Well done to Storm who top the Division 1 BT Super League for 2016/17, retaining the title they won last year, with Crash runners up also for a successive year. Gaelic Warriors have had a strong season and move from 7th position last year to take third place; they may well have done even better but for losing three players to illness for the final weekend. With Canterbury topping Division 2 we just have the final Division 3 tournament on 22 April before ending the season with the BT National Championships on 13-14 May.
Thank you to everyone who has donated to the JustGiving campaign in support of the GB team. The total donated has grown by £8k since my last blog and now stands at £22k plus about another £4k in tax relief. Although this is great news we have a very long way to go to even achieve sufficient funding for the coming year so anything you can do to push the campaign forward will be helpful. It would still be great if all clubs could think about organising just one fundraising event in support of the GB team. My thanks to Gary Thomas who has signed up to raise £1000 by doing a 12 hour solo mtb race which is amazing. Also to our old friend Martyn Salt, who you will remember was our Event Director for BT WWRC15, he is also organising a fundraising event to take place in July. And thanks to Graeme Smith at Bulls – he and the club are also working hard to raise funds to support the squad. Meanwhile, Andrew Kennedy from Durham County RFC and who is the Assistant Team Manager of England Students rugby is also raising money for the team. Mike Spence gave a talk to the England Students in Bristol this week ahead of their match against France on Saturday. I continue to meet with businesses and individuals to seek new funding partners and am hoping to be able to announce the first new sponsor soon. We also hope to appoint a Fundraising Manager before the summer to really give more focus to raising further income which in the future is going to be important for the whole game as much as it is for the national team
Last week Kirsty and I went before the Safeguarding Advanced Standards panel at the NSPCC centre in Leicester. The assessment was undertaken by three experienced Safeguarding professionals including the Chair of the CPSU. Although we are still waiting for the final assessment the indications are that subject to a small number of actions we will have achieved the Advanced Standard. This is hugely important as it is now a condition of our Sport England funding. You will have seen in the media that there have been new allegations about bullying in some NGBs including a Paralympic sport. It goes without saying that maintaining a safe, positive and friendly culture is fundamental to how we see ourselves as a sport and if anyone feels that our principles or values are compromised then they should speak out. Safeguarding concerns should be reported immediately to your Club Welfare Officer. We are in the process of recruiting a new Lead Safeguarding Officer so there will be additional support also for our clubs.
Last week we said goodbye to Lorraine Brown who has been our Performance Director since 2013. Lorraine has been instrumental in creating our performance system and as a member of the senior management team has made a major contribution to the overall development of the NGB. I will miss her advice and wisdom and am sorry to lose her – a casualty of our failure to achieve UK Sport funding. You will also have seen that after 5 very successful years Daniel is moving on and we are looking for a new Corporate and Membership Secretary. He does not go for a few weeks yet so I shall save any comment about him until nearer the time but am sad to see him go.
This week we publish our new Strategic Plan where we set out the direction for our sport for the next 4 years. The DMG has been involved in the early drafts of this and the Board of Trustees discussed it as part of its development day in January. As you would expect it’s an ambitious plan which builds on the momentum we have created in the sport over the last 4 years. At the heart of it is the creation of wheelchair rugby communities which provide opportunities for a wider range of impairment groups. It acknowledges our contribution to the government’s ‘active nation’ strategy for which we are funded by Sport England and it sets out how we will continue to grow our sport and workforce. The plan is not just a piece of paper though it needs to be turned into action and that is what we are getting on with, so we have the first of our new variant tournaments on 15 April in Bristol, followed by a second at Stoke Mandeville on 29 April, and we have the next Level 2 coaching 4 day course starting in June. Along with the Nationals and the European Championships we have lots to look forward to this spring and summer.
David Pond
