England Touch Association makes further strides forward despite lockdown

The England Touch Association (ETA) has made significant strides forward despite the 2020 lockdowns, the Association’s member clubs were told at last weekend’s Annual General Meeting.

The Covid-19 pandemic has hit all sports at all levels, but with the ETA being a largely volunteer-led organisation the financial impact, while not to be downplayed, has not had the same catastrophic impact seen elsewhere in the sector.

Although losses were incurred in the last financial year, they were mitigated by a grant from the Sport England Partner Sector Fund and a dramatically increased programme of online development sessions delivered to members during the year.

And it is this rapid shift online which represents the agility and adaptability that the ETA has as one of its hallmarks.

Furthermore, the lockdowns and postponements of all of the year’s scheduled international competitions did not stop the England High Performance programme from continuing apace. There are now 60 volunteers across the programme’s staff, including newly-appointed Mental Skills Coaches and Sports Psychologists, and a Head Performance Analyst who will grow their area as the England teams build towards the 2022 European Championships.

The ETA is committed to working closely with the RFL, RFU and Sport England, as seen in the development of the Return to Play protocols adopted by the entire Touch community. The senior management also reiterated their commitment to growing the participation base among all ages, genders and backgrounds, and the parallel desire to further the equality, diversity and inclusion agenda necessary to achieve the ambitions to get 500,000 people playing Touch regularly.

The AGM approved the change of the ETA’s Board structure into three appointed Non-Executive Directors (NEDs), three elected NEDs and three Executive Directors, and voted Emma Hardaker and Justin Conway onto the Board.

Both are highly experienced professionals with strong legal backgrounds, with Hardaker focusing on financial compliance and risk management and Conway having had partnerships at a number of international law firms.

On the sporting front Conway is one of the most recognised and experienced figures within the England Touch landscape, as Head Coach of the England national Mixed Open team at the 2019 Touch World Cup and towards the next European Championships and World Cup, and as a player and coach with London Scorpions, one of the country’s leading teams in both the Mixed and Single Gender formats. Meanwhile Hardaker is on the committee of Chobham RFC’s minis section, where she acts as safeguarding officer.

“It was very pleasing to have so many attendees at our AGM, with more clubs and individual members than any other in recent years,” said England Touch Chair Mark Croston. “It highlights the continued interest that our clubs have in our development as an Association and as a sport, even though the opportunities to play have been dramatically reduced over the last 12 months.

“I have seen the huge contributions made by the Touch community, our workforce, which is almost entirely made up of volunteers and I would like to pay tribute to all of them. Like many volunteers around the country, they work so hard to support and manage our great sport. This work is indispensable and will be even more so as we emerge from the current coronavirus crisis.

“As Touch returns during such a challenging time, we are grateful for the physical and mental wellbeing it brings and the camaraderie it offers. We want to attract more people to play and watch our great sport. We have the Executive Team, Board and Workforce capable of leading change and out of this current adversity we look forward to a very positive future. I am proud to be part of the team that will make this happen. Diversity and inclusion will be key during the next year and as a Board we will be intensifying our efforts to lead inclusively.

“I’m delighted to welcome Emma Hardaker and Justin Conway onto the Board of Directors as our two new Non-Executives. They have a wealth of professional expertise and Justin’s knowledge and experience of the domestic and international Touch landscape will provide us with additional insight as we strive to take further strides forward to challenging Australia and New Zealand as the world’s leading nations.”

CLICK HERE to download the 2020 England Touch Association Annual Report.