ENGLAND DEAF RUGBY UNION
ANNUAL REPORT

England Deaf Rugby Union (EDRU) presents its report for the 2 years ending 31st August 2005.

AIMS & OBJECTIVES

EDRU was set up to encourage and foster amateur Rugby Football for deaf and hard of hearing people in England and to promote awareness of deaf and hard of hearing people and their skills amongst the general public through the Game of Rugby Union Football.

ACHIEVEMENTS & PERFORMANCE

Structure

EDRU started off with a Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Head of Development, Head of Marketing, and Head of Playing. All posts were filled until now where we are having a re-structure to move EDRU forward. Currently we have a vacancy for Head of Development. A new post to replace Head of Playing will be Director of Rugby to be effective of now. A structure for the Director of Rugby was created to concentrate on the rugby side including men, women, and youth.

Roles & Responsibilities

A job description was created for each role ensuring who is doing what.

Associate Member

EDRU has succeeded in becoming an associate member of the RFU after getting the RFU Governance Committee, the RFU Management Board and the RFU Council to approve the EDRU structure and constitution.

International Matches

EDRU have had 6 international matches. Our first inaugural match in October 2003 was against France Deaf Rugby in Montargis. Recently England Deaf Rugby team played Japan Deaf Rugby Club. This was a very successful tour by the Japanese as it culminated in a joint partnership between Wales Deaf Rugby Union, Scotland Deaf Rugby Club, and ourselves.

The international match results:-

18th October 2003 France 16 England 3 at Montargis RFC
6th March 2004 England 14 Wales 11 at Newbury RFC
27th March 2004 France 12 England 20 at Lille RFC
24th April 2004 Wales 23 England 0 at Pontyclun RFC
5th February 2005 Wales 24 England 0 at Pontypridd RFC
21st August 2005 England 39 Japan 14 at Maidstone FC

European Deaf Rugby (EDR)

England Deaf, Wales Deaf, Scotland Deaf and France Deaf Rugby Unions are the founder members of the new created European Deaf Rugby. It was agreed that EDR members are now focusing on establishing partners with the relevant rugby organisations such as FIRA (IRB delegates responsibility for the development of rugby in Europe to the FIRA), IRB, national rugby unions, etc; and on development & support on other prospective deaf rugby nations such as Ireland, Spain, for example.

EDR set up is to ensure that we are all in partnership and supporting each other to ensure the future of Deaf rugby goes ahead.

EDRU Communication Policy

The EDRU communication policy is created and agreed exclusively for the EDRU staff, players and members.

EDRU is committed to good communication, which will help EDRU to be responsive to anyone’s needs leading to improvements in the public’s perception of EDRU and will promote information and best practice sharing, and motivate staff and participants.
This will improve EDRU’s delivery and preserve both deaf and rugby cultures within the EDRU organisation of being open to new ideas.

Website

EDRU have successfully set up a website which is accessible by everyone. Up to date over 3,000 people have viewed the website so make sure you view it too. Its www.englanddeafrugby.com

Merchandising

EDRU have had some merchandises created for marketing and will be selling in the years to come.

For this season we aim to:

• Continue organising international matches and regional matches all over the country to increase our profile and publicity.
  
• Actively increase rugby playing opportunities (e.g. tag rugby, taster rugby events) for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people of all ages.
  
• Establish regular communication and liaison with local schools and Deaf and Hard of Hearing organisations through the pending partnership of the RFU Regional Development Officers and EDRU.
  
• Provide Deaf Awareness support for non-Deaf players, rugby clubs, and rugby coaches.
  
• Encourage and provide Deaf and Hard of Hearing people to take up coaching, training, and personal development opportunities in order to obtain qualifications including physiotherapist and first-aiders.
  
• Promote and raise the profile of the activities of the EDRU through all relevant sporting, media networks and the RFU organised national seminars and conferences, and be proactive in identifying sponsorships.
  
• Identify funding opportunities within the RFU to support both Performance and Development opportunities for England Deaf International rugby teams.
  
• Create a new national policy concerning the use of hearing aids as requested by the RFU rugby clubs and rugby coaches.

Outcome of AGM

Enough members turned up for the AGM enabling the meeting to be carried out. The constitution was approved by everyone who was there. A new committee was elected to carry out the duties for the next 2 years. Membership fee was agreed and in effect as from now. The fee is £10.00 per person. The committee is as follows:

Chairman - Marcel Hirshman
Secretary - Lyndon James
Treasurer - Vacant
Head of Marketing - Richard Jackson
Director of Rugby - Chris Burton
Head of Development - Vacant

I would like to say many thanks to Steve Wherry who has done a lot of hard work in setting up EDRU especially in the administration side. I am sure he will still be around helping EDRU and very sure that we will see him propping up the bar instead of sorting everyone out! David Jones has resigned from his treasurer's post, and we wish to say many thanks to him for doing a good job in sorting out the money!! We need to recruit a new treasurer - anyone out there interested? Please contact Lyndon James who is our new secretary (welcome).