Interim Touch Rugby Coordinator and new positions of Touch Rugby Chair and Touch Team Manager

It was great to see so many people down at Touch last Sunday; we managed to get two full-games going alongside each other.


Here are a few updates:

1. Nigel Webb Stepping Down

After 2+ years Nigel Webb (Flex) has decided he wants to step down from the O2Touch coordinator role to take a break.  We're very grateful for all Nigel has done to develop and grow O2Touch, including entering (and organising) our first few inter-club tournaments during the year.  I'm sure Nigel will still continue to help out with running the occasional session alongside Darryl, Mike and Scott.

2. URGENT - New Interim Touch Rugby Coordinator Needed ASAP

So this means that we need to find a new Touch Rugby Coordinator to step in right away and get things going for the summer season.  The most important things you need to do in this role are:

• Organise a rota to make sure someone runs every session
• Announce when sessions are and are not taking place
• Be a point of liaison for the club with the RFU O2 Touch team, which provides some sponsorship to the club

Even if you are very new to the club, please still get in touch if you can help with this. It's a great way to get involved and get to know people.

3. Possible new elected touch rugby positions

We are exploring the idea of adding the role of "Touch Chair" as an elected management committee role to sit equally alongside Men's, Ladies' & Youth Chair.  This would recognise the way that touch has grown at Millwall over the past 10 years to the point that it now happens all year round and we are now starting to enter club competitions. Additionally, it is now a key recruitment channel and attracts funding for the club.

Recognising that it can be a lot of work for one person to do alone, and noting the successes Venus has had in having two elected officers who support each other, we are also looking at creating an elected "Touch Team Manager" role whose responsibility it would be to manage competitive teams and fill in the touch rugby team sheet etc and work with the Touch Chair to manage the rota.

• The Touch Chair would be expected to represent touch on the Club Management Committee (CMC) and take an active role in managing the club.  
• The Touch Team Manager would be elected by touch players just like our other team managers, but would not be obliged to attend management committee meetings.

Just like now, we would still depend on a number of additional (unelected) touch session organisers to be on a rota.

We would probably need to find a way of making sure that the position handover happens in March/April each year so that the new people are fully up to speed for the summer season.  This would allow the Club Captain to focus on pre-season training instead of worrying about getting summer touch going.

This change carries the support of myself, Nigel and the current club management committee but we would like to know what you think.  It will require a small change to our constitution and articles of association and will be formally proposed at the AGM for you to vote on.

So...

• if you are interested in standing as Touch Chair,
• or if you are interested in being Touch Team Manager
• or if you would like to volunteer to be an interim coordinator from today onwards
• or if you would like to volunteer to run a few sessions 
• or if you have any views/comments/observations on proposal in 3 above, 

...then please speak to Nigel, Matt Bovaird or me. You can contact us at: andrew@millwallrugby.com, flex@millwallrugby.com or mattbovaird@millwallrugby.com


Regards
Andrew Hesselden
Club Communications Officer & "O2 Touch Rugby Ambassador"