Cleckheaton receive RFU honour (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Cleckheaton receive RFU honour

4:36pm Friday 8th March 2013 in Sport By Sports Desk

Cleckheaton have been awarded the new RFU Club Accreditation status.

After holding the RFU Seal of Approval stamp since 2008, the new award signifies that the whole club - from their under-seven minis team to their four open-age teams - has been audited to ensure that they offer the highest-quality rugby to the community.

Accreditation means that players and parents can be assured that Cleckheaton have a full playing and coaching programme, fulfil a duty of care to protect young people and children, interacts with the local community and is managed to high-quality standards.

The RFU Club Accreditation award also includes the Clubmark Accreditation issued by Sport England.

Cleckheaton RUFC junior chairman Andy Clark said: “This is great news for Cleckheaton and is a testament to all those who put in hours of work every week to ensure that the rugby we play at Moorend is the best, safest and friendliest it can be.

“Players, coaches, administrators, parents and committee members should be proud of this achievement.”

Cleckheaton Sports Club’s rugby and cricket sections, which operate as Cleckheaton RUFC and Cleckheaton Cricket Club, are now looking to develop their changing facilities.

These plans will include en-suite showers and toilets, larger and better equipped changing rooms and a ground floor medical room.

Although the club are already actively fund-raising for this project, it is in a major operation which is thought will cost over £150,000.

Accreditation will ensure that the club has access to contributory funding from the individual sports’ governing bodies and Sport England.

In another important development this season, rugby union is again a core sport at Whitcliffe Mount School after a break of 16 years.

The school has signed up to the RFU’s All Schools Programme, which provides qualified RFU coaching for pupils and teachers and kit and equipment for a period of three years.

Cleckheaton has always been strongly linked with Whitcliffe; most of the present committee and players went to the school and played rugby there, and have been using the school fields as essential playing facilities for their large number of players over the intervening years.

Now the links are even tighter and the school will be able to use Cleckheaton’s Moorend facilities for mid-week inter-school games and introduce new players and parents to the club.