Rugby Football League RFL Facilities Strategy 2009 – 2013 1 Contents Introduction and Update ................................................................................................................................... 3 Community Club Development Programme .................................................................................................. 3 Strategy Focus .................................................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction to Rugby League ............................................................................................................................ 6 Governance .................................................................................................................................................... 6 Geographical Spread and growth .................................................................................................................. 7 RFL Vision ........................................................................................................................................................... 9 Rugby League Facilities Background ................................................................................................................ 10 Basic requirements for the playing and training of Rugby League .............................................................. 12 Rugby League Facilities – meeting the need .................................................................................................... 13 Strategic Partnerships .................................................................................................................................. 14 Facility Project Development ....................................................................................................................... 15 Phase 1 Facility Baseline Targets.................................................................................................................. 17 FIGURE 1 GOLBORNE PARKSIDE .............................................................................................................................................. 3 FIGURE 2 SIDDAL ................................................................................................................................................................. 3 FIGURE 3 OFFICIAL OPENING CEREMONY AT ST CUTHBERT’S AND INSIDE THE TRAINING BARN AT INCE ROSE BRIDGE ................................ 4 FIGURE 4 RUGBY LEAGUE MAP OF UK ...................................................................................................................................... 8 FIGURE 6 MINIMUM STANDARDS .......................................................................................................................................... 12 2 Introduction and Update The RFL’s Facilities Strategy was published in 2003 and provided a 10 year plan for the development of facilities within Rugby League. The key aims of the strategy remain the same and focus on: • The provision of training facilities which meet the training, competition and development needs of each locality • The provision of adequate multi‐team playing and operational venues for all community clubs • The provision of suitable facilities for Coach Education and Match Official development • The provision of suitable facilities for performance and elite player development Community Club Development Programme The Community Club Development Programme, which commenced in 2003, provided funding from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport through Sport England for the development of community club facilities. The funding has been used by the RFL to support over 20 club facility development projects, providing almost £3million in grants and attracting over £8million in match funding. The projects funded have included the development of new clubhouses, pitch remediation, floodlights, clubhouse redevelopments and new changing blocks. Figure 1 Golborne Parkside Figure 2 Siddal 3 Figure 3 Official Opening Ceremony at St Cuthbert’s and inside the Training Barn at Ince Rose Bridge The Community Club Development Programme has brought great benefits to the game, however inadequate facilities are still one of the key issues facing Rugby League at all levels and we need to build on the progress made so far. 4 Strategy Focus In order to achieve the objectives of the RFL’s Whole Sport Plan the focus of the Facilities Strategy for 2009 to 2013 will be to: • Establish effective and long‐term Strategic Partnerships at national, regional and local levels to ensure the sustainable development of facilities to support Rugby League • Identify and prioritise local investment needs in order to enhance and support existing local facility provision in order to: o Increase regular participation with focus on under‐represented groups, the college and university sector and under‐developed regions o Reduce drop‐off in participation by increasing satisfaction and rates of retention among players of Rugby League o Provide fit‐for‐purpose facilities to meet playing and training needs at all levels of the game • Define local needs by the development of: o Facility mapping which will clearly demonstrate where resources are inadequate to meet the needs of the game, and additionally show areas of development opportunity. o Facility audits which identify where there is greatest facility development need and the additional resources required to meet the needs of the game • Provide support to clubs and other providers in making the case for facility development in Rugby League • Provide a framework for the effective and efficient distribution of the capital element of the funding made available directly to Rugby League, and other grant‐aid funding streams The principal outcomes of the above will be: • A strategy focussed on clear development need which optimises strategic partnerships and development opportunities • A Strategy which clearly identifies the funding and resource requirements necessary to meet the overall facility needs of the game. 5 Introduction to Rugby League Rugby League is an exhilarating, high‐speed, collision sport which people of all levels of ability across a wide variety of sectors can enjoy. In particular, it offers children and their parents a safe, effective and child‐ friendly alternative to other team sports, where discipline and respect for the referee’s authority remain absolute. It has the power to embrace social and economic diversity, and its clubs provide the sporting and social nucleus of many communities. Rugby League is also the UK’s most popular summer team spectator sport. In a changing world, with increasing pressure on time and a proliferation of leisure opportunities, the ability of the game to attract, educate and retain players, coaches, match officials and volunteers is crucially important and demands the provision of quality facilities. Governance The governance systems of Rugby League have been extensively restructured since 2001, in order to prepare the game to face the challenges of a new era. This restructuring culminated in the establishment of the Rugby Football League (RFL) as the single governing body for the game in January 2003. The RFL now has an Executive Chairman , CEO and a largely non‐executive Board of Directors which is independent of club interests, and which is charged with formulating and delivering policy initiatives for and managing the game on behalf of the ultimate decision‐making body, the Rugby League Council. Within membership of the Rugby League Council are the professional and semi‐professional clubs, The Community Board which comprises of all sections of the game outside of the professional arm of the game, the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA); the English Schools Rugby League Association; the Student Rugby League, and the Combined Services Rugby League. Each of these last named organisations has its own management structures which, in BARLA’s case, include an extensive network of leagues. In 1997, the Rugby League National Development Strategy, a joint initiative between the RFL and BARLA, created a new infrastructure based on common ownership and a working partnership, involving all sections of the game. The country was broken down into a network of cellular geographical units called Service Areas, which were defined in part by Local Authority or County Sports Partnership boundaries depending on the strength of the game within the area. Within these units all Rugby League agencies are brought together alongside representation from the local authorities, and charged with the local delivery of initiatives for coach and match official education, the identification of talented junior players, the increase in women’s and girls’ rugby, etc. The Service Areas develop plans to meet the needs of their locality and all Service Area Plans are brought together to form the basis of regional Plans, the boundaries of which equate to Sport England’s Regions. 6 Geographical Spread and growth Rugby League continues to grow and expand at an extremely healthy rate, to the point where it has become one of Great Britain’s leading participation and spectator sports. The game is now played in every county in England as well as Wales and Scotland and throughout Ireland. The sport has seen: • In the two years since 2006, a 68 per cent growth in participation rates outside of the sport’s traditional heartlands in Yorkshire and the North‐West,