Following the appointment of Kris Hattam as Rugby Development Officer for the Manx Rugby Football Union (MRFU) in August 2023, we caught up with him a year into his post to find out more about the various different pathways within rugby and how people can get involved in the sport!
Player Pathways
Tell us about the recent changes that have affected the Player Pathway for aspiring representative Rugby players?
With England Rugby changing its structure due to the changes of the PGP (Professional Game Partnership), Premiership Clubs were left with a decision to make around their Developing Player Pathway (DPP). Our link previously was to Sale Sharks as one of their many regions but unfortunately when this was pulled, we were left, like many regions across the UK, without a pathway or link to a premiership club.
Player pathways were forced to revert back to their old structure where the DPP would be under the banner of counties rather than clubs. With our Constituent Body being Cheshire that would be our link to the player pathways. The decision was made to create the IOM Rugby Academy in its place. With the DPP pathways in the UK only open to the U15 & U16 age groups, we decided to widen the age brackets to provide more time for development.
So, what is the Isle of Man Academy?
The academy is a place where all our players from the age groups U14 – U18 can come down for 3 training blocks of 6 week periods. During the 3 training blocks we aim to develop players against our MANX STARS model, looking at Managing development in order to increase Athletic potential, Nurturing players to have the X-Factor. Allowing them to become more Skillful, Tactical, Aware, Resilient, Sportsmen.
We have links to the pathway through our links to Cheshire and we enter teams into Centre vs Centre games where scouts from Sale Sharks can look at players and offer them the opportunity to join the PDG (Player Development Group). This can lead on to academy contracts and through to international honours - similar to that of the pathways of Patreece Bell and Harry Thompson.
Can anyone be involved in the Academy?
Anyone is welcome to come and develop their skillset within the Academy. We don’t have a selection process for training, but we do select our best possible squad for our Cheshire Centre vs Centre games. For anyone wanting to get involved they can contact Kris via email on manxrdo@gmail.com for more information.
Women and Girls Pathway
What pathways are there for Women and Girls wanting to play rugby?
We start our pathway for girls at grassroots level, from as young as U6’s where they can be involved and mix with the boys up until the U12’s age group. From there they can join any of our girls sections at Ramsey, Vagabonds and Western Vikings Rugby clubs.
From the ages of Year 7 to Year 11 they can also be involved in our girls’ rugby Manx Youth Games programmes. Our future aims are also to develop U14 and U16 IOM girls rugby teams, as well as set up a region in the south with southern nomads and CRHS.
The pathway for the women and girls selection is quite different from the boys and men's. Cheshire hold open training sessions on a trial basis for U16, U18 and Senior women. We have had a number of the U16’s girls from Ramsey travel across for trials and have had three Vagabonds Ladies (Leona McGovern, Sophie Henry and Maylyn Campbell) all selected to represent Cheshire at county level.
From this pathway we have Manx women progressing further than this and playing in the Women’s Premiership. For example, Isla Curphey who played for Vagabonds Ladies is now playing for Loughborough Lightning and featured on the Powered Differently campaign for Premiership Rugby!
WheelChair Rugby and other initiatives
What other forms of rugby are available?
There are plenty of forms of rugby people can take part in across the Island - all you have to do is turn up and there will be plenty of friendly faces to welcome you!
- Castletown RUFC run touch rugby sessions on a Monday night at KWC on the Astro at 19:45
- You can also take part in wheelchair rugby at the NSC on a Wednesday night at 19:00
- During the summer we run a touch series at various locations across the island from beaches to rugby clubs
How can someone get involved in any of these events?
To get involved in the touch rugby, message Castletown RUFC on Facebook or just turn up to a session.
For wheelchair rugby, you can message Isle of Man – Wheelchair Rugby League on Facebook or turn up to a session.
Touch rugby series events will be posted on the Manx Rugby social media pages once dates and venues are sorted for summer 2025. Feel free to just turn up to any of the events and give rugby a try!
Coaching and Officiating Pathways
It’s not all about playing rugby though, there’s also other avenues and pathways within the sport isn’t there?
We have a variety of different pathways to stay involved in the sport, for example, we run coaching and officiating courses throughout the season.
This year, we have run England Rugby Tag, First Contact and England Rugby Coaching award courses for our coaches within the game. We also have an Introduction to Refereeing course which is free and planned for the future for anyone wanting to understand more about what becoming a match official entails and develop their understanding and skills.
What recent opportunities have MRFU supported for on-Island coaches and officials?
We provide various CPD opportunities for coaches to develop their knowledge and skills within a variety of different RFU accredited courses.
For match officials, we have recently been offering support for them to go off island and officiate various games at different levels across in the UK, in association with the Liverpool Referees Society.
Match officials going across get the opportunity to be assessed and graded to progress up the levels of rugby. Joe Quinn and Daryl Richards are great examples of this with both of them being progressed up the levels. We also have our own Match Official Coach, Joe Phelan, who supports the growth and development of our match officials also heading across to support Liverpool Referees Society with their assessments of match officials.
Where can I find out more information or get in touch with the Manx Rugby Football Union about these pathways?
You can find more information on any of the individual clubs’ social media or more info on Manx Rugby in general through our Manx Rugby social media pages.
Alternatively, you can contact Kris Hattam (MRFU Rugby Development Officer) by email: