The work of the dedicated Community team at Worcester Warriors won high praise at the annual Premiership Rugby Parliamentary Rugby Community Awards – as the club were named runners-up in two categories.
Warriors – the only club to gain two nominations in the awards dedicated to highlighting best practice in community rugby – were named runners-up in the Land Rover Impact Award for the In Touch project.
Run by Warriors, Wooden Spoon and Talbot Underwriting, the scheme works with young people with few or no qualifications and those who have been identified by local youth services as being at high risk of long term unemployment. The project – aimed people right across Worcestershire aged 16+ who are not in full-time employment, education and training – helps them gain skills, respect and discipline and to introduce key skills and new qualifications.
Warriors also came runners-up in the MBNA Innovation Award for the formation of the Midlands Ladies Touch League. The league was launched this season by the club in a bid to encourage and engage more women in taking part in rugby union across the entire West Midlands region.
Saracens were announced as winners of the prestigious Aviva Club of the Year award at Portcullis House in Westminster. Bath Rugby won the MBNA Innovation Award for the Women and Girls programme, which works with girls and women age seven plus. Bristol Rugby won the Impact award for their Inferno programme, which re-engages young offenders and youths with behavioural problems with education, employment and sport.
Mark McCafferty, Chief Executive of Premiership Rugby, said, “The awards highlight the very best community work the Premiership Rugby clubs carry out on a daily basis. The time and effort dedicated to such programmes is admirable and their commitment exemplary. Clubs, together with players and partners, are producing impressive results, demonstrating the true value of such programmes.”
Run in conjunction with the All Party Rugby Union Group (a cross party group made up of Parliamentarians in both Houses of Parliament who support Rugby Union), the Premiership Rugby Parliamentary Rugby Community Awards are sponsored by Aviva, Land Rover and MBNA and supported by media partner SportBusiness Group.
The awards were judged by a panel including; Mark McCafferty, Chief Executive of Premiership Rugby, Kevin Roberts, Editor of SportBusiness Magazine, Tony Cunningham, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Rugby Union Group, Nick Gibbs, Sponsorship Manager of Aviva, and Don Foster MP.