Club Rugby issue 6

AT THE HEART OF THE RUGBY COMMUNITY

ISSUE 6

INVINCIBLE! England complete an unbeaten season with 3-0 series win Down Under Sporting fixtures – who’s showing what and when

Summer Tour Review

www.info@clubrugby.org.uk

Why social media is crucial for all rugby clubs

Last chance to enter ‘Rugby Club of the Year’

WELCOME

Welcome

In this issue

Caroline Scoular

Sean Ferris

Ashley Cairns

Mark Newton

Lawrence Hardcastle

Leigh-Anne Ogilvie

Welcome to Issue 6 of Club Rugby, the magazine for grassroots rugby clubs, the backbone of the sport.

It has certainly been a busy summer of rugby with all the home nations involved in endof-season tours, not least England who won all three of their Tests against World Cup 2015 finalists Australia in a magnificent series win that has propelled the men in white to No.2 in the official World Rugby Rankings.

The transformation of the team under new coach Eddie Jones – from World Cup flops to conquering heroes in the Six Nations and now Down Under – has been remarkable and the camaraderie, tactical acumen and skill levels of the current England squad stand in stark contrast to that of their football counterparts who suffered a humiliating exit from Euro 2016 at the hands of Iceland.

If the England rugby team continues to maintain such high standards, it could well lead to an influx of followers to the oval ball game from the disillusioned ranks of football fans who have once again been disappointed by their national team at a major tournament. This would be an amazing opportunity for rugby clubs across the country to attract new players and supporters and generally add to the current ‘feel good’ factor which English rugby is currently enjoying.

Incidentally, as you’ll see in this issue, there is still time for your club to enter the ‘Rugby Club of the Year’ category in this year’s Club Awards which take place in November in Manchester. We all know how much hard work goes into running a rugby club and this is your chance to let everyone know about it and perhaps follow in the footsteps of last year’s winners Cheltenham RFC and Burton RFC. For more information, see pages 31-37.

Elsewhere in the issue, we also talk about the importance of social media to modern clubs and bring news of the Hospitality Social Media Awards which will also feature a category for those rugby clubs which are making the most of social media to market themselves to their local communities. Please turn to page 16 to find out more.

Editor Justin O’Regan Design David Foster Events Leigh-Anne Ogilvie, Jill Slingsby Circulation Jon Hardy Accounts Michael Jeffries, Pam Attrill

Club Rugby is published by Alchemy Contract Publishing (ACP) Ltd. Club Rugby is a sister title to ACP’s Club Mirror and Clubhouse Europe.

ACP Gainsborough House 59/60 Thames Street Windsor Berkshire SL4 1TX UK t. +44 (0)1753 272022 f. +44 (0)1753 272021 e.info@clubrugby.org.uk www.alchemycontractpublishing.co.uk

The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publishers. Club Rugby does not verify the claims made by advertisers regarding their products.

JUSTIN O’REGAN CLUB RUGBY 3

Contents 38

47

20

6 News Time to enter the Rugby Club of the Year Award.

Plus: dates set for the 2016/17 World Rugby Seven Series, new club initiative launched by Wooden Spoon and European accolade for England’s Maro Itoje.

8 News special – CORCA Minutes from the latest Committee of Registered Clubs Association (CORCA) meeting.

20 Glory Down Under Celebrations as England completes an historic 3-0 series win over Australia during the summer – and Head Coach Eddie Jones is certain that there’s more where that came from.

24 Fortunes of tour 12 Sporting fixtures

31

Club Rugby’s sister title Sports4Bars.com looks at the key live sporting fixtures coming to your screens this month.

A Club Rugby warts-and-all review of the summer tours undertaken by Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England Saxons.

28 The stage is set...

14 Why social media means business

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Is your club plugged into the power of social media? If not, then it’s time to think again – because as marketing tools go it’s hard to beat.

The 2016/17 European Rugby Champions Cup draw heralds some riveting rugby in the group stages – not least in Pool 3 where the competition promises to be fierce.

16 Hospitality Social Media Awards

31 Call for entries

Are you Facebook-friendly? Are you proud of your website? If your club is embracing Social Media, then this one’s for you.

Could your club be Rugby Club of the Year 2016? Or how about Community Club of the Year?

It’s time to shine. Here’s how...

38 Back in the big time

54 Club Kitchen

59 Health and safety

After a hard-fought season in the Championship, Bristol have battled their way into the Aviva Premiership – and in some style.

All eyes on the pies with Booker’s easy-to-follow recipes for Club Kitchen stalwarts.

The biggest changes in the last 40 years are set to alter the Health & Safety landscape, with fines up to 10 times higher than their previous levels.

58 Online payments explained 42 News from HQ Why registering your club as a Community Asset could be a good idea. Plus: a refresher course on the Minimum Living Wage, risk assessment and preventing IT fraud.

Looking to implement an online payment system on the club website? Then you need a solution that’s flexible and affordable.

60 It’s Classified Showcasing club-supporting suppliers.

16

47 Olympics 2016 With 2016 being the debut year of rugby sevens, now’s the time to tap into the drama offered by the Rio Games. Club Rugby offers up some fast facts to help you and your members stay on top of the 39 disciplines.

51 Drinks Report Cask beer – the oldest new drink in town! Why cask is catching everyone’s attention.

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News from the touchline European accolade for England’s Maro Itoje Saracens and England lock Maro Itoje has been crowned 'European Player of the Year' after helping his side to Champions Cup glory.

The 21 year old was a key man in the 219 win over Racing Metro in the Final in Lyon back in May and has been in outstanding form throughout the competition.

He was part of England's Grand Slamwinning side and helped guide Saracens to top spot in the Aviva Premiership ahead of the play-offs, and was also named 'Young Player of the Year' by the Rugby Players Association (RPA).

Itoje is the fourth successive English player to win the award after Nick Abendanon, Steffon Armitage and Jonny Wilkinson, although all three predecessors earned the accolade playing for French sides.

Commemorative gates opened at Twickenham The tragic story of England's 1914 Grand Slamwinning rugby team has been commemorated with a new set of gates at Twickenham Stadium.

The Rose and Poppy Gates are a memorial to rugby players killed in conflicts around the world, but in particular to the ultimate sacrifice made by players from that year's Five Nationswinning side.

Seven members of the victorious team died in the First World War, including captain Ronnie Poulton-Palmer, who was killed by a sniper's bullet at Ypres.

On Friday, April 29, a century after his death, dignitaries from the worlds of rugby and the military united for the unveiling of the memorial gates.

The gates, moulded by sculptor Harry Gray from First World War shells, incorporate 15 roses at the base - one for each member of Poulton-Palmer's team - and poppies at the top to reflect how they and others lost on battlefields will never be forgotten.

The new gates stand under the gold lion outside the stadium's west stand, beneath which teams walk as they arrive for matches.

They were unveiled at a ceremony on Friday, April 29, by RFU president Jason Leonard.

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Dates set for the 2016/17 World Rugby Seven Series audiences and fans as rugby’s first Olympians in 92 years return to the series to showcase their talents in some of the world's best stadia across some of the world's most iconic cities.

The 2016-17 series retains the same schedule as last season, kicking off in Dubai on 2-3 December, visiting 10 cities across five continents before concluding at the home of English rugby, Twickenham Stadium, on 20-21 May. The 2016/17 schedule for the HSB World Sevens Series has been announced.

World Rugby has announced the dates for the 10 global destinations that will comprise the 2016-17 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, the first season following rugby sevens' Olympic Games debut.

Last season’s expanded series – won in thrilling fashion by Fiji – was the bestattended with 715,000 fans, the most-widely viewed, with 6,000 hours of action broadcast to fans in more than 100 territories for the first time, and the most socially-engaged with 61 million video views and a 250 per

cent audience increase across all platforms.

As rugby sevens prepares to excite on sport's biggest stage at Rio 2016, anticipation is high that the 2016-17 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series will set new standards on and off the field as World Rugby and its host unions aim to further enhance broadcast, fan experience and innovation.

With sevens’ popularity at an all-time high ahead of Rio 2016, the 2016-17 series also looks set to reach, engage and inspire new

2016-17 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series Dubai – 2-3 December Cape Town – 10-11 December Wellington – 28-29 January Sydney – 4-5 February Las Vegas – 3-5 March Vancouver – 11-12 March Hong Kong – 7-9 April Singapore – 15-16 April Paris – 13-14 May London – 20-21 May

New club initiative is launched by Wooden Spoon Wooden Spoon - the children’s charity of rugby – has launched a new programme to raise funds for both community rugby clubs and disabled and disadvantaged children and young people across the UK and Ireland.

Helping to launch the new scheme, Wooden Spoon’s lead Rugby Ambassador, Phil Vickery MBE, said: “Wooden Spoon’s Partner Club Programme ensures that by working together, Wooden Spoon and rugby clubs across the country can change the lives of disadvantaged and disabled children through the power of rugby.”

Ripon RUFC in Yorkshire is one club that has recently joined the programme and reports that it is already having a positive impact on their fundraising.

Andy Proud at Ripon RUFC said: “Our aim at Ripon RUFC is to be a community rugby

club. A great way to demonstrate this is to adopt a charity that is making a difference in our local community.

“It is early days but the partnership is starting to work. Being in partnership with a well-known charity enables us to talk to people who might not have wanted to get involved before.

“The affiliation with Wooden Spoon is certainly opening new doors and attracting funds to us. People want to see that they are making a difference locally.

“If every rugby club across the country did just a few things like us and donated to Wooden Spoon collectively, then it would make a great difference to disadvantaged and disabled children across the UK and Ireland.”

Among the clubs which have already

Phil Vickery

joined the scheme are Reading Abbey RFC, Redruth RFC, Dartford Valley RFC, Camberley RFC, Harbury RFC and Huddersfield RFC. For more information, email Matt Mitchell at rugby@woodenspoon.com or call him on 01252 773720.

England star Jack Clifford named as new patron of CRY charity

Calling all rugby clubs!

Presented at a prestigious Awards ceremony in November, the Rugby Club of the Year Award recognises the commitment of clubs, committees and individuals who ensure a healthy future for their clubs.

Why enter?

Apart from letting members and local press know that you’re the best, all finalists win the opportunity to appear on set at BT Sport’s acclaimed rugby programme Rugby Tonight. And there’s also the chance to win Aviva Premiership/European Champions Cup tickets, a cellar makeover and many other prizes.

Does your club have/do THREE OR MORE of the following?

• A turnover of £100,000 or more?

Olympic rugby on the BBC Rugby Sevens will be making its return to the Olympic Games in Rio later this summer and the BBC will be showing all of the action from both the men’s and women’s competitions as Great Britain attempts to bring back some medals against very tough competition.

Reigning World Sevens champions Fiji and New Zealand are the favourites to lift the title.

• Provide regular entertainment?

• Have a busy bar?

• Have a thriving junior section?

• Encourage new members?

• Play an important role at the heart of the community?

• Promote the game of rugby?

• Have a popular food menu?

• Keep up-to-date with the latest drinks on the market?

Whatever the size of your club, if you agreed with three or more of these statements then you could be a finalist and the Awards team wants to hear from you.

Individuals and committees are also eligible for separate Awards categories.

So if you think your club’s achievements deserve recognition, the deadline for entry is June 30, 2016. Turn to page 17 for our Express Entry Form.

Harlequins and England backrower Jack Clifford has been named as a new patron for the national charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY).

The 23-year-old former Cobham RFC player has stepped up to the role at CRY in memory of his friend and team-mate, Matthew Cragg, who died suddenly from an undiagnosed heart condition in October 2014.

Matt had completed a degree at Leeds University shortly before his sudden and tragic death and had been part of Cobham’s Surrey U21 cup-winning team the previous year.

Jack (who was part of the 2016 Six Nations Grand Slam winning squad) said:”I’m very honoured to be a patron for the charity CRY. The work they do is amazing, and so crucial, especially in young athletes.

“As a patron, I would like to help raise awareness of the work CRY does, especially in schools and sports clubs, in screening young people involved in sport. I would like to do anything I can to lessen the chances of young, fit sportspeople, like my friend Matthew Cragg, dying from an unknown heart condition.”

Every week in the UK, around 12 young people (under the age of 35) die suddenly from a previously undiagnosed heart condition and 80 per cent of these deaths

will occur with no prior symptoms. Although it won’t identify all young people at risk, in Italy, where screening is mandatory for all young people engaged in organised sport, they have reduced the incidence of young sudden cardiac death by 90 per cent.

This is because sport - whilst it does not actually cause sudden cardiac death - can significantly increase a young person’s risk if they have an underlying condition.

CRY’s Chief Executive, Dr Steve Cox, said; “We are privileged to announce Jack as our latest patron from the world of sport – particularly as he has such a strong and personal reason to become involved.

“His growing success and public profile will really help to reach out to a wide audience – and I know he has a very real commitment to helping to champion our cause. We are really looking forward to working with Jack.”

Argentina take on Australia at Twickenham on October 8 Twickenham will host a Rugby Championship match between Argentina and Australia on Saturday 8 October.

This fixture will make history as the first Rugby Championship match be played outside any of the competing nations – Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa.

The Test match, which counts as a home game for the Pumas, will be the finale of the 2016 tournament which begins in August and comes almost a year after the two teams met in the World Cup semifinal at the same venue.

RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie said: “We’re delighted to have the Rugby Championship coming to Twickenham Stadium. After

welcoming so many teams here during the Rugby World Cup, it’s fantastic to be able to open our doors again. We were treated to a great match between these two teams in the Rugby World Cup and I’m sure it’s set to be another high-octane encounter in the autumn.”

CLUB RUGBY 7

NEWS SPECIAL

CORCA meeting minutes The following are the minutes from the most recent CORCA (Committee of Registered Clubs Association) meeting, held at the CIU’s head office.

Present: Lord Smith CBE (Chairman) S Goulding (Secretary) G Dawson CMD (President CIU) K D Green CMD (General Secretary CIU) C O’Neill (CIU) G Smith (CIU) C Littlewood (ACC) E Charnley (ABC) J Rooney (RNA) I McAlpine (CISWO) J Davidson (NIFED) H Beckinsale (NIFED) D Lamour (NIFED) P Lund (RBL) N Pritchard-Woollett (CIU) Heidi Nicholson (Alzheimer’s Society) (Agenda Item 3) Alice Rigby (Alzheimer’s Society) (Agenda Item 3) Apologies: J Tobin (Vice President CIU) B Bates (NULSC) G Gallagher (NIFED) D Taylor (ABC) B Fare (RAFA)

1. Welcome and Apologies The CORCA Chairman, Lord Smith CBE, welcomed those present to the meeting. He thanked the CIU President and General Secretary for the CIU’s hospitality.

The Chairman also welcomed Heidi Nicholson and Alice Rigby of the Alzheimer’s Society, guest speakers for today.

2. Minutes of Meeting Held on 30 November, 2015 The Minutes were approved as a true and accurate record.

3. Guest Speaker – Heidi Nicholson, Alzheimer’s Society Heidi Nicholson, Chief Executive Office, Alzheimer’s Society attended for this item.

The focus of their presentation was a “Dementia Friends” Information Session, giving the board greater awareness of what dementia is and how that understanding can be turned into action to help create dementia-friendly communities. Maintaining strong social links is important to helping people to live well with dementia, particularly in its early stages and a club may provide an important activity and environment for a person living with dementia.

8 CLUB RUGBY

225,000 people will develop dementia this year; that’s one every three minutes. Alzheimer’s Society research shows that 850,000 people in the UK have a form of dementia. In less than 10 years a million people will be living with dementia. This will soar to two million people by 2051.

Dementia costs the UK economy over £26 Billion per year. This is the equivalent of more than £30,000 per person with dementia.

Alzheimer’s Society champions the rights of people living with dementia and the millions of people who care for them. Alzheimer’s Society works in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Sister charity Alzheimer Scotland works in Scotland.

Heidi and Alice provided an insight into some of the misconceptions about dementia, and the small ways we can help people living with dementia. They also outlined support that Alzheimer’s Society could offer to clubs and their staff, including their organisation’s national helpline (0300 222 1122), a meeting with a Dementia Advisor or Dementia Support worker, or offering Dementia Friends information sessions via their network of more than 10,000 Dementia Friends Champions that are dotted around the country (https://www.dementiafriends.org.uk/).

4. CORCA – APPG Recruitment Membership numbers for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Non-Profit Making member clubs (APPG) are down. This can, in part, be attributed to the fact that as a lobbying group there is very little activity at present.

It was agreed for members to consider a ‘wish list’ of business and legislative changes.

It was agreed that the current list of APPG members will be circulated to CORCA. Consideration to be given to timetable for CORCA representative Groups to write out to their respective MPs. 5. HMRC/RANK - Linewebber Many clubs will have submitted, or have had submitted on their behalf, claims for VAT considered overpaid on gaming machine income, possibly for periods prior to 6 December, 2005 as well as for periods after that date, up to and including 31 January, 2013.

To ensure these claims were kept alive, appeals were submitted to HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) and stood behind the Rank litigation.

Part of the Rank litigation is now finalised in favour of HMRC and HMCTS are asking all clubs: • Whether they wish to withdraw their appeal(s) meaning any chances of recovering moneys from HMRC would be lost, or;

CORCA Chairman, Lord Smith CBE

CORCA Secretary Stephen Goulding • Whether they wish to continue – in which instance HMCTS needs to be told by clubs the justification for this, i.e. which ongoing litigation/case do clubs wish to stand behind.

HMCTS set out 3 periods in which claims were made • 1 November, 1998 to 5 December, 2005 (referred to as Linneweber 1).

• 6 December, 2005 to 31 January, 2013 (referred to as Linneweber 2).

• 1 February, 2013 onwards.

Clubs need to action if they: • Only submitted a Rank/Linneweber 1 claim (pre 6 December, 2005).

• Only submitted a Linneweber 2 claim (or claims)

(for any periods between 6 December ,2005 and 31 January, 2013).

• Submitted both Rank/Linneweber 1 and Linneweber 2 claims.

It was noted that clubs should be mindful that HMCTS require a response by 24 March, 2016.

6. Legislative Reform (Exempt Lotteries) Order 2015 A draft Legislative Reform Order has been laid in Parliament which is due to take effect from 6 April, 2016 provided neither House opposes it.

The purpose of the draft Order is to relax the existing governing exempt lotteries – i.e. those not requiring Gambling Commission licence or registration with the local authority.

As regards exempt private society lotteries – e.g. those promoted to CORCA clubs – the intended relaxations are as follows: Instead of promoting an exempt club lottery only for purposes for which the club is itself conducted, it will be permissible to promote one for any purpose other than private gain. So a club would be able to promote an exempt private lottery to benefit a charity or other good cause.

The required information on exempt lottery tickets will also be reduced as follows: • The names and addresses of the promoter(s) need not be stated.

• There will be no need to state that tickets are not transferrable.

• The ticket price will not need to be shown.

In addition to the changes to private lottery rules, other types of exempt small scale lotteries also stand to benefit from this deregulation order. This includes incidental exempt lotteries held at an ‘event’.

Currently exemption only applies if the event is non-commercial, but with the coming into force of the draft Reform Order the exemption will be extended to incidental lotteries at any event.

So commencing 6 April, 2016 a club, if it wished, could organise an event to include a charitable incidental lottery without (as the law currently requires) having to pass on to the relevant charity other sums raised by the event – e.g. from food and drink sales.

This was noted.

7. PRS/PPL There is still no confirmation of when a consultation exercise will be undertaken on the proposed merger between PRS and PPL. It was the feeling of the CORCA group that the existing JMC tariff cannot be changed without CORCA agreement.

CORCA Secretary is to make enquiries.

8. Sport England – Clubs Initiative The CORCA Chairman and Secretary recently met with Richard Davis-Boreham, Head of Clubs, Sport England.

Sport England works to increase the number of people playing sport and participating in physical activity and aims to make lives better through their engagement with sport (playing or volunteering).

There are a number of ways in which Sport England looks to achieve this.

Working with partners – Sport England works with 46 specific national governing bodies of sport, 45 County Sport Partnerships and other bodies such as universities and colleges, local authorities, schools and other voluntary organisations.

Investment into facilities – Sport England has a significant role in providing funding to build new or improve existing facilities. It is known that that good sport facilities are needed if people are to begin and continue their participation in sport. A significant percentage of the funding is provided to community settings that provide a sporting offer and the improvements can range from changing rooms to floodlights to playing pitches.

Investment into people – Sport England invests in the programmes and activities that encourage people to play sport or engage with physical activity.

This funding is distributed either centrally through the Small Grants Scheme or via our partners.

Currently, Sport England is consulting on its new strategy which will be delivered over 2017-21 and as such only a couple of the funds are currently open for application – Small Grants and the Flood Relief fund.

Club Matters – Sport England has also invested in Club Matters. This is a resource aimed at supporting clubs to become more successful and sustainable. It is a web based resource that offers a wide range of information on club management, club people, club marketing and club facilities. It also offers learning resources such as eLearning, workshops and mentoring.

The resource is free to use but to access some of the resources does require registration. Again this is free.

9. CORCA bank account and annual report The CORCA Secretary requested suggestions on a

suitable bank account.

Although it was reiterated that there is no obligation for member groups to contribute, it is necessary for accounting purposes to have a bank account and produce annual accounts and also a report, if possible.

The CORCA Secretary to action.

10. Rating of CASCs and Sports Clubs CASCs (Community Amateur Sports Clubs) new regulations take effect from April 2016. This legislation is specific to Northern Ireland.

Clubs could get 80% rates relief through the CASC registration scheme but there are qualifying conditions – clubs must be: • Open to the whole community.

• Organised on an amateur basis.

• Main purpose in providing and promoting at least one eligible sports event.

• Not exceed the income limit.

• Meet management and location conditions.

It was concluded that it was unlikely any clubs would qualify as they are not open to all of the community or established to promote sport.

11. AOB CORCA Chairman, Lord Smith CBE, has expressed an interest in joining an Ad-Hoc House of Lords Committee to look at the full impact of the Licensing Act 2003.

The Committee will look in particular at any resulting changes in health trends and law and order as well as social changes such as the effect of alcohol off-sales on attendance at licensed premises.

If selected, Lord Smith will be able to detail the impact on clubs of this legislation.

CORCA Chairman to keep the Group updated.

12. Date/Venue Next Meeting The next meeting of the CORCA group will take place on Wednesday 12 October, 2016 at 2.00pm.

CLUB RUGBY 9

<

LIVE SPORTING FIXTURES FROM

ATCH ONE TO W

Sunday July 10, 8pm – ITV/BBC

Euro 2016: The Final Which two teams will have reached this showpiece event after the knockout stages? Four years ago, in Kiev, it was Italy and Spain who contested the final with the latter team winning by 4-0. It was the greatest margin of victory in the history of the European Championship finals and saw Spain become the first team to win two consecutive European Championships, having defeated Germany in the Final of Euro 2008.

Spain have not looked like title contenders this time around.

NDS

RECOMME

The best of Sports4Bars.com looks ahead to the key live sporting fixtures coming up in July, including the climax of the Euro 2016 and golf’s 145th Open Championship at Royal Troon in Scotland.

Friday July 1 6.30pm Sky Sports 2 HD

Sunday July 3 1pm Sky Sports F1 HD

Cricket: NatWest T20 Blast Surrey v Gloucestershire

Formula 1: Austrian Grand Prix

Surrey got their T20 campaign off to a great start with a win against Essex. Azhar Mahmood was the star turn with bat and ball.

Friday July 1 7pm Sky Sports 4 HD

Golf: WGC - Bridgestone Invitational

The F1 roadshow heads to Austria for the latest race. Nico Rosberg won in 2015 with team-mate Lewis Hamilton finishing as runner-up.

Sunday July 3 5pm Sky Sports 1 HD

Major League Soccer: New York City FC v New York Red Bulls

Top golfing action from the Firestone Country Club in Ohio, USA. Ireland’s Shane Lowry is the current title holder.

Football action from the USA and the New York derby. The Red Bulls have former England man Frank Lampard in their ranks. The Red Bulls won 7-0 last time out.

Saturday July 2 10.30am Sky Sports 2 HD

Sunday July 3 8pm BBC/ITV

One-Day International Cricket: England v Sri Lanka

Euro 2016: Quarter-Final 4

Thursday July 14, 6.30am – Sky Sports 4 HD

Golf: The Open The 145th Open Championship takes place at Royal Troon in Ayrshire, the ninth occasion that Britain’s most prestigious golf tournament has been staged at the club. Last year’s event, held at St Andrews, saw Zach Johnson of the USA win the title in a four-hole play-off. The year before that Rory McIlroy was the recipient of the famous claret jug. Golf fans will be hoping that the extreme weather which blighted the 2015 Championship, resulting in a rare Monday finish, will not make a return this time around.

England face a tricky challenge against one of the best one-day sides in world cricket.

Saturday July 2 6pm Sky Sports 1 HD

Super League: Catalans Dragons v Wigan Warriors

ATCH

ONE TO W

Friday July 22, 10am – Sky Sports 2 HD

Test Cricket: England v Pakistan The Second Test of the three-Test series at Old Trafford and the home side will be aiming to seize the advantage against a highly effective Pakistan team. Half of the Pakistan squad may have failed the fitness test set for them by their management but the likes of Misbah-ul-haq, Younis Khan, Fawad Alam and Shan Masood are in absolute peak form and should pose major threats to England. For their part, England have looked dangerous over the past 12 months and will be confident of gaining revenge for the 2-0 series defeat against Pakistan in 2015.

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The Warriors head across the Channel to take on a vastly improved Dragons team. Wigan Warriors have been riding high in the table for much of the season but the Dragons are not far behind, making this an unmissable encounter.

The fourth quarter-final takes place at Stade de France in Paris where the final will be staged on July 10.

Tuesday July 5 6.30pm Sky Sports 2 HD

One-Day International Cricket: England v Sri Lanka The second ODI between England and Sri Lanka. Look out for Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews, one of the world’s best proponents of the shortened form of the game.

Wednesday July 6 8pm BBC/ITV

Euro 2016: Semi-Final 1 Saturday July 2 8pm BBC/ITV

The first semi-final is staged in Lyon.

Euro 2016: Quarter-Final 3

Thursday July 7 8pm BBC/ITV

The third of the quarter-finals as the last eight teams attempt to make it through another stage of this prestigious football tournament held in France.

Euro 2016: Semi-Final 2 The second semi-final is staged in Marseille.

July’s Live Sport on TV Euro 2016 Final: BBC/ITV, Sunday, July 10

ALSO COMING UP...

Wednesday July 6 6.30pm Sky Sports 2 HD

NatWest T20 Blast: Gloucestershire v Surrey Thursday July 7 10.30am Sky Sports 4 HD

Golf: AAM Scottish Open Thursday July 7 8pm BBC/ITV

Super League: Warrington Wolves v Salford Red Devils

Saturday July 9 2.30pm BBC1

Thursday July 14 6.30am Sky Sports 4 HD

Tennis: Wimbledon - Women’s Singles Final

Golf: The Open Championship

The world will be watching events unfold on Centre Court as the Women’s Singles Final takes place.

Sunday July 10 1pm Sky Sports F1 HD

Formula 1: British Grand Prix One of the fastest circuits in Formula 1, Silverstone has produced some of the greatest races in the sport’s history. Can Lewis Hamilton find his form on his ‘home’ track?

Sunday July 10 2.30pm BBC1

Tennis: Wimbledon - Men’s Singles Final Which two players will have made it to the most prestigious Grand Slam final in world tennis?

Sunday July 10 8pm BBC/ITV

Euro 2016: Final Four years ago it was Spain and Italy who reached the final in Ukraine, Spain producing another great performance to win by 4-0.

The 145th Open Championship gets underway as the world’s top golfers head to the magnificent fairways of Royal Troon in Ayrshire.

Can a British or Irish golfer claim the title this time around? The last player to do so was Rory McIlroy in 2014. Injury prevented him from returning to defend his title in 2015 and he is sure to be one of the leading contenders this time around, Thursday July 14 11am Sky Sports 2 HD

Test Cricket: England v Pakistan The first Test at Lord’s, the home of English cricket, as England face a tough challenge against one of the game’s undisputed giants. England’s opener against Pakistan in their most recent Test series back in 2015 ended in a draw and Pakistan went on to win the series 2-0. England will be out for revenge this time.

Sunday July 17 1pm BT Sport

venue first hosted MotoGP in 1999.

Its tight corners invariably produce some thrilling races although it is not renowned as being among the fastest of circuits.

Friday July 22 11am Sky Sports 2 HD

Test Cricket: England v Pakistan Lancashire’s HQ of Old Trafford is the venue for the 2nd Test between England and Pakistan. In the last Test series played between these two nations – in 2015 on UAE soil – Pakistan won 2-0 but England will be confident of securing a series victory this time around.

Tuesday July 26 11am Sky Sports

Football: International Champions Cup: Juventus v Tottenham Pre-season action as Spurs take on the Italian Serie A champions Juventus in the International Champions Cup fixture at Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Tuesday July 26 1pm Channel 4

MotoGP: Germany

Channel 4 Racing: Glorious Goodwood

Two-wheel motorsport action from the Sachsenring in Germany. This

Five days of fantastic flat racing at Goodwood begins.

Saturday July 9 2.30pm Sky Sports 2 HD

NatWest T20 Blast: Notts Outlaws v Worcestershire Rapids Sunday July 10 2.30pm Sky Sports 2 HD

NatWest T20 Blast: Durham Jets v Leicestershire Foxes Wednesday July 13 2.30pm Sky Sports 2 HD

NatWest T20 Blast: Derbyshire Falcons v Lancashire Lightning Saturday July 16 7pm Sky Sports 2 HD

Darts: World Matchplay Thursday July 21 11.30am Sky Sports 4 HD

Golf: Senior Open Friday July 29 11am Sky Sports

Football: International Champions Cup: Tottenham v Atletico Madrid

www.Sports4Bars.com < CLUB RUGBY 13

BUILDING THE BUSINESS – SOCIAL MEDIA

TIMELINES:

SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE MAKING 1971 • The first email is sent between two computers sitting on the same desk.

1979 • Usernets and BBS (Bulletin Board Systems) come online allowing users to exchange data over phone lines.

1980 • Compuserve and Prodigy hit the scene with the first commercial offering of news, weather, shopping and games.

1991 • America Online launches AOL for DOS which quickly becomes the most popular online destination. Millions of people used AOL as their first gateway to the World Wide Web.

1994 • Geocities is launched.

Why social media means business Is your club plugged into the power of social media? If not, then it’s time to think again – because as marketing tools go it’s hard to beat.

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s social media usage continues to grow it's becoming an increasingly effective medium through which to connect with audiences of all ages, but in particular millennials and younger generations. This means online, constant two-way communication.

Car giant Ford has been using this phenomenon for years, for example supplying social media users with brand new Fiestas in return for them documenting their experience. Even the Pope has been using social media to help connect millennials to the Catholic Church, with the very successful #PopeIsHope and #GoodIsWinning campaign.

1995 • theglobe.com allows users to personalise their online experience.

1997 • AOL Instant Messanger sees a craze of instant online communication.

2001 • Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia that anyone can edit, launches • StumbleUpon, a website that recommends web content to its users, begins.

2002 • Friendster, considered the granddaddy of social networks, launches. It has 3m users with three months.

• Technorati, a search engine for blogs, goes live.

2003 • LinkedIn begins as a business-related social networking site.

• Wordpress is released – a publishing platform that hosts blogs.

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Harnessing the power of social media There are many benefits to those jumping onboard the social media roller-coaster. Harnessing its power and making it work for the club is a goal worth striving for, something which the big brands have recognised and have the resources to pursue.

(It’s interesting to note how many clubs are already harnessing the power of – for example – Facebook, while bypassing web sites altogether.)

Online brand ambassadors While all the big brands have realised the importance of using brand ambassadors within their social media channels, the true brand ambassadors are, as always, those working for the benefit of the club – the staff, committee members and so on. Giving the right people the tools and capabilities to engage in social media on the club’s behalf is a powerful way of helping to engage and motivate them as well as communicating club activities through social media marketing.

Increased online presence Social media marketing helps to improve search engine rankings by providing more platforms for content to be found. YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine and combined with other channels and effective keyword use, search engine rankings have only one way to go... up!

Engaging with stakeholders Stakeholder engagement with social media can be targeted and is a useful insight tool to test sentiment and opinion. New stakeholders and social media influencers (specifically in the social media landscape) can be identified and actively targeted with communications for on-going engagement. In doing so, timely and more up to date information can be gleaned through the two-way channel of communication. In other words, it’s possible to gain information directly from stakeholders which it might have been a struggle to obtain otherwise.

‘Crisis’ communications tool In the past there had been much talk about using a social media policy for crisis communications. Great idea, but in many cases there can be a major pitfall.

What is the point of creating a crisis communications policy that includes the use of social media, if stakeholders have not actively engaged with it?

There simply wouldn’t be the appropriate reach to ensure success.

A flip side, though, was demonstrated powerfully

by Dutch airline KLM. When the Icelandic volcano erupted in March 2010, KLM found that followers came to their channels for information on disrupted flights. The huge influx of people trying to contact the airline, however, saw travellers begin to tweet/Facebook KLM. As a result, for five days during the crisis, they set up a 24/7 customer service on Facebook/Twitter. As a result, KLM took on 40 employees dedicated to their social media hub, having been plunged into social media marketing via a crisis. KLM have embraced it ever since.

But as with all benefits, there are always pitfalls.

Social Media is no exception here.

Resourcing for success The amount of resource needed to be successful in social media is often underestimated. Once started, it cannot be left, and to be truly successful clubs need to fully engage with their audiences, which means mon-

2004 • Myspace launches.

• Google begins Gmail.

• Flickr goes live.

• Facebook, a social networking service which began at Harvard, expands to other universities and reaches 1m members.

• Yelp, a social networking site where users can review local businesses, begins.

• Social news website, DIGG, goes live.

2005

RESULTS OF INVESTMENT IN FACEBOOK • Nearly 60% of businesses have acquired a customer through their blog.

• 25% of B2B firms have gained a client through Facebook.

• Company websites that have a blog have 55 % more visitors than those who don’t.

• Evidence suggests that web visitors from social sites convert 59 % higher than those who aren’t communicating directly with their customers. (Become A Social Business Forbes.com).

• 5% of search results for the world’s top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content.

• 34% of bloggers post opinions about products and brands.

• 93% of marketers use social media for business. (Erik Qualman, Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business.) itoring and replying to communications.

‘Content is king’ is a standard phrase attached to social media, and creating lively and engaging content can take time and money.

Negative engagement Not every engagement with an audience is going to be successful. A small negative voice on a social media channel can create many problems; clubs need to be able to handle this.

Control The nature of social media does mean a lack of control. For many, this is difficult to accept and without some precautionary measures taken the degree of control will lessen. Procedure, policies and training will all help here.

So there it is; a quick snapshot of social media. How far we’ve come in such a small time. Just think, 10 years ago none of us had heard of Facebook. So just imagine what the picture will be like in the next 10; roll on 2026!

• Video-sharing website Youtube goes live.

• Mashable, a news website and blog, goes live.

• Facebook becomes available in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

2006 • Myspace becomes the most popular social networking site in the United States.

• Twitter begins.

• Facebook launches its news feed feature to a mixed reaction.

• Google acquires Youtube.

• WikiLeaks, which publishes submissions from anonymous sources, begins.

2007 • Facebook reaches one million active users in the UK. • StumbleUpon is acquired by eBay. • Tumblr launches.

• Developers gain permission from Facebook to use the site as a platform for games.

• Apple releases the iPhone in the United States. iPhone users can access social media sites and apps through their phone.

2008 • Facebook overtakes Myspace to become the most popular social networking site.

• Facebook Connect is announced, allowing users to log onto third-party websites, applications and mobile devices.

• The App store opens via iTunes.

2009 • Twitter becomes the third-highest-ranking social networking site, up from number 22.

• Location-based social networking website, Foursquare, goes live.

• King of Pop, Michael Jackson dies; Twitter servers crash after users send 100,000 tweets per hour when news hits.

• Wordpress reaches 202m users.

• Flicker hosts more than 4bn images.

2010 • Twitter users are sending 65m tweets per day, roughly 750 tweets per second.

• Facebook reaches 500m active users.

• The Social Network, a film about Facebook and

its creator, Mark Zuckerburg, opens.

• Instagram launches.

2011 • Social networking websites are used to organise protests in Egypt, the Middle East and North Africa. Various governments attempt to shut down Internet access with varying degrees of success.

• An Egyptian baby is named Facebook in honour of the role that social media played in Egypt’s revolution.

• WikiLeaks begins publishing files on Guantanamo Bay detainees.

2012 • Facebook shares go up for sales.

• Twitter has 140m users globally.

• Snapchat launches. One in six Britons are Twitter users.

2013 • Vine launches.

• Social media becomes a major source of information about the Boston Marathon bombing. It is the first major terrorist attack in the U.S. during the age of Facebook, Twitter and smartphones.

• One Direction Harry Styles (@Harry_Styles) has more than 18 million Twitter followers.

Collectively the band reaches 29 million unique followers around the globe.

2014 • For the first time ever, a trial based on alleged defamation via Twitter begins when Attorney Rhonda Holmes begins suing her former client, rock musician and actress Courtney Love over a tweet.

• Facebook becomes the World’s 22nd biggest company with market value reaching $US200bn.

2015 • Instagram launches Boomerang, an app where users can shoot a one-second burst of five photos that are turned into a silent video.

• BBC uses Snapchat to explore new ways of reaching a millennial audience through digital story-telling around the migrant crisis for BBC Panorama.

2016 • 1.04m Vine video loops play per minute.

• 2.78m videos are viewed every minute on YouTube.

• 2.4m Google searches happen every minute on the Internet.

STOP PRESS...

• June 2016 – Hospitality Social Media Awards launch. (Turn the page to enter.)

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SOCIAL MEDIA AWARDS

The Hospitality Social Media Awards Is your club using social media to engage with members? Then we want to hear from you. Read on...

DID YOU KNOW…?

• The average Internet user’s span of attention is just 8 seconds.

• Office workers check email 30 times per hour - on average • Only 4 out of every hundred page views last longer than 10 minutes • 17% of page views last less than 4 seconds

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lubs and the hospitality sector are engaging with social media. In fact, 55% of respondents to a survey state that they are using social media to promote their business – which means, of course that 45% are not. More opportunities for those in the know!

Hospitalitty Social Me M dia Backkdrop

That means your messaging has to capture their attention quickly with direct and engaging text.

Survey resp ponses

555% 68% 4 % % 44%

ENTRIES AND ACTIONS 1. Call for entries – enter online at www.hsma.biz or send your club details to info@clubmirror.com 2. Closing date – 14 August 2016.

3. Ceremony – The newly refurbished 5 Star Palace Hotel, Manchester (November 23).

Supported by

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of responde o nts used Social Media to promote their businesss

said social networking has forced change n in business conduct

of respondents agreed that social networking saw the emergence of o new competitorrs

So ocial Media is seen s as a means of targeting a an audience

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Survey: So ocial media in the hospitality and leisure industry

Social media is a huge weapon in club armouries. It’s current, it’s immediate and it resonates with younger members as well as older ones. That’s why we’ve launched the Hospitality Social Media Awards. From web sites to Facebook and everything in between, the Hospitality Social Media Awards (HSMA) will be seeking out those of you who are busy using social media to engage with your members. Event updates, member alerts, social interaction – however you’re using social media and whatever the size of your club we want to hear from you.

NOMINATIONS AND ENTRIES Sport Rugby’s sister titles, Club Mirror, Sports Club Management, and Clubhouse Europe, will also be encouraging entries into the club categories, while Sports4Bars will be driving entries from the broader Hospitality sector.

If you can say yes to any of this list we want to hear from you. Are you...

1. Proud of your web site?

2. Engaging with customers?

3. Using on-line payments?

4. Building club business?

5. Inspiring conversation?

6. Encouraging interaction?

Enter online at www.hsma.biz or email your club details to info@clubmirror.com (subject line: Social Media Awards) < CLUB RUGBY 17

ENGLAND TOUR

No.8 Billy Vunipola was one of the key England players during the Test series.

Glory Down Under England completed an historic 3-0 series whitewash over Australia during the summer but Head Coach Eddie Jones believes the best is yet to come for a talented squad which has effected a remarkable turnaround since they crashed out of the 2015 Rugby World Cup at the group stages

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t’s the mark of the ambition of this current England side that even after securing their historic 3-0 series win against Australia with that epic 44-40 victory in Sydney, the immediate talk from the players and management was about the need for all-round improvement in several areas.

During their tour Down Under England moved up to second in the World Rugby Rankings but under coach Eddie Jones the shared objective for the men in white is clear: to become the best team in the world and knock No.1-ranked New Zealand off their throne.

Under Jones, England have certainly effected a major turnaround in fortunes given that eight months previously the team was in disarray having just been eliminated from a home World Cup before the knockout stages after a disastrous performance in their group.

Scroll forward a few months and England –

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with largely the same squad which took part in the World Cup – are now reigning Six Nations Champions and the first side to inflict a 3-0 home series defeat on the Wallabies since 1971.

In terms of fitness, skills and confidence, the current squad is on a steep upward curve and Jones’ approach has transformed the fortunes of individuals as well as the overall team.

For an example of a player who has been given a new lease of life under Jones, look no further than James Haskell.

Despite being one of the most experienced players in Stuart Lancaster’s World Cup squad, the Wasps captain was barely afforded any game time during that tournament. Following storming performances in both the 2016 Six Nations and the series against the Wallabies, he is now one of England’s key men and tackled himself to a standstill in the first two tests before injury intervened

and reduced him to the role of spectator in the 3rd Test.

Haskell’s style of play seems tailor-made for the game plan that Jones is trying to effect, particularly as part of the rush defence that England have adopted under defence coach Paul Gustard, who first developed the system during his time with Saracens.

Haskell is just one of a whole group of players who are taking their lead from the management to become more effective on the pitch, a culture that is reaping dividends already but could take the team even further.

And there is plenty more to come according to the man in charge.

“You can never take your foot off the pedal,” said Jones after the 3rd Test. “As soon as you take it off you get weak. And we can’t afford to get weak because we want to be the No.1 team in the

world and we are currently miles away from the All Blacks.

“We’ve got to keep improving. We are proud of our efforts – brave, courageous efforts – but we’ve got to get better. There are areas where we are definitely not where we need to be but we can work on that over the next three or four months and make sure the squad we put together is the right squad to beat South Africa in the Autumn internationals.”

The relentless drive to succeed displayed by Jones has clearly rubbed off on his players, many of whom are playing the best rugby of their careers, but the coach believes that the all-round quality of his squad is not yet sufficient to propel the team to the top of the tree.

“We haven’t got five world-class players,” he said. “If you picked a world XV now, we haven’t got them. Players are developing and it takes years to develop a world-class player. Owen Farrell is definitely moving in the right direction, Billy Vunipola is too.

“A couple of other guys have been found out on tour. They did really well in the Six Nations and have been quite poor on tour. That’s a great learning experience for them.

“We’ve got character in oodles at the moment, but it can disappear very quickly. You get one person into the squad that hasn’t got it, that does the wrong things, and it can change the squad.”

Unlike several of his predecessors in the England job, Jones has also displayed a golden touch when it comes to introducing young talent into the squad. All too often in the recent past, players were launched into the international arena when they clearly weren’t ready and then just as swiftly discarded. Maro Itoje, Jack Clifford and Elliot Daly have come into the squad and

England’s Owen Farrell tackles Australia fullback Israel Folau. have impressed when given their chance.

And with England Under-20 recently winning the World Championship in impressive fashion there is every chance that Jones will be seeking to promote some of those players in the run-up to the next World Cup. “The guys that really impressed me in the Under-20s will get a place in the EPS squad,” said “I’ve always said there is talent in England and my job is to get that talent to perform consistently. It is a matter of practice and a matter of the environment we create.

“The other thing is the assistant coaches have done a superb job. Paul Gustard, Steve Borthwick, Neal Hatley and Glen Ella have worked really well as a group, and they’ve done a great job in coaching the players. They deserve all the credit, with the players.

“The base was there. If you look at the last four

years under Stuart Lancaster, they had spasmodically peak performance. All we’ve tried to do is get consistency: consistency in attitude, consistency in preparation and then you get consistency of performance.”

And England were certainly consistent throughout the three tests as they out-muscled, out-thought and out-scored their hosts.

First up was the opening match in Brisbane where the tourists’ resolve was tested to the extreme in the opening exchanges as the Wallabies opened up their defence to score two tries in the first 15 minutes.

But England refused to panic and fought their way back into the match in impressive fashion, their forward pack turning up the intensity on their Wallaby counterparts to give Owen Farrell the chance to put them back in the game.

There were plenty of big moments in this game Eddie Jones utilised his bench to create maximum impact throughout the three Tests.

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ENGLAND TOUR Flanker James Haskell emerged as one of the players of the series Down Under.

Tour Results Saturday, June 11 1st Test (Brisbane) Australia 28 England 39 Australia: Tries: Hooper (2), Folau, Kuridrani.

Conversion: Foley. Penalties Foley (2).

England: Tries: Joseph, Yarde, Nowell.

Conversions: Farrell (2). Penalties: Farrell (6).

Attendance: 48,735.

Saturday, June 18 2nd Test (Melbourne) Australia 7 England 23 Australia: Try: Moore. Conversion: Foley.

England: Tries: Hartley, Farrell. Conversions: Farrell (2). Penalties: Farrell (3).

Attendance: 29,871.

– not least James Haskell’s seismic hit on Australian No.8 James Pocock in the first half – but it was Farrell’s boot which did the most damage for England, the Saracens man kicking six penalties and two conversions to add to the three tries scored by Marland Yarde, Jonathan Joseph and Jack Nowell.

The final result was a well-deserved 39-28 victory for England as they drew first blood in the series.

A week later in Melbourne, England produced one of the greatest defensive displays ever seen in the international game as Australia threw absolutely everything into all-out attack in order to level the series but found themselves rocked backwards time and time again.

The key passage in the game took place just before half-time when England, leading 10-7, held out for a remarkable 22 phases of Australian attack.

As Australia hammered the line, there was no let-up from the England defence as they smashed

the Wallaby ball-carriers to prevent a score that would have put the home side in front.

Having survived this onslaught, England came out and scored 13 unanswered points in the second half to win by 23-7 and clinch the history-making series.

Despite this major achievement, England’s celebrations were fairly muted as they stated their intent to complete a whitewash the following week in Sydney.

And so it came to pass as the series finished with a thrilling nine-try encounter that saw attacking moves sweeping from end to end as the lead changed hands several times.

The Wallabies led by a point at half-time following tries from Foley, Dane and HaylettPenny for the hosts and Dan Cole and Mike Brown for the tourists.

In the second-half, Michael Hooper and Israel struck back for Australia before Billy Vunipola and replacement hooker Jamie George scored for England.

Saturday, June 25 3rd Test (Sydney) Australia 40 England 44 Australia: Tries: Foley, Haylett-Petty, Hooper, Folau, Naiyaravoro. Conversions: Foley (3).

Penalties: Foley (3). England: Tries: Cole, Brown, B Vunipola, George. Conversions: Farrell (3). Penalties: Farrell (6).

Attendance: 44,063.

The game finished with Naiyaravoro crashing over for the Wallabies but it was too late to save the home side from a 3-0 whitewash, the first time they have suffered such a defeat since South Africa in 1971.

It was a remarkable conclusion to a remarkable England tour Down Under.

• For more news and rugby highlights, visit sister magazine www.clubrugby.org.uk

Dylan Hartley holds the Cook Cup aloft as his squad celebrates the series win.

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SUMMER TOURS

Fortunes of tour We look back on the summer tours undertaken by Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England Saxons.

WALES IN NEW ZEALAND It was not a very happy tour of New Zealand for Wales as they crashed to a 3-0 series whitewash against the world champions.

Wales had started the tour in hopeful fashion and actually led New Zealand at half-time in the 1st Test in Auckland.

Two tries from Taulupe Faletau and Rhys Webb had dented the All Blacks’ aura of invincibility, while Dan Biggar’s 11 points with the boot had put Wales in a potentially winning position.

Alas, Wales could only add another three points in the second half while New Zealand hit back with three tries added to the one scored in the first half to run out 39-21 winners.

Wales were slightly more competitive in Wellington the following week but could not save the series. They scored three tries to New Zealand’s five to go down by 36-22.

By the time of the 3rd and final Test in Dunedin on June 25, New Zealand looked to be getting into top gear and put Wales to the sword.

The hosts scored a total of six tries in a freerunning performance while Wales could only reply with a brace of Dan Biggar penalties.

New Zealand skipper Kieran Read secures lineout ball for his side against Wales.

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Wales suffered a 3-0 series whitewash in New Zealand.

The resulting 46-6 defeat was Wales’ heaviest loss for nine years and their 29th in a row against the All Blacks.

This means that Wales have failed to beat the All Blacks for 63 years but more important is the effect the poor results will have on the morale of the team as they face the future.

In all, Wales conceded 16 tries in three Tests and lost heavily in their one midweek game, crashing to a 40-7 defeat against a weakened Chiefs side in Waikato.

It’s clear that the Welsh defence will need to be shored up fast before the autumn internationals come around in November where they face South Africa, Australia, Argentina and Japan in Cardiff.

But coach Warren Gatland believes that testing themselves against the best side in the world will be of benefit to Wales.

“We’ll take a lot of lessons from what we’ve learned,” he said. “We need to make sure that we apply that to the next time we’re back together.

“It’s pretty disappointing. We thought there were a lot of positives out of the first two Tests but in fairness to the All Blacks I thought they were absolutely outstanding.

“Their back three caused us a lot of problems and we will need to work on that area.”

SUMMER TOURS “Hopefully the future for Irish rugby is bright with the talent we have here, including some great young players, as well as the talent we have at home.”

He added: “A lot of people wrote us off before we came here and the age profile of the squad is such that we have some guys with not a lot of experience, but they are very exciting and talented and now have a taste for big games like this.

“It’s been a great series and a really tough one in which we knew we had to defend really well to win.

“The fact there has only been six points between the sides in every game speaks volumes about how tight the games have been.”

Ireland coach Joe Schmidt added: “Three sixpoint results wining margins; two of them unfortunately didn’t go our way.

“If you’d offered me one win and a couple of other close results like that before the tour, I probably would have taken it because there’s a bit of history there but at the same time when you get as close as we did, it’s disappointing.”

Ireland face a tough autumn as they take on New Zealand twice (once on American soil), Australia and Canada.

Ireland lost their series against South Africa 2-1.

IRELAND IN SOUTH AFRICA Shorn of some of their best players, not least flyhalf Johnny Sexton who had a summer off due to a shoulder operation, Ireland set off for South Africa more in hope than expectation given the Springboks’ proud record on home turf.

But as it turned out, Ireland returned from the tour with their heads held high, having come desperately close to winning their first series in South Africa.

Of course, the high point for Ireland was the against-the-odds victory in the opening Test in Cape Town, a remarkable win given that Ireland played around an hour of the game with just 14 men following the controversional sending-off of flanker CJ Stander.

With Paddy Jackson in inspired form in the No.10 jersey and the men in green intent on playing attacking, positive rugby, Ireland stormed to a 26-20 victory that gave them hope of winning the series.

South Africa struck back in the 2nd Test in Johannesburg despite Ireland powering to a 19-3 lead at half-time.

But the second half saw the Springboks launching a fightback as they scored a total of four tries to win the match 32-26 and take the series to a decider.

The Springboks won the decisive match 19-13 in Port Elizabeth to dash Ireland’s attempt to become the first of the home nations to win a series in South Africa.

But Ireland have taken heart from the close nature of the series.

“Our boys have fought valiantly and put everything into it. We came here to win but we have fallen short,” said Ireland captain Rory Best following the final Test.

Ireland fly-half Paddy Jackson in action against the Springboks.

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SUMMER TOURS SCOTLAND IN JAPAN

Scotland centre Sean Maitland in action against Japan.

Scotland headed to the Land of the Rising Sun for a two-Test series against the side who memorably recorded a victory over South Africa in RWC 2015.

There was no upsetting of the established order during the series though with Scotland winning both Tests against a somewhat depleted Japanese team.

In the opening Test in Toyota City, Japan scored the opening try to get off to a flying start but were punished by their lack of discipline with Scotland’s Greg Laidlaw landing 16 points with the boot to add to his side’s two tries and set up a 26-13 victory.

Scotland were given a closer run for their money in the 2nd Test, Japan putting everything into attack and scoring a fantastic try in the 20th minute from a move which started in their own 22.

For their part, Scotland could not create any tries throughout the match and simply ground out the victory through seven penalties.

So, not an altogether impressive summer for Scotland but a 2-0 series win was achieved.

Coach Vern Cotter said: “Everyone who has been part of this tour brought something. To be able to shift the team from one week to the next and get these guys to play and to get the win is important. I know we will find parts we need to improve and that will be a focus going forward.”

ENGLAND SAXONS IN SOUTH AFRICA While the senior side headed Down Under, England’s second string team took on their South African counterparts in a two-match series that was designed to give developing younger players the opportunity to play alongside more experienced campaigners in a highly competitive environment.

The tour certainly lived up to its billing with some excellent rugby played throughout and England’s (mainly) young guns winning both games. In the first match in Bloemfontein, England raced to a 22-10 half-time lead before South Africa ‘A’ fought back to 25-24 going into the final ten minutes. But Exeter Chiefs centre Ollie Devoto clinched the game for England in the 79th minute as the men in white won by 32-24.

In the second fixture, which took place in George, South Africa ‘A’ looked to be in dominant form, powering their way to being 26-8 up early in the second half. From this seemingly hopeless position the Saxons launched a brave fightback, scoring tries through Tommy Taylor, Matt Kvesic and Christian Wade to achieve a 29-26 win.

Saxons Head Coach Ali Hepher said: “The players have shown positive things. They are not a long way off international rugby which is exciting for them.”

England Saxons scrum-half Dan Robson takes on the South Africa ‘A’ defence.

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EUROPEAN RUGBY CHAMPIONS CUP

The stage is set...

The recent draw for the 2016/17 European Rugby Champions Cup has thrown up some intriguing battles in the group stages, not least in Pool 3, where reigning title holders Saracens face off against three-time winners Toulon, Aviva Premiership rivals Sale Sharks and the Scarlets.

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olders Saracens and triple European title winners Toulon will meet in the pool stage of next season's Europea Rugby Champions Cup. Saracens, who won the trophy in May with a victory over Racing 92 in Lyon, have been grouped with a club they lost to in the 2014 European final. The pool is completed by the Scarlets of Wales and Sale Sharks.

Toulon won three successive European titles from 2013-2015, which included beating Saracens in the final two years ago, and Saracens Head Coach Mark McCall believes the French side will pose a serious danger to his side.

“Toulon have a star-studded squad who will have the extra hunger of not winning a trophy last season,î he said. "We have faced them in the final stages of the tournament in recent seasons, and we know how much of a challenge they pose.

“The Scarlets have made some huge strides under coach Wayne Pivac, and facing them at the Parc-y-Scarlets is always a test for teams in Europe, and having played Sale Sharks a number of times over the last three seasons - in both the Aviva Premiership and the Champions Cup - we understand how dangerous they are.

“Last season was an amazing campaign for us, but we know that the hard works starts now as we prepare for what promises to be another competitive season.”

Exeter, runners-up behind Saracens in last season's Premiership, will face Clermont Auvergne they met twice in the pool stage last time out.

Exeter Chiefs Head Coach Rob Baxter said: “It’s another great draw for us and one that we’re really excited about. Obviously we know Bordeaux and Clermont very well having played them last season in Europe, whilst Ulster are not going to be an unknown quality either as we’re due to play them in pre-season.

“As you would expect being in the Champions Cu is always going to throw up some tough challenges but as a club that’s what we kind of thrive off.”

He added: “I’ve no doubt our supporters will be equally as excited about the games we have got.

We’ve been to Clermont twice in the past and experienced a brilliant atmosphere over there, Bordeaux was an equally good experience last season and when we went to Ulster a few seasons

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ago for a pre-season game, that too was a great game against what was a very strong side that night.”

Meanwhile, Leicester Tigers face French champions Racing 92, who beat them in the Champions Cup semi-finals two months ago as well as Munster and Glasgow.

“It is a tough pool - possibly the toughest in the draw - but that is what this competition is all about, bringing the best teams from across all the countries together,” said Leicester rugby director Richard Cockerill.

“You have to be at your very best in every game in Europe, and you have to work hard for every single point. You don't get too many opportunities, so you have to make them all count.”

“

You have to be at your best in every game in Europe and work hard for every single point

”

Wasps will face Connacht, Toulouse and Zebre in Pool 2 of the Champions Cup and the club’s Director of Rugby Dai Young is in no doubt about the difficulty posed by his team’s opponents.

“It may certainly look like an easier group than last season on paper but we’re not underestimating this,” he said.

“We probably exceeded expectations last season, we've got to address every game this season like we did last season, with a real fear factor when we knew that if we didn't play our best rugby we could get beaten.

“Everyone has just got to concentrate on getting out of the group and once you've done that, you are into knockout rugby and anything can happen.

“I’m confident if we play our best rugby we can

qualify from this group. We know it is going to be tough, but if we can perform like we did last season we should get out.”

Connacht were top seeds for the draw in Switzerland yesterday having won the Pro12 last season, and Wasps will also take on traditional European powerhouse.

“I think every coach will tell you that there is no easy group and certainly no easy game in the European Champions Cup,” added Young.

“In one way, when you compare it to our pool last season, this group is probably as good as it gets in Europe, but at the same time that puts a lot more pressure on us.

“If you looked at our group last year, it was well recognised as the toughest pool out there, but that also meant there wasn't much pressure on us because nobody expected us to get out of it. We did and we enjoyed a really successful run.”

The draw for the second-tier European Challenge Cup pool also took place with Aviva Premiership returnees Bristol grouped alongside Bath, Cardiff Blues and French club Pau. Harlequins, last season's Challenge Cup runners-up, will meet Edinburgh, Stade Francais and Romanian side Timisoara Saracens in Pool Five, while Gloucester were drawn in Pool One alongside La Rochelle, Treviso and Bayonne.

Champions Cup draw: Pool One: Racing 92, Glasgow, Leicester, Munster Pool Two: Connacht, Wasps, Toulouse, Zebre Pool Three: Saracens, Toulon, Scarlets, Sale Sharks: Pool Four: Leinster, Montpellier, Northampton Saints, Castres Pool Five: Exeter, Clermont Auvergne, Ulster, Bordeaux-Begles.

Challenge Cup draw: Pool One: La Rochelle, Gloucester, Treviso, Bayonne Pool Two: Ospreys, Grenoble, Newcastle, Lyon Pool Three: Brive, Worcester, Newport Gwent Dragons, Enisei STM Pool Four: Cardiff Blues, Bath, Pau, Bristol Pool Five: Harlequins, Edinburgh, Stade Francais, Timisoara Saracens

Maro Itoje of Saracens soars in the lineout during the European Rugby Champions Cup Final against Racing 92.

< CLUB RUGBY 29

CALL FOR ENTRIES

Call for entries

From BT Sport’s Rugby Tonight studio in London, Ben Kay wished everyone a great evening.

Has your club entered the 2016 Club Awards yet? Could you be our Rugby Club of the Year? Does your Bar Steward deserve recognition? Has the Committee been exceptional in the last 12 months? Perhaps you should you be entering Community Club of the Year for your work in the local area? Whatever the size and scale of your club, it’s your time to shine. As a taster of what could be in store for you and your club, here’s a review of the 2015 event. But then again, why wait? To enter before the July 31 deadline, turn straight to page 36.

> CLUB RUGBY 31

CALL FOR ENTRIES

Welcome to the Club Awards For those of you who couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make it to Manchester last November this review is for you. Should you be joining us this year? Meet the team, the judges, our host and, of course, the 2015 Rugby Club of the Year winners.

The RFU's Alex Thompson.

Sport England's Richard Davis-Boreham.

32 CLUB RUGBY

CLUB AWARDS GALA DINNER MENU TO START Ham Hock Terrine with Piccalilli, Slow Roasted Tomatoes, Onion Bread and Celery Cream *** MAIN COURSE Rump of Lamb served with Dauphinoise Potatoes, Red Cabbage, Carrots and a Redcurrant Jus *** DESSERT Light Banana Sponge with Warm Ginger Syrup and Cookies *** COFFEE Freshly Brewed Coffee and Petit Fours

Wines accompanying the meal from Crown Cellars

Booker â&#x20AC;&#x201C; proud provider of the Rump of Lamb

> CLUB RUGBY 33

CALL FOR ENTRIES

Rugby Club

SPONSORED BY

Burton Rugby Club (From the North) Judges’ comments: Founded in 1870 Burton Rugby Club is the 20th oldest rugby club in the world. “We have one of the biggest junior set-ups,” says the club’s Philip Foster. “The club runs junior rugby teams from the age of five up to the age of 19. We have a presence in schools and a lot of interschools matches and competitions are staged at the club so we do catch them young. We also have rugby tours and children’s parties.” The club also promotes itself through food fairs and through the Chamber of Commerce. “Facebook and Twitter are big as well and we have plenty of volunteers who make sure everything we’re doing is covered on there,” says Philip.

Rugby legend Austin Healy read out the nominations for the 2015 Rugby Club of the Year.

Club Rugby’s Sean Ferris, far left, presents the Award to joint winners Burton Rugby Club and Cheltenham Rugby Club.

Cheltenham Rugby Club (From the South) Judges’ comments: Cheltenham Rugby Club has celebrated its 125th anniversary. “The high point of our celebrations was the visit of the New Zealand Rugby Union President Ian MacRae,” says David Evans, Administrative Chairman. “We were also visited by All-Black legend Sean Fitzpatrick, World Cup winner Will Greenwood and leading referee Chris Whyte.” During the World Cup Tonga and Argentina used the clubhouse as a base and the Webb Ellis Cup was brought to the club on July 16 as it toured the country. More than 500 people had their picture taken with it. “At the same time we inaugurated a new pitch so we now have 19 acres of pitches at Newland, and we have launched a new appeal to raise £50,000 for new changing rooms as the club continues to expand – notably in women’s rugby,” says David.

34 CLUB RUGBY

Speaking from the BT Sport studio, Robbie Savage and Darren Fletcher wished all 2015 Club Awards finalists good luck before handing back to John Inverdale at the live event in Manchester.

As sponsor of Rugby Club of the Year, BT Sport is involved from start to finish, with guest appearances of players, presenters and some serious bits of silver!

Left: BT Sport invited English international rugby union player Ugo Monye on stage to discuss his thoughts on the 2015 World Cup with sports presenter John Inverdale. Ugo celebrated rugby at every level, and discussed how life-changing his own first venture into the sport had been. The winger was one of the first players to graduate from the Harlequins Academy and has helped the club to four senior titles - the European Challenge Cup in 2004 and 2011, the 2012 Aviva Premiership and the 2013 LV= Cup. He scored two tries in his 14 Test appearances for England between 2008 and 2012 and, after retiring last year, has become an Ambassador for the Harlequins Foundation.

CALL FOR ENTRIES...

To enter this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Rugby Club of the Year Award, turn the page.

CLUB RUGBY 35

CALL FOR ENTRIES

Your industry

needs you

The Club Awards are back.

And we want you to enter.

The Club Awards recognise the commitment of clubs, committees and individuals who work to ensure a healthy future for their clubs.

If you agreed with three or more of these statements then you could be a finalist and the Awards team wants to hear from you.

IT COULD BE YOU Do you think you could be a finalist? Do you have what it takes to beat the best and stand out from the rest?

WHY ENTER? All finalists win the opportunity to appear on set at BT Sport’s acclaimed rugby programme Rugby Tonight, as well as the chance to win Aviva Premiership/Champions Cup tickets, a cellar make-over and many other prizes.

Does your club have/do THREE OR MORE of the following?

• A turnover of £100,000 or more?

• Provide regular entertainment?

• Have a busy bar?

• Have a popular food menu?

• Have a thriving junior section?

• Encourage new members?

• Keep up-to-date with the latest drinks on the market?

• Play an important role at the heart of the community?

• Promote the game of rugby?

In addition: Clubs who make it through to the finals use their success to: • Raise the club’s profile • Gain coverage in the local press and media • Encourage new members • Thank members for their support Finalists will enjoy: • Two FREE tickets to the Gala Dinner and Awards ceremony • Three-course Gala Dinner • Entertainment from a celebrity host • Certificate for all finalists • Award for category winners • Coverage in Club Rugby magazine • Possible appearance on BT Sports Rugby Tonight • Chance to win Aviva Premiership/Champions Cup tickets • Chance to win a clubhouse cellar make-over and many other prizes.

So what are you waiting for?

Fill in the form opposite, email us or fax us We look forward to your entry!

DEADLINE: JULY 31, 2016 – T: 01753 272022 F: 01753 272021 36 CLUB RUGBY

ENTRY FORM:

WHICH CATEGORIES WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE CONSIDERED FOR? (Please tick as many boxes as you wish).

CLUB AWARDS 2016 Please enter my rugby club for the 2016 Club Awards.

Name: _______________________________ Job title: ______________________________ Club Name: ____________________________ Address: ______________________________ __________________________________ __________________ Post code: __________ Contact tel nos: __________________________ Email address: __________________________ Website and/or social media contact: _______________ __________________________________

■ Bar Manager/Bar Steward of the Year ■ Best Business Initiative of the Year ■ Best Turnaround Club of the Year ■ Bowls Club of the Year ■ CAMRA Real Ale Club of the Year ■ Catering Club of the Year Are you proud of ■ Charity Club of the Year your teamwork?

■ Committee of the Year ■ Community Club of the Year ■ Cricket Club of the Year ■ Darts Club of the Year ■ Entertainment Club of the Year Are you proud of ■ Football Club of the Year your facilities?

■ Golf Club of the Year ■ Green Club of the Year ■ Grounds Team of the Year ■ Manager/Secretary of the Year ■ Marketing Club of the Year ■ Membership Club of the Year Are you proud of ■ Most Innovative Club of the Year your members?

■ Refurbishment Club of the Year ■ Rugby Club of the Year ■ Sports Club of the Year ■ Sports and Fitness Chain of the Year ■ Sports and Social Club of the Year Are you proud of ■ Student Union of the Year your fundraising?

■ Tennis Club of the Year ■ Traditional Club of the Year Then you ■ Website of the Year should enter ■ King of Clubs the Awards

HOW TO ENTER ONLINE: www.awards.clubmirror.com

BY EMAIL: info@clubmirror.com (just email your club details and categories being entered)

BY FAX: 01753 272021

BY POST: Club Awards 2016, Club Rugby Magazine, ACP, Gainsborough House, 59/60 Thames Street, Windsor, Berks SL4 1TX t. 01753 272022

www.awards.clubmirror.com

STOP P DEAD RESS: LIN FOR ENTR E IES –

31 J

ULY

info@clubmirror.com < CLUB RUGBY 37

THE ENGLISH CHAMPIONSHIP Bristol celebrate after clinching promotion to the Aviva Premiership.

Back in the big time After a hard-fought season in the Championship, culminating in a two-leg final against Doncaster Knights, Bristol have battled their way into the Aviva Premiership and will be intent on bolstering their squad to ensure that they can consolidate their place in England’s top flight.

P

romotion has been a long time coming for Bristol Rugby after they saw their dreams of competing in the 2015/16 Aviva Premiership dashed in dramatic fashion at the tailend of last season when they lost out to Worcester Warriors in the dying moments of the second leg of the play-off final, losing by 59-58 on aggregate.

Add to that the previous season’s disappointment when they lost out to London Welsh in the play-off final and it seemed that Bristol were destined never to regain their place at English rugby’s top table.

But Bristol licked their wounds and came back with renewed intent to enjoy a vintage season which saw them finish top of the table by a 16point margin to set up another crack at the promotion play-offs.

And this time around Bristol maintained their composure throughout the play-offs, dealing effi-

38 CLUB RUGBY

ciently with Bedford in the semi-finals before taking on Doncaster Knights in a two-leg play-off final.

Bristol drew first blood with a 28-13 in the first leg and then, despite losing the second leg by 3432, clinched promotion by an aggregate score of 60-47, leading to massive celebrations at a soldout Ashton Gate stadium.

It was an achievement based firmly on a hardworking team ethic instilled by head coach Andy Robinson, a man of vast experience both as a player and as a coach of both club and international sides.

“It has been a huge team effort to get us over the line and I’m delighted now that we’ll be in the Premiership next year,” said Robinson, whose side have been absent from the top flight since 2009.

“The thing for us is we believe as a side that when we go up the Premiership will enjoy coming to Ashton Gate.

“We look forward to Bath coming next year, Gloucester, Exeter and we believe we can sell out at 27,000, which will be great for the Premiership.

“The hard work starts now - we want to perform well in the Premiership and there are a lot of improvements we’ve got to make.”

And that ambition is echoed by Bristol chairman, the billionaire businessman Steve Lansdown, who is also chairman of Bristol City FC which shares Ashton Gate stadium with the rugby side.

Lansdown – who made a considerable fortune as the founder of a financial services firm – has made no secret of his determination to put Bristol back on the sporting map after some lean years in both football and rugby.

“Bristol has been a sporting backwater for many years and one of the things that always grated with me was the fact that people took the mickey out of it,” said Lansdown.

“Certain comments grate and in my own way I wanted to prove them wrong, that there’s a passion for sport here - let’s bring it to the forefront, shout about it and make it even more successful.

“You look down the road at Exeter, they played for the Premiership title against Saracens and that’s what we’ve got to aim to do - Bristol is a rugby hotbed.”

The coaching team now have the task of recruiting some quality players who will enable Bristol to take the step up to the top grade in their stride.

While the vast majority of the squad which got them into the Premiership will be staying on, there will be three significant absences in Marco Mama who has signed for Worcester, Welsh international Matthew Morgan who is joining Cardiff Blues and England prop Ellis Genge.

Homegrown talent Genge recently celebrated his first England cap in the win against Wales but will be adding his considerable bulk to Leicester Tiger’s Premiership campaign next season having been on loan to the Midlanders for much of this season.

Bristol have wasted no time in recruiting five quality players to their rank, including Leicester No.8 Jordan Crane and Samoa fly-half Tusi Pisi, but they will have to look far and wide for star names who can slot into the team.

In particular, their front five looks a touch lightweight for the Premiership battles to come and they may well look to the Southern Hemisphere for players who can come in and make an immediate impact.

Given the club’s ambition for regular sell-out

crowds, they are also likely to opt for some bigname players from the international arena in order to tempt supporters through the turnstiles.

It may be difficult to cast your mind back before Bristol’s seven years in the second-tier but in their prime the side was graced with some genuine superstars of the game, including Kyran Bracken, Simon Shaw (both England), Agustin Pichot, Felipe Contepomi (Both Argentina), Jason Little (Australia) and Henry Honiball (South Africa).

“

The hard work starts now. We want to perform well in the Aviva Premiership and have to improve.

”

Bristol supporters will be hoping that Steve Lansdown (net worth, an estimated £1.4 billion) will give Andy Robinson a decent war chest with which to seek out the calibre of players which will help Bristol to immediately acclimatise to the heady heights of the Premiership.

The club does have a flourishing youth set-up but young players are likely to be used sparingly

during the 2016/17 season as the necessity of survival ensures that hard-won experience will be the key.

As for the team heading in the opposite direction – London Irish – who find themselves in the Championship after a disastrous Premiership campaign, the Reading-based outfit face a major challenge to bounce straight back to the top flight.

This is the first time that Irish have been out of the Premiership since the start of the professional era and will be a bitter blow to a club which has put a huge amount of effort and expenditure into spreading the rugby gospel throughout the Thames Valley.

They had actually began the 2015/16 season with a huge amount of optimism, having opened a new state-of-the-art training facility and recruited a new coach from New Zealand in Tom Coventry and several new players.

But after the drop, the squad will inevitably lose some of their top players as they head off to to seek Premiership rugby, while off the field, revenues will take a downturn as the the smaller crowds in the Championship take their toll.

In their favour, the Exiles have a flourishing youth set-up – their U18 team won the Academy League this season – with a number of promising young players who may seize the opportunity of second-tier rugby to launch their senior careers.

Whatever the personnel available to the London Irish coaching team in the coming season, history has shown that the team will have major challenges to overcome to achieve promotion at the first time of asking.

Bristol won their two-leg play-off final against Doncaster Knights by an aggregate score of 64-47.

< CLUB RUGBY 39

NEWS FROM HQ

HQ club rugby

In April the Government’s new Minimum Living Wage was introduced. HQ provides a refresher on both the new measure for over 25 year olds, as well as the current Minimum Wage bands. Still on employment, and with suggestions that a two-week sickness self-certification might be in the offing, it’s now more important than ever to make sure youhave the happiest team you possibly can; they’re your biggest asset.

On the subject of assets, have you ever thought of getting your club listed as a community asset? Communities Minister Marcus Jones thinks you should. Here he explains why, and how it could protect your club.

List your club as a community asset C

ommunities Minister Marcus Jones has called on supporters and councils to up their game and do more to help boost sport locally by listing their grounds and clubs as Community Assets.

Since 2012, community groups have had the right to help protect sports facilities and other much-loved local buildings or land by listing them as Community Assets. More than 3,000 assets are now listed. This means that an owner cannot sell a ground or stadium, pavilion or pitch without a supporters group knowing about it or having the chance to put together a bid to buy it on behalf of the community.

“Clubs are rooted in their communities and many supporters’ trusts around the country have been exercising their rights and having more of a say in how their grounds and stadiums are run,” said Marcus Jones. “Taking control can not only secure their future, but it can also help them to grow and develop new commercial opportunities that help boost local economies.”

Community Asset kits have now been made available to supporters to give them more of a say over their clubs and their grounds future.

“I want to see more sports fans up their game by converting their community rights to ensure

Plymstock Albion Oaks Rugby Football Club

42 CLUB RUGBY

Oxford United Supporters Trust

Marcus Jones that their clubs and grounds remain at the heart of their local sporting communities,” said Jones.

Oxford United Supporters Trust was the first club to make use of the scheme, listing the Kassam stadium in May 2013 and more recently Tewkesbury Rugby Club listed their club as an Asset of Community Value with their local council.

Tewkesbury Rugby Club In 2014, Plymouth Council handed over the 22 acre Horsham Playing Fields to the trustees of Plymstock Albion Oaks Rugby Football Club.

The transfer to community control provided the club with a platform to attract investment and the club is now going from strength to strength, securing lottery funding for a new pavilion, sealing a kit deal for all of their 16 teams and gaining promotion to the Cornwall-Devon League.

“No one wants to see their sports club kicked into touch so why not follow the examples of Tewkesbury Rugby Club and Plymstock Albion Oaks and explore the range of support and help available,” said Jones.

• To list your club as a community asset, visit www.mycommunityrights.org.uk

National Living Wage update T

he government’s National Living Wage is now law. The National Living Wage is higher than the National Minimum Wage; anyone aged 25 or over is now legally entitled to at least £7.20 per hour (unless they are in the first year of an apprenticeship). The minimum wage will still apply for workers aged 24 and under.

Current rates These rates (see box below) are for the National Living Wage and the National Minimum Wage which came into operation from 1 April, 2016.

arrears immediately. (You can visit the Government’s online calculator to work our arrears: visit https://www.gov.uk/minimum-wagecalculator-employers) HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers have the right to carry out checks at any time and ask to see payment records. They can also investigate employers if a worker complains to them. If HMRC finds that an employer hasn’t been paying the correct rates, any arrears have to be paid back immediately. There will also be a fine and offenders might be named by the government.

National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage 25 and over £7.20

21 to 24 £6.70

The National Minimum Wage rates change every October. National Living Wage rates change every April.

The ‘apprentice’ rate is for apprentices aged 16 to 18 and those aged 19 or over who are in their first year. All other apprentices are entitled to the minimum wage for their age.

Employer checks It’s a criminal offence for employers not to pay someone the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage, or to fake payment records. Any employer who discovers they’ve paid a worker below the correct minimum wage must pay any

18 to 20 £5.30

Under 18 £3.87

Apprentice £3.30

It’s the employer’s responsibility to keep records proving that they are paying the minimum wage – most employers use their payroll records as proof.

All records have to be kept for three years.

Pay reference periods Pay reference periods are usually set by how often someone is paid, e.g. one week, one month or 10 days. A pay reference period can’t be longer than 31 days.

A worker must be paid the minimum wage, on average, for the time worked in the pay reference period. The minimum wage is calculated differently for some types of worker.

What’s not included in minimum wage calculations Some payments made by workers must not be included when the minimum wage is calculated.

These are: • Payments that shouldn’t be included for the employer’s own use or benefit (e.g.: if the employer has paid for travel to work ).

• Things the worker bought for the job and isn’t refunded (e.g. tools, uniform, safety equipment etc).

What’s included in minimum wage calculations Some payments must be included when the minimum wage is calculated. These are: • Income Tax and National Insurance contributions.

• Wage advances or loans.

• Repayment of wage advances or loans .

• Repayment of overpaid wages.

• Things the worker paid for that are not needed for the job or paid for voluntarily (e.g. meals).

• Accommodation provided by the employer above the offset rate (£5.35 a day or £37.45 a week) – visit https://www.gov.uk/nationalminimum-wage-accommodation for more detailed information.

• Penalty charges for a worker’s misconduct .

• For more information visit www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates

Top tips for reducing staff sick days A

n estimated 375,000 British workers took the day off sick on February 1, dubbed ‘National Sickie Day’. So what could employers be doing to help make club staff want to come in to work?

Janice Haddon, MD of Morgan Redwood and Thrive in Life 360, says: “At some point in their lives a lot of people have experienced the feeling that they can’t bear the thought of going to work and ‘pull a sickie’ to get out of it. Often this is down to the culture of the workplace they find themselves in. But there are a number of steps that can be taken that will result in less sick days and a more enthusiastic approach to work.”

Top Tips 1. Communicate. People like to be kept informed and to understand the vision and purpose of the organisation. Ensure people are kept up to date with progress and how their role contributes to this success.

2. Ensure HR and People Policies are up to date and provide for training and development with an environment free from harassment and bullying.

3. Look to flexible working with a variation of contractual hours and roles.

4. Have the right competency framework and performance management processes in place. Set goals and targets for individuals and review regularly. It’s a great way to check in with someone’s needs.

5. Make sure managers have the right leadership qualities. Research shows the biggest cause of stress for employees is the manager subordinate relationship. Train manager’s skills and review them regularly. Coaching is a great way of ensuring the development of high performance in managers.

6. In recent research by Morgan Redwood, work-life balance was the number one contributor to morale. Ensure you get it right for staff, bearing in mind what works for one might not work for someone else.

7. Wellbeing is another area at the top of the list in supporting morale for employees. This isn’t simply rebadging health and safety; it’s about genuinely helping staff to build up their resilience lev-

els for mental and emotional needs as well as physical and nutritional.

8. Provide staff with encouragement and support for getting active – this could include encouraging them to join in exercise classes or funding bicycles for them to cycle to work etc.

9. Relaxation is a fundamental part of our wellbeing.

Be an organisation that helps people to learn how to switch off.

10. Build in suggestion schemes, awards for a job well done, social and family events. Bring your employees together and build teamwork so you create a strong culture that everyone can connect to.

“The steps to a better workplace culture are simple ones, but ones that can prove extremely effective when combined. You don’t have to implement all of the steps to notice a difference, even just a few will go some way to improving the overall culture,” says Janice. “Make your workplace one that people are enthusiastic about being part of and you’ll make unnecessary sick days, if not a thing of the past, then certainly a rare occurrence.”

CLUB RUGBY 43

>

NEWS FROM HQ

Health and safety – risk assessment R

isk assessment is a legal requirement. As part of managing the health and safety of your club, risks in the workplace must be controlled. This means assessing what might cause harm to people and deciding whether you are taking reasonable steps to prevent that harm.

(Please note: if the club employs less than five employees there’s no need to write anything down, according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).)

A risk assessment is not about creating huge amounts of paperwork, but rather about identifying sensible measures to control the risks in the workplace. Your club is probably already taking steps to protect employees, but a risk assessment will help you to decide whether you have covered all you need to.

Things to think about Think about how accidents and ill health could happen and concentrate on real risks – those that are most likely and which will cause the most harm.

For some risks, other regulations require particular control measures.

Your assessment can help you identify where you need to look at certain risks and these particular control measures in more detail. These control measures do not have to be assessed separately but can be considered as part of, or an extension of, your overall risk assessment.

How to assess the risks in your club • Identify the hazards • Decide who might be harmed and how

• Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions • Record your significant findings • Review your assessment and update if necessary Many organisations who are confident that they understand what’s involved can do the assessment themselves, says the HSE. You don’t have to be a health and safety expert.

When thinking about your risk assessment, remember: • A hazard is anything that may cause harm, such as chemicals, electricity, working from ladders, an open drawer etc.

• The risk is the chance, high or low, that somebody could be harmed by these and other hazards, together with an indication of how serious the harm could be.

• www.hse.gov.uk

Are youexploitingyourfeedback?

H

ave you any idea about the size of your ‘feedback footprint’? We hear so much about our ‘carbon footprint’, but it appears that many businesses in the UK have no idea what a feedback footprint is – which means they are in no position to exploit it.

The big issue is ‘offline feedback’ – that’s the stuff you won’t find online, and those who are unaware of the size, scale and impact of their feedback footprint are damaging the health of their business.

Feedback can come from anywhere: the bar, reception desk, online, but because most businesses are unsure about how to capture such valuable information, they are, in effect, operating in a ‘feedback vacuum’.

Feedback, however, is important because today’s consumer rarely spends money on anything – from

buying tickets to hiring a function suite at a club – without some kind of due diligence being involved.

In most cases this will mean searching online and web-surfing.

A feedback footprint will help set an expectation of the product or service members will experience.

Failure to live up to that experience will potentially lead to disappointed members going somewhere else in the future.

These five steps should help: • Get a member’s-eye view of both your on- and offline feedback footprint by scanning Google, YouTube, Twitter and any relevant industry review sites – this will give you an immediate snapshot of your online feedback footprint.

• While customer comment cards have their place, consumers are suffering from ‘survey fatigue’.

The key is to capture all ad hoc verbatim comments about your business and have a way of centrally storing and analysing them.

• Don’t assume that social media is just about PR and marketing; it’s not. It’s also an excellent customer feedback mechanism.

• Encourage your members to share their feedback online and use positive offline feedback to fuel online feedback channels.

• Share offline feedback online and online feedback offline.

STOP PRESS: Already online and on the ball? Then enter the Hospitality Social Media Awards. Turn to page 42 in this issue.

Top tips on IT fraud prevention T 1.

2.

o help businesses prepare for the prospect of fraud, UKFraud.co.uk believes that the most useful steps that can be taken include: Ensure that any people using the club website, emails and/or databases understand the technical risks and know how to protect your club from attacks, theft of customer information and infiltration. Customer details and payment details are the most ‘at risk’ data; access security is the most important to the police.

Remember that even with the best systems in

44 CLUB RUGBY

3.

the world, one of the weakest points of vulnerability is always the people using the systems, as they can easily be misled or conned. Ensure that users have strong advice and warnings of any potential dangers. Also make sure that staff cannot access sensitive areas of your systems without proper controls and that whatever they do is stored and available for audit.

Look at your processes for weaknesses. These include: paper that need not be used, access to unnecessary data, who can access what and why people may need to access such details.

4.

5.

Ensure that people have what they need to do their jobs, but no more.

Make sure that your anti-fraud efforts are not just ‘after the event’ investigation-led. Ensure that you set deterrents and prevention. You should consider deploying early detection processes, systems, solutions and technology and that when you see a problem you take action to fix it properly and permanently.

And finally, if you employ a fraud specialist, make sure that they have the ability to take action and change the business for the better.

<

OLYMPICS 2016 1

2

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Olympic sports With less rugby on our screens than usual at the moment, now’s the time to tap into the drama offered by other sporting events. And what could be more dramatic than the Rio Games, beginning on 5 August? Here Club Rugby offers up some fast facts to help you and your members stay on top of the 39 disciplines.

1. ARCHERY

4. BADMINTON

7. BOXING

Competitors have 40 seconds to shoot each of their six arrows at the target. In the finals, it’s 20 seconds to shoot three arrows. Competitors with the best scores after 72 arrows go through to the next stage.

Did you know? Arrows can leave a bow at over 150 miles per hour.

Badminton has only been in the Games since Barcelona 1992. Now, men and women compete in individual and doubles events, and mixed doubles.

Did you know? The speeds at which the shuttlecock travels off the racquet in smash makes badminton the fastest racquet sport in the world.

2. ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS

5. BASKETBALL

This includes balance beam, pommel horse, parallel bars and rings. The athletes compete on different apparatus in individual and team events, eight for men and six for women.

Did you know? In ancient times, male gymnasts competed naked; women were banned from watching.

Basketball is celebrating 80 years in the Olympic Games, with its debut being at the Berlin Games in 1936. Twelve teams of each gender will be battling for medals.

Did you know? An ‘Alley-oop’ is a pass that is thrown towards the basket and the receiving player jumps, catches the ball in mid-air and slam dunks before touching the ground.

The sport made its Olympic debut at St Louis 1904.

But it wasn’t until London 2012 that women first entered the fray. Great Britain’s 29-year-old Nicola Adams became the first female boxer to win an Olympic gold medal, outclassing Chinese great Ren Cancan in the flyweight final.

Did you know? In Boxing there are two bronze medals awarded (rather than both semi-finalists having to compete for the one bronze medal).

3. ATHLETICS Athletics – running, jumping and throwing – is one of the most traditional Olympic sports, part of the Games since Athens 1896. Personalities abound, with the likes of Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah and Usain Bolt driving enthusiasm for the sport.

Did you know? Athletics has the highest number of medals, 141, 47 of which are gold.

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6. BEACH VOLLEYBALL Introduced into the Olympic Games in Atlanta 1996, this year the men’s and women’s competitions are held on the famous sands of Copacabana beach.

Did you know? The first Beach Volleyball games were played in the US on the beaches of Santa Monica, California in the 1920s.

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8. CANOE – SLALOM Inspired by slalom skiing, this sport has been in the Games since Munich 1972. Competitors navigate the course on board kayaks or canoes, in singles or doubles events. The course comprises an artificial, 250m stretch of white-water.

Did you know? Canoes and kayaks have to pass through 18-25 gates to complete the course.

9. CANOE – SPRINT Competitors race on flat water in kayaks or canoes in this sport, which made its Olympic debut at the Berlin 1936 Games. There are 12 Gold medals – eight for men and four for women.

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46 CLUB RUGBY

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Did you know? There has to be a 5m distance between ‘boats’ to avoid turbulence.

10. CYCLING – BMX Cycling’s most recent Olympic discipline was first welcomed at Beijing 2008. Eight cyclists race simultaneously over an obstacle course, with a mix of intense racing, big jumps and some serious tumbles.

Did you know? The rider who gets the best start is said to ‘get the holeshot’.

11. CYCLING – MOUNTAIN BIKE Twenty years after its Olympic debut at Atlanta 1996, there are individual events for men and women in Rio. Speed, power, endurance, skill and tactics are all key elements to this mountain bike challenge.

Did you know? Mountain bikes need to be tough but light, generally weighing between 8-9 kg.

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aerial acrobatics, with men and women competing in four events, individually or in duos, from 10m and 3m.

Did you know? Scores are based on starting position, approach, height, flight and entry into the water, along with synchronisation in the synchronised competitions.

18. GOLF After 112 years, Golf is once again an Olympic sport. It had been part of the programme only in Paris 1900 and St Louis 1904. Now men and women will compete individually on the new Olympic golf course.

Did you know? An 18-hole competition golf course is played four times during a championship.

15. EQUESTRIAN The only Olympic sport in which men and women compete against each other on a level playing field, equestrian has three disciplines: eventing, dressage and jumping, all of them with individual and team competitors.

Did you know? In the Grand Prix the horse must perform pre-determined movements. Six teams and 32 individual riders compete.

19. HANDBALL Tactical, skilful and with plenty of goals, Field Handball made its Olympic debut at the Berlin 1936 Games, but the sport has been played indoors since Munich 1972.

Did you know? If the scores remain level after two periods of extra time, there is a penalty shoot-out consisting of five 7m shots, followed by ‘suddendeath’ shots if necessary.

16. FENCING 12. CYCLING – ROAD All riders start together to tackle the course - 241.5km for men, 141km for women, with the first rider to cross the finish line winning the Gold medal.

Did you know? The longest ever Olympics race was in 1912 in Stockholm at 10 hours.

13. CYCLING – TRACK Cyclists compete to achieve the fastest times on an oval-shaped 250m wooden track. Bikes are designed to reach maximum speed as quickly as possible. They have one gear and no brakes, so any sudden change in direction or speed can result in a crash.

Did you know? Only the last 200m of the 1000m total are timed, meaning a burst of speed in the last few seconds.

14. DIVING When diving made its Olympic debut at St Louis 1904, athletes aimed for the longest jump. Now it’s a test of

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In the Olympic programme since Athens 1896, the first Games of the modern era, fencing comes to Rio 2016 with three individual and two team events for both men and women.

Did you know? Individual bouts consist of three 3minute rounds or until one of the competitors scores 15 points. Team competitions last nine 3-minute rounds, or until one of the teams scores 45 points.

20. HOCKEY

17. FOOTBALL

21. JUDO

Football became an Olympic sport at the Paris 1900 Games, with women joining in at Atlanta 1996. In Rio, 16 countries will battle for the men’s title and 12 for the women’s gold medals.

Matches are played in seven stadiums across the country.

Did you know? The men’s tournament has an age limit of 23, but each squad is allowed three ‘overage’ players (the women’s tournament has no age restrictions).

Ippon, wazari and yuko are just some of the moves which will be witnessed in Rio. Judo made its Olympic debut at Tokyo 1964, with women’s competitions being added at Barcelona 1992. In Rio, there are seven men’s and seven women’s events.

Did you know? Fights last five minutes for men, four minutes for women. If it ends in a tie, the contest goes to ‘golden score’ with no time limit – the judoka who scores the first point wins.

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London 1908 saw the first inclusion of Hockey, with women’s teams joining in at Moscow 1980. Matches are divided into four 15-minute quarters.

Did you know? Hockey sticks are made of carbon fibre, Kevlar and fibreglass, weighing between 250 and 700 grams. They cannot be more than 5cm in diameter.

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OLYMPICS 2016 22

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22. MARATHON SWIMMING A 10km race in open-water, this is another adventure sport. It entered the Olympic Games at Beijing 2008, as part of the swimming programme. In Rio, at Copacabana beach, it is a discipline on its own.

The Rio 2016 course will comprise a circuit, with a minimum depth of 1.4m, marked by buoys that competitors must swim around.

Did you know? The water temperature is checked two hours before the race and must be between 16ºC and 31ºC.

23. MODERN PENTATHLON A classic combination of fencing, swimming, horse riding, shooting and running – with all the events taking place on the same day. Part of the Olympic Games since Stockholm 1912, modern pentathlon has men’s and women’s competitions. The Modern Pentathlon was devised to test the skills of a cavalry soldier.

Did you know? In the running element, the 3200m race (four laps of 800m) is punctuated by four shooting stops, from where the competitor shoots at a target 10m away. The athlete can resume running after hitting the target five times or when 50 seconds have expired. The first athlete to cross the finish line wins gold.

24. RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS This women-only discipline made its Olympic debut at the Los Angeles 1984 Games. Gymnasts perform a routine lasting between 75-90 seconds using their choice from five apparatus available – rope, ball, hoop, ribbon or clubs. In the group competition, five gymnasts perform two routines lasting between 135-150 seconds, one with five ribbons and the other with three pairs of clubs and two hoops.

Did you know? The gymnasts and their apparatus must be constantly in motion throughout the per-

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formance. The team must wear identical leotards and have their hair tied back.

25. ROWING Rowing, which made its Olympic debut at the Paris 1900 Games, has more than a century of tradition in the waters of Rio de Janeiro. There are eight men’s and six women’s events in boats for one, two, four or nine (including the coxswain) competitors.

Did you know? The course is 2km long, wide enough for up to six boats to compete in a race.

Markers are positioned every 250m alongside the course and let rowers know the distance covered.

Each boat has its own lane, 13.5m wide.

26. RUGBY SEVENS Although the 15-player version of the sport appeared at the Olympic Games between 1900 and 1924, Rio 2016 marks the debut of rugby sevens, a faster, shorter adaption.

Did you know? Games last 14 minutes, split into two seven-minute halves. A maximum of five substitutions are permitted per match.

27. SAILING Sailing was supposed to make its Olympic debut at Athens 1896, but due to bad weather it was postponed until Paris 1900. Now one of the most celebrated Olympic sports, in Rio there will be five men’s, four women’s and one mixed event on Guanabara Bay. Did you know? The course is defined by a series of buoys around which the boats must sail – the Race Management Team determines how many laps (24) the sailors must complete.

Olympic debut at Athens 1896. In Rio, competitors will battle to reach the podium in nine men’s and six women’s events, all individual. Competitors wear glasses which enhance the contrast of the target against the background.

Did you know? Each event has qualification rounds, in which the number of shots ranges from 40 to 120, and a final phase, in which each athlete shoots between 20 and 45 times, except for the 25m pistol, which sometimes requires more shots in the final.

29. SWIMMING Swimming has been in the Olympic Games since Athens 1896. Men and women participate in 16 events, including relays and individual competitions. Electronic sensors sensitive to the lightest touch are fixed onto the end walls of the pool and provide precision timing to within a hundredth of a second.

Did you know? In addition to individual events for each of the four swimming styles – freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke – there are relay events contested by teams of four swimmers, and medley events (individual and relay) which combine all four styles in a single race.

30. SYNCHRONISED SWIMMING

A supreme test of accuracy, shooting made its

Synchronised swimming joined the Olympics in Los Angeles 1984. It’s a women-only discipline with duet and team competitions. They perform two routines, one that is more technically challenging based on a list of compulsory moves, and another with few restrictions, assessed on choreography, interpretation and skill.

Did you know? The pool is fitted with speakers so that swimmers can hear the music under water.

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28. SHOOTING

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31. TABLE TENNIS Part of the Olympic Games since Seoul 1988, table tennis is the most popular racket sport in the world.

Devilish spin and incredible reflexes make it a spellbinding spectacle. Men and women compete individually and in teams.

Did you know? A Table Tennis bat is made of wood and covered with rubber (red on one side, black on the other) to help induce spin, with a total maximum thickness of 4mm.

ics, the Trampoline has been part of the Olympic Games since Sydney 2000. Men and women compete individually, bouncing up to heights that can reach eight metres and over. Each competitor performs two sets of 10 routines – single, double or triple somersaults, with and without twists.

Did you know? Before it became a sport in its own right, trampolines were used to train astronauts and athletes in other disciplines.

32. TAEKWONDO

35. TRIATHLON

Taekwondo was first included in the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000. Taekwondo means ‘The way of the feet and hands’ and there are four weight classes for men and women. Fighters score points by landing kicks and punches on the torso and head of their opponent – the fighter with the most points wins the bout.

Did you know? A Hogu is a chest guard worn by fighters. It has a red or blue area representing the opponent’s target.

Since making their Olympic debut at Sydney 2000, triathletes have been pushing themselves to the limit in swimming, cycling and running, with the first to the finish line taking gold. There will be men’s and women’s individual events in Copacabana.

Did you know? Athletes must complete a course consisting of a 1.5km swim, 40km cycle and 10km run in the shortest possible time.

36. VOLLEYBALL 33. TENNIS

An exhibition of somersaults and aerial acrobat-

The Volleyball events will be held at Rio’s famous Maracanãzinho, the spiritual home of the sport in Brazil. A game is contested in the best of five sets – the first team to win three sets wins. The first four sets are played to 25 points, and if a fifth set is necessary, it is played to 15 points. A set must be won by a two-point margin, continuing until this is achieved.

Did you know? Every time a team scores a point from the opposition’s serve, the players rotate their on-court positions clockwise. ‘Liberos’ wear a different coloured uniform from their teammates and can only play in the back court. They can only play defensive roles and cannot complete an attack.

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Men debuted in the Olympic Games at Athens 1896, women at Paris 1900. There are men’s and women’s singles and doubles, plus mixed doubles.

The first player to reach six games – by a margin of two – wins the set. If a set is tied at 5-5, one player must win 7-5. Matches are contested in the best of three sets, except for the men’s singles final, which is the best of five sets.

Did you know? A tie-break is used to decide a set that is tied at 6-6, so long as it’s not the deciding set. The first player to reach seven points, by at least two, wins.

34. TRAMPOLINE GYMNASTICS

37. WATER POLO The first Olympic team sport, water polo has been in the Games since Paris 1900, when it was a menonly competition – women joined at Sydney 2000.

Physical, fast-paced and with lots of goals, the competitive nature of the event earned itself the nickname ‘pool rugby’.

Did you know? Matches consist of four periods of eight minutes, with intervals between each. The clock is also stopped every time the ball goes out of play or there is a foul, meaning matches generally last 55-65 minutes in total.

38. WEIGHTLIFTING Weightlifting joined the Olympic Games in 1896, with women joining in at Sydney 2000. Weightlifters can lift up to three times their body weight. The eight men’s and eight women’s events will see two weightlifting techniques being used, the ‘snatch’ and the ‘clean and jerk’.

Did you know? The snatch entails lifting the bar directly from the floor above the head in a single movement. The clean and jerk is a two-stage movement, lifting the bar from the ground to shoulder height, and then lifting it above the head.

39. WRESTLING Part of the Games since 1896 there are two disciplines used in Wrestling – freestyle, with six different events for men and women, and GrecoRoman, only for men. Matches are contested over two periods of three minutes, with a break of 30 seconds, and points are awarded for specific moves.

Did you know? The action takes place in the circular dark blue wrestling area, which is surrounded by the orange ‘passivity area’ – if the wrestlers enter this, the referee orders them back to the centre.

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DRINKS REPORT

Cask beer – the oldest new drink in town It’s been a roller coaster ride for cask. In the 1940s almost all beer sold was cask, yet by 2000 it was in decline by 92%. And now? Cask is catching everyone’s attention. Ashley Cairns, Director, CGA Strategy, explains.

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’ll start with a simple question; which is ‘Why is Cask beer still around?’To answer that question – especially for some of the younger readers in our audience – let us look back (but not in anger). In 1940 almost all the beer sold was Cask.

In the 50s and 60s these famous historical names came to the fore: Worthington ‘E’, Whitbread Tankard, Ind Coope Double Diamond, Youngers Tartan, Watney Red Barrel and Courage Tavern.

This era was followed by the Lager revolution of the 70s and 80s, which pushed consumption of Cask beer back to such an extent that it was just 9.4% of all beer sold (on- and off-trade) in 2000, a decline of 92% in just two generations.

Unlike, say, Sherry or Vermouth whose precipitous declines have almost never halted, Cask beer found friends and favour and began a slow recovery. A leading friend is CAMRA and its greatest favour is the British club and pub. Combined, these enabled a cohort of customers to promote Cask beer into its comeback, but more importantly it was also introduced to new consumers in the current younger generation.

Cask today is an absolute must for most businesses that have a high reliance on a customer base that visit for a relaxed social gathering and simply to have a drink.

It is the product category that is:

• • • •

Exclusively consumed in the on-trade.

It is a point of difference for an outlet.

It has a broader customer base than ever before.

Many brands have an overtone of ‘locally sourced’.

• It is undoubtedly ‘fresh’.

So these days, for many, Cask has almost become a must-stock. This status owes much to that broadening profile of drinkers.

Many businesses in the club market are well aware of the worth of a Cask beer. They have explored and developed Cask into a critical customer service and have reaped the reward simply

CLUB RUGBY 51

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DRINKS REPORT

as a drink line. Success breeds success which can be seen in the availability and number of brands on sale regularly. Around 57% of the Club Universe is now offering Cask beer, as measured by the CGA Brand Index that tracks on-trade sales and distribution. Whilst over the last few years this shows stability there is a rise in the number of brands regularly available. Now, 60% of outlets are selling two and more beers regularly; that’s 10% more than five years ago.

There are other ways in which Cask can, and has, increasingly enhanced an outlet’s offer and its profitability. Creating Beer Festivals has been one of CAMRA’s way of promoting Cask (over 160 last year). Increasingly outlets can also offer their own Beer Festivals. A commercial success would be Wetherspoon’s which has just concluded what is now a regular, and very successful, annual event.

The purpose – to increase footfall – can be echoed by clubs and can open the club to a wider public and stimulate increased visit frequency.

The increase in food in the on-trade has also offered opportunities and Cask has looked at how it can be paired with food. The flavour and taste variations in Cask beer are making it a credible alternative to the traditional wine option as a complement to dining out.

For those thinking about moving into Cask (or want to extend their current offer) there will be several considerations to make and only if your outlet can work within those constraints should you try a Cask beer. Cask beer is alive. It has a shelf life of only 2-3 days (once open) to sell all the beer, just 72 pints in a Firkin. I am sure this paragraph is ‘sucking eggs’ for some readers, but for those that are unaware, it shows that Cask can be for everyone.

Choice has never been greater. There are more breweries in the UK than in recorded history of brewing. The current estimate is over 1,700! The number of brands is inevitably substantial with a best estimate of 11,000.

Cask is alive in more ways than one – CHEERS!

52 CLUB RUGBY

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2016 CLUB AWARDS

OPEN FOR ENTRIES

Enter the 2016 Club Awards.

Email info@clubmirror.com with your club details or use the registration hotline below.

REGISTRATION HOTLINE 01753 272022

CLUB KITCHEN

All eyesonthepies Pies are a club stalwart – always have been, always will be. Booker offers up these pie-tastic easy-to-follow recipes so that next time you’re asked ‘Who ate all the pies?’ the answer is a simple one. The members!

Steak, Red Wine & Wild Mushroom Pie STEAK, RED WINE & WILD MUSHROOM PIE CL Premium Extra Lean British Diced Beef (M172757) Cooking Onions (M529776) CL Tomato Puree (M411538) CL Gravy Granules (M069715) CL Cooking Red Wine (M101912) CB Dried Mixed Mushrooms (M102027) CL Shortcrust Pastry Mix (M757245) CL Buttery Mash Potato (M197030)

Minted Lamb Pie

Instructions • Seal the beef in hot fat with the mushrooms and onions; stir in the tomato puree.

• Add the red wine and a litre of water. Simmer for 2-3 hours until the beef is cooked.

• Thicken with the gravy granules.

• Make up the pastry as per the on-pack instructions and roll out to 1/2 inch thick.

• Put the beef into a pie dish, top with the pastry and cook in the oven got 25-30 mins.

• Make up the mash as per the on-pack instructions and serve with the pie.

Cost per serving – £1.58 54 CLUB RUGBY Honey Baked Goats Cheese

Steak & Blue Cheese Pie MINTED LAMB PIE CL Minced Lamb (M142587) CL Gravy Granules (M069715) CL Mint Sauce (M129886) Cooking Onions (M529776) FF Carrots (M099783) FF Swede (M112609) CL Shortcrust Pastry Mix (M757245( CL Buttery Mash Potato (M197030) Instructions • Seal the mince in hot fat with the onions; cook for 15-20 mins.

• Add a litre of water, bring to the boil and thicken with the gravy granules. Stir through the mint sauce.

• Cook the carrot and swede in boiling salted water, drain and mash.

• Make up the pastry as per the on-pack instructions and roll out to 1/2 inch thick.

• Put the mince into a pie dish, top with the pastry and cook in the oven for 25-30 mins.

• Make up the mashed potato as per the on-pack instructions, serve with the pie and mashed carrots/swede.

Cost per serving – £0.86

STEAK AND ALE PIE Love Pies Steak & Ale Pie (M199444) CL Premium Extra Chunky Gourmet Chips (M182767) CL Garden Peas (M426330) CL Gravy Granules (M069715) Instructions • Cook the pie, peas and chips as per the on-pack instructions.

• Make up the gravy.

• Serve the pie on a plate with the chips, peas and gravy.

Instructions • Seal the beef in hot fat with the onions.

• Add a litre of water. Simmer for 2-3 hours until the beef is cooked. Thicken with the gravy granules.

• Dice the swede and add to the pie mixture for the last 20 mins of cooking. Stir the stilton through at the end.

• Make up the pastry as per the on-pack instructions and roll out to 1/2 inch thick.

• Put the beef into a pie dish, top with the pastry and cook in the oven got 25-30 mins.

• Cook the chips as per the on-pack instructions and serve with the pie.

Cost per serving – £2.81

Cost per serving – £1.57

STEAK & BLUE CHEESE PIE CL Premium Extra Lean British Diced Beef (M172757) Cooking Onions (M529776) Bisto Gravy Granules (M246686) FF Swede (M112609) CL Blue Stilton (M101227) CL Shortcrust Pastry Mix (M757245) CL Premium Extra Chunky Gourmet Chips 2.5kg

CLUB KITCHEN CODES CB - Chef’s Brigade CE - Chef’s Essentials CL - Chef’s Larder CLP – Chef’s Larder Premium FF – Farm Fresh

> CLUB RUGBY 55

CLUB KITCHEN • Serve the pie on a plate with the chips, broccoli and gravy.

Sweet Potato, Mushroom & Cauliflower Cheese Pie

Cost per serving – £2.92 SWEET POTATO, MUSHROOM & CAULIFLOWER CHEESE PIE FF Sweet Potato (M131295) Closed Cup Mushrooms (M123397) FF Cauliflower (M111637) CL Cheese Sauce Mix (M084473) CE Mild Grated White Cheese (M153117) CL Shortcrust Pastry Mix (M757245) CL Premium Extra Chunky Gourmet Chips (M182767) CL Garden Peas (M426330) Instructions • Par boil the sweet potatoes and cauliflower until just cooked.

• Sweat off the diced mushrooms in a little butter.

• Make up the cheese sauce mixture as per the onpack instructions and stir in the grated cheese.

• Make up the pastry as per the on-pack instructions and roll out to 1/2 inch thick.

• Put the vegetable mix into a pie dish, top with the pastry and cook in the oven for 25-30 mins.

• Cook the chips and peas as per the on-pack instructions and serve with the pie.

Cost per serving – £1.03

STEAK PIE Grant’s Chef’s Choice Premium Steak (M591840) Jus-Rol Professional 48 Puff Pastry Ovals (M598040) CL Premium Extra Chunky Gourmet Chips (M182767) CL Garden Peas (M426330)

CHICKEN & HAM PIE WITH TRIPLE COOKED CHIPS Love Pies Chicken & Ham Pie (M199429) CL Premium Extra Chunky Gourmet Chips (M182767) FF Broccoli Heads (M175189) CL Gravy Granules (M069715)

Instructions • Cook the pie filling, chips, peas and pastry lid as per the on-pack instructions.

• Serve the steak in a dish with the pie lid next to the chips and peas.

Instructions • Cook the pies and chips as per the on-pack instructions.

• Cook the Broccoli in boiling salted water for 5 mins, until cooked (but still with a bite).

• Make up the gravy as per the on-pack instructions.

Cost per serving – £1.59

PORK, APPLE & CIDER PIE CL Boneless Tied Shoulder Of Pork (M095214) Cooking Onions (M529776) CL Béchamel Sauce Mix (M079750) Magners Original Irish Cider (M099285) CL Solid Pack Apples (M601500) CL Shortcrust Pastry Mix (M757245) CL Premium Extra Chunky Gourmet Chips (M182767) CL Garden Peas (M426330) Instructions • Seal the diced pork in hot fat with the onions.

• Add a litre of water. Simmer for 1 hour until the pork is cooked. Thicken with the béchamel sauce.

• Add the cider and apples and stir through.

• Make up the pastry as per the on-pack instructions and roll out to 1/2 inch thick.

• Put the pork into a pie dish, top with the pastry and cook in the oven got 25-30 mins.

• Cook the chips and peas as per the on-pack instructions and serve with the pie.

Cost per serving – £1.04 FOR MORE INFORMATION

Pork, Apple & Cider Pie

56 CLUB RUGBY

For more information and menu ideas contact Booker.

• t. 0845 60 12 999 • www.booker.co.uk

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ASK THE EXPERTS – ON-LINE PAYMENTS

On-line payments?

Here’s how...

Looking to implement an online payment system on the club website? Then do your research to make sure you’re getting a solution that’s flexible and not charging you too much, advises Larry Hardcastle.

H

ere at Larrytech we’ve been working on a number of ecommerce sites recently where the most complicated part of the process has turned out to be obtaining card processing facilities... sometimes delaying the process of getting up-and-running by weeks.

As such, we turned our thoughts to how we could help clients going through this process, and, as a result, have teamed up with a local credit/debit card payments provider. The following benefits are now all achievable.

• Significantly reduced overall card payment processing costs over current arrangements.

• The ability to view reports and exciting graphics and visuals of customer transactions and buying behaviour. Transactions can be downloaded as a .CSV or PDF, from any web-browser. In most cases access to transaction information is in realtime, but at worst 24 hours after they have happened (for face-to-face PDQ transactions).

• Completely responsive and branded e-com-

58 CLUB RUGBY

“” Many clubs are turning to on-line payments now...

merce payments pages using hosted forms (totally PCI DSS compliant) that can be quickly and easily set up to look like they are part of the club’s existing site.

• The ability to take one-off telephone payments or regular scheduled card payments to pay for ‘retained’ services.

• The ability to request a one-off immediate payment via an SMS or e-mail containing a secure link to a branded payment page, which is again completely responsive.

Many clubs are turning to on-line payments now, whether for memberships, through an on-line

booking system for hiring facilities or for an on-line shop to sell merchandise.

The other huge benefit is that the on-line payment provider can also integrate directly with your offline card payments, meaning you can consolidate all on-line payments with a single provider – always the most efficient and effective way of doing things!

Larrytech has teamed up with a local credit/debit card payments provider. The company is completely UK-based with 24 hour Kent-based account management, and UKbased telephone and on-line support. “We also believe that their reporting tools are completely ground-breaking in their field,” says Larry Hardcastle, Larrytech’s MD. If you’d be interested in a single interface to manage all your face-to-face, telephone and online card payments, contact Larrytech for a chat and advice.

• t. 01892 888011.

• www.larrytech.com

<

HEALTH AND SAFETY REGULATIONS

Health & Safety – new sentencing guidelines The biggest changes in the last 40 years are set to alter the Health & Safety landscape, with fines up to 10 times higher than their previous levels, warns Club Insure.

W

ith the new Health & Safety sentencing regulations in place from 1 February this year, individuals (directors and managers) could now be sent to prison in cases where previously this would not have happened.

The guidelines seek to classify corporate entities by reference to turnover. Following is the new Tariff Based System.

• Micro – not more than £2 million turnover.

• Small – between £2 million and £10 million.

• Medium – between £10 million and £50 million.

• Large – £50 million and over.

The guidelines calculate a fine level (with a range of potential sentences and an indicated starting point) based on a calculation taking into account turnover, risk of harm and culpability (Low/Medium/High/Very High).

A major impact of these guidelines is that they do not require proof that the offence caused any actual harm; the offence is creating a risk of harm.

Guidelines Depending on the level of culpability, a medium size organisation might have a starting point for a fine as high as £1.6 million, large companies a top level fine of £10 million.

For Corporate Manslaughter, a medium size organisation would see a starting point of £3 million with a possibility of fines up to £7.5 million.

A large organisation faces potential fines of up to £20 million.

In 2014 there were almost 700 convictions by the HSE (HSE conviction rate is 94%) and this figure isn’t a declining one, so it’s very much a concern area for companies and individuals, particularly for serious incidents, which are on the increase.

What you need to know – insurance issues • Defence Costs – costs arising from public or employers liability claims would usually be picked up by your standard commercial insurance policy.

However the issue is that the courts have the power to impose fines against both the Ltd company and individual directors if you as a business permit a situation to exist that may result in a perceived risk to either an employee or a third party.

If this is the case then your insurance policy would not respond because no actual physical damage or injury has occurred. Also any criminal fines that are imposed would not be insured by your liability policy.

• Risk Improvements – most clubs will have had a visit by a Risk Surveyor or will have completed an online risk questionnaire. If as a result of this visit/questionnaire a list of requirements and hazards have been brought to your (policyholders) attention and you haven’t acted on it, there could be large fines to pay if someone is injured. Your liability policy will not pay these fines for you.

The Guidelines can be found on the Sentencing Council’s website at www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk

CONTACT DETAILS Club Insure covers all aspects of club insurance from start to finish, with Account Handlers and Claims Managers under one roof.

Victoria Romero-Trigo, Director Club Insure Ltd Romero House, 8 Airport West, Lancaster Way, Yeadon, Leeds LS19 7ZA e. Victoria.romero-trigo@club-insure.co.uk t. 0844 488 9204 www.club-insure.co.uk

< CLUB RUGBY 59

CLASSIFIED

CLUB SERVICES EQUIPMENT

SPORTSWEAR FOR GUARANTEED SATISFACTION

Squadkit is dedicated to providing top quality sportswear for the next generation of athletes.

We use the latest breathable and sublimated styles to provide high performance garments uniquely designed to help your school stand—out and your teams perform.

However our focus on satisfaction doesn’t stop with the garments. We’ve partnered with Schoolblazer – the leading uniform supplier to independent schools to ensure that

our garments are delivered to your parents every time.

With intelligent sizing, high levels of availability and free name-taping, we take the hassle out of sportswear buying.

Breathable fabrics High performance garments Bespoke designs Q Team and staff-wear Q Q Q

Squadkit - Performance delivered.

Squadkit from Schoolblazer, UK leader in stylish schoolwear and sportswear Call 01832 280011 info@schoolblazer.com www.schoolblazer.com

MEMBERSHIP

CELLAR EQUIPMENT

e you y se erve a top quality product pro oduct every time t witth our range of top performing p Ensure serve with line e cleaning products pro

Pipeline (5l) The he orig original orig and still the best intelligent purple beer line cleaner cleaner.. Changes colour when the the he line line is dirty dirty. y. Contains no caustic cau ustic soda. sod da.

Pipeline Clear (5l) 5l) l)

P ng Pipeline Bottoming Out Kit

Classic original alkaline beer C er line e cleaner with bactericides for c or long g lasting effect.

For bottoming bottoming-out bottoming-o o neglected or out troublesome dispe dispense ense systems or for fo an annual d deep-clean,

th sparkle sparrkle rkl back in to o your you glassware glassw Putt the and keep your glass washing machines pe erfforming at their best. bestt. performing

Liquid Renovate (5l) Li

Original Or ri Renovate (2.5kg) g)

A simple simp simple m way to renovate glasses, just use in place pla ace of your deter detergent for 3 to 4 days. Eliminates nates grease gre ease ase and protei and protein build up, designed to bottom ttom outt underperforming underper erform rfo form cabinet glasswashers. Contains no caustic soda.

5 times more c concentrated co than other brands, cleans 5 times as many glass glasses. ses A very effective degreasing and sterilising compound. Designed to bring neglected machines and glassware g glas las assware ssware back k into good condition. Perfect Perfe fect for fo the treatment of new w glasses before befo fore putting into service.

chemisphere chemis sphere uk ltd ltd the th e home h of pu purple rple pipeli pipeline ne

Forr more information or to place an a order Freephone 00 0188 062, e-mail: contactus@ch hemisphereuk.co.uk 080 0800 contactus@chemisphereuk.co.uk or visit our online shop at www.c chemisphereuk.com www.chemisphereuk.com

60 CLUB RUGBY

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TO ADVERTISE PLEASE CALL

REFURBISHMENT

GLASSWASHERS

sales@pubfurnitureuk.co.uk

www.trentfurniture.co.uk CF/24 Leather £114.90 Leather RF/1U £45.90

TC/2B From £38.90 Wood Seat

WT/13 £59.90

TC/1B From £34.90 Wood Seat

Call Our Sales Team Now For Full Brochure and Special Offers or View Our Website

PO/7 £84.90

Ridge bases From £37.00

OF/7A £39.90

OF/3G £24.90

RF/16 From £45.90

CI/15D From £64.90

WT/1W From £79.90

From £23.30

From £13.50

From £12.40

150C

151C

From £23.30

152C

153C

154C

Now available in 15 fabrics

FINANCE

ENTERTAINMENT

CLUB RUGBY 61

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CLUB SERVICES REFURBISHMENT

ENTERTAINMENT

ssk entertainment • disco • quiz nights • master of ceremonies • weddings • birthday parties • award evenings • club events SSK Entertainment is based in Caterham, Surrey. We can provide all the ingredients you’ll need for your party, wedding, quiz night or any event at budgets to suit everyone. We operate anywhere in the Surrey, Sussex and Kent area.

TO CHAT ABOUT YOUR EVENT, REQUIREMENTS, BUDGET ETC PLEASE CALL DAVID FOSTER ON 07710 855295 or visit www.sskdisco.co.uk

GAMING

OUTDOOR CATERING ®

Commercial Outdoor Equipment

62 CLUB RUGBY

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CLUB RUGBY 63

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CLUB SERVICES REFURBISHMENT

PENSIONS

INSURANCE

Insurance for CIU clubs …don’t just take our word for it.

‘

The cherry on the cake was we saved money

’

Peter Crockett Club Secretary of Chillington Sports & Social Club.

Aon can arrange insurance for social clubs, with cover for your legal liabilities such as public and employer’s liability included as standard.

You will be able to build your club insurance to fit your requirements, by adding further options on, such as property or business interruption.

The price will be based on your club’s own circumstances and requirements, so give us a call to arrange a face to face visit.

‘

’

As Peter says I have no hesitation in recommending Aon.

Club insurance arranged through Aon - contact us to get a quote

0330 333 3887 | aon.co.uk/ciu

Aon UK Limited Registered Office: The Aon Centre, The Leadenhall Building, 122 Leadenhall Street, London EC3V 4AN. Registered No. 210725. VAT Registration No. 480 8401 48.

Aon UK Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. FCA registration No. 310451. FP.ENT.872.LM 07.15 / TD7088

64 CLUB RUGBY

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FINANCE

Imagine what you could do with an extra 60 minutes every dayâ&#x20AC;Ś DMC Canotec is helping organisations across the country manage processes to save time, money and resources. And now we can deliver easy to implement, clever systems to help Club Managers and their staff be more efficient too.

If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re looking to save a few extra minutes every day, perhaps we can help?

Print

Process

Archive

Control

Leverage up to 75% savings on your existing desktop and stand alone printers, with our Managed Mana ged Print Service.

Service.

Streamline your manual paper wor rkflows and processes; workflows aapprovals, pp provals, membership ren ewals, supplier contracts renewals, and d HR on-boarding.

A million documents committe ed to a digital digital archive, archive committed yet retriev vable in an instant retrievable from an yw where. anywhere.

Deliver visibility on print and process costs costs. Improve security and co ompliance with compliance enhanced customer custoomer service. service.

020 8688 4243 y

www www.dmcplc.co.uk/cmae .dmcplc.co.uk/cmae DMC Canotec, 59 Imperial W Way, ay, C Croydon, roydon, Surre Surreyy CR0 4RR

MEMBERSHIP

CLUB RUGBY 65

CLASSIFIED

CLUB SERVICES

TO ADVERTISE PLEASE CALL

07789 870709

REFURBISHMENT

sales@pubfurnitureuk.co.uk

www.trentfurniture.co.uk CF/24 Leather £114.90 Leather RF/1U £45.90

TC/2B From £38.90 Wood Seat

WT/13 £59.90

TC/1B From £34.90 Wood Seat

Call Our Sales Team Now For Full Brochure and Special Offers or View Our Website

PO/7 £84.90

Ridge bases From £37.00

OF/7A £39.90

OF/3G £24.90

RF/16 From £45.90

CI/15D From £64.90

WT/1W From £79.90

From £23.30

From £13.50

From £12.40

150C

151C

From £23.30

152C

153C

Now available in 15 fabrics

66 CLUB RUGBY

154C

THE EASY DRINKING CATEGORY IS WORTH

£317M

TO THE ON-TRADE*

SALES OF EASY DRINKING INCREASE BY UP TO

30%

DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS**

• Fresca is an easy drinking 4.4% ABV lager with a refreshing taste

TO START STOCKING PLEASE CALL

08453 710 199

*(Source CGA Brand Index MAT 19/03/2016) **(Source CGA Brand Index MAT 26/12/2015 – Sales in Jan vs May/June/July AVG)