Ballymena Rugby Club lands prestigious IRFU Excellence award

DURING the summer of 2011, a small group of Ballymena Rugby Club Officials met regularly to produce all the many documents required to make an application for the Club Excellence Award, part of a new initiative developed by the IRFU as an element of their Strategic Plan.
By The Newsroom
Published 6th Mar 2012, 10:30 BST

Ballymena is one of only two clubs to successfully achieve the award this season, and it was presented to President Syd Millar and Honorary Secretary Guy McCullough at a reception prior to the recent Ireland v. Italy game at Aviva Stadium.

This award is a club accreditation scheme, which aims to promote best practice across a number of key areas, which are grouped under the following headings:

- Basic Requirements.

- Club Management.

- Development Programmes.

- Health and Safety.

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Management Structure, Club Constitution, Roles, Web-site, Communication, Playing and Participation, Coaching, Club Facilities, Community Development, Volunteers, Health and Safety and Child Protection are all topics which were closely scrutinised by the Club Officials, with a comprehensive policy produced for each, in an exercise which has lasted several months.

This very demanding programme aims to set criteria and operating standards to which the club can perform and be measured against, which are intended to improve the standard of the operation of the club, and give focus to its development.

The scheme itself does not relate to the winning of trophies, but more to the overall operation of the club, from which achievement and performance on the field of play will then doubtless follow.

Recognition, by way of successful accreditation in these key areas, will allow the club to highlight and promote its operating standards, and permit it to recruit new members, particularly youth members, with the assurance that they are joining a well run club, which is performing to ‘best practice’ established criteria.

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Assessment for the award was done as a two-stage process. Firstly, the club submitted to the IRFU a comprehensive portfolio containing all the evidence produced, which showed how most of the criteria of the scheme were being met by present practices at Eaton Park. This was scrutinised by an IRFU panel and also by an independent body. The remaining criteria were then assessed on site by a club visit from IRFU officials.

As well as being able to market the club as an accredited quality environment for young players, and recruit accordingly, now that the accreditation has been granted, the club will doubtless find itself in a strong position if, in the future, it may be making an application for Grant-aid from any of the usual sources.

The team of club officials who have produced the required materials and their individual areas of responsibility are:

Scott Muir - Mini Rugby Organisation, Coaching, Volunteers; Sam McGreer - Health and Safety; Tom Wiggins - Youth Rugby Organisation, Community rugby, Coaching, Volunteers, Involvement of the Disabled; David Smyth - Coaching, Players, Referees, Volunteers; Les McCracken - Communications, Publications; Bill Wallace - Club Development Plan, Database, Website; Hector Deane - Grounds and Property, Facilities; Guy McCullough - Constitution, Policies, Management Structure, Job Descriptions, Child Protection, Volunteers, Courses, Scheme Co-ordination, Portfolio.

Related topics:Ballymena