Perran Moon

I beg to move, That this House has considered the governance of English rugby union. It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond, for what I hope is the first of many times. I come to this place as a rugby union fan, an ex-coach and ex-referee. I also declare an interest—my brother is a long-standing director of rugby at London Cornish rugby club. I am delighted to see the west country, an excellent servant of English rugby union, well represented here today. As a Cornish MP, it is hard for me to adequately express just how important our grassroots rugby clubs are to the fabric of our communities. Some of the communities in Camborne, Redruth and Hayle in my constituency suffer from extremes of poverty and deprivation. Life for many is a day-to-day struggle to feed the kids, heat the home and balance challenging working hours. For many, it is a case of muddling through. The one constant is our grassroots rugby clubs, offering children from all backgrounds that life-enhancing schooling in discipline, respect, teamwork, the joy of winning and how to bounce back from defeat. For many children, our clubs offer a vital controlled outlet for pent-up frustrations from challenging home and school lives. I have used the word “grassroots” several times so far, and I do so intentionally. While others may wish to contribute by voicing governance concerns relating to clubs in higher leagues, I am focusing largely on the concerns that have been expressed to me from dozens of clubs below the first two tiers of the English men’s game. I am focusing on the men’s game because, in my view, the health of the women’s game—although still under-represented in terms of grassroots facilities—has come a huge way over the last 10 years. Credit where credit is due—those responsible for its development should be commended, although there is still much work to be done to support the women’s game. I am acutely aware that while there are profound concerns with the financial state of some clubs in the premiership and the championship, grassroots rugby is facing an existential crisis. I will focus on three areas: governance, player welfare and funding. Although I refer to examples, the entire focus of the debate should be on how we work together, cross-party, looking forwards, to create the sustainable environment for our great game to not just survive, but thrive. On governance, I noted with interest the recent Rugby Football Union consultation and the resulting document, “Our track record and areas of focus”, which was circulated to RFU members. I have to admit that it left me slightly bemused. It seemed to be suggesting that all is pretty hunky-dory with English rugby—a little bit of tinkering here and there, and we are all good. There was not the slightest hint of contrition or even an acceptance that many clubs are on the brink. Maybe I have been talking to the wrong clubs, but in my conversations—admittedly, considerably fewer than the 400 that are reported to have been consulted for the RFU document—there are profound concerns about the direction of grassroots English rugby, the voices of which have for too long been drowned out by muscular lobbying from vested interests. There is no better indication that all is not well than the number of grassroots clubs right across England that I spoke with that, although happy to talk to me in detail about their own club’s circumstances, wanted to remain anonymous. Let us look more specifically at governance. Part of the problem is the almost total lack of recent grassroots men’s coaching or administration experience on some of the key governance bodies. Of the nine members of the RFU board, only one has had experience in the past five years of either coaching or administering an adult men’s 15 side. On the RFU council, only a handful of members have recent experience of the adult men’s game below the national leagues. That means the largest single group of clubs is simply not adequately represented on either of those bodies, which are essential to the health and wellbeing of the game nationally. There is a community game board, although it is very hard to work out who they are, but I very much hope that they are taken from the current administrators and coaches of clubs beneath the national leagues. Their remit and responsibility should be made much clearer to all stakeholders. Why is the representation so important? Let me give Members a couple of graphic examples. Three seasons ago a league reorganisation was imposed by someone that did not have a rugby union background. The failure is perhaps best demonstrated by the 12-team Counties 1 Surrey/Sussex league where seven teams could go down at the end of the season. If a team was promoted, they could land in one of four different leagues, stretching from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire to Thurrock in Essex and Bournemouth down on the south coast. This is for amateur clubs, where players have to balance work and family life. With no clear lines of promotion or relegation, club administrators simply cannot plan ahead and nor can the amateur players who are also, as I have mentioned, trying to balance the day job and family commitments. I talked to one club that is already in its fourth league in four seasons, having been relegated during that time just once. Turning to player welfare, I would like to cite the contentious changes to the tackle height law, which was introduced in July 2023 for the start of the 2023-24 season, just two months later. It allowed almost no time for amateur players to adapt from lifelong tackling habits. It should be deeply concerning to all of us who love the game to learn that no data has ever been made public that acts as a baseline against which to measure success. Perhaps even more worrying still is that data is not routinely collected from across the grassroots game to provide proof as to whether the change is helping in terms of concussions, with only a voluntary submission being rolled out.