Good evening all,
I wanted to update you on the considerable work that has been taking place across the Rugby Development department in the past few months.
We have been busy reviewing existing structures and deployment of staff to ensure that we are well positioned to maximise the period up to the Rugby World Cup in 2015 and to give us the best chance of creating a lasting legacy after the tournament.
The adoption of a clear core purpose last year set out a vision that we are focused on achieving. This next stage of our development is about ensuring our valuable staffing resource is deployed as efficiently and effectively as possible to deliver the best possible return for the game.
We began this process earlier in the year by creating a new headline structure under five new Function Heads: Club Development (Simon Winman), Game Development (Gary Henderson), Education Development (Mark Saltmarsh), Rugby Growth (Alastair Marks) and Local Rugby Delivery (Rosie Williams).
In addition, we worked to realign our network of 120 Community Rugby Coaches and refocused the job descriptions of our Rugby Development Officers.
Over the past 48-hours, we have spent considerable time communicating the next phases of changes with staff across the department. And over the next few weeks and months we will be recruiting for vacant and outstanding posts. This will inevitably create some uncertainly for a number of staff and I would ask you please to be considerate to this group until all is resolved.
The reorganisation has at its heart a focus on strengthening our clubs and further developing our collaboration with Constituent Bodies. Our existing eight regional delivery teams will be replaced by six area teams, each led by an Area Manager who will have two core responsibilities in 1) managing a team of staff and 2) working closely with CBs. The intended composition of the six geographical areas is appended to this email.
In addition, our specialist staff based out in the field will be realigned to work in these same geographic areas, in a move which, we believe, will further strengthen the relationships between professional staff and CBs.
Along with the move to six areas, the restructure contains other significant shifts, including:
- Creation of a dedicated and joined-up workforce development team focused on coordinating our support to coaches and referees. They will also strengthen links with Referees Societies and CB Coaching Committees.
- Expansion of our facility development support – extending the team of Facilities Managers from four to six and introducing new posts to lead our facilities investment and technical work.
- Introduction of a dedicated function to support clubs with management and governance issues.
- Strengthening our work across the education sector to include three dedicated lead staff to work on schools, colleges and universities rugby along with six area-based University Development Officers.
- Creation of six new area-based Player Development Officers to support CBs and clubs with strategies to enhance player pathways in the crucial 14-24 age group.
- Integration of six dedicated Women’s Rugby Development Officers into our area teams.
I appreciate that many of our staff and volunteers have been in a state of flux for a considerable period of time and I hope that this news will bring that to an end and allow us to concentrate on developing and strengthening our great game.
We will ensure that you are kept appraised of developments as they happen, however, should you have any immediate queries, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards,
Steve
Steve Grainger
Rugby Development Director