Henley
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“Rugby at our level faces significant financial pressures and
regulations from above. The number of young players leaving the
game for various reasons is a major concern and will reduce the
number of teams that clubs like ours will be able to offer.”
Rugby at our level faces significant
financial pressures and regulations from
above. The number of young players
leaving the game for various reasons
is a major concern and will reduce the
number of teams that clubs like ours will
be able to offer.
We are looking at measures to try
and retain players in this age group (18-
23) but the RFU need to take a strong
lead here. Salary caps will only work if
implemented rigorously which we know
does not happen at Premiership level, so
the clubs with most money will move
faster than others following a pattern
similar to football.
One area that I personally think
would help clubs at National One and
Two levels is financial support annually
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from the RFU to cover all travel,
physio and medical costs and specialist
coaching. These costs have escalated and
are essential now for our very physical
game and to enable us to travel around
the country playing this wonderful
sport.
A new initiative that we launched
in Sept 2017 was our PROP scheme -
focused on years 1 and 2 in six local
primary schools and years 7 and 8 at
Gillotts School. The scheme offers rugby,
skills development, teacher training and
helpful resources. At present we look
after approx. 400 children and look next
year to expand the programme.
All clubs have to be realistic and
achieve a level of rugby that they can
afford and we at Henley have aspirations,
but these will have to be coupled with
our financial and business achievements.
We look forward to exciting times ahead.