From: Dave Livesey <davelivesey@rfu.com>
Saturday August 23rd 2025.
Dear Club Contacts,
I hope you are well and looking forward to the start of the season. It is very important that you read these three documents. The Briefing document below is attached separately.
Men's Leagues Pre Season Briefing Document:
This document has been produced to update clubs on key information for the upcoming 2025-26 season, including League Competitions, play-offs and the Counties Community Cup Competitions, as well as information on Adult Player Registration.
Within this document we also have some more detail on the new playoffs for National & Regional Clubs.
RFU Community Cup Draw:
This is for all clubs from Counties One and below (unless they have chosen to opt out of the competition) - (Level 7 and below).
Game postponements:
Given the continued dry weather over recent weeks please find attached guidance on the protocol should you need to postpone matches.
Please contact me should you have any queries or direct clubs to contact competitions-development@rfu.com should they have any queries.
Kind Regards
Dave Livesey
RFU Competitions Manager (Development)
E-mail: davelivesey@rfu.com
Tel.: 07702 779453
August 22nd 2025
Dear Club Contacts,
Firstly, thank you all for getting your Club Contact Data Collection Form in to me. Unfortunately, there have been a few errors, so I am sending this email out to you all to find any other possible errors with your email addresses. I would expect a bounce back with any errors, so if I do get a bounce back I will telephone you to find out your correct email address. Hopefully it will not be many.
There are a number of pieces of information that I wish to give to you regarding the new season.
The most important is asking that you please make sure you read the Midlands Region Administrative Instructions (MRAI). This is important to save you making mistakes during the season. This document can be found on the RFU Midlands website. It is being updated at the moment but last season's is still available on the website.
rfumidlands.com - RFU Game Regulations & MRAI
EMC Errors:
Last season I sent out nearly 300 letters to clubs who had made errors with regards to the EMC. For the last season and a half, we have centralised this task so that all Clubs across the Midlands are treated in the same way. Centralising this procedure means that I send out all letters which as you can imagine takes up a lot of time, please remember I am a volunteer like you. Therefore, I am asking all of you to try to ensure that no errors are made with regards to your EMC. At the AGM of the Midlands ROC, it was agreed that having to send out this number of letters is not what is expected and therefore this season we will not be sending out a warning letter, you will receive an immediate fine of £25.
Below you will find a list of these errors and some guidance with some of them.
1. Failure to inform administrator of inability to fulfil a fixture.
2. Team squad list not submitted before the deadline. 15 minutes before kick-off
3. Front Row player(s) not identified on EMC.
4. EMC amended/accessed after the deadline. 15 minutes before kick-off. If you have to make a late change, please contact your league secretary to do it. If you cannot get an answer, please leave a message for him. He will make the necessary changes as soon as he can for you. You can also call me as a last resort.
5. Failure to notify the result on time. On a Saturday this is 17:30 (5:30 pm). For matches played on any other day it is within 30 minutes of the end of the game.
6. Failure to correctly record the result.
7. Failure to correctly record the tries tallies.
8. Failure to submit the EMC by Tuesday 12:00 noon. (This is a change from last season when it had to be submitted by 17:00 (5:00 pm) on the following day.
9. An unjustified postponement* or any other misdemeanour.
Postponement procedure:
Please find attached a guidance form for you to follow if you have to postpone a game due to the weather. (We do not need you to send the form to us it is just for your guidance.) It is important that you inform your league secretary as soon as there is a possibility that the match may not be able to take place due to the weather.
Inability to raise a team (This is also in the MRAI Regulation 6.1):
When a club at Level 7 or below is unable to select a team from its list of registered players they should first offer to play the game under Game-On principles, or failing that as a friendly, with a minimum of 10 players using unregistered or borrowed players or with uncontested scrums.
The offending team must inform the League Secretary and their opponents of their offer to play a friendly at the earliest opportunity and save for exceptional circumstances by no later than 20:00 on the Thursday prior to the match. The non-offending team prepared to play a friendly must respond by 12 noon Friday. This option will be available to a team a maximum of three times during the season.
The non-offending team should accept the offer to play such a match in which event they will be awarded a 5-point walkover. Should the non-offending team decline to play or fail to honour the fixture once accepted they will not be awarded any league points. Failure to give these options of playing the game under Game-On or as a friendly by the offending club or failing to honour a friendly once accepted will mean that the failure to play will be considered an “unjust” cancellation and will result in the deduction of 5 Championship points from the offending club’s record, the awarding of a 5-point walkover to the non-offending team and, in the event of the fixture being in the first half of the season, will result in the corresponding fixture in the second half of the season having the home venue reversed as per RFU Regulation 6 item 48.
For clubs in leagues where they play the same opposition three times a subsequent fixture will be reversed if there is an “unjust” cancellation at any point in the season. If a match is played as a friendly then both clubs must notify the League Secretary of the result.
NOTE: For the avoidance of doubt, any match played under Game-On will NOT be deemed a Notional Win, and as such the result will stand and any bonus points gained will be awarded as though the match had been played under full regulations. An Electronic Match Card should be submitted for such matches
This is still correct for the two leagues that are involved in the Project Result Trial if you go down the Game On or playing a Friendly route. (C3ME(NE) and C4ME(NE)).
Kick off times:
If a Club with suitable floodlights wishes all its games at home to kick off at 15:00 then they must inform the League Secretary and all the teams in their league before the start of the season. It is also important to cover yourselves by sending either a valid Lux Certificate or a completed Risk Assessment Form for your floodlights to your League Secretary.
On Saturdays clubs without floodlights must kick-off NO LATER THAN:
3:00 pm in September, October, March and April.
2:15 pm in November, December, January and February.
Matches can kick off earlier or later subject to the approval of the League Secretary and with both sides in agreement to such a change.
Contact Data:
Midlands Region Officers, CB Representatives and League Secretaries Contact data is on the RFU Midlands website.
If you need any help at any time please contact your League Secretary or CB Representative in the first instance and then me secondly.
Finally, I hope that you have a successful season, and I know that the Midlands Administrators are looking forward to working with you this season.
Thanking you all in anticipation.
Kind regards
Robin
Honorary Secretary of RFU Midlands ROC.
R. J. Websdale
22 Cardington Close
Seabridge
Newcastle under Lyme
Staffordshire ST5 3LJ
07977 592215