RFU warns that school crisis risks rugby becoming a 'minority sport' | rugby union

The Rugby Football Union has been warned it faces an existential crisis and urged to make sweeping changes to school rugby to prevent a declining “minority game” weakening Steve Borthwick's England team amid a damaging slump. in participation.

According to a report by an independent chair commissioned by the RFU, “rugby is not succeeding” in the school market due to “changing attitudes and values, combined with increased risk aversion in some parts of society.” Review, Changing the game: The future of school rugby in England also highlights fears of head injuries and the game's image problem for “posh white boys” as reasons for declining participation numbers.

In response, the RFU has committed to implementing a non-contact form of the game called T1 rugby over the next four years, while the review also recommends introducing a third “reduced contact” form of the game alongside the traditional make-up model. easier for parents. Fear of injuries and breaking barriers to entry into sport.

“In the schools 'market', rugby is not winning,” reads a report led by Sir John Coles, chief executive of United Learning, the national schools group. “It is losing to other sports. Rugby in England cannot be relied upon to occupy a central cultural place in the national life of Wales or New Zealand. As the attitudes and values ​​of a section of society that once saw rugby as a central element of school life are changing, rugby can no longer depend on it.

“This is very important for rugby in England because without rugby in schools, there will be much less rugby in the community, a much weaker professional and national sport and a shrinking audience. This is an urgent issue approaching crisis level.

“The RFU could follow a strategy of a very small number of elite schools that populate professional and national football; With a 'club' strategy. They couldn't care less about the players at school, instead relying on the clubs to introduce the sport. The review panel believes this would be a major strategic error as the elite would only allow children and young people from specific backgrounds to access rugby. [would] “It leads to ever-shrinking play at all levels.”

The report highlights two areas of the “big picture” that need attention: a) “protecting the home… taking serious action to protect sport at its core” and b) “attacking new markets.”

“Doing both well is walking a fine line,” he continues. “But both must be done with boldness and energy. (a) Without it, sport would decline rapidly in schools and consequently in society and beyond. Without (b), the game would be a minority game in decline. You always have to change a lost game, and currently rugby is played with a lost game in schools.

The report recommends the creation of a schools rugby designation at the RFU and the creation of a “Rugby Flatback” which would allow a PE teacher with no rugby experience to teach a term of T1 rugby. The recommendations, if accepted by the committee, express hope that the decline of rugby in schools can be halted but warn that the values ​​of the game are being eroded. In the midst of a perception problem.

“Sport continues to have an image problem among some, who may see it as 'posh' or 'posh boys' or 'posh white boys,'” the report says. “Rugby is a sport that embraces both genders, all skin colours, all social and economic backgrounds and all shapes and sizes, but that is not the case everywhere in England.”