Prince Harry & Canterbury Confirm RFU Support

The Rugby Football Union has confirmed Prince Harry as a Patron of All Schools, and revealed Canterbury as the inaugural Official Partner for its programme to get more secondary state schools playing rugby union.

As Patron, Prince Harry will support the RFU in its ambition for 750 more to be self-sufficient rugby playing schools by the Rugby World Cup 2019, and to encourage new players to join local clubs.

Canterbury is the first partner to support All Schools and, as part of its involvement, each school taking part in the initiative was given the opportunity to attend one of a number of Canterbury kit design workshops last year. 

The jerseys produced for the schools will be presented for the first time at Twickenham during Sunday’s RBS 6 Nations England V Italy match, as 100 children from across England will each be representing their school on the pitch before kick off.

Ian Ritchie, chief executive of the RFU, said: ‘We are delighted that Prince Harry and Canterbury have pledged their support for All Schools. It’s an extremely important initiative for the RFU, and is already having a significant impact up and down the country. We know that both Prince Harry and the team at Canterbury share our aims to encourage more young people to play rugby and I look forward to us growing the game together.’

Commenting on the announcement of Canterbury as Official Partner, CEO Chris Stephenson, added: ‘The RFU’s All Schools is a fantastic programme which we are proud to support.  The Canterbury kit design workshops present pupils with the unique opportunity to design their school kit, which they will later wear in action and with extra pride on the rugby pitch. The workshops offered a stimulating educational experience for those who may have little understanding of the traditional values of rugby and it was great to see the outcomes from all taking part.’

All Schools forms one of the seven areas identified by the RFU to deliver the greatest participation legacy for the game in the lead up to the Rugby World Cup in 2015 and beyond. 

Secondary state schools have been selected in small clusters, allowing them to play rugby against each other locally. The RFU plans to take a school that is new to or has only just started to play rugby union, and turn it into a self-sufficient rugby playing school by the end of the three years providing a pipeline of players to the local rugby club.

Meanwhile, the Rugby Football Union has also announced the launch of its programme app for fans ahead of Sunday’s England RBS 6 Nations match against Italy.

The app – an interactive version of the match day programme – will feature exclusive articles by leading rugby writers and behind the scenes video from inside the England camp, available to download two days prior to all future RBS 6 Nations matches and QBE Internationals at Twickenham Stadium.

RFU chief commercial officer, Sophie Goldschmidt said: ‘This app will bring fans closer to the action, extend the reach of our very popular match day programme and provide an additional service for England Rugby fans around the world. We want to ensure our content is available for our supporters to access in the most convenient way – for many this is now on mobile devices and tablets.’

The programme app will be available from today through iTunes, priced £2.99.