Chairman's Statement Mid season update Dear Members, On behalf of the Executive Committee of LIARFC may we wish you a very Happy and Peaceful Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. This letter is intended to update you on progress in the season to date and a reminder of some of our core values and our need to adhere to these above all else. Firstly, the season to date. Overall, we would say it has been a very positive start to the season all round. We have had one serious disciplinary issue which has now been concluded and which is mentioned again below; however our performances on the pitch have in the main been very encouraging. You are all familiar with the performance of the Pros and, like you, we are looking forward immensely to the Leinster game in January which should be some showdown. You may, however, be less familiar with the performance of the Wild Geese, the first XV of LIARFC. Following a somewhat shaky start due to player unavailability and some dubious performances, the Geese have rocketed to second in the table with four wins in a row including a defeat of the league leaders. They are on track for promotion which would be a great achievement in year one of our three year plan which is geared at getting the Geese to London Division One. Many thanks go to Jamie Balls, Simon Martinson, Chris Magowan and the team. Those of you who were at the Christmas Ball recently will have heard comments on the Under 15 and Under 18 Girls. Few of our teams can lay claim to being the best in the land (the Under 10s and 15s may wish to argue), however the Girls under John Flynn’s tutelage certainly can. Keep it going to the end of the year girls. The development squads in the Wolfhounds, Bohemians and Wanderers have all performed extremely well to date with many of them staking claims for a place in the Geese. Wins over very strong opposition in recent weeks augers well for the rest of the season. At youth level, the weather has played havoc with league fixtures so there will be a big backlog in the second half of the season. Nonetheless, every one of the age groups from Under 13-17 has started well. We continue to contribute many, many players to county and other representative sides as well as the professional academy structure. At mini level we continue to thrive. We have the highest number of players in our history and have increased the coaching numbers at every level. Support for the minis from the Professionals has been excellent with Jack Heald in particular being a wonderful help in coaching players in key positions like prop and half back. Lastly, the Bs continue to perform week in week out with their Friday night games a huge success to date. The aforementioned Christmas Ball was a great success again. The demand for tickets means we may need to move to a bigger venue next year. Many thanks are due to Jack Costelloe, Jacinta Scannell and Cathal Leonard for their sterling work on the event. London Irish v Leinster, Heineken Cup – January 23rd Club Core Values Sadly, we must also inform you that some people have seen fit to be somewhat abusive to club volunteers this season. This club is wholly reliant on its large number of volunteers who spend many, many hours of their time, without reward, organizing and doing things in the club. We all know things go wrong but the complainers need to start asking what they can do to help rather than moaning. We refer everyone to the Core Values Statement, and the Club’s Fairplay Code, which can be accessed via the Home Page of this website. The Executive Committee has decided that, as a club, we will adopt a zero tolerance policy towards any breaches of our disciplinary code both on and off the field. Red cards will be dealt with severely by the disciplinary committee with suspensions of up to 6 months considered. Off the field breaches of our disciplinary code by coaches, parents, supporters or other members are likely to result in the offenders being asked to leave the club with their membership rescinded. We apologise if this seems draconian but London Irish has a long and proud history as a friendly and fair club that plays hard but within the rules of the game and the image of the club is the most important thing we have as we hand it to the next generation. However, to incentivize the strengthening of our core values, we are initiating a competition between all teams and other groups within the club starting on January 1st 2010. A prize of £3,000 will be provided towards the tour fund of the team (i) with the best disciplinary record of the year and (ii) who make the best overall contribution to the club, not just in playing results but to the overall wellbeing of the club. Examples could include tables taken at club events, number of volunteers provided, assistance with the Mini Festival etc. It will be presented at the Christmas Ball and be at the sole discretion of the Club’s executive. In the event of more than one winner, results will be the tie breaker. More details will be provided to each team manager shortly. Once again, best regards for the festive season.
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New Season Statement – August 2009 Welcome to the new season. It is a privilege and a pleasure to begin my tenure as your Chairman. I have a hard act to follow. John Gilligan has been, and is, everything that is good about our great Club. If I can achieve a fraction of what he has achieved, I will be delighted. Over the course of the past few months the Executive Committee has prepared an exciting vision for the future of London Irish Amateur Rugby Football Club. We have worked with our professional cousins to recreate and rebuild the “London Irish Family”. The best manifestation of this came at the end of last season when so many professional players came and spent the day at the Mini Festival coaching and building relationships with the kids only to have those very kids come out in their hundreds to support London Irish in the wonderful run to the Guinness Premiership Final at Twickenham. The Vision I thought it would be helpful to share with all members this vision and the plan for achieving it. What we have been doing for the past few months is as follows:
London Irish is unique. We are the only club in the country with a structure that works from the Heineken Cup to the Under 6s. We remain a home from home for Irish men and women who have emigrated from Ireland to seek employment in the UK. At the same time, we are an open club and available for anyone who wishes to enjoy a game of rugby or see their children develop. We are also a club that is embedded in the local community where we have played for seventy plus years. The Plan for season 2009/10 London Irish is a club of approximately 1200 members. This membership varies from overseas members, who wish to retain an affiliation with the club, to new families who join when their child is around 6 years old. To date, our membership fees are our biggest source of income. With those fees, we have paid for the rent of the facilities at Sunbury including the bar, paid for everything players receive on a weekly basis; tournament entry, equipment, travelling costs, kit for adult sides, medical care, physiotherapy, membership of the RFU and IRFU etc, etc. We have also run the Bar at a loss up until now. Our fees are also significantly below what many other clubs in Surrey charge their members. To achieve the vision set out above, we need to move from operating at a deficit to delivering a surplus that can be invested in the future. Therefore as agreed by the Executive and presented at the AGM, the membership fees for next season will be as follows:
In addition to the benefits set out above, this season, in building closer relationships with the Professional Club, and as part of their marketing efforts to increase their supporter base and their season ticket base, we have agreed that all family and adult playing membership categories described above will be provided one of the following for free:
All other membership categories will be entitled to purchase the family ticket package at £50 or a two ticket package for £25. This will be administered via a voucher scheme to be issued once members have chosen their preferred option. Rugby Senior rugby enters into a much anticipated first season since last year’s review and subsequent restructuring. Much needed continuity is provided by the retention and strengthening of last year’s management and coaching teams headed by Jamie Balls MBE. We will field five adult teams for the first time in many years. The Wanderers have entered the competitive Canterbury Shield D4 with the Bohemians playing in the Surrey Alliance League. The Wolfhounds will compete at various age levels including the National Colts Cup, Surrey U21 Cup, RMAS, Combined Services U23s and starting with a mouth watering clash against Leinster U19s. The Bs will continue to play in D2 of the Surrey Vets League. The Club have identified three playing levels where quality coaching and competitive rugby is paramount to player development and sustainable on field success; U16s, U19s and Wild Geese. The Geese continue as the flagship of amateur rugby and will compete in London 2 SW this season with the clear ambition of achieving promotion. This will be achieved over the coming seasons by developing our young players through the new Wolfhound Academy with senior players recruited to complement the existing squad. Sunbury will become a centre of rugby excellence from U15s to U18s through newly formalised relationships with the IRFU Exiles and the London Irish Professional Academy, with our Wolfhound Academy providing an alternative route into senior rugby for elite players. The Wild Geese captain this season is David Reilly who is returning to London Irish after several seasons at Dungannon. The Wolfhound Academy captain is Charlie Connor, a former youth player. Richard Smallbone will continue his outstanding work as Chairman of Youth Rugby and Peter Graham will take on the role of Chairman of Mini Rugby. Social Events In addition to the current calendar of the Annual Men’s Dinner, Past Players Lunch, Leprechaun Lunch, Ladies Lunch, and the Golf Day this season we will be running:
We will also be continuing the hugely successful Twickenham Party on December 4th so get your ticket applications in early. Sponsorship We would like to thank Mayer Brown, Anglo-Irish Bank, Allied Irish Bank, Serco, Wheelie Bins Direct, Tourism Ireland and all of our other sponsors for their vital support. We would also like to thank the Irish Government for the grant it awarded to the club under the DION scheme. We are delighted to announce that Anglo-Irish Bank will continue as our lead sponsor for the coming season. We continue to seek further sponsorship to allow us to meet our commitments. International Tickets We have secured a number of additional international tickets for the coming seasons for matches at Twickenham and to help with our finances we have decided to offer a limited number of guaranteed match packages to our membership. Please contact our International Ticket Secretary, Peter Whiteside, for details. It is important to note that this scheme will only use the additional tickets and we will continue to make the same number of international tickets available to all of our members, as in previous seasons. Our ticket allocation has been reduced following an investigation by the RFU into sale of tickets from unauthorised sources. One example of this was traced back to London Irish. This is completely unacceptable and any future occurrences will result in the Executive Committee considering the future club membership of the individual(s) responsible. Code of Conduct As most of you are aware, the club has a code of conduct for Players, Supporters, Parents and Coaches. I draw your attention to the website and encourage you to refresh your knowledge of this code. London Irish has a long standing reputation of welcoming friend and foe alike, enjoying ourselves and playing hard, uncompromising but fair rugby football. We applaud good play and are supportive when things go wrong. This reputation supersedes everything. We will not allow anything to besmirch it. Please bear this in mind as we prepare for exciting times ahead. Volunteers We would like again to formally thank Alex Newberry, John Gilligan, Terry Long, Michael Byrnes, Gerry Holland, Peter Whiteside, Tim Smith, Michael Anderson, Noel Traynor, John Walsh, Jimmy Reilly, Paul Blundell, Michael Gibson, Michael Connole, Chris Kane, Peter Graham, Martin Holian, Richard Smallbone, John Flynn, Jamie Balls, Chris Magowan, and all of the coaches, captains and team managers for their exceptional contribution towards the club last season. As outlined above we have many rugby and social events going on throughout the year. We would encourage you all to attend and participate in these events and also get involved in helping organise some of them. As always, we need more people to give of their time and energy to continue to make London Irish the successful club it is today. Enjoy the season.
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