Rugby World Cup 2015

Mark Pawsey Excerpts

Friday 11th September 2015 Commons Chamber

[Dr Mathias]

I am half Welsh, I must confess.

We will have a great legacy. I have to say that the England team is looking exceptionally good. Having watched them in August in the friendly with France and seen Anthony Watson score those two tries, there is a chance that England could win the world cup. However, as the Minister is well aware, there are no guarantees in competitive sport. That is why we enjoy sport at this level.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

My hon. Friend’s constituency is the home of the game of rugby; my constituency is its birthplace—where it all happened. The tourism opportunities she has mentioned are incredibly important. The challenge will be for England to do well in order to maintain that tourism offer. That is no more true than in my constituency, where we have a fan zone where we are expecting visitors, but we have no games. Let us all hope that England do particularly well during the tournament.

[Dr Mathias]

I absolutely agree. I feel for my hon. Friend in not having any matches. Yesterday we had the Webb Ellis cup touring, and that invigorated people. I can assure him that we were thinking of him, with that trophy named in honour of his area.

For the legacy, we have to go beyond the stadium. The Rugby Football Union in Twickenham is an amazing sports business with annual revenues of over £150 million. It is doing great things in England for rugby, especially for schools and clubhouses up and down the country, and for training. Importantly for Twickenham, it has introduced rugby to some of our schools; I wish it was to all of them. It has given free tickets to some matches to residents who live nearby and are affected by the matches taking place. The RFU also has Home Turf, which is funding street festivals in Twickenham. Very commendably, it donates to charities such as the Dallaglio Foundation, which uses rugby to give young people other skills—life skills—showing that rugby goes beyond the stadium. The RFU is also very energy-conscious. That is important in my constituency, where many people are highly environmentally aware.

The RFU has a very good museum that holds exhibitions that are pertinent to locals. I was very proud that their exhibition of world war one heroes who were also rugby players had my grandfather’s medals—his Royal Flying Corps medals and his Military Cross—because he was a world war one hero and also a great rugby player.

We in Twickenham, and the RFU in particular, do look to the stadium. However, my concern, and the reason for this debate, is that some people in Twickenham consider the stadium to be more like a giant UFO that just happens to there. Some residents do not have on repeat on their smartphones iconic tries such as the one by Sir Gareth Edwards in the Barbarians-All Blacks game in 1973. Some residents do not think of those in the line-out statue as giants but more as extraterrestrials who just happen to be there. We have to look out for residents who are not completely in love with the game—we have to go beyond the sport.

This House has already debated the legacy of the Olympics, which led to many people taking up more sports.

--- Later in debate ---

[Tracey Crouch]

No, they should not use illegal sites. There are plenty of legal and official sites, on which tickets are still available.

Spectators attending matches will be helped and directed by the 6,000-strong Pack—the volunteers, whom my hon. Friend mentioned—who have been recruited from the rugby community in England and Wales, recognising those who support and deliver the game week in, week out, and from the general public.

[Mark Pawsey]

Will the Minister pay tribute to the broader rugby community, which is not just players but ex-players and kids, and to the great nature that exists between rugby supporters from all clubs and towns? When I take my friends to Twickenham stadium in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Dr Mathias) people ask, “Why are there so few police here? Are we at the England end or the other team’s end?” We do not need that segregation because the rugby community is so warm-hearted.

[Tracey Crouch]

I agree with my hon. Friend. The rugby community, whether at big games or local rugby clubs, is incredibly friendly. That is why volunteers have been recruited from the entire community and those who deliver the game week in, week out, which includes many volunteers from local clubs. We saw the impact of games makers at London 2012 on the enjoyment of spectators, and I am sure that the Pack will have a similar impact. That is an additional aspect of the legacy of big events such as this tournament and the Olympics.

Before I turn to more general comments about the wider legacy of the rugby world cup, I know that legitimate concerns have been raised by constituents of my hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham about match-day events at Twickenham stadium. I am also reassured that tournament organisers have held a series of community engagement events to listen to local residents and businesses.

I appreciate that Twickenham residents, while used to rugby, may not have previously experienced this number of matches over a short period of time. This once-in-a-lifetime event will bring significant benefits to the local economy. I hope that the local council and local residents will appreciate that although it might interrupt their lives for a short period, they will get something positive out of it in future.

Turning now to the wider issue, it is vital that, as well as holding a successful tournament, we drive the best possible legacy from the event, both in terms of participation in rugby, and in the wider economic and social benefits. I am delighted that the RFU has put in place detailed plans, and earmarked significant resources for increasing participation in the grassroots of the game. That includes spreading the game in schools, especially state schools that have not traditionally played rugby. This programme has reached 130,000 pupils, one third of whom are girls. As a result 3,000 have joined clubs and are playing the game regularly.

In general, mini and junior sections are extremely strong in rugby clubs. There are 150,000 registered players and 6,000 teams in clubs with players between the ages of six and 13. Tag and touch rugby tournaments aimed at youngsters are becoming incredibly popular—I see that in my own local clubs, as I am sure do many others, where hundreds of children turn up to play rugby. I am sure that I am alone in my neighbourhood, but I find it more of a thrill than an irritation when on the odd day here or there parking is more difficult than usual because of the vast numbers of children playing rugby.

In addition, the legacy will include a programme to train new referees and coaches. Furthermore, building on my comments about little ones playing rugby, the O2 Touch Tour is helping to attract new players to touch rugby, and the Unity Project is building the game across parts of Europe that are at the development stage in rugby terms, linking English counties with European countries, and building relationships as well as the game of rugby.

It is great to see a number of different varieties of rugby being enjoyed—my hon. Friend mentioned wheelchair rugby, which is phenomenal to watch. We are also seeing developments in other areas, such as walking rugby, which can bring an older generation of players into the sport. The tournament is being celebrated at more than 700 events under the Festival of Rugby 2015 banner, which is on target to reach 1 million people. In addition, the Domestic Trophy Tour is taking the trophy around the UK and the Republic of Ireland, and will see 300 events in 100 days by the time it finishes next week—I believe that today is day 93. I feel I have been slightly stalked by the trophy, having seen it on a number of occasions, but it was an incredibly proud moment for my own local club—Aylesford Bulls—to host it last week, enabling the ladies premiership team to run a training session for all the youngsters who had turned up for a picture with the trophy. In turn I hope that that will inspire a future generation of boys and girls to get involved.

In addition to the RFU’s activities, others are using the tournament to promote their own legacy objectives. In one of the host cities, Exeter, all pupils from reception to year 2, across 23 primary schools, are receiving a “My First Rugby Ball” book, promoting rugby’s morals and values while increasing interest in the sport. The city has held an economic business benefits conference, established a cash for communities legacy fund and launched a healthy lifestyle initiative with Devon county council. These may be initiatives my hon. Friend’s own local council might want to pick up with Exeter to see if it can replicate them.

Those of us in government are also keen to drive a strong legacy from the rugby world cup. UK Trade & Investment and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have plans in place to ensure that the many influential visitors we are expecting from important partner nations receive a warm welcome, and that we maximise the economic and political benefits to the UK. This will include a UKTI-led business festival, which will see events across the regions ensuring the positive effects of the tournament reach every corner of the country. The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games showed how legacy plans that are devised well in advance and implemented by a range of partners working together can pay huge dividends, including £14.2 billion in economic benefits through trade and investment.

There has been a large increase in sport participation since 2005, but I am concerned that the Active People survey shows recent falls in participation numbers among those aged 14 and over, including in rugby. I am therefore especially keen to see participation in rugby increase off the back of the rugby world cup.

The wider issue of participation is something that the Department is currently consulting on. This will lead to a new strategy for sport, the first such strategy for 13 years. This is not the time to go into detail about the strategy, but I encourage everyone who cares about sport, including rugby, to take part in the consultation, which closes on 2 October.

I thank my hon. Friend for drawing the House’s attention to this important event. I am sure that everyone here today will join me in wishing those taking part in and organising the event the best possible success over the next few weeks. I am confident we will be celebrating the tournament’s legacy long into the future.

Question put and agreed to.