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The Structural Flaws of the National Schools' Rugby Sevens

Posted Thursday, 12 March 2020

There has never been more Sevens Rugby played in schools than there is in the current era. Despite last season’s insensitive application of confusing RFU Regulations, there are more competitions, at more age groups, than ever before. At a time when the 15-a-side school game is contracting, Sevens is going...

It’s the House Cross Country Season!

Posted Friday, 6 March 2020

There have been forms of cross country running in schools since Tom Brown’s Schooldays. Indeed, the book of that title features a steeplechase through the fields surrounding Rugby School. House cross country races are almost as old, and as long-running a feature of the spring term as the annual Sports...

Has Rugby Been Radicalised?

Posted Friday, 14 February 2020

“They hate us and we hate them…We want to be brutal…It’s a battle…It’s going to be a war” . Is this the language of radicalisation, at a moment of high emotion? No, it’s a pre-match interview with England Rugby player Lewis Ludlam before the Scotland v England game. Ludlam’s employers,...

Does “Brutal Physicality” help School Rugby?

Posted Wednesday, 5 February 2020

School Rugby is under unprecedented pressure. The mobilisation of the risk lobby, led by Alyson Pollock, has done much to expose the danger of injury from participation and raised awareness that it is illegal for schools to insist on pupils’ involvement. The RFU does not advocate a compulsory experience of...

How Collaboration is Enhancing Competition in (most) School Sport

Posted Thursday, 30 January 2020

Since sports fixtures between schools first emerged, in the 19th century, considerable significance has been attached to the results. They have often been seen as a barometer of a school’s success, and the contests between marquee athletes who “represent” the school given considerable attention. Such competitions survived the contrary influences...

What's the Future for School Swimming?

Posted Friday, 24 January 2020

Facilities for swimming in schools are better than they have ever been. Pools were a primary weapon in the arms race of development. Many schools have beautiful, bright, inspiring pools, and changing facilities to match. Rare now is the grim, dark and cold forbidding swimming environment of the mid-twentieth century...