Pugh gets lifetime achievement award
Jan
Elfyn Pugh is the first winner of the RFU Awards for Coaching Lifetime Achievement Award.
The prize was presented to Pugh by former England head coach Brian Ashton at the recent RFU Coach & Player Development Annual Review & Planning Conference at Loughborough University.
Pugh, who hails from Harlech but who has been based in the Midlands for more than 50 years, received similar recognition at the annual Midlands Coaching Conference last summer.
He has been involved with coaching rugby in the West Midlands and his beloved county of Staffordshire for over 40 years. He qualified as an RFU Preliminary Award holder in 1970 and he is still coaching in schools today at the tender age of 76.
Pugh’s involvement with rugby has not just been through coaching. In 1966 he organised and led a group from a local works team to form Willenhall RFC. The club are still going strong today and Pugh has held every position at the club from; fixture secretary, secretary, Vice Chairman, Chairman and now president of the club.
In addition to his many duties with Willenhall, Pugh has found time to represent rugby on various Committees – Senior Clubs (Chairman for four years), Volunteers, Competitions, local Council Rugby Development Groups (Wolverhampton and Walsall). He is also the longest serving member on the Staffordshire RU Management Committee but his greatest passion has always been coaching.
He Became the Staffordshire Coaching Society Assistant Secretary in 1967 and took over as Secretary in 1970. He continued in this position until work commitments forced him to stand down in 1982, however, to keep involved he became Treasurer of the Society, a position he still holds today.
During the 1970s and for 15 years he organised the very successful Staffordshire Coaching weekends. This involved arranging visiting coaches from all parts of the UK: accommodation and facilities for 70-80 coaches/players – maintaining the standard and finding funds was always a hard task but he never let anyone down and always managed to attain the funding through innovation and hard work.
For the last 12 years Pugh has been the School Liaison link for Willenhall RFC. He coaches Primary School children in South Staffordshire averaging two schools a week/five weeks in each term culminating in a Tag Festival which is held at his club.
As a result and in recognition of his tireless work with the Coaching Society and on the County Management Committee he was given the honour of becoming President of Staffordshire RFU for 2002/2004. During this time England won the World Cup and he felt it was an honour for a Welshman to organise the exhibiting of the Cup around various Staffordshire County Clubs.
Gary Henderson, RFU Head of Coach & Development said: “The awards are designed to recognise the substantial work that coaches undertake within the game retaining and developing players at all levels.”
