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GUINNESS PREMIERSHIP RUGBY RETURNS TO ITV

November 13th, 2008 by admin0 | 1 Comment | Filed in guinness premiership

Guinness Premiership Rugby returns to ITV4 on Sunday evening with hour long highlights of all the weekend’s games from Round six of the competition.

Presented by Craig Doyle, this week’s show comes from the Recreation Ground where current leaders Bath Rugby take on second placed Leicester Tigers.

Craig will be speaking to the players and fans about their views on the new season and look at how the clubs are coping without their international players. Co-host Martin Bayfield also has an exclusive interview with Mike Tindall as he swaps rugby balls for darts and competes in ITV4’s Pro-Celebrity Darts.

Guinness Premiership Rugby is on ITV4 at 6.30pm on Sunday, repeated on Tuesday night on ITV1. ITV.com also has video highlights every Monday morning.

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FDR AND PRL OPPOSE NEW RFU COMPETITION STRUCTURE

November 11th, 2008 by admin0 | No Comments | Filed in guinness premiership

First Division Rugby (FDR) and Premier Rugby (PRL), the organisations representing the interests of the clubs at the top of the English game, have both voiced their opposition to the proposals for new competitions unilaterally publicised today by the Rugby Football Union (RFU).

RFU proposals to introduce a new competition for National Division One clubs have already been rejected by FDR clubs by a majority of 12 to 4 and are also opposed by the PRL clubs. Under the recently concluded Heads of Agreement between the RFU and PRL, it is in fact for FDR to make proposals which should then to be considered by the RFU.

Regrettably, the RFU has also refused to discuss these proposals with the Professional Game Board (PGB), set up under the new 8 Year Agreement to address exactly these issues. This is despite the fact that the PGB’s 2008/9 objectives, agreed by all parties, include the future of FDR competition.

Similarly, any new Anglo Welsh Cup competitions have so far only been the subject of preliminary discussions. The PGB is due to consider the next set of draft proposals at its meeting on 27th November and only if these are agreed, do they then need to be referred to the respective PRL, FDR and RFU Boards and to the Welsh Regions.

FDR Chairman Geoff Irvine said “We’ve laid out to the RFU Council our objections to these proposals and why we believe it would be asking our clubs to commit financial suicide. We don’t understand why the RFU is in such a mad rush to try to force through a restructuring, particularly in such challenging economic times. Instead, Council should ask for common sense to prevail, for proper and measured consultation to take place between the RFU, FDR and PRL and for the Professional Game Board to then be allowed to do its job and make a recommendation”.

PRL Chief Executive Mark McCafferty said “When we agreed the new deal with the RFU, the Professional Game Board was set up with representation from the Union, PRL, the FDR clubs and the Players to look at exactly this type of issue; the right mix of competition for England and its top tier clubs.

New competitions cannot be forced through unilaterally against the wishes of their proposed participants. It’s a nonsense if the PGB and its expertise is being bypassed and it would be in serious conflict with the new Agreement”.

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THE PREMIERSHIP CLUBS INTRODUCE CHILDREN TO RUGBY

October 20th, 2008 by admin0 | No Comments | Filed in guinness premiership

The 12 Premiership Clubs including Leeds Carnegie will be running Try Rugby, a new initiative to introduce young children in the area to rugby. We are doing this with our partners Wooden Spoon and Sport England through the National Sports Foundation.

One of the things we are hoping to do, as well as getting more young people to play the game, is help tackle the growing issue of childhood obesity. Today nearly a third (31.1 per cent) of 11-year-olds* are now overweight or obese and the statistic is rising. Exercise is a great way of dealing with this and rugby is the perfect sport to do it - all shapes and sizes have their place in rugby - just look at the different shapes and sizes needed to play front row, back row or scrum half.

23,000 children throughout England will benefit from the initiative.

England World Cup winner, Lawrence Dallaglio, Honorary President for Spoon is putting his weight behind the campaign and said “In any rugby team you will see a vast difference in the heights, weights and overall sizes of players. Just look at England’s World Cup winning squad; Matt Dawson and Jonny Wilkinson are both about 5ft 10″ and 13 stone, Steve Thompson is 6ft and was 18 stone and Martin Johnson is 6ft 7″ and weighs 18 stone. They are all fit and very health conscious but there is nearly a foot difference in their heights and 5 stone difference in their weights!

“Consequently rugby is the ideal vehicle to engage and motivate youngsters - they don’t need to feel self-conscious about their size as rugby needs every shape and size in a team. What’s more, playing rugby can engender a great many positive values such as respect, team work and having fun while exercising.”

Wooden Spoon along with Sport England through the National Sports Foundation have each contributed £130,000 to Try Rugby; the scheme offers 23,000 pupils aged 8-10 across England the chance to try out rugby, many of whom will be trying it for the first time.

Wayne Morris, Head of Community for Premier Rugby said, “Try Rugby gives local schools a course in tag rugby that will benefit children and teachers and will enable rugby to still be played long after we have completed the coaching series. Tag rugby is a pretty straightforward sport and it is lots of fun. Recent research has shown that rugby players are seen as very positive role models which we hope will also inspire the participating children.”

Try Rugby kicked off in September 2008 all thanks to Sport England, Premier Rugby and Spoon.

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WALKINSHAW ATTRACTS NEW PARTNER TO GLOUCESTER RUGBY

October 20th, 2008 by admin0 | No Comments | Filed in guinness premiership

GLOUCESTER Rugby are delighted to announce that Martin St Quinton has become a major new partner in the Guinness Premiership club.

The telecommunications entrepreneur (50) will also sit on the board of Directors alongside managing director Ken Nottage and other board directors after purchasing a 25% shareholding in the club.

The Walkinshaw family will remain as principle owners with Tom as Chairman - a position he has held for more than a decade at the Kingsholm club.

“Any major off-field development such as this is extremely important for any club and I would like to take this opportunity of welcoming Martin on board on behalf of everyone at Gloucester Rugby,” Walkinshaw said.

“Martin’s involvement comes at a vital time for the club when we are growing and developing faster than at any time in our history.

“He has tremendous business acumen and will add value as a stakeholder - I am delighted to be able to bring him onboard at the club.”

St Quinton has had a distinguished business career. In 1980 he started The Saint Group, a private office equipment company, which he sold to Danka PLC in 1993. From then until 1999 he was CEO of Danka’s International Operations. During this six-year period he acquired over 50 companies in 30 different countries.

In 2000, he founded another company Azzurri Communications which has grown to 700 staff and a £150million turnover in eight years. In 2003, St Quinton was named Ernst & Young Technology Entrepreneur of the Year.

His interest in rugby started at Pocklington School in Yorkshire where he was 1st XV captain, he went on to play for Durham University.

St Quinton said: “I am extremely excited about the opportunity to join this club with such history, tradition and passion. To be involved with such a major institution like Gloucester is not only humbling but a tremendous challenge.

“Tom Walkinshaw has done a huge amount for the club over the last decade and I want to support him to take the club to the next level - a level where we can challenge the best in Europe over the long-term.

“The club owns its own ground at Kingsholm and the priority will be to enlarge the stadium to a 20,000 capacity, thereby providing the financial backbone to enable to the club to consistently win trophies.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am thrilled at the prospect of getting involved.”

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10,000 TICKETS ALREADY SOLD FOR HARLEQUINS “BIG GAME”

September 26th, 2008 by admin0 | No Comments | Filed in guinness premiership

It may only be September, but Harlequins are delighted to announce that over 10,000 tickets have already been sold for the “Big Game” at Twickenham Stadium on December 27th against Leicester Tigers; even though the game is still three months away.

With over 70% of seats being priced at £10 or less, it is a wonderful chance for the whole family to experience a high quality sporting event at the home of English rugby. If you are looking for that early Christmas present for a friend or a day out for the whole family, go to www.ticketmaster.co.uk. Please be aware that the capacity on the day will be restricted to 50,000.

There will be any number of world class players on show. Danny Care and Harry Ellis will continue their battle for the England number nine shirt, Martin Corry and Nick Easter will use all their experience to lead their respective packs to victory and David Strettle will be determined to show Tom Varndell who reigns supreme on the wing.

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