SOUTHEND RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB AWARD 50 YEAR CLUB MEMBERSHIP TIES 
 SATURDAY 14^TH NOVEMBER   Picture by Jon Wagstaff

The pre-match lunch before the SOUTHEND VS DINGS CRUSADERS National League 2 match on the 14th November saw four more club members receive their Fifty Year ties:-

JEREMY ARNOLD 1957/58 1^ST XV PLAYER, ESSEX RFU & EASTERN COUNTIES.
COLIN CRAIGGY 1959/60 A & B XV’S and the NEWTS
DAVID DILLEY 1956/57 1^ST XV PLAYER, LIFE MEMBER and the NEWTS.
TIM QUINLAN 1958/59 A & B XV’S and the NEWTS

They join the other 46 members elected to the Fifty Year Club bringing the total number of members up to fifty representing a a true reflection of the greatness of our sport -  Rugby Union. Twenty Five members attended the lunch last Saturday with seven members of the side who beat Old Westcliffians 5pts – 0pts on the 14^th November 1959 attending the lunch.  The longest serving member DAI GASH (1947) was also in attendance however, regretfully Jack Howes 1948, Mottram Rankin 1956, Bill Ward 1934 and Tom Webb 1947 have all moved upwards to the heavenly HQ never to be forgotten.

With another half a dozen members reaching the milestone shortly Southend's commitment to Community Rugby can be in no doubt as they cover the whole spectrum of a cradle to grave membership within the club.

Another Successful Coach education session was held this eveining at Eton Manor RFC with Rowley Williams the kicking coach from Bath RFC making a guest appearance to lead over 50 of the County club coaches through a series of kicking skills.  With vairous age groups kickers from Eton Manor RFC and stuedents of the Sarecens Oaklands College Rowley explained the mystries of kicking from the simple punt, to the box, kick, and palce kicking plus a few added bonus tips for the students taking part in the skills sessions.  The evening was sponored by Essex County RFU and organised by their Coach Development Chairman Chris Emerson and his committee.  On a very chilly evening the post session Eton Manor currey was a welcome end to the evening as Rowley took on further questions in the club house.  The next coach education session is next Friday, the 23rd October at Thurrock RFC when Bob Crooks returns to Essex to lead a session on manging the Contact.  To book your place e-mail Chair of Coach Development Chris Emerson at MrChris@blueyonder.com

Fifty-five coaches from all over the County attended the first of a series of Coach Education Sessions At Rochfrod RFC on Friday 9th October.  Despite the rain, there was a good attendance and by the time the session began the rain had eased and held off for an interesting session on Setting the Scrum.  Colts from Rochford RFC were on hand to learn the tricks of the trade as Ben went through the various stages and techniques used in preparing for a set scrum.

Ben a former Saracens and Welsh International now with Wasps also provided his "Students" with some inside tips on front row tactics.

The Crouch before the Pause - Ben Broster leads a scrumaging workshop.

The next coach education session is on Friday of next week - 16th October at Eton Manor RFC where Rowley Williams
will take a workshop on Kicking Skills.

To book your place contact Mrchris@blueyonder.co.uk

Sunday 11th October 2009

Eastern Counties 31 - 10 Essex 

Essex began the match with a well worked try after four minutes by centre Albert Portsmouth.  Good early pressure insid eth eand a break by Counties 22 saw stand off Owen Thomas create a break in the Counties defence, for Partsmouth to gather a short pass and dive over the line for the first score.  Counties responded well and soon the dominacen of their bigger pack put the Essex forwards ont eh defensive.  Enthusiatic tackling kept Counties at bay and it took Counties at least 10 mintues to eventually maul their way over the line for th efirst converted try.  Five minutes later Counties were awarded a scrum five meters out from the Essex line and in a well co ntrolled scrum the Counties No 8 Calum Cashman gathered up the ball fromt he base of the scrum and barged his way over the Counties second converted try giving Counties a 14 - 5 lead.  Dispite forays into the Counties half, Counties used the follwoing wind to push Essex back into their own 22.  On the stoke of half hour, Counties were awarded a lineout just five meters out and from  resultant catch and drive scored their third converted try of the first half making the score 19 -5.  And so it stayed until the half time whistle.

The second half began well for Essex with a following wind and the kick off Essex camped in the Counties half.  The pressure told and with some vigourous rucking and mauling Regan Phillips crossed the line the give Essex the first try of the second half.  Though the conversion was wide of the posts, the score gave Essex some hope of more to come.  The game however lost a bit of its contiuity with the referee penalising Essex for a number of transgressions in the rucks and both sides having a fair share of possession and territory.  The next score came from the Counties halfway through the second half when right wing Ollie Gill scraped over in the right hand corner to take the score to 26 -10.  With five minutes left to go Counties used the strength of the pack to create a controlled driving maul to go over the Essex line to make the score 31-10.  There was no further score before the ereferee Alexis Manley from London Society blew the final whistle.

The score probably did not do justice to some excellent moments thoughout the game when Essex looked dangerous with ball in hand, especailly amonsgst the backs.  Though the pack may have lacked a bit of weight and height, it was their defensive work that gave hope for the future especcially if they can apply that spirit to attack.

Head Coach Simon Hoult said after the match " The boys worked hard and on the whole that was a good performacne.  We had our chances and the backs always looked dangerous with ball in hand.  The Eastern Counties forwards deprived us of some good possession, and they scored three of their tries from rucks and mauls.  This is something we will have to work on for our next match in a couple of weeks time against Hertfordshire."  

Essex U18’s v Eastern Counties @ Colchester RFC 11/10/2009 Kick Off 2.30pm

CRefC Role

One of the biggest moans we get in the County is about the standard of referees especially at mini midi and youth level.  This is mainly down to the fact that these referees do it becasue of the love of the game, to ensure that the kids get a game or just to help out.  Many do not have formal training, or have attended a course but now help is at hand through the role of the CRefC.  There are over 260 referees shown on Rugby First in Essex yet only 73 are members of the Essex Referees Society.  Non society referees also need support and help - even if its just to keep up to date with the current laws of the game.

Referees have a central role to play in the development of Rugby Union. The old cliché “without the referee, there would be no game” holds true and it is acknowledged that the better the quality of the refereeing, the more likely players are to enjoy their match experience. There are 38 Referee Societies in England, comprising in the region of 2700 referees. Society Referees are appointed to matches based on their ability and potential and are able to access a wide range of training and development opportunities through their Societies. However, there are many thousands of referees who are not Society members, but who referee at their clubs, some week in week out, others less frequently. They might be parents whose children are playing mini or youth rugby, coaches of junior teams or club members who referee their clubs’ 3rd or 4th XVs on a Saturday afternoon. It is these so-called “club referees” that the Club Referee Coordinator (CRefC) will help support.

For more informaiton contact our Essex County RFU Referees Society through its Chairman Alangold@essexrugby.com

More information about referees can be found on the referees web site at http://www.essexrugbyrefs.com

National 2 South
Barking maintain their unbeaten record with a fine win over potential promotion hopefuls Ealing.  Radford again shone for Barking with an excellent display of kicking together with a well worked try in the second half.  A goot all round effort by the whole Barkign team saw then etch out a first half league which despite a valiant effort by Ealing became uassailable in the second half.  Barking hit the top spot in the league with Clifton doing the chasing and Canturbury followed by Rosslyn Park in third and fourth slot.  Southends away record let them down again when despite a magnificent comeback in the seond half went down to second placed Clifton 29-23, leaving the Seasiders in ninth place.

London1 North
There is no quaqrter given or taken in London North 1 amongst the Essex CLubs as proved by Westcliff who this week go top with a 5-36 win over Westcliff.  Chingford move into fifth place with a workmanlike performance over Harpenden resulting in a win by 25 points to 0.  Rochford pulled their socks up this week to recoever from a weak start to the season by beating Woodford 22-20.  Eston Manor put in a strong performance against Stevenage Town but just lost out 27 -25.

London 2 North East
A 10-47 win by Thurrock over Ipswich puts them at the head of London 2NE with Colcheter following up in second place following thier 13 - 25 win over Sudbury.  Chelmsford slip up with their first loss of the seaosn against Braintree 30-7 and Romford and Gidea Park pick up two valuable points with a 27 - 15 win over Enfield Ignations.

Essex County RFU -        Coach Development Committee

Coach Education Programme – 2009. 

 These sessions are free and available to all club coaches coaching at all levels.
All sessions to commence sharp at 7.30.  There will be a simple meal available for a donation of £1.  
To confirm a place at these sessions please e-mail MrChris@blueyonder.co.uk 

A 9 - 18 victory at Dings courtesy of the Book of Craig Ratford keeps Barking at the top of National Two South.  A 19 -6 win against Westcombe Park gives Southend their first victory of the seaon  and moves them up into eigth palce behind their opponents.

From Nic Scott - RFU Safeguarding. 

Our official statement following the items across the media over the last few days is shown below; please circulate to CB and club management committees etc in order to allay some of their fears.

RFU supports the Vetting & Barring Scheme (15/09/09)

The recent furore in the media regarding the ‘Vetting & Barring Scheme’ (administered by the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA)) which will see the new ISA-registration system introduced next year, has caused many ‘concerned’ calls and emails to the RFU about how it will affect people who work or volunteer with children (or vulnerable adults) in rugby union. This new system is a mandatory addition to the existing Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check process and the two will continue to operate alongside each other for the foreseeable future.

Some of the recent media reports have been poorly presented in that they do not contain all the facts, and many are based on incorrect or misleading information. The legislation went through the Government and House of Lords three years ago, and the start date was deferred for twelve months last October (2008). The general guidance on the Scheme from the Government is almost ready and the guidance specific to sporting organisations will soon follow.

The RFU has been liaising closely with the NSPCC, Home Office and other sports for the last two years to develop polices and procedures in line with the new legislation, and we will continue to do so. We have also been quietly keeping the sport informed of the progress through its network of volunteer CB Safeguarding Managers and Club Safeguarding Officers, and will continue to do so.

The roll-out of the scheme is, very sensibly, being phased in from its new launch date in October 2009. It will start primarily with a legal duty for organisations like the RFU to refer the details of any individuals it bans from working with children or vulnerable adults in the sport to the ISA for consideration to be added to their barred persons lists. It will also be an offence to ‘knowingly’ employ or deploy a barred individual for a role working with children or vulnerable adults.

There should be no direct effect on rugby clubs and volunteers until the summer of 2010.

In July 2010, a new joint ISA and CRB application form will be released and organisations like the RFU may start to submit applications on behalf of its Constituent Bodies and clubs for ISA-registration alongside the existing CRB process.

From November 2010 it will become a criminal offence to not hold an ISA-registration prior to being deployed into activities ‘working’ with children or vulnerable adults. However, to ease pressure on the system those people who hold a current CRB check will not be required to hold an ISA-registration until they have to renew their CRB clearance after its three year validity period - again a very sensible approach.

Contrary to some reports these checks will continue to be free for volunteers (if done through the RFU), however, checks for paid staff will cost £64 (the cost of a combined CRB and ISA check). Throughout the new application process the applicant themselves will notice little difference to the old system of CRB checks and clubs will only see a number of small, though significant, procedural changes.

The RFU, who currently process CRB application forms for over 12,000 individuals each season, already have plans in place to start a sport-wide training programme on the joint ISA and CRB process from March next year so that by July 2010 all rugby clubs should know how the new legislation will effect them and their workforce. The RFUs Safeguarding team have welcomed the new legislation as it will further bolster the RFUs Safeguarding Policy and procedures and will not only prevent known unsuitable individuals from working with vulnerable people but will also inform the team immediately if someone previously thought to be safe is found to pose a significant risk at any time in the future.