Go Play Rugby Campaign shortlisted for Sport Industry Award

The Rugby Football Union has been shortlisted for a prestigious Sport Industry Award for its ground-breaking efforts in boosting player numbers in England.

The RFU's Go Play Rugby campaign will be one of six contenders in the Best Promotion of a Sport by a Governing Body category when the awards are presented in London on May 1.

Go Play Rugby was the biggest recruitment campaign ever run by a sport in England and the final results are expected to indicate more than 9,000 adults returning to the game.

More than 300 recruitment events were run throughout the country between August and November last year with the national campaign driving prospective players towards participating clubs, universities and colleges.

• Two million of the target audience watched Go Play Rugby advertising in cinemas 
   
• 300 radio and TV stations with an audience of more than 36 million people covered the campaign
   
• 20,000 people searched for places to play on the www.rfu.com/goplayrugby website or texted their postcode to 64411 to find their nearest club
  
• 1.6m resources – including business cards, beermats and posters –  were distributed to club recruiters around the country

England's Rugby World Cup management and players gave their time to support the campaign with captain Phil Vickery, fly half Jonny Wilkinson and the rest of the squad actively backing the campaign.

"We're delighted that the Go Play Rugby campaign has been shortlisted for such a prestigious Sport Industry Award," said the RFU Community Rugby Director Andrew Scoular.

"Go Play Rugby made a significant impact in strengthening the grassroots game in England thanks to the fantastic efforts of thousands of volunteers and the dedication of the RFU staff.

"We were able to invest £1million in the campaign thanks to grants from the National Sports Foundation, the Rugby Football Foundation, sponsorship from the Chelsea Building Society and the support of England Rugby sponsors O2.

"For us the next job is to make sure we retain these players and add to them with the Play On phase of the campaign, focusing specifically on the 16-24 age group."

England captain Phil Vickery said: "We were delighted to support the Go Play Rugby campaign bringing all these players back into the game.

"No matter what level you play at you're part of one big rugby family and it's great to know that family's getting bigger and bigger.”

The other entries shortlisted in the category are the ATP, British Cycling, the British Horseracing Authority, the NFL and the Football Association.

For more information about the Sport Industry Awards visit www2.sportindustry.biz