We now close the book on a year that saw WP Club Rugby bounce back with the enthusiasm we are so used to and looking back at some events of 2022 we are thrilled with pride once again.
After almost three years of no club rugby league action, this year again saw our clubs take to the field in the typical enthusiastic spirit of WP Rugby. With several clubs now in the routine of pre-season training the year got off to a bang as our clubs took off from where they left off in 2019, and not only immediately started the competition for promotion but also the priority of rejuvenation of their membership.
Since the start of the league in April up until the end of the league at the end of September, we saw just over eighty fixtures on most weekends and despite the delay in the return to rugby we again saw an increase in the standard of club rugby. This left us no doubt that our WP Rugby Coaching education system has paid dividends as our club coaches embraced the various coaching courses offered by WP Rugby.
A further highlight has been the growth and standard of Women’s Rugby. The benefits of our focused approach to women’s rugby and the continuation of our high-performance and coaching programs which are exclusive to women have worked. This year saw an escalation in the women’s league, several women’s and girls’ rugby festivals, women’s tens and sevens rugby, and more women coaches.
The success of our WP Rugby Women’s side again shows that the development model starting from our YTC program is working, and with the rollout of a women’s rugby representative at all clubs we are confident that this positive trajectory will continue.
As always, we continue to focus on development and empowerment and this year saw the continuation of our various educational programs. In addition to our various world rugby courses and our self-developed WP Rugby 2.5 coaching course, we rolled out additional administrative workshops for our club’s executive members. The results are now evident in that our club administrators are more aware of good governance than ever before, and this coupled with our media, marketing and sponsorship workshops has delivered a new club rugby awareness model.
Next year will see an early start to more administration and sponsorship workshops with additional media dimensions which will no doubt be appealing to local businesses and sponsors who seek to be involved with our community clubs.
Even with the additional challenge of load shedding we again saw the much-anticipated annual Score WP Club Rugby Sevens rollout, and again we saw just under fifty clubs and close to one thousand players in attendance. The event took place across three central venues which improved sponsor activation and broadcast opportunities and allowed more fans from local areas to enjoy the spectacle. The series was again supported by CTC Sports and Score Energy Drinks and again saw all the clubs decked out in their unique kit which can be carried over into the next season.
The annual WPFU awards dinner returned with much celebration this year as we gathered for the first time since 2019. The awards held at Kelvin Grove saw the presentation of various accolades for our clubs, administrators, and senior teams. It was heart-warming to see old friends reunite physically and again showed the passion and positive spirit of WP Rugby.
This brings to an end another chapter of WP Rugby and looking back at the foundations we have laid we are consumed with energy for the next chapter starting early next year.
We thank all our clubs and members for their passion and positive contribution and wish all our members a safe and blessed festive season.