The Rugby World Cup Legacy

During my primitive school years, I was privileged enough to be educated at both an Independent school and then a local Sixth Form. Privileged is a word I use with great caution due to the negative stigma surrounding it. I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth, I worked tirelessly to be where I was like so many others. As a music scholar, my instrumental and choral commitments had to come before sport, but it was still a vast part of the schooling week and the part that I enjoyed the most. As a young man growing up, there is no greater platform than the sports field on which to mature. However for many thirteen year olds (those hailing from the north perhaps in particular)*, rugby union can be a foreign concept and remains so unless you attend a school that plays it.

In 2000, I attended Uppingham School, a boarding school founded in 1584, hidden away in the small town of the same name a few miles from Rutland Water. Like so many schools of its mould, rugby for new boys is mandatory. You are given the option to focus on other sports after your first year if you have good reason for it, but it is clearly frowned upon. The money put into the sport by such schools can be eye-watering and it can definitely be argued that other sports suffer because of it. During my three years, the 1st XV went on rugby tours to Australia and South Africa on separate occasions whilst the 1st XI football team had to petition to be given jerseys that even showed we represented the school (the eventual jersey interestingly, did not display the crest). This however, is a debate for another blog.

There is a divide between professional rugby and football players that relates to education, that is undeniable. In June 2014, Ofsted released figures showing that 94% of footballers in the top divisions were educated at a state school, as opposed to the top rugby division which stood at an alarming 39%. It is worth pointing out that 45% of those who came out of Independent schools were in fact on scholarships or bursaries. The statistics reflect the education of the individual, not their family wealth.

Steps have been taken to rectifying this imbalance. The All Schools programme has been running since 2012, an initiative to introduce rugby to 750 more state schools before the start of the 2019 World Cup. Fascinatingly, out of the 31-man England squad that lifted the Rugby World Cup in 2003, only 11 of those attended fee-paying schools. Eighteen successfully came through the state school system and the remaining two studied abroad. However, Stuart Lancaster’s England squad for the upcoming 2015 Rugby World Cup shows an entirely different trend with exactly twice as many players coming from Independent schools.

The Rugby Premiership is also trying to rectify this forming pattern, not just because of the social discomfort the statistics start to hint at, but simply because a wider recruitment field means a wider berth of talent. On The Front Foot is a programme that is aimed at inner-city schools and also has a large emphasis on the women’s game. It also encourages ethnic minorities to participate and boasts World Cup winners of both sexes as their ambassadors, Jonny Wilkinson notably amongst them. In 2014, over 300,000 individuals were involved in the programme.

The problem with schools stuttering competitively or refusing altogether to embrace the sport is widely put down to the teaching. There simply are not enough talented coaches being employed by state schools. One can argue that they cannot compete financially with the Independent schools and this is undoubtedly true, but it is also thought to be an unappealing workplace. With so few grammar schools offering rugby, there are consequently fewer potential opponents and the sad truth remains that the prospect of away trips to inner-city schools for some of the more prestigious schools is unappealing.

The legacy of the 2012 London Olympics was meant to enthuse a generation and has certainly come up short across the board. The government has emphatically failed on maintaining sports in schools after Britain’s sporting success of 2012, making vast cuts to budgets that included the complete removal of funding for the SSP (School Sport Partnerships). The SSP uses an initiative where PE teachers can be shared amongst schools and borrowed by those who do not have the necessary staff. They also encouraged at least 2 hours of PE a week to be included in the academic week. Yet as we enter the Academic Year of 2015-16, their £162m government allowance has been entirely cut.

The Rugby World Cup is fast approaching and, like the London Olympics, looks to inspire an entire nation. England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales are all within the top 10 ranked nations on the planet and will consider themselves serious contenders. Which schools they happened to attend is of no importance now, but it is clearly relevant as to how they arrived at the summit of the game.

No sport, in my opinion, should be thrust upon an individual. In my personal experience, one year of rugby involved running around like a lunatic for a 4th team that clearly didn’t understand the rules and had no desire to learn them. I spent my afternoons longingly looking over to the football fields whilst many others did the same, albeit generically towards the warmth. But it must be an option that is open to those from every background and incorporated more into our overall sporting understanding.

There are social stereotypes and cliches that suggest individuals are either “a rugby man” or they’re not and there is a ridiculous bravado that comes with it. It can become code for looking down on those less fortunate, mocking those who prefer football for seeming unmanly due to the influx of unsporting behaviour and often cringeworthy theatricals in the game at the highest level. You like football, ergo you clearly “weren’t brought up right”. The sort of opinion that sees us edging towards the unpleasant concept of elitism again. But given the opportunity, sports such as rugby and football can thrive together, equally recognised and cherished by the nation as a whole, not simply by a few.

Like the Olympics, the hosting of a tournament with worldwide interest is an honour and all eyes will be on Twickenham for Friday night’s opener between England and Fiji. As we come together as a nation, it is imperative that the government learns from the failings of the last legacy and takes the opportunity, this time, to grow together.

*Yorkshire as a county is not particularly renowned for its Rugby Union. Leeds Rhinos and Bradford Bulls in particular have thrived in the Rugby League format, both sides winning the World Club Challenge on three occasions (an annual competition pitting the Australian champions against the winner of the European Super League). Lancashire also are prolific in the sport, boasting the likes of St. Helen’s, Wigan Warriors and Warrington who all boast bulging trophy cabinets. It has on occasion been considered a game for the working class as opposed to the “elitist” Rugby Union so often associated with “posh schools”, but with players beginning to cross over between the disciplines this is a stereotype fast becoming dated and inaccurate.