With the recent addition of resources nationally to develop sport and physical activity particularly on school aged children there is now a growing recognition that focus has to shift to sustainable development opportunities.

From a rugby perspective this is particularly important to stop the decline in rugby players. Rugby has been successful in recent years in providing large numbers of primary school aged children with positive experiences of rugby through school visits and festivals. This has not transpired yet into a large increase of children taking up the sport and playing contact rugby on a regular basis within clubs.

With these findings SportCentral & Scottish Rugby will ensure that:

• Rugby Development takes place within local rugby clubs
• Rugby Clubs are at the centre of their community
• Rugby Clubs that offer safe friendly environments for our children and young people are a priority
• Greater emphasis is placed on supporting rugby clubs who want to develop themselves and rugby
• Those clubs produce Development Plans to achieve sustainability & growth through a coordinated planning process
• Assistance for clubs for the employment of Club or Cluster Club Development Officer posts is available

Of the nine affiliated clubs to Scottish Rugby, eight now provide both youth and adult rugby. Stirling University RFC and Grangemouth RFC have collectively taken on the responsibility of driving Women & Girls rugby for the Central area.

Since the Central Rugby Forum in June 2006 there has been an increase in club associations at both senior and junior level and investigative links have been created with further education institutions.

Undoubtedly these productive partnerships have laid the foundations for clubs to embrace the new vision for Scottish Rugby where successful clubs are the driving force of rugby within their community.

From the Central Rugby Audit in 2006 the following strategic growth targets werer agreed. The targets are in line with Scottish Rugby's National Strategy and gives real focus to the Rugby Development Staff who will strive to ensure that the targets are met.

Rugby Development Groups

From the Regional Strategy three Local Area Action Plans in each of the three Local Authorities (Clackmannanshire, Falkirk & Stirling) identify area specific actions to achieve growth. These will be driven by three Local Rugby Development Groups.

Local Groups being: A group of individuals responsible for the creation, implementation and monitoring of a regional rugby development plan and ultimately responsible for the development and growth of all aspects of the game of rugby in Central.

These groups will be driven by the Rugby Development Manager (RDM) and made up of influential, respected, knowledgeable, solution focussed people. These people will be identified by the RDM and represent the following stakeholders:

§   Rugby Clubs

§  Local Authorities

§  Sport

§  Education

§  HE/FE

§  Women & Girls Rugby

§  Match Officials

§  Independent Schools

In order to achieve the targets Central recognises that a network of professional staff with clear roles and responsibilities will contribute to the success of both the local & regional plans.

The following staff have been identified as being pivotal to this process; 

§  Scottish Rugby Partnership Manager

§  Scottish Rugby Regional Development Manager

§  Scottish Rugby Performance Development Manager

§  UKCC Development Manager

§  Area & National Academy Managers

§  Area & National Institute of Sport Managers

§  Club & Local Authority Development Officers

§  Regional Referee Development Manager

§  Scottish Women’s Rugby Union Community Manager

§  Scottish Women’s Performance Development Manager

§  Scottish Women’s Development Officer

§  University and College Retention Manager

§  Scottish Rugby Administrators

Central Rugby Development Group Structure