Hampshire RFU and Hampshire Schools Rugby Unite to Shape the Future of the Game

A new chapter for schools rugby in Hampshire has begun.

Hampshire Rugby Football Union is delighted to announce that Hampshire Schools Rugby Football Union (HSRFU) has formally merged into Hampshire RFU, following unanimous support from HSRFU members and confirmation from England Schools Rugby.

The merger creates a single organisation to lead and support schools rugby across the county, strengthening links between schools, clubs and the wider game while creating a more sustainable future for rugby in Hampshire.

Hampshire is the first Constituent Body in England to complete this type of merger, with a number of other counties now exploring similar approaches. It is another example of Hampshire leading the way in finding practical solutions that strengthen the game for future generations.

For many years, Hampshire Schools RFU has been driven by the commitment of dedicated volunteers. Their work has ensured that schools competitions, festivals and representative opportunities have continued despite increasing pressures on schools, changing educational priorities and limited volunteer capacity. Hampshire RFU would like to express its sincere thanks to everyone involved with HSRFU, both past and present, for their commitment to young people and schools rugby across the county.

The merger is not simply about bringing two organisations together. It is about creating a stronger platform from which schools rugby can grow.

By working as one organisation, Hampshire RFU will be able to provide clearer strategic leadership, improve communication across schools and clubs, develop stronger player pathways and make better use of resources. Schools rugby will also benefit from greater alignment with Hampshire RFU’s Strategy 2025–2028, ensuring that young people remain at the heart of the county’s ambitions.

The move comes at an important time for education and community sport. As schools adapt to changes in PE and school sport funding, alongside the evolving RFU regional structure, Hampshire is well placed to work collaboratively with schools, teachers, School Games Organisers and clubs to create new opportunities for participation.

Investing in the Future

A key part of the merger is a new investment in schools rugby delivery.

Working in partnership with Queen Mary’s College, Basingstoke, Hampshire RFU will be supporting the appointment of a Schools Rugby Manager (North Hampshire). The role has been expanded to include a dedicated county-wide remit, funded by Hampshire RFU, to support schools rugby across the whole county.

Alongside local delivery in North Hampshire, the role will provide leadership for Hampshire-wide schools rugby by:

  • Coordinating schools festivals and competitions across the county.
  • Supporting the growth and retention of Hampshire Schools Rugby membership.
  • Developing stronger links between schools, clubs and Hampshire representative rugby.
  • Building partnerships with schools, School Games Organisers and education providers.
  • Promoting schools rugby through communications, case studies and sharing good practice.

The post will be hosted by Queen Mary’s College and is a 2.5-day per week position with flexible working arrangements. Recruitment will open shortly, with further details and the full job description to be published in the coming weeks.

Building on Strong Foundations

The merger also enables Hampshire RFU to build upon successful initiatives already delivered through Hampshire Schools RFU, including the popular KS3 Boys Cup, U18 Cup (boys and girls) and Sevens alongside KS2 Touch Rugby Festival and KS3 Girls Rugby Festival.

These programmes have demonstrated the appetite for schools rugby across the county and provide an excellent foundation from which to expand participation, create new playing opportunities and strengthen connections between schools and community clubs.

Looking ahead, Hampshire RFU will also:

  • Develop a dedicated schools rugby section on the Hampshire RFU website.
  • Review and coordinate county-wide schools competitions and festivals.

Looking Ahead

This merger represents an important milestone, but more importantly it marks the beginning of an exciting new journey.

Schools rugby has enormous potential within Hampshire. By bringing schools fully into the Hampshire RFU family, we can create stronger partnerships, support more teachers and volunteers, provide better opportunities for young players and ensure schools rugby has a sustainable future.

Together, we can inspire more young people to discover rugby, enjoy rugby and remain in the game for life.

We look forward to sharing further updates over the coming months, including details of the Schools Rugby Manager recruitment and our plans for the 2026–27 season.

Hampshire RFU Helping Shape New South Central Regional Growth Partnership

Hampshire RFU has welcomed the appointment of Andy Dunkley as the first Chair of the RFU’s new South Central Regional Growth Partnership Board, as the new regional structure designed to support the growth of community rugby continues to develop.

The South Central Board is one of seven new Regional Growth Partnership Boards being established across England by the RFU. Their purpose is to bring together rugby and wider regional partners to identify opportunities to grow participation, attract additional investment and strengthen the support available to the community game.

Hampshire RFU has been actively involved in the South Central partnership from its early stages, with our Chair, Neil McRoberts, contributing to the recruitment of the new independent Chair and other key roles within the emerging regional team.

With the wider make-up of the Board still being developed, Hampshire RFU is also contributing to discussions about how the partnership should be structured and how the voice and experience of the community game can be effectively represented.

What are the Regional Growth Partnership Boards?

For many club volunteers, the Regional Growth Partnership Boards will be new.

Seven boards are being established across England as part of changes to how the RFU supports the growth of community rugby. Their focus is specifically on growth – bringing more people into rugby and creating the partnerships and investment that can support that ambition.

They are intended to bring together people from within rugby alongside expertise and organisations from outside the game, helping regions identify opportunities that might be difficult to unlock at individual club or county level.

This could include attracting new funding and investment, developing partnerships, identifying new playing opportunities and coordinating activity where working across a wider geography makes sense.

Importantly, Hampshire RFU sees the Regional Growth Partnership as being additive to the work already taking place through clubs, Constituent Bodies and the thousands of volunteers who deliver the game.

It should create new opportunities and additional capacity – not another layer of complexity for our clubs.

Hampshire helping shape the new partnership

Hampshire RFU has been involved in developing the South Central arrangements from the outset, rather than simply waiting for the new structure to be established.

In addition to assisting the RFU with the recruitment of key roles in the regional set-up, Hampshire RFU Chair Neil McRoberts has been asked by the RFU to join a small, informal group of five Constituent Body (CB) Chairs, set up to provide ongoing feedback and counsel as the change process gets under way.

That involvement continues to place Hampshire RFU at the forefront of understanding, and helping shape, how this new initiative is rolled out, including the key discussions around the wider composition of the Board.

Hampshire RFU believes this ongoing contribution will help ensure the partnership combines the right expertise, connections and understanding of the community game – and, ultimately, the best possible outcome for our members.

The Regional Growth Partnership will cover a large and diverse area, and its success will ultimately be judged by whether it can translate regional thinking into tangible opportunities for clubs and participants.

Neil McRoberts, Chair of Hampshire RFU, said:

“There is a real opportunity through the Regional Growth Partnership to bring additional expertise, investment and relationships into rugby, and Hampshire has been pleased to play an active part in its development.

The important principle for us is that this should be additive. We already have strong clubs, volunteers and a clear strategy to deliver and grow rugby locally. The opportunity is to build around that – unlocking partnerships, investment and opportunities that can help us collectively grow the game.”

Connecting regional opportunity with our Hampshire strategy

Our involvement is also about ensuring the opportunities created through the new regional structure can support the ambitions already established through our Hampshire RFU Strategy 2025–2028 – Building a Stronger Rugby Future Together.

Our strategy gives Hampshire rugby a clear direction: to unite and empower our rugby community, grow participation, increase investment and resources, and make the best possible use of the time and talent of our volunteers.

That means we are approaching the Regional Growth Partnership with a clear understanding of what we want to achieve locally.

We want to explore where working regionally can help us reach more people, develop new partnerships, secure additional investment or provide expertise and capacity that would otherwise not be available to our clubs.

Where those opportunities exist, we want Hampshire to be well positioned to maximise them.

Local priorities, regional opportunity

The creation of a new regional structure does not change Hampshire RFU’s priorities.

Our starting point remains the needs of our clubs, players and volunteers and the commitments set out within our Strategy 2025–2028.

The opportunity presented by the South Central Regional Growth Partnership is to add to that work.

By being involved during its development – from helping recruit its leadership through to shaping the emerging Board – Hampshire RFU can help ensure that the new partnership remains connected to the realities of community rugby while also bringing new thinking, relationships and resources into the game.

There is still work to do before the South Central structure is complete, and we will continue to keep our clubs updated as it develops.

But our ambition is clear: to play an active role in shaping the partnership and to make the most of every opportunity it creates, helping rugby in Hampshire deliver our vision for a stronger rugby future together.

Further reading:
RFU: Chairs appointed to seven new Regional Growth Partnership Boards

Hampshire RFU Strategy 2025–2028

 

Start of Season 2026 – Hampshire RFU Update

Hampshire RFU will align our Merit League and local Age Grade competitions with the RFU’s decision to delay the start of the competitive community rugby season until the week commencing Monday 21 September.

While Hampshire RFU has responsibility and a degree of autonomy over these competitions, we believe aligning with the national position is the right decision for rugby in Hampshire.

It is a decision centred on two things: player welfare and fairness.

The exceptionally hard ground conditions this summer have severely restricted the ability of many clubs to train normally. For the vast majority, opportunities to progressively prepare players for full-contact rugby have been significantly reduced or, in some cases, removed altogether.

The question is therefore not simply whether a pitch might be playable on a particular weekend. We also need to consider whether the players taking to that pitch have had an appropriate opportunity to prepare safely for competitive contact rugby.

There is also a question of fairness. Some clubs have had access to AWP’s, irrigated pitches or other facilities which have enabled greater levels of preparation; many others have not.

With our responsibility for player welfare, alongside our ambition to retain and grow participation, we believe a short delay is both sensible and proportionate. It provides players with additional preparation time and gives our competitions the best opportunity to begin safely and fairly.

Read the full RFU announcement: Start of the Competitive Community Rugby Season

What happens next?

Our competition organisers and league secretaries will now work through the necessary changes to schedules and communicate directly with clubs and teams where required.

In the meantime, this does not mean rugby has to stop. Training can continue where conditions allow and the appropriate risk assessments are undertaken. The RFU has also confirmed that friendly fixtures can take place where local conditions, player readiness and safety allow.

We encourage clubs to use the coming weeks positively: progressively preparing players for contact, considering non-contact formats and, where appropriate, working with neighbouring clubs to explore access to suitable facilities and opportunities to play.

As schedules are adjusted, we also ask clubs to continue the culture of collaboration and creativity that exists across Hampshire rugby. Communicating early, working constructively with opposition clubs and considering alternative dates, venues, fixture reversals and suitable Artificial Grass Pitches can all help us find solutions.

Building a more resilient game

The current situation also reinforces a wider challenge we recently highlighted in our article, Extreme Weather: Building Greater Resilience into Our Community Game.

In recent seasons we have experienced waterlogged pitches, frozen grounds and now prolonged dry weather and exceptionally hard playing surfaces.

Weather will always affect rugby. What is becoming increasingly important is how effectively we adapt to it. That means continuing to think creatively about competition structures, reserve weekends, facilities and greater flexibility around when and where rugby is played.

Read: Extreme Weather – Building Greater Resilience into Our Community Game

There will inevitably be challenges in the weeks ahead, but our collective aim remains simple:

to find safe and sensible ways to keep rugby being played.

By continuing to work together, we can protect our players, support our volunteers and give as many people as possible the opportunity to enjoy rugby across Hampshire.

Hampshire RFU Board

Terry Burwell
Hampshire RFU Council Member & Chair, Adult Competitions Management Sub Committee

Extreme Weather: Building Greater Resilience into Our Community Game

Six months ago, many rugby clubs were looking anxiously at waterlogged pitches.

Three years ago, frozen ground caused widespread disruption to fixtures.

And now, unusually dry conditions have left pitches exceptionally hard and raised a different set of concerns around player welfare.

None of these challenges are new. Weather has always affected community rugby. What is becoming increasingly important, however, is our ability to respond to greater variability in playing conditions and to think more strategically about how we keep rugby on.

For Hampshire RFU, with  over 11,500 registered players across the adult and age grade game, that matters.

Because every game lost has an impact.

More than a postponed fixture

The immediate consideration must always be player safety. If a pitch isn’t safe, rugby shouldn’t be played on it.

But when games are lost, the consequences extend beyond the fixture itself.

Players lose an opportunity to play. Coaches and volunteers lose the activity they have spent time preparing for. Competition programmes become more difficult to manage and, particularly in age grade rugby, another opportunity to keep players engaged in the game disappears.

There is also a direct financial consequence.

A home fixture brings players, supporters and visitors into a rugby club. They use the bar, buy food and contribute to the wider matchday economy. When that fixture disappears, much of that income can disappear with it.

One postponed Saturday or Sunday may have a relatively small impact. Several lost weekends across a season can be much more significant.

That is why rugby resilience and financial resilience are increasingly connected.

Hampshire RFU has already been working with clubs on revenue generation and encouraging them to think beyond traditional reliance on membership subscriptions and bar sales. Greater diversification of income helps clubs absorb disruption when circumstances outside their control mean rugby cannot take place.

But an equally important part of the answer is doing everything reasonably possible to prevent games being lost in the first place.

Finding ways to play

There will always be occasions when postponement is unavoidable. The challenge is ensuring it is the last sensible option rather than automatically the first.

Competition guidance and regulations provide mechanisms for managing disruption, including reserve weekends within the calendar. Those are important safeguards and provide somewhere for fixtures to go when they genuinely cannot be played.

But before reaching that point, there are often practical alternatives worth exploring.

  • Could the fixture be reversed and played at the opposition ground?
  • Could a neighbouring club provide a suitable pitch?
  • Is a neutral venue available?
  • Could an all-weather pitch be accessed?
  • Could greater flexibility around kick-off times allow more than one fixture to use a playable surface across a weekend?
  • Could Friday-night rugby under lights provide another opportunity?

Not every solution will work for every club or every fixture. Nor should finding an alternative ever override an appropriate decision about player welfare.

The principle, however, is simple: communicate early, work collaboratively and explore the sensible options available to keep the game on.

Hampshire is fortunate to have a strong network of clubs and volunteers, and greater collaboration between them could become an increasingly important part of how we manage future disruption.

We need more resilient places to play

There is also a longer-term question.

If we experience periods where pitches are too wet, too hard or frozen within the same playing season, our facilities need to become more capable of responding to those extremes.

For some clubs that may mean better drainage or improved pitch maintenance.

For others it could mean floodlights, creating greater flexibility around when rugby can be played.

Across the game, access to all-weather pitches will also become increasingly valuable, particularly where facilities can support several clubs, schools and community programmes within a geographical area.

These are significant investments and they will not happen everywhere or overnight.

But that makes planning for them more important, not less.

Becoming investment-ready

One of the messages Hampshire RFU will continue to promote is the importance of clubs being investment-ready.

Funding opportunities inevitably emerge – through the RFU, local authorities, partners and other organisations – but clubs are in a much stronger position to take advantage when they already understand what their facilities need.

That means having a facilities plan.

It means understanding the condition and capacity of pitches.

It means considering what improvements would make the biggest difference to the amount of rugby that can be played.

And, importantly, it means developing sufficient financial resilience to contribute towards investment when opportunities arise.

The ambition does not need to be an all-weather pitch at every rugby club. A relatively modest investment in drainage, irrigation, maintenance equipment or floodlighting might provide a much greater return for an individual club.

The starting point is understanding the problem we are trying to solve: how do we create more opportunities for rugby to be played?

Protecting the game – and the club behind it

This is where facilities, competitions and revenue generation increasingly come together.

A more resilient pitch means more games can be played.

More games mean more opportunities for players to participate and remain connected to rugby.

They also mean more people coming through the clubhouse and greater opportunity for clubs to generate the income that ultimately supports their rugby programmes.

At the same time, clubs with broader and more sustainable sources of revenue are better able to withstand the occasions when fixtures inevitably are lost – and are more capable of investing in the facilities that reduce future disruption.

It becomes a virtuous circle: better facilities support more rugby; more rugby supports stronger clubs; and stronger clubs are better placed to invest in their future.

Planning for what we can control

Community rugby will never remove weather from the equation.

Six months ago, the concern was waterlogged pitches.

Three years ago, it was frozen ground.

At other times, like now, it will be drought and hard surfaces.

We cannot control which of those challenges arrives next.

What we can control is how prepared we are for it.

That means sensible competition structures with contingency built in. It means reserve weekends when they are needed. It means clubs communicating and collaborating rather than operating in isolation. It means thinking differently about when and where games can be played.

And, increasingly, it means investing in the resilience of both our facilities and our clubs.

The objective is ultimately a very simple one:

safe pitches, more games played, fewer fixtures lost and stronger rugby clubs.

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