Community Work

As a professional sport, Premier Rugby believes it has a corporate responsibility to support its local communities and use the power of its brands to address issues which impact its stakeholders and communities.

EDF Energy National Schools Rugby Programme

Every Guinness Premiership club as well as Cornish Pirates and Exeter Chiefs are taking rugby to hundreds of schools across the country through the EDF Energy National Schools Rugby Programme, one of the most comprehensive schools programmes in world rugby.

Community coaches work with primary school teachers and children – boys and girls aged 8-10, and EDF Energy make sure schools have the right equipment to go on and play the game for years to come. They learn tag rugby, a non-contact version of the sport that teaches the skills to go on and play rugby union. Twenty schools even have the chance to play tag rugby at the EDF Energy Cup semi-finals at the Millennium Stadium and final at Twickenham.

Case Studies

Every club in the Guinness Premiership operates a community development programme led by qualified, experienced employees. Here are case studies from two clubs.

Saracens Sport for Health

Sport for Health is an eight week programme for schoolchildren (key stage 1 & 2) that aims to promote healthy lifestyles and reduce obesity. Through a series of training programmes for teachers and player visits to schools, pupils are introduced to tag rugby and a curriculum on healthy lifestyle choices.

The results of the programme (which were independently assessed) have so far included

[1] an improvement in the quality and quantity of PE and school sport (100% of teachers thought the training was either excellent or very good; 41% schools increased the number of PE lessons they delivered during the period of the programme)

[2] increased awareness of the benefits of physical activity & healthy eating (21% increase in the number of children that brought fruit and vegetables to school with them; 100% of teachers said the programme increased the awareness of the benefits of physical activity and healthy eating amongst their pupils)

[3] increased levels of physical activity amongst children (100% of teachers said  activity levels amongst children increased; a case study found over 2,000 hours of physical activity completed by 90 year 4 pupils over a 3 week period).

Read more about the programme here.

Newcastle Falcons Tackle Learning

Over the past three years this outreach programme has visited 75 schools, having contact with over 4500 children in Tyne and Wear. Schools receive an assembly, 8 hours of educational lessons, 6 hours of tag rugby coaching, visits from 2 Falcons players and entry into tag rugby tournaments at local grounds along with Kingston Park.

The educational lessons use sport to get children excited about learning. For example, one module discusses the different ways points can be scored in Rugby Union and Rugby League and how these contrast with other sports’ ways of scoring. In the process, children’s arithmetic and memory skills are tested–children are asked to explain how different combinations tries, conversions, drop kicks and penalty kicks can add up to a given number of points.

An independent assessor at one session noted: “One pupil was being very assertive to insist that a classmate had included less trys than conversions in their calculation and reminded everyone that a conversion can only follow a try. This was telling in a few ways–his understanding of the rules, his ability to question the perceived truth, his ability to rationalise information, his mental agility and his bravery to go out on a limb. All these are useful employability skills.”

The Newcastle Falcons Community Foundation, which operates the programme, can be found here.