HKRU Club Accreditation Kicks Off

The Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU) have announced the first cohort of clubs to successfully achieve the Club Accreditation Award, and who will now be able to display the new Accreditation “Tick” logo on promotional materials.

This initiative was born out of the HKRU’s last Strategic Plan which highlighted the importance of “striving to provide a top class, safe and engaging experience wherever rugby is played”, and to help facilitate an Accreditation framework was developed for clubs to show what they are doing, how they do it, and where they can improve. It will allow our 56 clubs to exhibit all that is good about rugby in their adult sections, mini and youth, women and girls and touch rugby, while demonstrating that this is all achieved in a friendly, welcoming environment.

The Club Accreditation scheme is focused on five key areas identified as crucial to a strong club:

1. Player Welfare

2. Coaching

3. Player Pathways

4. Management & Governance

5. Teams

Each of these, together with the HKRU core Values of Respect, Excellence, Integrity and Inclusion, represent the component parts of a strong, sustainable club committed to providing all that’s best in the sport of rugby.

The Accreditation initiative has been headed up by Nathan Stewart, the Union’s General Manager of Training & Development, who is delighted by the progress to date and the positive engagement of the clubs;

“The scheme is straightforward and designed to both recognise and assist a club to continually improve, and to that end we have offered a range of training and development resources which have been well received - over the past season a total of 222 participants have gone through Safeguarding, 1st Aid and Coaching courses, and we are also currently running monthly club development webinars utilising both local and international examples of best practice.”

Reflecting on the progress to date, Rod Lai the HKRU Director of Community Rugby noted;

“Our clubs, from minis through youth to seniors, are what make our rugby community so vibrant and special, and it’s been great to see so many of them enthusiastically engaged with the Accreditation process. My congratulations to those pioneers who have been first to achieve Accreditation, and we look forward to working with the others to help them achieve that distinctive ‘tick’ logo in the coming year.”

HONG KONG RUGBY UNION ACCREDITED CLUBS/SECTIONS

(SEASON 2022/23)

Senior Club/Section :

· Gai Wu Rugby Football Club

· HKU Sandy Bay Rugby Football Club

· Hong Kong Football Club

· Hong Kong Scottish Rugby Football Club

· Kowloon Rugby Football Club

· Typhoons Rugby Football Club

· USRC Tigers Rugby Football Club

· Valley Rugby Football Club

(8 Clubs/Sections)