then a tournament, or like the Women a simple league where everybody plays everybody else? My preference would be for a tournament at both U15 and U18 because the girls really enjoy them.

More competition needs to be introduced at the County level. The CB's throughout the country need to be running county girls. Within each division there should be one or two leagues and teams should play each other to win these. This would be a replacement for the sadly missed county festivals from prior years. It would also give divisional coaches the chance to watch girls in competitive games and help them select the divisional nominations from each county instead of the nomination mess that happened in some divisions this year.

Girls are not boys or women! They need to be coached slightly differently. They play the game slightly differently and they need a different structure to support it. One size doesn't fit all.

RFUW in good financial health - for now

Also in the Annual Report are details of the RFUW's finances, which shows that (not including the £50,000 grant to the World Cup) the RFUW made a profit last year of nearly £5,000 (compared with a loss of £10,000 the previous year), and now has some £343,000 in the bank. And this despite the cost of running the game, especially the elite game, increasing significantly (mainly due to the World Cup).

However, as the report itself says "RFUW's finances remain heavily dependent on grant funding" - the reason for  RFUW's healthy 2010/11 was almost entirely due to it negotiating higher levels of grant funding - and the worry must be that government cuts could significantly reduce this. The Report suggests that the National Lottery may plug the gap, but that is not guaranteed.Women's rugby in England costs the RFUW about £2.5 million per year - affiliation fees, sponsorship and all other income only brings in just under £300,000.

Where does the money go?

• £1.25 million (about half) goes on the elite performance teams and systems (ie. England);
• The club and coach development officers cost £460k, with another £320 in associated expenses
• The old regional programme cost just under £130,000
• Competitions (like National 7s) cost a remarkable £43,000 (Herts 7s makes a profit!); and
• It costs £600k to run the RFUW.

On the plus side "integration" with the RFU will change all this, and - despite Rosie's expression of sadness about this in the report - the great thing is that the RFUW will not have to stand alone, and that many of these costs (especially development and administration) should now be shared, while supporting four divisions instead of 11 regions should also be significantly cheaper. You wonder whether this will be the last report like this from RFUW as separating out RFUW's own costs in the future will become increasingly difficult.

There is more to the document than money, with reports from all major officials. These are generally glowing, but contain little that is new, and sometimes it is the lack of information that is significant. For example, a programme to develop an England team for the 2013 Sevens World Cup is mentioned - but there is nothing about the Olympics, and how a Great Britain team might be formed. It might be argued that 2016 is a long way away - but most other unions have plans firmly in place. What is happening in England? The report does not say.

Its only taken 139 years!

Today one of the great historic barriers fell. Deborah Griffin, chairwoman at the RFUW, has joined the board of the RFU - the first woman ever to sit at the top table of English rugby.

Deborah will represent women's rugby on the Board, and her election is part of the integration process that sees RFUW becoming part of the RFU. However, though her role may seem restricted, Susan Carthy at the IRB has already shown what can be achieved by having a female voice at the heart of the game. Susan joined the board of the world's governing body in a similar role only 18 months ago, but the result has been a subtle by steady improvement in the IRB's attitude to the women's game.

If anyone can follow on from Susan's success, then it is probably Deborah. She was key to the organisation of the first World Cup in 1991. She has also been an accountant with top city firm Deloittes for over 13 years, where she is a director in the Corporate Finance Advisory team. All in all then she is unlikely to be overawed by a body that former England men's captain Will Carling famously dismissed as "57 old farts" (they promptly sacked him).

Its an important development because, ultimately, this is the body that makes all the major decisions about the game - decisions that, perhaps without intending it, can have a negative affect the women's and girls' game. With Deborah around this should no longer happen, and laughably sexist publicity campaigns will also (hopefully) become a thing of the past!

As Deborah acknowledged, “Getting a seat on the RFU Council is an important step in our transition to a fully integrated men and women’s game in England and is testament to the hard work of many people in the RFUW over the last 15 or so years.

"We have made great strides forward but we aspire to much more. The Women’s Rugby World Cup this year will provide a high profile platform for the game across England and we are determined to seize the opportunity to make a further step change in participation when the tournament is over.

"We have come a long way but have huge ambitions for the future!”

The doors turn again...

Responses to the previous posting on the subject suggests that information on staff changes at RFUW are not making their way down to club level - indeed are not even making their way to the website. So, just in case readers are unaware we now have a new team of WRDMs (Women's Rugby Development Managers) in the southern half of England.

• Clare Cooper is moving from WRDM for the South Region as become the new WRDM for London North and South East Regions - and is therefore replacing James Fisher as our new WRDM. Elsewhere...
• Richard Major is moving from the RFU to become WRDM for the South Region (Dorset, Wilts, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire), and
• England captain Catherine Spencer is joining RFUW in a paid role as WRDM for the South West Region (Gloucestershire, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall).

Clare has proved to be very effective in avoiding the Twickenham axe in recent years, so hopefully L&SE will now have a few years of stability. Equally it is in Catherine's best interests not to upset anyone at HQ, so her stay in the South West should last a bit longer than her predecessors. On the other hand it will be interesting to see what Richard makes of the RFUW after his years as with the RFU as a coach in the South region, and Youth Development Officer in Dorset & Wiltshire. Good luck to all of them.

Wanted: Revolving Door Engineer...

... for the RFUW's offices in Twickenham. Must be available for call-out 24 hours per day to ensure the maintenance of one of the fastest moving entrance and exit portals in the world. Replies to:

Whoever's job it is today, 
RFUW,
Rugby House,
Twickenham.

The RFUW's continued ability to turnover its staff at an amazing speed, and often at highly inappropriate moments, continues unabated. With the World Cup mere weeks away, to be followed by arguably the most complicated series of changes to the domestic game ever planned, two vital members of staff have suddenly left.

Again - as usual - there is no explanation of the reason for the sudden departure of James Fisher and Jo Hawley, but it has to be said that the RFUW's notice about their departure is hardly effusive in its praise for all the efforts the pair will have put in over the past few years (which - and to my certain knowledge in James's case - have been considerable). All we are told is that the have "left the RFUW". Not so much as a good wish for their future.

Nor do their departures look very planned - only a few months ago these were two of five key people listed by RFUW for developing contacts with the counties ("CBs" in rugby jargon) as part of the new structure. Jo was also a key member of staff with knowledge about not only the integration with the RFU, but also the World Cup - it was only last October that she spoke for the RFUW on these subjects at the annual CB meeting at Twickenham.

Yet they have been "let go" with no-one in place to replace them, no "handover". Instead Clare Cooper - currently Development Manager for the South - will now be also looking after London & South East and South West (until the RFUW can find someone else to fill these posts), leaving her in charge of all aspects of domestic development from Norfolk to Cornwall. So if you were hoping to speak to anyone about any development issues (player, club or county) I think you may have a bit of a wait as Clare's going to be awfully busy...

Meanwhile the expansion of RFUW's lexicon of incomprehensible acronyms continues. We now have DTDOs (or Divisional Talent Development Officers), which will replace CCOs (Club and Coach Officers). Ours will be Maggie Alphonsi.

Well, at the time of my writing this anyway.