Thank you for electing me President of Surrey Rugby. It is a great honour and privilege.
In 2011-12 Surrey Rugby completed another successful
season in which we won the RFU County Championship Shield and our Clubs won no
less than seven RFU Presidents Awards as well as many of our own Surrey Club
Development Awards.
However, we can’t rest on our laurels. We have to build
on this success as we continue towards our stated goal of helping to strengthen
our Clubs and grow rugby in their communities.
I will be focussing on two very important aspects of this
goal; Volunteers and increased participation of boys and girls from state
schools.
The work of Volunteers in Clubs is growing and our record
number of awards won last season is the proof. So we must continue to recruit
more Volunteers to be the coaches, referees and managers needed in our Clubs. I
expect to find these Volunteers amongst the parents, many of whom help to run
our hugely successful Mini and Junior rugby sections.
We will find a way of bringing together Schools, Clubs,
and parents to build on what we achieved last year - over 60 state schools
playing in leagues, as well as the formation of the Surrey Lions at the end of
last season. In the 2012-13 season we
are aiming to have 80 Schools in the leagues and twenty Lions U16 teams drawn
from Schools and Clubs located in the north, east, south, and west of Surrey.
It is going to be another busy season as we begin the
"run up" to the Rugby World Cup 2015 which will be held in our green
and pleasant land.
Bill Beaumont, Chairman of the RFU Board of Directors
said "We all want to make the game as attractive as possible for all men, women,
boys, and girls who want to play and watch the game at every level”.
I hope that you
will enjoy the game as much as I will and maybe we will enjoy it together on
the touch line of a School or Club game somewhere in Surrey.
Ian Thirlwall
President
