Daily Mail 2008/09
Daily Mail 2007/08
Daily Mail Cup Competitions 2008/2009
Preparations for this coming season (2008/2009) Daily Mail Schools Competition are already underway and we are delighted to make available to download, forms for both the Under 15 and Under 18 Cup Competitions. Also available on the application form documents are the round dates for the 2008/2009 season. As before all draws will be available first on the Daily Mail Schools section on the RFU website and will be sent to all participating schools via email. In line with the RFU communication policy introduced this season, we will keep postal send outs to a minimum (which given the postal strikes last autumn is probably a good thing). Therefore when applying please ensure that any email address supplied is operational and will be checked on a regular basis.
Note: Please complete and return the Application forms to the staff at Twickenham by Friday 9th May 2008 at the latest. Applications received after this date may not be entered.
Changes for 2008/2009
As you can no doubt imagine England Rugby Football Schools Union (ERFSU) takes the management of the Daily Mail cup competitions very seriously and is continuously considering ways in which to improve the experience for all our key stakeholders – player, teachers, coaches, supporters and sponsor.
You may be aware the ERFSU had to disqualify a number of teams from the competitions for breach of Regulations with regard to player eligibility. There breaches included selecting more than 3 players that joined in the sixth form and selecting over-age players. Whilst no one takes any satisfaction from such action, we are determined to ensure that schools that seek to gain unfair advantage by ignoring the Regulations are identified and suitably punished.
As a result there are a number of initiatives which will be introduced in 2008/2009 in order to fulfil our objective of more players involved in more matches, all of which will culminate in an enjoyable experience for all concerned. In order to achieve this, the ERFSU has a delicate balance to tread between ensuring that there is a level playing field, in which all schools feel they have an opportunity to progress in the competition and at the same time minimising the administrative burden on teachers/coaches to ensure participation.
In order to make the competitions more robust, the ERFSU has agreed the following changes for season 2008/2009.
- For the Under 18 competitions, post-16 establishments such as Sixth Form Colleges and Further Education institutions will be required by the Organising Committee to define their accepted catchment area. Once approved, they may then select up to 3 players who have joined them from schools beyond this defined catchment area. In addition they will be required to list on the Team Sheet the educational establishment attended in Year 11 of all their players. The Daily Mail Schools section of the RFU website will contain a list of all such teams and the schools from which they can select players. In this way everyone can identify the eligibility of players in the squad.
- The Team Sheets have been amended so that the team manager/teacher from both teams signs each team’s form.
- For the Vase competitions, we identified that the structure and dates this season severely hampered schools because there were rounds on consecutive weeks and the notification process for draws took time to bed in. As a result we’ve amended the round dates so that there are 2 weeks between each round. In addition, the draws for the Vase competitions will be announced earlier than this season. We hope that this will increase the number of matches played by giving more time to arrange ties.
Whilst 1 & 2 above may require more commitment from the team managers and coaches, we believe they will go a long way to ensuring we maintain the integrity of what is the blue ribbon competition for schools.
Copies of the application and other associated forms (collegiate status, team sheets) are available to download from this section of the RFU website and should you have any queries about the new regulations or any other matter do not hesitate to contact the staff at Twickenham.
The Ethos of
For those of us with any association in the sport of rugby football, two of the key values we treasure are mutual respect and self-discipline. Regrettably there’s a growing tendency among the supporters from schools to disregard these values by jeering and whistling during attempts at goal. Whilst this may seem a somewhat petty point on which to focus, we believe that if we allow this trend to continue unchecked we will quickly lose the very sporting ethos that marks the game out from other sports. Therefore we would like to make this very personal plea to all schools that you do your utmost to instil into your pupils the essence of mutual respect and self-discipline that for so long has been associated with the game so that those who feel the urge to put off their opponents by whistling and jeering are ostracised by their colleagues and we do not have a repeat of the unsavoury scenes that were witnessed at Twickenham.
Please note that a letter and entry forms for this seasons Daily Mail Schools Competition were sent out to all affiliated schools in the week ending 18th April 2008.
Please see the links below for the latest Daily Mail info.
Daily Mail U15 entry form 2008/2009
Daily Mail U18 entry form 2008/2009
Application for 'Collegiate School' Status 2008/2009 Form
Jim Hooley's Reports on the Daily Mail Website (the RFU are not responsible for the content of external sites)
