- CPD Calendar for 2026
- Supporting coaches to enhance player experiences
- Connected with community work foundations
The Rugby Football League are proud to launch a CPD calendar for coaches that will be accessible in the first quarter of 2026.
From the backdrop of the whole game review with the key aspiration to raise the number, status, and quality of coaches. Having a revised coach education structure and reintroduction of coach CPD will allow this to begin.
RFL Coaching Manager, Chris Spurr, said:
“We want to provide coaches a better level of support within the game and give them the best opportunities to support players. We recognise there is some great work happening in community clubs, and we want to ensure there are more and better coaches to help us deliver game wide growth. Coach CPD and coaches sharing best practices develops a peer support network that is guided by key development principles.”
The model that has been built is to harness the excellent work of the community foundation network and integrate the workshops into the already impactful delivery that is carried out through their local area development plans. The offer isn’t exclusive to areas with an active foundation, the new look Coach Development team headed by Chris Spurr and supported by Anthony Atherton and Ellis Pascall will be actively supporting the areas that need more help.
RFL Head of Education, Dave Elliott, said:
“When we recruited Ant and Ellis as Coach Development Officers, a key focus was to be out in the game and be visible, they’ve been out and about meeting leagues, foundations, community coaches and building a network that can support coaches to make progress on their journey. Using the foundation to connect with the local coaches helps with a lot of connectivity with the sport too, we’re looking to see pathways opening up and more coaches having better experiences that they can cascade to the players they work with."
The centralisation of the offer will see a focus on rugby in February with a particular concentration on the defensive side of the game, the March workshops will cover player development for long term engagement then April is about developing the coaches toolkit looking towards planning, delivery and reflection – will 15 foundations committed to deliver, the accessibility for coaches has never been as prominent.
Booking on to the CPD evenings will come through the individual community foundations, and we’d encourage any coaches looking to take up the offer to reach out.
There will be over workshops delivered throughout February, March and April, coaches that can’t make a particular evening in their area can pick up the same content in neighbouring areas. The work doesn’t stop there though - 2027 is also planned out and the team will be visiting community clubs throughout the summer to run focus groups, pick up feedback from the coaches and identify key themes to build into the calendar.
Finally, we are hosting our National Coaching Conference on Saturday 17th January 2026.
Two streams will be running: Community Game - BOOK HERE and Coaching the Female Player - BOOK HERE, providing options for coaches working across both the male and female game.
Find out more here.
