Touch TriumphMedway RFC Touch Rugby brought home their first silverware on Wednesday night when they won the inaugural North Kent Touch Championships. Held in Erith teams from all over Kent took part but Medway Exiles and Medway Medway won their respective groups, and met in a tense, closely fought final which resulted in a 0-0 final score. The spoils were shared and MRFC were rightly crowned as top touch rugby club in the region.
Touch continues every Wednesday evening and with 25+ regular attendees its a great way to shake off the winter blues! If you want more information or to join in email touchrugby@mrfc.net
Medway Touch Rugby will be holding their Christmas Drinkies at the Good Intent Rochester, near the old Police Station. Beer and Curry is order of the day. Price between £7 and £8 per head for food.
Could you please email if you are going to attend so I can let these fine people know numbers.
We have been having some discussions during our Wednesday
Nights under Lights evenings about the structure for next
summers MRFC Touch Season 3.
We already know we are the best touch rugby club on the
planet, but we want to make it even better and therefore we
want to get your opinions on how we should structure our
leagues and competitions next year. The focus is on
development, and simplicity this year.
The committees currently has 3 suggestions which we would
like you to consider:
1) If it ain't broke don't fix it - Keep the social and
competitive leagues as they were last year.
2) Tweeky Tweeky touchy monkey - Change the social and
competitive to Premiership and Championship and have
promotion and relegation. Allow teams to enter whichever
league they want and then develop the competition over the
next few seasons.
3) All change for Touchville - Scrap the idea of social
touch completely and have one all encompassing league with
some form of handicap system for female team-mates and
social teams....
One thing we are clear on is that we are going to separate
out our Children's and Adults. We will run activity for our
junior and mini members and they'll always be welcome on
Wednesdays BUT our competitions are going to be adult
(probably 13+ but this is still under consideration) only.
So...please go to the message board and post your messages
in the "NEXT SEASONS TOUCH FORMAT" topic, by the 1st of
December. If you have an idea, a suggestion, a comment,
criticism (yes we can accept this now!) or opinion then
please share them with us.
Don't forget that Wednesdays are still in full swing, up at
our Thomas Aveling base and we're getting 15-25 players per
week still. Great fun, Great competition, Great fitness...No
excuses! After all, where else would you want to be!
Medway Touch Rugby Club are looking to field a mixed side in a Winter League in Canterbury for 6 weeks starting at the end of February 2010. The games will take place at the University of Kent on Sunday evenings. We are looking for a large pool of players so individuals would not have to commit every Sunday unless they want to of course! This is a great introduction to our Touch season which will start in April. Interested? Email Touchrugby@mrfc.net or reply via notice board.
Our end of summer celebration / Awards night was a fantastic way to end the Summer Touch Season. Firstly a big thank you to all who supported this event. We certainly never expected to see so many of you there. Our Thanks to the bar staff, the ladies who looked after the catering, and of course our very own resident DJ. Without these wonderful people this event would not have been possible.
The awards were in to categories, Competitive and Social/ Humour.
COMPETITIVE AWARDS
Invicta Competitive League Winners ALCO UTD
Invicta Social League Winners BAABARBARIANS
Medway Touch Cup Winners BENS UP and AT 'EM
Medway Touch Cup Runners up BAA WASPY BEES
Best Player JOHN RUMSEY
Most Improved Player GRAHAM REYNOLDS
Clubman/Lady Award MARK MARRIOTT
Spirit of Touch Award ROBERT RICE
Most Honest Player PETER RAND
Best Referee SANDIE THOMPSON
Biggest Contribution to Touch ALAN BOURNE
Social/Humour Awards
Player Most Likely To Fall Over GEORGE COOK
Player Most likely To Turn Up Drunk LAUREN THURGOOD
Player Most Likely To Appear On Crime Watch SIMON RUMSEY
Player Least Likely to Buy Around QUINTAS (Dutch) KLOPPERS
Player Most Likely To Get A Slap JOHN RUMSY
Player Most Likely To Get Two Slaps SHAUN CHEESEMAN
Most Dishonest Player ROBERT ELLIS
Worst Referee He Who Must Not Named!
I Take Touch Too Seriously Award JASON RUSSELL
Best Young New Player VANCE GEE
Young Player of the Year GRAHAM McMANUS
Best Dressed Team MDS
Winter Touch and Training will start in late October. Watch notice board for details.
STOP PRESS
I’m pleased to announce Medway Touch Rugby Club have been nominated for this year Medway Sports Awards in the category of Best Club. Watch this space
England Touch is pleased to announce a Women's Development Day taking place on 3rd October in Leeds. Open to players of all abilities, the day will consist of skills sessions and an afternoon tournament. To register for the event, either as an individual or team, please fill in one of the forms on the website (www.englandtouch.org.uk) in the News and Events pages and send back to Lesley McCallion at mailbox@mccallion-physio.co.uk
Let's hope we see some late summer sunshine.... !
Please see the latest edition of the MRFC Touch Rugby newsletter. Please take 5 minutes to read through it as there is lots of important information inside.
Please also check the message board for latest updates and news
NEWS FLASH - Tuesday's Touch Rugby is now at PRIESTFIELDS, start time is 7pm. Wednesday at Priestfields as normal
Touch Rugby Summer Madness - Wednesday 15th - Tournament Next Wednesday. We will be running a round robin competition for all the teams. Everyone will play everyone else once, and a handicap system will ensure that all teams have an equal chance. At the end of the evening the first MRFC Mini Touch Champions will be crowned. The emphasis is on flair and style and extra points will be awarded for Fijian style champagne rugby!! Come along and show us your moves!!
Start time - 7.15ish. Beers in the clubhouse afterwards (its nearly the summer holidays after all!!)
Available here
Medway Rugby Club was represented at the first ever England Touch Youth Development Day on Sunday. Although too short notice to get a large contingent together we were represented by one player at the Youth Development event held at Emanuel School in London on Sunday.
Along with 50 other children from across London and the rest of the UK he was given expert coaching by current England players and Coaches and got to play alongside some of the best young players in the country. He represented our club very well and was complemented on his skill, enthusiasm and knowledge of the game. It is a credit to all those involved in the Club and especially the Youth Academy that we can produce youngsters that can perform at that level.
There will be another event in the near future and the ETA
are very keen for us to get a larger contingent to attend
next time.
There is a U14's and U16's competition running on the 5th of
July in London and Phil Mathe will be organising a boys, and
hopefully a mixed team to participate. If you are interested
in playing, refereeing or helping to organise the teams then
please let Phil know on Wednesday evening.
Registrations for the Calais Beach Touch festival on 20th June close this Wednesday 17th June. Entrance fee is EUR10 per player and there are mens, mixed and womens competitions. The registration fee includes a shirt provided by the host venue and this event attracts many expat players from France and Belguim. First match is 11am and it should finish around 5pm if you need to book a crossing.
Please email touchrugby@mrfcnet if you are prepared to have a go or telephone/text TJ on 07793 196525
As you may be aware Touch on Tour is run each Tuesday and is supported by Medway Council. Each venue has been published (via their London2012 webpage) and circulated by Medway Council to local schools, libraries and medical centres. The use of Medway's open spaces is important to the initiative and proves that the sport is open to anyone who would like to come along and have a go. The venue for Tuesday 16th June will be the Great Lines; the entrance is the end of Sallyport Gardens in Brompton. My apologies to anyone who may have been confused by the Garrison Grounds/Black Lion venue previous published. The garrison ground is a private venue and the Black Lion is currently being redeveloped. The Medway Exiles will be playing a demonstration game at the Garrison Grounds this Tuesday which you are welcome to go along to and support, alternatively Touch on Tour will be running at the Great Lines 7pm until 8pm as usual.
The updated tour schedule is available here
Can be downloaded here
Medway RFC have been awarded £1,600 grant from Medway Council to encourage adult participation in sports. Touch rugby was identified as a sport which met the key funding criteria and the funds will be used for coaching and player development courses, marketing and equipment. Trevor Jefferies of Medway RFC “More fantastic news for us as we are just about to start our 2009 season. The funds will be use to help is reach as many potential players as we can within this region and to provide new players with a quality coaching and playing environment. Player progression is very important to us whether that be helping a new player reach their personal goals or going on to take part in other activities of Medway RFC”. Medway Council’s sports development officer, Sarah Dand, said: “Funding is always an issue for sports organisations and we are delighted to once again be able to support our excellent clubs and coaches to develop and excel.”
Pictures!Some pictures from the weekend's Academy session.
We are delighted to be able to report that touch rugby has been included as one of the sports in this year's Business Games which will be hosted at the Black Lion leisure centre and Garrison Grounds on Friday 17th July. Other sports involved are netball, table tennis, hockey, 5 a side football, badminton and team building games. If you would like to get your firm involved with this event please contact the Sports Development Team at Medway Council by emailing sportsdevteam@medway.gov.uk. Medway RFC volunteers will be on hand to referee games and help run the event. If you would like to help out then please email touchrugby@mrfc.net - TJ
The registration form for the 2009 Touch Rugby season is now available.
Junior Touch Rugby Coaching document.
Touch Rugby fitness sessions will now run each Tuesday evening from 7.15pm and 7:30pm at the club.
Please feel free to come along and join one of the sessions
The resource pack for the Touch Rugby Academy is available here.
2008 was a great year for Medway Touch and 2009 looks even more promising. From mid April onwards we will be starting formal senior training (players ages 14+) and the Invicta League will run from Mid May through to early July.
Informal preseason fitness and core skills training starts in January. Please keep an eye on the message board for details of locations. Training will be on Tuesday evenings.
Once our formal season starts in 2009 touch rugby will take place on Thursday evenings.
From July onwards we will be launching our junior section (ages 6-13) as well as running informal senior and mixed social touch rugby pretty much as we did last summer……just turn up with your touch shirts and play.
The costs for this year are as follows
Seniors
Previously Registered Players £20
New Players £30 (this includes a set of touch rugby shirts)
Students (Age 14-21)
Previously Registered Players £10
New Players £20 (this includes a set of touch rugby shirts)
Junior Players
Previously Registered Players £5
New Players £15 (this includes a set of touch rugby shirts)
The Medway Touch committee will be as follows
Trevor Jefferies – General Manager. Email touchrugby@mrfc.net or telephone 07793 196525
Neil Wardle – Head Strategic Coach. Email n.wardle1@btinternet.com
Phil Mathe – Head Fitness & Player Performance Coach. Email emmaandphilip@hotmail.com
Martin Attis – Secretary and Players Registrations. Email martin.attis@blueyonder.co.uk
Eddie Baldwin – Player Retention and Public Relations. Email eddiebaldwin@aol.com
Sandie Thomson – Junior Section General Manager. Email sandiethompson@hotmail.co.uk
Players may enter their own teams for the 2009 leagues; players without teams will be allocated to teams – if you pay….you play
In addition 2009 will see Medway Touch and other Kent touch rugby teams merge to create a Kent Touch team for NTS events. Players who wish to represent the county will be required to take part in dedicated training sessions. Selection criteria will be decided by the Kent Touch committee, male and female players are eligible for selection.
We are also looking to run a Kent touch rugby league. The league will involve both home and away matches against various Kent based touch rugby teams taking place during the summer on Sunday mornings.
If you are interested in taking part in this sport then please email touchrugby@mrfc.net for further details or come along to one of our taster sessions which will be advertised in local media or feel free to phone me on 07793 196525
On Saturday 11th July 2009 we will be running the 2nd Medway Open touch festival. Grab a few friends, a pair of boots and come along to play. Cash prizes will be on offer and we will also be presenting the awards for the Invicta League.
Also keep you eye out for touch on tour – we will be playing at a park near you
Keep an eye on the touch rugby message board for regular updates
Finally don’t forget to come along and support the touch academy players on 21st February when they play their demonstration/graduation games. The President of the ETA and other officials will also be joining us for the day.
Keep in touch
Trevor Jefferies
General Manager
Touch Rugby
