Coronavirus (Covid-19) Update

Coronavirus (Covid-19) Update – 7 April 2020

England Rugby Tuesday training webinar sessions

The England Rugby Tuesday Training webinars focus on coach and referee development topics giving participants the opportunity to continue developing themselves during the rugby lock down.

Last week’s instalment, which is focused on coaching through skill zones and featured special guest Tamara Taylor, the former Red Roses lock, is available to watch here.

The topic for this week’s webinar is refereeing the tackle, and will see Premiership referees Tom Foley and Craig Maxwell Keys share their expertise. You can watch tonight’s webinar by registering here.

Coronavirus (Covid-19) Update – 31 March 2020

The following decisions have been announced this week:

RFU employees

Like many other businesses, including some in sport, the RFU is taking prudent steps to protect its finances and employees at this unprecedented time. We will take advantage of the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Furloughing of some employees is one of the ways in which we are trying to protect jobs for the future. This will include a lot of our locally deployed staff. Area Managers/central teams will be in contact individually with CBs and partners over the next few days, once we have spoken with all impacted individuals to update on the local situation and mitigation to ensure clubs remain supported.

Temporary closure of Rugby 365 AGPs

In order to protect our staff and volunteers who work at Host Clubs on a day-to-day basis, the Rugby 365 facilities will close from 1 April until 30 June 2020, subject to continual review. No maintenance or usage will take place during this period. We have asked Host Clubs to secure the sites and, where possible, the pitches will be monitored remotely. Subject to government guidance, we will work with our partners to bring the facilities back to full operation at the appropriate time. Please contact [email protected] if you have any enquiries.

RFU Training Courses

All RFU training courses scheduled to take place between 1 April – 30 June 2020 have been cancelled. Anyone who has booked onto a course will receive notification and full refund. No further training courses will be scheduled until the government’s restrictions are lifted. Members of the England Rugby Coach and Referee Associations will be offered access to a weekly webinars, e-learning and digital content in the interim.

Coronavirus (Covid-19) Update – 20 March 2020

In order to provide clarity and to assist with immediate and longer term planning, the RFU is today announcing the end of the 2019/20 rugby season for all league, cup and county rugby in England. The only exception to this is the Gallagher Premiership, who we are in active discussions with to review possible best next steps.

When current government advice on social distancing measures changes, we will naturally encourage rugby training and friendlies to recommence.

We are working through the implications of ending the season early and have instigated a thorough process to ensure fair and balanced outcomes for the game.  We will communicate these outcomes by the middle of April. While we would like to provide all the answers now, we need some time to get it right for the best interests of the game.  Rest assured we are working on this as a priority and we will continue to send weekly updates to clubs.

Coronavirus (Covid-19) Update – 19 March 2020

We would like to thank everyone for their great efforts in implementing the changes that were required following our most recent announcement on Covid-19, which resulted in all rugby activity in England being suspended. We now want to provide you with the latest updates following the advice given by the government.

We continue to review the implications of the government’s advice on the wider aspects of the community game. There are still a number of other matters to be resolved and we will provide further information regularly through this communication, unless there is an urgent need to do otherwise.

All England Rugby training courses – scheduled to start between Tuesday 17 March to Thursday 30 April – we will contact participants already booked on courses, who will be refunded. We will process refunds as soon as possible. However, we are currently experiencing high volumes of requests so please bear with us. A decision regarding courses due to start in May/June will be made based on guidance from Public Health England.

Age Grade season and competitions – the regulated Age Grade season finishes for clubs, schools and colleges on Sunday 10 May. We are aware that the current suspension of all rugby until Tuesday 14 April impacts on some competitions, we are exploring options on this and any updated position will follow once available.

Further information will be made available if and when interim decisions are taken.

Rugby in schools and colleges – our advice for rugby is clear and means no rugby activity and/or competitions staged in the education sector by us or the Constituent Bodies. However, schools and colleges govern their own PE, curriculum and enrichment activity, therefore they should take guidance from their local education authority, governing body or academy trust. The lead national organisation for colleges sport (Association of Colleges Sport) have also suspended all their activities.

Tours – our advice and that of the government should be followed i.e. no incoming tours can play matches before 14 April (at the earliest) and outgoing tours will need to take account of government advice and / or their own insurance specifics.

The Growing the Female Game regional conferences due to take place between Monday 23 March to Sunday 17 May – we will contact all registered participants over the course of this week.

Coronavirus (Covid-19) Update – 16 March 2020

Following government advice, the RFU will suspend all rugby activity in England, at both professional and community level.

Rugby activity includes club training, league and cup matches plus rugby education courses from 17 March until 14 April subject to continued review.

The decision has been taken following government advice in the interests of players, coaches, referees, volunteers, supporters and the wider rugby union community.

Where possible, players at all levels are encouraged to maintain their own personal fitness and keep active during this time, while following government guidelines about safe distance and safe exercise environments.

The RFU will continue to review and monitor government advice and will provide detailed updates on the impact to the season in the coming weeks.

Coronavirus (Covid-19) Update – 12 March 2020