Last Chance To Take Part In ‘Your Game, Your Say’ Survey

The recently-launched Irish Rugby Football Union online survey, ‘Your Game, Your Say’, will finish this coming Friday, allowing the final remaining stakeholders to voice their opinions on the future direction of the current domestic rugby competitions.

The online survey can be accessed through this website at www.irishrugby.ie/yourgameyoursay.

The ‘Your Game, Your Say’ survey is one facet of the domestic game structures review under the IRFU Strategic Plan and part of the current AIB League Review Process.

The survey will be asking anybody with an involvement in the game to make their voice heard and shape the directions of the structures into the future.

To date, 36.8% of the respondents in the survey have been players, with supporters (33.8%), former players (12.2%), coaches (9.3%), administrators/volunteers (5.9%) and referees (1.9%) making up the remaining spread of people who have taken part.

In relation to members of clubs who have participated, every one of the 48 AIB League clubs is represented in the survey as part of the 183 clubs to date who respondents have indicated they are affiliated to.

In terms of competition structures, just one of the interesting trends the survey to date has shown is that stakeholders are happy to be involved in games throughout the season from September to May under the current 35-week season with over 45% looking to retain this length of season.

In addition to this, 63% felt that a break during the Christmas period was preferable.

The survey asks tailored questions for each of the specified roles that stakeholders may have within rugby including coaches, ex-players, current players, referees and supporters.

The questions vary from examining how many games are played by players, when they are played, how long supporters spend travelling to games and what the relevant groups would see as an ideal structure for domestic rugby competitions in the future.

Scott Walker, the IRFU’s Domestic Game Manager, said: “The response to the survey has been excellent and has given a wide spread of opinions on the current competitions and when they take place.

“The input has also been from a wide range of stakeholders and clubs from the very top levels right down to junior clubs across all four provinces.

“We want people to take this final opportunity to let us know how the game currently works for them and how it might work better for them in the future.”