Bristol Rugby has been announced as winners of the SportBusiness Community Initiative of the Year 2010 at the 5th Annual All-Party Parliamentary Rugby Citizenship Awards.
Bristol Rugby pipped Premiership sides Saracens, Bath Rugby and Northampton Saints to the top award after a panel of judges unanimously crowned their Phoenix Project: Bright Sparks Programme as the winner. The four clubs battled for the title after being named as category winners in the first round.
'Bright Sparks' is a social inclusion programme that utilises the highest quality rugby union skills, drills and games with team building and leadership workshops. The aim is to attain rapport with and re-engage designated young people from schools in high risk areas back into the educational process. Working in partnership with organisations such as Avon Fire & Rescue Service, Avon & Somerset Police and SERCO Prisons, the programme provides young people with direct and tangible examples of how poor life choices will directly affect their lives.
Derek Wyatt MP, Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group said, "This is the most sensational programme. It focuses on youth crime and anti-social behaviour, which are two very tricky areas to tackle. Their aims and objectives are really clear, well thought through and very targeted. It's a very clean and simple programme, which is producing results. Bristol Rugby is solving something that we can't do as a government, nor can local education authorities."
The awards were judged by a panel including; Derek Wyatt MP, Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group, Robert Walter MP, Treasurer of the All Party Parliamentary Group, Mark McCafferty, Chief Executive of Premier Rugby, Kevin Roberts, Editorial Director of SportBusiness Magazine and Alex MacGillivray, Senior Partner at Accountability.
The programmes
Northampton Saints, 'Kick Smoking into Touch'
Health Programme of the Year
The judges were particularly complimentary of Northampton Saints' 'Kick Smoking into Touch' initiative. They said the programme, now in its sixth year, was sustainable and innovative. They liked the focus on smoking and substance abuse and noted how this was used to target the audience very effectively. While children were the main focus, the use of external partnerships opened the message up to the whole household, which they held to be a very commendable achievement.
Saracens, 'Community Dance Programme'
Participation Programme of the Year
The judges believed Saracens' 'Community Dance' programme was a worthy winner and congratulated the programme for being sustainable. The programme utilises a wide range of assets and works with a number of partners across the area to ensure the project is addressing fundamental community needs. They honoured the programme for attracting and raising continuous funds through partnerships and accomplishing clear goals. They further noted that although the programme has been running for three years it maintains a very high retention rate.
Bristol Rugby, 'The Phoenix Project: Bright Sparks Programme'
Social Inclusion Programme of the Year
Judges in the social inclusion category were faced with the toughest battle, with two clubs scoring the highest points after their initial review of the proposals. However, it proved to be the tactics used by Bristol Rugby in their innovative programme that brought about their triumph. The judges liked that the scheme emphasised the importance of showing youngsters the effect poor life choices can have in a tangible way. The prison visits set up by the programme addressed this clearly. The partnerships in this programme are managed well and are key to its success.
Bath Rugby, 'Language through Sport'
Education programme of the Year
The judges commended Bath Rugby for their community programme noting that their use of language and sport in an inventive way has subsequently created something very unique. They said the programme was innovative, scalable and demonstrated a good reach across Bath and the surrounding areas. The club were highly praised for their use of external auditors to evaluate the success of the programme.
Derek Wyatt MP said "The scale of the community work the Premier Rugby clubs do is truly phenomenal. The clubs and players are really committed to the projects that they run and they work very closely with their partners to produce significant results. We are now in our fifth year of the Citizenship Awards. The community programmes we are seeing are getting better and better every year. The judges and I will have a tough time picking an overall winner on March 4th".
Mark McCafferty, Chief Executive of Premier Rugby added, "Our clubs have always maintained a commitment to grass roots investments and in the ten years of professional rugby, the Guinness Premiership clubs have developed an infrastructure and the experience to make them first rate partners for public and private sector organisations. The winners announced today are at the forefront of that, but all the clubs demonstrated excellent programmes and a commitment to learn from the best practice examples recognised today".
SportBusiness magazine manager Luke Upton said "Working in the sport industry we are very aware of the potential that teams have to do good in their community, whether it be improving health, education, social inclusion or participation. Rugby clubs are at the heart of their communities and provide a platform for doing good. It's great that Premier Rugby is able to reward the clubs that fulfil this potential".
The interim judging panel consisted of experienced community investors, including The Big Lottery Fund, the Drinkaware Trust, Food Standards Agency, Astra Zeneca and the NSPCC.
Awards winners
Health Programme of the Year - Northampton Saints 'Kick Smoking into Touch'
Runner-up, Saracens 'Sport for Health'
Participation Programme of the Year - Saracens 'Community Dance Programme'
Runners-up, Harlequins 'Inner City Player Development Programme' and Northampton Saints 'Saints and Mirus IT Community Programme'
Social Inclusion Programme of the Year - Bristol Rugby 'The Phoenix Project: Bright Sparks Programme'
Commendation to Worcester Warriors 'Worcestershire npower tag inclusive programme'
Runner-up, Saracens 'Field of Dreams'
Education programme of the Year - Bath Rugby 'Language Through Sport'
Runner-up, Northampton Saints 'TRY TIME at Saints'
For more information: http://www.guinnesspremiership.com/news/12576.php
