Minutes of Mini and Junior Task Group Meeting
Held at The Lions’ Den Kingsholm
Wed 5th May 2010
Present: Simon Collyer-Bristow - Chairman, Sally Brown - Secretary, Gregg Bayliss – RFU RDO, Mike Heath & Lesley Gomer & Shane Aldridge – GRFU Competitions, Peter Williams – GRFU Coaching, Mark Smyth-Roberts - Dursley RFC, Andy Brown – Gloucester Rugby, Steve Carpenter - Clifton, Andy McWhinney – St Marys OB, Gary Fowke –Spartans, David Gee - Fairford, Adrian Vaughan – Berry Hill, Rob Dundas – Longlevens, Steve Cooke – Cheltenham, Neil Loader RFU CRC, Simon Tupper- Old Pats, Jon Deave – Lydney, Steve Lushington –Stow, Stuart Locke & David Gill – Matson, Jo Hammond - Stroud, Brian Hutchins & Lee Beard - Cheltenham Saracens, Pete Healey - Tewkesbury,
Apologies: Stuart and Glenda McWalter. Chris Hall, Ian Martin, Steve Bracey and Andy Blackmore
SCB Opened the meeting welcoming all and especially the newcomers and explaining the purpose of the Forum. Ill-discipline (touchline) has been a continuing issue recently but cannot be discussed this evening as cases are still awaiting Disciplinary hearings. (Since the meeting there have been bans of 26 and 7 weeks given for 2 Junior coaches; 4 weeks for a Team Manager; 10 weeks and 4 weeks for2 adult spectators and 2 weeks for a Junior Player). Offences were for referee/AR verbal and physical abuse + a 5.12. Adult details available on County website.
Clubs must get their houses in order – if not severe sanctions can and will be imposed. This season there have been too many incidents involving coaches/spectators ranging from U8’s to U16’s.
COACHING: Peter Williams – Reinforced the importance of people attending coaching courses and that coaches should always look to progress and improve their coaching knowledge. Coaches need to refer to the GRFU website to get updated about which courses are available and where/when. Mini, junior and adult rugby are all covered in the CPD courses therefore they need to be specific to the skills of the attendee. Each course costs £15.00 per person.
NL Only one CPD course has gone ahead in North Glos and only 8 people attended. The other courses have been cancelled. With coach licensing coming in 18 months the Govt will require records of all individual’s continuing professional development (CPD).
NL apologised for the non attendance of a coach to a recent course as a result of a misreading of an email. Neil has tried to plan CPD courses on different days without success so now they are going to be club generated. The plan is for clubs to approach Neil with their requirements. Only clubs with a registered CCC will be able to host the event.
ST Old Pats will be able to generate enough interest in a course but the timing needs to avoid the busiest part of the season i.e. March and April.
PW Accepted the comments and courses will be planned with more awareness of the calendar.
SA Does hosting a course reduce the cost for host club’s coaches??
GB The point has been argued but the current situation is that there is no option to manoeuvre the costs.
Following this point there was a general forum discussion about the costs of RFU/other courses and if it is going to be obligatory to attend the courses to maintain a licence. The coaches who are volunteers will continue to have to pay out. The point was raised that maybe some of the RFU funding should be fed down to the junior clubs as well as the elite.
It was made clear in the discussion that there was an accepted need for coaches to develop and progress but the availability/cost need to reflect the ongoing requirements of active coaches. Compared to other sports rugby courses are actually quite cheap!!
NL All coaching notices are sent to the CCC registered on Rugby First and will also go on the County website. Important therefore for clubs to have a CCC.
PH Tewkesbury will only be in a position to send 2 or 3 coaches to a course at a time and will need to know when these opportunities for courses come up. See above.
AV Coaching course details need to be sent to the appropriate personnel in clubs. See above.
SAFEGUARDING: (SCB On behalf of Stuart McWalter): Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) plans for next season have been suspended. Therefore CRB applications will continue as is until further notice.
Discipline- Under age players (below age of 17) have been reported as playing senior rugby. This not only voids the insurance for everyone on the pitch BUT also can incur very penal punishments for senior club. If you are aware of any under-age players (below age of 17 or 18 if in the front row please act on it or report it. This simply cannot be allowed to happen.
Drugs – Both within senior and in the youth game there are reports of recreational and player enhancing drugs (PED) being taken/given to improve performances or being used on club premises. Please be aware that drug dealers are targeting clubs.
COMPETITIONS: Mike Heath
Youth competitions this season have been eventful but overall the committee have achieved what they set out to do. Registration has been very good - but one team was asked to leave the Festival because they were unable to produce registration cards and one team expelled from the Cup due to playing unregistered and overage players. Teams have been also affected by registration glitches at National Competition Level.
4 clubs have gone on to represent the County in National U17 Competition. 3 got through to the semi-finals with one of them to a final. The county are proud of their performance – Matson in Semi–Final of Cup, Old Richians in Semi-final of Shield and Painswick who got to the Bowl Final.
The committee are still considering the inclusion of second teams in the Junior Cup following the upsets of this season. Following this meeting the decision has been taken NOT to allow this practise next season due to the difficulty of enforcement/club’s abusing.
ST Is knock-out Junior competition a possibility??
AV All some clubs have outside friendlies is the Cup’s Pool/KO format (4 games minimum) and that would disappear if it were simply a knockout.
SCB What is the opinion of the Forum? Overall most wanted competition to remain as is – even though weather delays can cause Pool back-log and pitch problems. RD Communication would be an issue PLUS weaker clubs will learn from their losing situation. Development is borne out of competition. RB suggested taking a poll of the group.
ST Old Pats needed to rearrange a number of fixtures and it became very difficult to manage. A knockout situation could possibly have been easier.
SC Cup games lost due to weather will always have a knock on effect.
SC Despite what has been said about registration improving there are still a lot of clubs that are not totally forthcoming or on time with their registration cards.
SA It is important to give feedback to the competitions committee so they can then discuss it with the errant clubs.
NL It is not the referee’s responsibility to check registration details.
Protocol - County cup games take precedents over friendly or BJC games.
SL Issues were raised about the provision of facilities at the Cup Final venues; this was discussed at length within the Forum and the Competitions Committee noted all points.
LG There is large expenditure on medals and cups – it’s very hard to lay-on too much without sponsorship OR raising entry fees (which no-one wants).
Festival Finals day at Chosen Hill –one issue was passed on to safeguarding.
The Fair Play awards were not simply reflective of just the semis and the finalists.
Referee’s Society did well again in providing qualified refs for Cup. Tim Lawson is owed a huge debt of gratitude; he is a volunteer and works hard to help the clubs.
SCB Was really pleased with the range of clubs who produced finalists or semi-finalists. Nice to see so much variety and not just the same old clubs featuring. Despite the weather problems all are indebted to the competitions committee for organising the festivals and cup competitions.
MH Think about providing your club as a Festival venue for next year - particularly the smaller clubs. The County will help with advice etc;
SCB Some other counties are using the Seal of Appproval for 2 things – clubs without are not allowed to host a cup competition and in 2 years time Counties may not allow clubs to enter in their cup competition. Get Seal of Approval!!
RDO REPORT: Gregg Bayliss
Seal of Approval - Whole club SoA provides a minimum working standard. GB/NL are available to support clubs throughout application process.
North of Glos has 8 clubs with SoA with 3 pending and in Bristol 11 clubs with 2 close.
There is going to be a new RDO for FoD and Gloucester District leaving
GB to concentrate on the Cheltenham and Stroud area (plus Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury and Frampton Cotterell). This will mean that clubs have much greater access to an RDO.
ELITE & SoR and JTDP: Andy Brown
U16’s & U18’s all finished. County U20’s have their 3rd successive Final at Twickenham against Yorkshire. (Lost by 2 points)
AB Junior Talent Squad finished now. Some sessions cancelled due to weather. There will be extra sessions run on 3rd and 4th June and all 63 U13’s & U14’s are invited.
U15’s &U16’s SoR’s now finished. Every player will get a written report and they are asked to show it to their parents and coaches. Some of the boys were invited to play Dorset in a friendly - they lost 20-10.
Premiership Clubs Academies were invited to a 12 a-side competition. Gloucester used players from U15 SoR and a couple of guests.
Land Rover Cup U11’s and U12’s 31 teams entered. U11’s won by Hucclecote
And U12’s by Stroud. Both teams will represent Glos in a parade at Twickenham.
County U15’s game N.Glos Schools v Bristol Schools (N.Glos won 25-20)
U16 South-West beat Italy U17’s 18-10 with 3 boys from GRFU playing in that team.
AV Clubs need to know the timetable so they know when they are going to lose players. This is available from RFU YSS on RFU web-site.
PW Overseas Tours need to be applied for at least 3 months in advance. ST Be aware that sometimes the insurance takes a long time.
AOB
Newent RFC want to run an U17’s next season - they are short of players so could clubs send them excess players who may miss out on games to make up a team.
Cheltenham Saracens are planning to start up a Mini/Midi section next season with an U10’s and U12’s team.
MH First Aid Course - Maximum 12/Min 6 people. Charges £30.00 per head. Contact Mike 3x2 hr session.
SCB Are clubs happy about the format of Forum – both when and where? Agreed to continue @ Kingsholm on 1st Wed of Sept/Nov/Jan/Mar/May @ 8pm. Thank you to Glos RFC and Andy Brown.
GB: Thank you to SCB who is stepping down as M&J Chairman after 6 years and Good Luck to Steve Lushington.
NEXT MEETING: Wednesday 1st Sept @ 8pm @ Lions Den Bar, Kingsholm.
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