Buzzin'

Is it just me, or is there a  bit of a buzz around the club at the moment?  We've made a pretty good start to the season at 1st team level, O.K. a couple of blips against 'Hegians and 'Ensians but on the whole the performances haven't been that bad.

The 2nds got off to a rollicking start but have found things more difficult in the last few weeks and the thirds finally tucked that elusive first win of the season under their belts this weekend. Last, but by no means least , the Vets had what I believe was a successful outing to Wetherby and the Juniors are maintaining their numbers and winning  games.

That's only half the story though.  At the moment I just feel that the spirit in the club is pretty good and it feels a happy place to be. It has always, in my opinion, been one of the strengths of Aireborough that we have maintained a "family" atmosphere and it seems that this season, to date, it has been a particulalry healthy atmosphere to be in.  I don't know why, I don't know what's causing it, I don't think one thing or person is responsible for it but let's keep it going.

Saturday saw another family "tradition" maintained at Aireborough when Tom Baxter took the pitch with father Tim.  A couple of people comented on it but, to be fair and not taking anything away from it, it's not unusual at Aireborough - we have a number of instances where father/son partnerships have appeared on the pitch.  So well done to Tim and Tom for keeping up the tradition !  (It should be competition time to name all the father/son combinations but my brain feels fuddled, so I can't be bothered!) 

Saturday also saw the start of the Autumn Internationals.  A pretty poor display by England who were lucky to loose !  The forwards looked pedestrian apart from Moody and Haskell.  Sadly, Danny Care looked very indecisive, Banahan looked what he is - a second row on the wing and poor Ugo Moyne didn't seem to know what day it was, never mind the fact that he was playing out of position.  Very few positives for England unfortunately and it looks as though it will be a long Autumn with Argentina and then the All Blacks as visitors to Twickenham.  Honestly, I can't see them coming away with anything other than a scraped win against the Argentines and then damage limitation against the Blacks !  If you do have a masochistic streak in you then don't forget you can always watch the games in the club.

Well, over the coming weeks we have an opportunity to seal our position in the league for another season.  Next up are three games where we need to really turn the screw and try and build a good points difference. Vandals, Northallerton and Mods have all had difficult starts to the season and have found points difficult to come by. Let's ensure that they don't get any free gifts from us and that the club is still buzzing at Christmas time.

Twitter, twitter, twitter

Well, I don't seem to get the time to keep this blog up to date these days --- too busy twittering I suppose.  If you haven't caught up with it then let me tell you that we (well I) have set up a Twitter account for the club http://www.twitter.com/jimARUFC if you want to follow it.  For those who don't know Twitter is an internet site that allows short messages to be broadcast in real time, almost instantaneously.  At the moment it's usually live every Saturday afternoon when we give up score updates at twenty minute intervals.  They're done from the pitchside and aim to keep people updated when they can't get to the match.

If you don't want to follow twitter from the site, or on your mobile phone, then go to the club site (http://www.aireboroughrufc.org) and you'll find a "twitter button" at the bottom left of the screen.  We normally update all the scores as they come in so you can catch up with the 2nds, 3rds and Vets as soon as I know the result !

Saying that it is likely that over the next couple of months there will be Saturdays where the Twitter service will not run as it's that time of the year where I find myself involved with North U18.  This season is particularly busy as Australia Schools are also visiting.   Their tour takes in Ireland, Wales and England and I'm particularly proud to have been appointed as Liaison Officer for the Northern part of their tour by the RFU.  Basically, a Liaision Officer is appointed by the home Union to work with the touring party and ensure that everything runs smoothly.  In my case the Australians will be playing two games in the North, sadly both are on the "other" side of the Pennines. On 9th December they will play a U19 Regional Academy XV at Lymm RUFC, followed by a game against an England U18 XV at Heywood Road (the old Sale ground) on Sunday, 13th December. 

This is in amongst the North U18 Divisional development which this season culminates in the Divisional Festival at West Park Leeds on 2nd and 4th January 2010.  There will be two games on each of those dates and I would encourage anyone who is around at the time to come along to see the games (entry will be free) and to see some of the emerging talent in our game.

To things more domestic and this coming week sees the annual Ex-Players Lunch at the club on Saturday before the game against Bramley-Phoenix.  This actually brings out a contrast in our game.  Whilst the clubhouse will be full (we hope) of familiar faces who have graced our club in recent years, our opponents are testament to a vibrant youth policy.  They have worked hard over a number of years to build teams at all levels, culminating in recent times in a regular Colts XV.  This has now paid off and they are able to field a side which contains a large number of players who have graduated from that side and are now playing senior rugby. They would have been promoted into Yorkshire Three last year on merit, rather than the mass promotion that followed from league re-organisation.  Well done to them - it's something that we need to learn from and I know that the Junior Committee are giving lots of thought as to how we can extend our current provision beyond U11s.

Well, that's all for this time, other than to congratulate the 1st XV on reaching the Second Round of the Yorkshire Silver Trophy.  I only managed to see the first half last week (U18 duty again!) but we looked to have the game under our belts before I left.  Congratulations also to Mark Lester who got a Vets teams out for the first time last weekend.  Well done also to Johnny Bryson and Woody - the fact that a club at our level has managed three teams each week for the majority of games this season is testament to their hard work and club spirit in general - let's keep it up.

Oh, before I forget. Don't forget that the clocks went back last weekend, so Kick Off times have now been moved to 2.15 pm.  Now, I better go off and update the website, or twitter something, or think about my next blog !

Meetings, Meetings and.......

A busy few weeks have just gone.  Last Wednesday was the Aire-Wharfe meeting and a presentation from Mike Hart, RFU Volunteer Executive for the North (yes, Mike hates his title as well !) .  Mike outlined a number of initiatives that the RFU has launched to support volunteers within the game. These are based around three "rs" - Recruitment, Retention and Reward.  

I have to say that at Aireborough we probably are not too bothered about the first two.  Looking around the club on both a Saturday and Sunday there are plenty of volunteers who do absolutely fantastic work for the club. The place is vibrant and buzzing - yesterday (as on most Saturdays) the bar was manned by volunteers, kit was sorted out by volunteers etc.  There are always a hundred and one things to do and, thankfully, we had them all covered by a variety of people.  So, recruitment and retention does not seem a problems for us.  We need to give some thought to reward and I'm sure the Committee will have this on its agenda

The second debate we had on Wednesday was about Merit Tables.  I was amazed to find out that there are approximately 121 teams involved in Merit Tables throughout Yorkshire. This ranges from those clubs who only run one side and don't want to enter leagues to some clubs who have three teams in the Merit Tables in addition to a 1st XV in the league.  There is a proposal that we at Yorkshire scrap Merit Tables and go solely for leagues.  Leauges mean that we would have to have registration of players, regulations on match play and, perhaps most importantly, fulfillment of fixtures.  At the moment you do not have to play all the teams in your Merit Table - you need to fulfil a certain percentage of fixtures to "earn" a final place in the table. If, for whatever reason, a fixture is cancelled then it does not have to be replayed.  This would change if we went to leagues and teams would be compelled to play all the teams in their table, and replay fixtures  if necessary.

The meeting had a pretty long debate over this and came to the conclusion that there was, perhaps, some merit (no pun intended) in having leagues at certain levels but that lower down the ladder merit tables actually fulfilled the aspirations of clubs and players who, in many cases, only wanted occasional games (the players not the club) and didn't want the constraint of having to playto fulfil the requirements of leagues.

It's a debate that will probably be taken forward and the County will be anxious to hear your views on this - especially the 2nd and 3rd team players throughout the club.

Thursday saw me catch the train to London and on to Twickenham for the National U18 Executive.  This is now held in the opulent surroundings of the Council Chamber at Twickenham. The main discussion centred around the decision not to run a second string U18 England side this season.  An emotive subject that was fully aired around the table.  What, in my opinion, is much more important is that it gives us the opportunity to appraise County, Divisional and International Rugby at U18 level.  The formation of a Community Rugby Board at the RFU - which will oversee all aspects of the Community Game is an opportunity to look at the whole structure of the game from Level 3 (National Division One) downwards.

By the way, the U18 Divisional Festival will, this year, take place at West Park Leeds.  Games will be played on 2nd and 4th January and, if you are available, I would recommend trying to make the time to see players who will, in a few years, be turning out for Championship and below clubs.  The standard of play is, normally, very high.

Finally some of you may have seen that the RFU has recently issued its  Core Values document. This was actually in the pipeline long before the events of the summer at Bath and Harlequins but lays out the values that the working party have identified as being at the heart of our game.  Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship are the five areas that have been identified and the RFU is now launching a campaign called "This is Rugby" to underline these values within our game.  Yorkshire have commited themselves to support these values and are currently working on ways that they can be communicated to the "Game"......more to come.

More for me as well.  Monday is Yorkshire RFU Management Board and Wednesday is Club Committee Evening with the Junior Committee, followed by the Financial AGM and then the Club Committee. Busy, busy !!!!!

Winning Ways

Firstly, congratulations to both the 1st XV and 2nd XV who are, to date, unbeaten in all games. A 100% record says a lot for the dedication that players have put into pre-season training. In particular the 2nds have made an impressive start with 121 points in their first two games -- well done to Johnny Bryson and his men. Let's keep it going; there's nothing like a strong 2nd team to ensure we have a strong 1st XV. Strength in depth can mean a lot as the season progresses and injuries set in. To the second team players, let's keep training - someone in the 1st XV is going to get injured, or lose form, or be unavailable and that will be your opportunity of grabbing a 1st team shirt and making the other player fight to get it back.

The 1st XV managed a victory yesterday although I hope they will admit it was not pretty and we still have a lot to work on. I mentioned last week how I thought that the backs look primed to give someone a run around and that impression still rings true after yesterday. We made some good breaks but lacked support and backing up to turn those breaks into points. I also felt that the delivery of some of our passes didn't help the receiver. Let's not forget that the passer has just as much responsibility as the receiver, especially when things are done at pace. It's no good just flinging the ball in the general direction of a player and then complaining when he doesn't take the pass. The responsibility is on the passer to deliver at the correct place and pace.


Before we can let our backs loose we have a lot of work to do in the forwards concentrating on the contact area. We still have too many people going into contact in an upright poisition which makes presenting the ball difficult to achieve and, more importantly, slows the ball down. I think a key to our success this season will be delivering the ball to the backs quickly. We must not delay the ball in the contact area but get it to ground and away at pace. In order to do that we have to prepare for contact, and prepare to place the ball quickly so our scrum half can get the ball away equally quickly. I realise that its easy to write about these things but more difficult to put them into practice but that's what training is all about.

So, an encouraging start to the season. Let's keep it going, let's keep up the training regime, let's keep the team spirit - and the club spirit. Let's keep winning!

Ready, Steady .......

Er...., what was that? did someone blow a whistle ? ........ Yes, we didn't really "go" yesterday. None of the cliches about hitting the road running, going on the "B" for bang etc. really applied. Instead, we stuttered and started, looked confused and bewildered at times and only really got into our stride in the last fifteen minutes of the game.
Hey !! It's the first match of the season. We all know that running drills against teammates who know them and know what to expect is easy. Running drills against opponents who don't know them means they keep getting in the way! Its also easy to stand on the touchline and moan when things don't go wrong. Again, running moves against your teammates in training is easy, as they don't necessarily mean to hurt you. Real live opponents are a different matter !
On the positive side we've got the season off to a winning start. We looked good in the backs and, given a couple of weeks together, will probably run some sides absolutely ragged off the pitch. The forwards held their own against opponents who have a reputation for strong play in that area and, again, given a couple of weeks and some stability in selection things will come good.
I feel that one of our problems this season will come from the re-organisation of the leagues that has taken place. It was interesting to look at the results from yesterday. All of the teams who were in last season's Division Three won their games. Similarly, in the league above us all of the sides (apart from a couple) who were in last season's Division Three lost their games. We will find that the sides who have come up from Division Four will not provide us with the intensity we have come to expect through the full eighty minutes of a game. The sides who were in Yorkshire Three last year will provide that intensity. Our challenge is to maintain the same intensity throughout - despite the opponents. Maintaining that intensity is not physical - it's mental and we need to develop a mindset that has a touch of ruthlessness about it. We need to develop a mindset that goes out to completely dominate a set of opponents in the FIRST fifteen minutes of a match and doesn't sit back to see what they have to offer before turning on the style.
Finally, a word of thanks to Thornensians 2nd XV who turned up yesterday with thirteen men and, sadly, took a heavy defeat. Thank you for making the journey to Aireborough. It would have been easy to cry off late in the day and concede defeat without taking a big loss. Not only that but twenty eight players (and a referee) would have been without a game. I'm sure that as the season gets into its stride you will be able to build on yesterday - get fifteen players on the park and some wins under your belt. Whilst defeat may, sometimes, be hard to take the spirit of rugby was upheld yesterday. In days when the spirit of the game seems under threat I salute you for your efforts.

On the Verge

As some of you may know next Tuesday could be a significant date for the game in England. The decision of where the 2015 Rugby World Cup will be held will take place in Dublin when the IRB Council meet and vote. There are 26 members of the Council so 14 votes will be sufficient for England to win the bid and for the World Cup to come to England. At the moment England are pretty certain of getting nine votes - it's the other five that may be a problem with South Africa and Itlay also making bids to host the Cup.
The IRB is notorious for last minute deals being brokered so the RFU will not be certain until the votes are actually in.
Winning the right to host the World Cup will be a fantastic opportunity. The profile of the game will be raised and the RFU bid makes for games to be hosted at a number of football grounds outside London. Sure, the semi-finals and final will be held at Twickenham but the pool games will be spread across the country including Elland Road in Leeds.
For us it means that we will, undoubtably, attract a lot of youngsters into the game. The numbers of U16 players who turned up to rugby clubs after the 2003 win was amazing. We can expect similar increases if the bid is successful.
So, good luck to the RFU delegation in Dublin. Let's hope Wednesday morning brings some good news!

AGM Time !!

It's that time of year when AGMs are taking place and new faces are being appointed to various roles. The Yorkshire RFU AGM took place a couple of weeks ago and I just wanted to use this blog to wish Norman Coates, Chairman of our near neighbours Old Otliensians, congratulations on becoming this year's Yorkshire President.
I've been involved with the Yorkshire Committee for over ten years now (this year will be my fifth year as Chairman) and Norman has served in various capacities on the Yorkshire scene for much longer than that. He's also been Chairman at 'Ensians for twelve years, so the honour of being President of the County is not misplaced.
Some of you may wonder what the President does ? Well, for a start he has to eat ! There are approximately 135 clubs in membership of Yorkshire, 90 + of these are involved in leagues. The vast majority of them have, at some point in the season, a club dinner and it is tradition that the County President attends these dinners and, at some, is invited to give a short speech. Obviously the President cannot attend all the dinners he is invited to. For example, Maundy Thursday is a favourite time for dinners - there's Good Friday and the Easter weekend to aid recovery. Even a President can't be in four or five places at the same time. However, the County does try to ensure that either the President, Senior Vice-President or Junior Vice-President can attend all the dinners they are invited to.
The second task of the President is to attend County fixtures, including the three Cup Finals. The County runs teams from U15 through to Seniors and the President will attend to, again, address the post-match meal and present any County honours that players are going to receive. At the Cup Finals he, obviously, presents the Cup to the winning side.
Some Presidents have also attempted to visit as many clubs in the County that they can during the season on match days. As far as I know (and I'm ready to be proved wrong), no President has actually managed to visit every club in the County during the season - it is actually impossible as there aren't enough weekends in the season.
Finally, the President has to chair the Financial AGM and AGM of the County. Probably, the least onerous of his tasks but, nevertheless, an important function.
Above all the President needs to be able to travel - he has to be available to go to Acklam in the North, Sheffield in the South, Huddersfield in the West and Hull in the East. A vast geographical area which I doubt any other County President has to cover.

So, a busy year is due for Norman and I hope he will enjoy his time at the "top table" and will take some happy memories away at the end of his office.
Finally, it is good to see the President coming from a truly grass roots club. Whilst Norman will be the centre of attention I know that Old Otliensians are also extremely proud that it has an association with the President of the County. All the very best to both 'Ensians and their County President!