England Rugby - Where next

So Twickenham will soon no longer be Twickenham.........sparked a few emotions and ideas, which I thought I would share

English rugby is in need of money, no doubt, but the majority of that 'need' comes from poor leadership and vision, ever since the game went professional. What the game needs most is leadership, it needs innovation, change, unifying and marketing.

I look at Wimbledon and can't help thinking in some key respects it holds the answers for English rugby. I do not claim to be an expert on how Wimbledon is set up and run, far from it, but a few basics seem obvious to me. They have a large number of members, but the clever part is that a small number, the smartest, most relevant and experienced are invited onto the 'board'. Hence this is full of very smart people, who in most cases have experience that can benefit the Championships and their successful delivery. If they need help, guidance, strategic advice - the 'board' think through who in the UK is the best person to deliver that help. They then make them an offer they can't refuse! and the Championship benefits from the very best possible source available in the UK. You get the picture!

If you were to go through the crowd at Twickenham on matchday, the number of amazingly smart people, successful business people, marketing gurus, corporate titans, classing themselves as England fans would be amazing - the England rugby demographic is still unbelievably powerful. And yet they have never been harnessed, listened to, involved, or learnt from - Twickenham (I want to keep using that name as long as I am allowed to!!) sits on the edge of one of the great cities of the world, full of these England fans, and yet England rugby has never sought their help................or benefitted from it.

Admittedly it would necessitate change in order to benefit from their wisdom, but rugby must have realised by now that it has to change? Constant innovation is happening in the world, and certainly in a number of other sports, so surely rugby must understand the vital need to evolve, to change it's management structure in order to survive and then hopefully be successful?

A board, full of the best minds to be found at Twickenham from the world of business, empowered to change and run the game as they deem necessary, would in my mind very quickly start to turn around the financial fortunes of the English game.

And alongside that, create a 'playing board' full of the best rugby minds that England has available to it. The sad passing of Jack Rowell a number of weeks ago reignited my frustration that his knowledge and that of Geoff Cooke, Gill Burns and Sir Clive Woodward, the playing knowledge of Martin Johnson, Sarah Hunter, Will Greenwood, Andy Farrell has never been utilised by England. If we are serious about winning another World Cup, then let's access all the resources that we have available to us, and some of these great coaches are invaluable, as are many younger ones, and we need to have them in roles where England can benefit from them. The head coaches of the men's and women's teams should be answerable to them on a regular basis, challenged and guided by them, in order to ensure we are heading in the right direction and we are maximising our talent.

And talking of talent, why on earth have the RFU never had any of it's players in Ambassadorial roles for sponsors and for the game in general? How powerful for England sponsors to have Martin Johnson, Emily Scarratt, Lawrence Dallaglio, Maggie Alphonsi, Courtney Lawes or Jerry Guscott on hand for events, match day insights or internal mentoring. The players are the stars of the game, they are the icons that inspire the children to play, that generate the loyalty from fans and those that run the game need to understand that utilise their power.

Three basic ideas, all involve a little change to the current structure of administration, but those in power need to decide fairly soon whether they want the game to survive or not. I know I am biased, I love the game, I love it's values and I love the characters that play the game - they and it are special, very special and it is now time for the leaders in the game to stand up and put the players front and centre, to bring in the best people in order to return create a sustainable game that the coming generations can enjoy too.

#rugby #englandrugby #twickenham