Surrey Rugby have made an announcement regarding a delay to the start of the season due to the weather affecting the hardness of the grounds and the concerns regarding potential injury to players. The announcement below appeared on the Surrey Rugby Facebook page.

The RFU are taking feedback from its clubs and is due to make an announcement regarding the start of the season for First Team leagues on Monday 15 August.

Surrey Rugby said “Clubs must make their own decision regarding pre-season friendlies and training based on their internal risk assessments and the conditions of their own pitches but we believe this is the right decision to support player wellbeing, maintaining Health  & Safety at clubs and delivering a better playing experience.”

*** Surrey Rugby Reserve Leagues Announcement ***

Surrey Rugby Competition Committee have made the decision to postpone the start of its reserve leagues to 01/10/22 based on feedback from our club officials, coaches and players about concerns over player wellbeing, increase of injuries and Health & Safety reasons.

The 12 team Leagues ( Premiership)

Will have its first 4 rounds postponed so

Round 1: 3/9/22 will move to 18/3/23

Round 2: 10/9/22 will move to 25/3/23

Round 3: 17/9/22 will move to 1/4/23

Round 4: 24/9/22 will move to 8/4/23

The 10 team leagues (championship & below will have its first 2 rounds postponed:

Round 1: 17/9/22 will move to 18/3/23

Round 2: 25/9/22 will move to 25/3/23

The Vets fixtures will also run from October.

There may be a further announcement regarding Women’s fixtures, as these are managed directly by the RFU (as well as the  Men’s RFU League fixtures),  and we will let you know as soon as we do.

We will be making a separate statement regarding Youth Fixtures but we won’t be running any county Youth events in September and will plan them in from October in line with the Age Grade calendar.

Clubs must make their own decision regarding pre-season friendlies and training based on their internal risk assessments and the conditions of their own pitches but we believe this is the right decision to support player wellbeing, maintaining Health  & Safety at clubs and delivering a better playing experience.

We feel this will aid clubs to plan for the season and help retain players whist transitioning youth into senior rugby in a safer environment.

The CB cup offering will still run but will be tweaked accordingly to allow for the delayed start.

We decided to keep the spare weekends across the season to allow for player rests and further unexpected cancellations.

Many Thanks

The Surrey Competitions Committee