Hello everyone and welcome back to rugby at Harlow.
We’re already into the thick of the 2024-2025 season and it’s fantastic to see so many of you at the club enjoying this wonderful game of ours.
I’d like to begin by thanking my predecessor Paul Tucker for everything he did to support HRUFC during his tenure as both Chair of Rugby and Chairman. We wouldn’t be where we are today without his passion and dedication. Moving forward, I want to work with everybody at the club to continue to build on the success of the last few seasons, while ensuring every player has the right levels of support, encouragement and coaching to help them reach their potential. Right through from Mixed Ability on a Saturday morning, the thriving minis section, our ever-expanding age-grade rugby, the constantly improving ladies’ team (hopefully teams in the not-so-distant future) and finally our three established senior men’s teams.
For those of you that don’t know me, I’ve been a member of HRUFC for over 15 years now. I previously played for Bishops Stortford but when I moved back to Harlow (my hometown), it made sense to give up the blue and white for red and green. I played for nearly 10 years, before moving into coaching the men’s teams and then most recently I’ve begun supporting the overall rugby output of Harlow, first as Club Coaching Coordinator and now as Chair of Rugby.
We’ve started the season positively with solid performances across all of our senior teams. Age-grade teams rising to new challenges as they enter into new leagues and new clusters (U15 Boys beating local rivals Bishop’s Stortford, U13 Boys winning their first competitive match at age-grade & U14 Girls winning their cluster game with Woodford against a predominantly older Westcliff cluster). We have our first U11 Girls team playing independently and a large section of the Minis teams played their first games of the season against Cheshunt at the Stone X stadium before Saracens vs. Exeter Chiefs – a great experience for all players taking part.
Volunteers are the lifeblood of our club. None more so than the amazing people that give up their time to help coach, referee, provide first-aid or manage one of our teams. As part of mine and the club’s commitment to help players achieve their potential, we know that we need to support them as best we can. With that in mind, there are a few initiatives that we are implementing this season:
- We’ve already seen a lot of our coaches obtain their England Rugby Coaching Certificate and we ideally want every team to have at least one RFU qualified coach affiliated to them. Please, if you are coaching a team and want to get yourself RFU qualified click on the link below
- Every team needs to have a qualified first aider on hand for both training and games. We are in the midst of planning a training session for anybody that wants to volunteer. Please make yourself known to your team coach/manager and they can arrange accordingly
- We need more referees, particularly at age-grade level. Too often we’re having to rely on coaches to pick up the whistle, taking them away from their ability to coach the team on a match day. If we can get more parents/supporters to pick up the whistle and help out it will make a huge difference. Dan Ricketts has recently come on board as our Club Referee Coordinator. He’s on the hunt for new volunteers, so please reach out to him: referees@harlowrugby.club
- A new Core Skills & Development Team has been established to help age-grade players and coaches alike. Every progression in age-grade rugby comes with new requirements. By having this team on board, we are able to help ensure that all players have the core skills needed to be able to succeed. Likewise, they’re able to help coaches navigate the transition to the next phase without risk of leaving players behind. Finally, through player development they will work with coaches to identify players that could progress on a pathway to things like DPP, PDG and Jnr/Snr Academy representation. The team is headed up as follows:
- Matt Selway – Club Coaching Coordinator (level II qualified)
- Charlie Nunn – Player Development Officer (level II qualified)
- Katie Boggas – Ladies/Girls Core Skills Coach (level II qualified)
Moving forward, Matt, Charlie and Katie are working to expand the team, so please reach out if you would like to get involved. Remember, the team are here to help, so please lean on their expertise and advice. You’ll see them regularly at training and matches moving forward.
- Finally, not a new initiative but something that can never be mentioned enough – all volunteers (particularly when working with Age Grade or Minis players) need to be DBS checked. If in doubt, please reach out to either Steve Foreman or Mel White on: safeguarding@harlowrugby.club
Hopefully you all saw the message from the Hon. Club Secretary (Ken Potter) regarding Essex’s respect and discipline policies for this season. I don’t want to dwell on it but I do ask that if you haven’t had a chance to read Ken’s message, then please take the time to do so. The only thing that I’d like to emphasise is that as a club we continue to be committed to respecting the RFU values of Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship.
Before I wrap up, I’d like to take a moment to thank all of our existing and new sponsors for the 2024-2025 season. Your support is massively appreciated and we look forward to celebrating many victories with you at the club (hopefully raising a glass or two as well).
Lastly, I want people to know that I am always available if there is something that you’d like to discuss with me about rugby. You’ll often find me working out of the club on a Friday or supporting one of our teams at the weekend. Please feel free to pop by and say hello…
Many thanks
Kev
