All you need to know about Cobham RFC's festival is here: http://www.cobhamrfc.com/mini-rugby/mini-festivals-2013/mini-b-festival-.... More info here too: https://www.facebook.com/cobhamminifestivals

As with last week, please look out for specific information from your age group managers (eg requested arrival times, refs, helpers etc). If you can car share do; parking at festivals is usually a "challenge".

Best of luck if you're representing the club

Over 2,000 people descended on Barham Road for the Wimbledon RFC Minis B Festival on Sunday (29 September) with 850+ kids from 10 clubs enjoying a tremendous day of rugby. We'll be updating the results here as we get them (please send any to comms@wmrfc.co.uk). This was the first tournament, for the younger groups anyway, to play to the New Rules of Play, and the general consensus was that the changes have helped the kids get the most from their efforts. The results in so far are as follows...
U7 - of the four leagues (the four a-side format means lots of teams, pitches and games!) Wimbledon RFC registered two seconds and a third
U8 - Cup final - Rosslyn Park beat Teddington; Plate final Wimbledon RFC (yay!) beat Old Reigatians
U9 - Cup final - Won by Rosslyn Park; Plate final Won by Wimbledon RFC (yay)
U10 - Cup final - Cobham beat Wimbledon RFC (just); Plate final to come
U11 Cup final - Rosslyn Park beat Wimbledon RFC; Plate final to come
U12 - Cup final - Cobham beat Wimbledon RFC; Plate final KCS beat Effingham and Leatherhead

Big thanks from the exec to Mike Cook and Ken Millett for running the festival so brilliantly and Steve Vaughan and the U11 parents for a great job with the car parking.

We're very much looking forward to hosting the first B festival of the season this Sunday (29 September). All visiting clubs should have received their information packs - if not please contact Mike Cook on 07850 203986 or email mike.cooky@gmail.com. The clubs sending teams this year are: Camberley, Cobham, Effingham and Leatherhead, Esher, KCS, Old Reigatians, Rosslyn Park, Teddington, and Wimbledon Warriors - welcome all. If you or your kids are playing on Sunday, all teams need to be registered by 9.30 at the very latest, so we'd recommend aiming to be at the ground for about 9am. Especially as...

It will come as no surprise that, with so many people coming to the festival, parking is going to be a challenge! So we've put together a document showing our recommendations of where best to park. We'd really recommend reading it before you arrive. It's here and shows the roads that need to be kept clear. The key issues relate to emergency vehicles and ensuring access for our neighbours to and from their properties.

Any questions about the festival? Please contact Mike (as above) or Paul Craig, Minis Chair on 07771 850526.

Here's hoping for a brilliant day of rugby

All you need to know about Cobham RFC's festival is here: http://www.cobhamrfc.com/mini-rugby/mini-festivals-2013/Cobham%20RFC%20A.... More info here too: https://www.facebook.com/cobhamminifestivals

Please look out for specific information from your age group managers (eg requested arrival times, refs, helpers etc). If you can car share do; parking at festivals is usually a "challenge".

Best of luck if you're representing the club

One of the challenges the club faces is accommodating our parents' and visitors' cars, especially when it's wet or when we're hosting other clubs. The roads around the club, particularly Barham, Hood and Preston, tend to take the greatest strain. We would like to remind all parents and visitors that these are private roads and strongly request that you do not park on these roads. Blocking or restricting access to our neighbours' properties is not acceptable and brings the club, and the sport of rugby, into disrepute. We are working with the residents' committee to uphold the core value of respect that our game insists upon. Please help the club maintain the mutually beneficial relationship between ourselves and our local community.

For our B Festival we produce a programme that is distributed to all that attend (it's on 29th September). With apologies for getting a bit sales-y: for anyone running a business operating in the Wimbledon/Kingston/North Surrey area this is a cracking opportunity to target a couple of thousand "wealthy south-west London-based adults with kids" in the warmest of environments by advertising in the programme. The costs are very reasonable (from £110). Please help if you can. As with any club, we need the money (!) so this is a way of contributing whilst getting a lot back in terms of exposure and opportunity. Ken Millett ref@wmrfc.co.uk is your man if you're interested.

As part of the RFUs plans for improving player and spectator behaviour it has put together a document (see attached below) - This is Rugby . It simply states what rugby is, and most importantly, what it isn't. Please take a moment to study it, especially in light of the renewed focus on discipline this season - http://wmrfc.co.uk/rfucorevalues. Let's help everyone enjoy our sport to the full. Also, the club's disciplinary policy has been published. This is relevant for all. It's available here

The club has arranged for the RFU to come to Barham Road to host a Rugby Ready training session for coaches and parents. The session starts at 7pm and lasts for approx 2.5 hours. This is guaranteed to be the easiest course to attend as it's at our home ground! So if you already get involved, or want to get involved with coaching, and want to learn about how best to help out, please turn up. More info on Rugby Ready, here

It has been a great start to the season with great weather and big turnouts. Whilst we can't do much about the first point it would be great to see these numbers continue throughout the season! All the coaches have been encouraged to see so many new people come and try out rugby at the club. If you and your kids like coming to the club, do encourage others to do so too. Training continues for the whole season, Sunday mornings, 10am (sharp!) start.

To clarify the situation re childcare on Sundays: the club requires parents to stay pitch-side whilst your children are playing. We are not a drop-off club. Should you need to leave the club/pitch-side it is the parents' responsibility to nominate another parent to be responsible for your child(ren) whilst you are away. Any questions please refer to Georgina Shield, the club's Child Protection Officer childprot@wmrfc.co.uk