Rugby is making a significant impact on the relationship between young people and the police through the RFU's partnership with the Child Victims of Crime charity.
The programme enables the police to build positive relationships with children and deliver valuable messages about personal safety using the charity’s ‘Tackle Safety’ resources.
More than 30,000 boys and girls from schools throughout England have taken part in the Tag To Twickenham festivals for mixed teams of Year 6 pupils this season that reaches its conclusion next week.
The CVOC National Finals see 20 teams in action at Rugby School on July 8, and the two finalists will play at Twickenham ahead of the Investec Challenge international between England and New Zealand on November 21.
“Tag Rugby is an excellent sport for building self-esteem, comradeship and an ability to focus on a common theme,” said Keith Turner, the charity’s chairman and former Chief Constable of Gwent.
“It also provides the police with an excellent opportunity to develop links with the community and deliver important personal safety messages to young people.”
The programme has worked particularly well with West Mercia Police, whose force covers Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire.
West Mercia Police in the Midlands have trained more than 150 officers to deliver Tag Rugby coaching in schools and run regional tournaments as part of a youth inclusion programme designed to break down barriers between children and the police.
As well as coaching in schools and passing on the CVOC charity's Tackle Safety messages, rugby is also used as a vehicle to tackle anti-social behaviour in the hours after school and in reaching out to new communities.
In Redditch, problems with anti-social behaviour were tackled by running an after-school Tag Rugby session on a local artificial playing surface, taking children off the streets and engaging with them and their parents in a positive way.
In Telford, officers ran rugby sessions for Asian children, learning words and phrases in Punjabi and other languages, and engaging with parents as well as children. The initiative is now held up nationally as an example of best practice.
"We started our Tag programmes at the end of 2007 working with 15 schools and this year each of our five divisions have held their own tournaments," said DC Simon Davies, the project coordinator.
"All the officers involved in the Tag Rugby programme love it as it's a great of engaging with children."
