PLAYERS, coaches and referees from across Europe came together this week for a Women’s Development Camp as part of the Rugby Football Union’s ground-breaking Unity Project.
The project, which is being run in partnership with World Rugby, Rugby Europe and UK Sport, involves 17 European nations and is aiming to grow the game across the continent.
The group also got a chance to see the Women’s Rugby World Cup, which was won by England last year with a victory over Canada in Paris. Pictured above are a group of the camp participants with the famous trophy.
Rosie Williams, the RFU’s Head of Local Rugby Delivery, said: “’This camp is one of the best things I’ve been involved with in women’s rugby. Seeing girls of this age and their coaches working together with RFU coaches and Educators to improve rugby across Europe has been fantastic.”
Alex Austerberry, Divisional Talent Development Officer, added: “This has been a wonderful celebration of rugby, bringing nations together, sharing ideas, helping each other develop and driving rugby forward across Europe.”
The Unity Project is one of the seven strands of the RFU’s Lead Up and Legacy work surrounding Rugby World Cup 2015. World Rugby and Rugby Europe selected the 17 countries for the RFU and its Constituent Bodies (CBs) to work with over the next three years, with the project due to finish formally in June 2016.
In order to deliver the project, each of the countries taking part is twinned with two CBs, with non-geographical CBs lending support across the board (for an explanation of CBs, see notes below). The European nations and their allocated CBs are working together to devise and deliver development plans to support the growth of the game. This support ranges from helping to train grounds staff and facilities managers, through to working on grassroots coach and player development pathways.
Those participating in this week’s camp included Anna Lena Swartz, the Sweden Women’s U18s Team Coach, who said: “’It’s been a great honour to be part of this really unique project. We’ve all really enjoyed taking part, developing key areas of playing and understanding rugby. The players have been developing skills and the camp has also helped them grow their own personalities. From a coaching perspective I understand my role so much better – it’s about players and coaches working together to solve problems.”
“The main stand out aspects of the camp has been the solidarity between everyone here and the way that the RFU so willingly shared their knowledge and expertise with us all. We would love to be invited again and we would strongly encourage other nations to take up this wonderful opportunity.”
Constituent Bodies are the administrative bodies which operate between the RFU and their member clubs. They also offer significant development, support and guidance to the clubs. There are 28 geographical CBs based on English counties and 7 non-geographical CBs, such as the Royal Navy and Students RFU.
The countries taking part in the Unity Project and their allocated Constituent Bodies are as follows:
COUNTRY – CONSTITUENT BODIES
Belgium – Eastern Counties, Nottinghamshire Leicestershire & Derbyshire
Spain – Durham, Northumberland
Poland – Surrey, Sussex
Portugal – Cheshire, Lancashire
Russia – Berkshire, Middlesex
Romania – Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire
Czech Republic – North Midlands, Staffordshire
Hungary – East Midlands, Cambridge University
Germany – Hampshire, Hertfordshire
Georgia – Kent, Essex
Switzerland – Dorset & Wiltshire, Somerset
Croatia – Leicestershire, Warwickshire
Netherlands – Cornwall, Devon
Sweden, Denmark, Norway – Cumbria, Yorkshire
Serbia – Buckinghamshire, Oxford University
Alongside Cambridge and Oxford Universities the other non-geographical CBs involved in this project include: Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force, England Rugby Football Schools Union and the Students RFU.
