Rugby Players' Association

The Rugby Players' Association (RPA) is a trade union representing elite rugby rugby union players in England. The RPA is the representative body and collective voice of elite rugby players in England and represents more than 600 male and female current rugby players, as well as more than 100 former players.

They support, promote & protect past, present & future elite rugby players in England. Their vision is for players to be valued and respected as partners in a united game.

Overview

RPA members qualify for a wide range of benefits, including: independent representation; legal advice; personal and professional development; playing insurance; education; confidential counselling; transition support; and more. Members can also access the support of a charity, Restart, in the event of serious illness, injury or hardship.

Their aims as stated on their website^[1] are:

AUTHENTIC: Our agenda is co-created with our members. We work to build honest relationships and seek to add value to every room we enter. The RPA will always act with integrity.

DRIVEN: Stepping forward to create positive change. We wish to be re-evaluated. We are passionate about Rugby Union, working relentlessly to create a united game.

OPEN: We work to build a more inclusive game, empowering players to speak up about things that matter to them. We are agile, adaptable and transparent, always wanting feedback.

SUPPORTIVE: We exist to support players past, present and future. We are caring and dependable, always working behind the scenes. Our team goes above and beyond for each other and our members.

The RPA was founded by professional player Damian Hopley, who was forced to early retirement after an injury.^[2]

The RPA announced that Hopley was to leave the organisation after 24 years in charge of the company. His last day was on Monday 15 August, with a visit to Wasps.^[3]

On 16 January 2023, it was announced that Christian Day, was elected the new General Secretary of the RPA, following an election to the membership.^[4]

Current board

The following rugby union professionals playing in England make up the current RPA Players' Board, as of the 2023–24 season:^[5]

Role	Player	Team
Chairman	Ethan Waller	Northampton (men)
Vice-Chairman	Harry Elrington	Gloucester (men)
Board Member	Sarah Bern	Bristol (women)
	Brett Connon	Newcastle (men)
	Alex Davis	Great Britain 7s (men)
	Will Evans	Harlequins (men)
	Max Lahiff	Bristol (men)
	Ruaridh McConnochie	Bath (men)
	Simon McIntyre	Sale (men)
	Stuart Townsend	Exeter (men)
	Ivan van Zyl	Saracens (men)
	Harry Wells	Leicester (men)
	Amy Wilson-Hardy	Great Britain 7s (women)

Awards

The following have been recognised at the annual RPA Awards, as voted on by professional rugby union players in England, since 2010:^[6]

Players' Player of the Year
Year	Player	Team	Ref
2010	Schalk Brits	Saracens	^[7]
2011	Thomas Waldrom	Leicester	^[8]
2012	Nick Evans	Harlequins	^[9]
2013	Christian Wade	Wasps	^[10]
2014	Vereniki Goneva	Leicester	^[11]
2015	Jonathan Joseph	Bath	^[12]
2016	George Smith	Wasps	^[13]
2017	Jimmy Gopperth	Wasps	^[14]
2018	Telusa Veainu	Leicester	^[15]
2019	Danny Cipriani	Gloucester	^[16]
2020	Jack Willis	Wasps	^[17]
2021	Sam Simmonds	Exeter	^[18]
2022	André Esterhuizen	Harlequins	^[19]
2023	Jasper Wiese	Leicester	^[20]
2024	Fin Smith	Northampton	^[21]

Young Player of the Year
Year	Player	Team	Ref
2010	Ben Youngs	Leicester	^[7]
2011	Manu Tuilagi	Leicester	^[8]
2012	Owen Farrell	Saracens	^[9]
2013	Christian Wade	Wasps	^[10]
2014	George Ford	Bath	^[11]
2015	Henry Slade	Exeter	^[12]
2016	Maro Itoje	Saracens	^[13]
2017	Zach Mercer	Bath	^[14]
2018	Marcus Smith	Harlequins	^[15]
2019	Ollie Thorley	Gloucester	^[16]
2020	Louis Rees-Zammit	Gloucester	^[17]
2021	Marcus Smith	Harlequins	^[18]
2022	Freddie Steward	Leicester	^[19]
2023	Tom Pearson	London Irish	^[20]
2024	Immanuel Feyi-Waboso	Exeter	^[21]

England 15s Player of the Year
Year	Men	Women	Ref
2013	Joe Launchbury	Emily Scarratt	^[10]
2014	Mike Brown	Rachael Burford	^[11]
2015	Jonathan Joseph	Rocky Clark	^[12]
2016	Billy Vunipola	Sarah Hunter	^[13]
2017	Owen Farrell	Tamara Taylor	^[14]
2018	Mako Vunipola	Danielle Waterman	^[15]
2019	Jonny May	Sarah Bern	^[16]
2020	Tom Curry	Zoe Aldcroft	^[17]
2021	Tom Curry (2)	Poppy Cleall	^[18]
2022	Freddie Steward	Marlie Packer	^[19]
2023	Freddie Steward (2)	Sadia Kabeya	^[20]
2024	Ben Earl	Alex Matthews	^[21]

England 7s Player of the Year
Year	Men	Women	Ref
2012	Mathew Turner	Not awarded	^[9]
2013	Dan Norton		^[10]
2014	Tom Mitchell		^[11]
2015	Alex Gray		^[12]
2016	Dan Bibby		^[13]
2017	Richard de Carpentier		^[14]
2018	Ruaridh McConnochie	Alex Matthews	^[15]
2019	Will Muir	Alex Matthews (2)	^[16]
2020	Ben Harris	Megan Jones	^[17]

Special Merit Award (2010–15)
Year	Player	Team	Ref
2010	Simon Shaw	Wasps	^[7]
2011	Danny Grewcock	Bath	^[8]
2012	Hugh Vyvyan	Saracens	^[9]
2013	Geordan Murphy	Leicester	^[10]
2014	Steve Borthwick	Saracens	^[11]
2015	Mark Cueto	Sale	^[12]

Special Merit Award (2016–21)
Year	Player	Team	Ref
2016	Charlie Hodgson	Saracens	^[13]
2017	Nick Easter	Harlequins	^[14]
2018	Ian Robertson	Not applicable	^[15]
2019	Mathew Tait	Not applicable	^[16]
2020	Richard Wigglesworth	Saracens	^[17]
2021	Ben Youngs	Leicester	^[18]

Special Merit Award (2022–)
Year	Player	Team	Ref
2022	Danny Care	Harlequins	^[19]
2023	Dan Cole	Leicester	^[20]
	Owen Farrell	Saracens
	Emily Scarratt	Loughborough (W)
2024	Marlie Packer	Saracens (W)	^[21]
2024	Alex Waller	Northampton	^[21]

15 Under 23

The following teams represent the 15 Under 23, consisting of the top players in England aged 23 and under, as selected by voters, each year since 2022:^[22]

	2021–22		2022–23		2023–24
No.	Player	Team	Player	Team	Player	Team
1.	Bevan Rodd	Sale	Bevan Rodd	Sale	Fin Baxter	Harlequins
2.	Nic Dolly	Leicester	Theo Dan	Saracens	Theo Dan	Saracens
3.	Joe Heyes	Leicester	Joe Heyes	Leicester	Asher Opoku-Fordjour	Sale
4.	Nick Isiekwe	Saracens	George Martin	Leicester	Dafydd Jenkins	Exeter
5.	Ollie Chessum	Leicester	Hugh Tizard	Saracens	Ollie Chessum	Leicester
6.	Ben Earl	Saracens	Ted Hill	Bath	Chandler Cunningham-South	Harlequins
7.	Tom Pearson	London Irish	Tom Pearson	London Irish	Guy Pepper	Newcastle
8.	Fitz Harding	Bristol	Fitz Harding	Bristol	Ross Vintcent	Exeter
9.	Harry Randall	Bristol	Gus Warr	Sale	Jack van Poortvliet	Leicester
10.	Marcus Smith	Harlequins	Fin Smith	Northampton	Fin Smith	Northampton
11.	Ollie Hassell-Collins	London Irish	Cadan Murley	Harlequins	Immanuel Feyi-Waboso	Exeter
12.	Dan Kelly	Leicester	Seb Atkinson	Gloucester	Max Ojomoh	Bath
13.	Fraser Dingwall	Northampton	Ollie Lawrence	Bath	Oscar Beard	Harlequins
14.	Louis Rees-Zammit	Gloucester	Mateo Carreras	Newcastle	Tommy Freeman	Northampton
15.	Freddie Steward	Leicester	Joe Carpenter	Sale	Josh Hodge	Exeter

Hall of Fame

The following players, coaches, officials, administrators and commentators have been inducted into the RPA Hall of Fame:^[23]

Year	Inductee
1999	Michael Lynagh
2000	Cliff Morgan
2000	Peter Winterbottom
2001	Willie John McBride
2001	Philippe Sella
2002	Dean Richards
2002	John Rutherford
2003	Gerald Davies
	Tim Horan
	Peter Wheeler

Year	Inductee
2004	Zinzan Brooke
2004	Gavin Hastings
2005	Sir Gareth Edwards
2005	Sean Fitzpatrick
2006	David Duckham
	Mike Gibson
	Sir Ian McGeechan
2007	Martin Johnson
2008	Richard Hill
2008	Jason Leonard

Year	Inductee
2009	Fran Cotton
2009	Jeremy Guscott
2010	Bill McLaren
2011	Lawrence Dallaglio
2012	Jason Robinson
2013	Ieuan Evans
2014	Jonathan Davies
2015	Jonny Wilkinson
2016	Brian O'Driscoll
2017	Dan Carter

Year	Inductee
2018	Sir Clive Woodward
2020	Sir Bill Beaumont
2021	Rocky Clark
2021	Alun Wyn Jones
2022	Katy Daley-McLean
2023	Sarah Hunter
2023	Doddie Weir
2024	Courtney Lawes

References

^ "About Us". The RPA.
^ Hopley continues as players' boss BBC 2006-10-30 Retrieved on 2009-02-13.
^ "The RPA on Twitter". Twitter. The RPA. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
^ "Christian Day Elected General Secretary of the RPA". The RPA.
^ "Our Team - The RPA". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
^ "The RPA Awards". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c "The RPA Awards 2010". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c "The RPA Awards 2011". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "The RPA Awards 2012". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "The RPA Awards 2013". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "The RPA Awards 2014". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "The RPA Awards 2015". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "The RPA Awards 2016". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "The RPA Awards 2017". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "The RPA Awards 2018". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "The RPA Awards 2019". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "The RPA Awards 2020". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "The RPA Awards 2021". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "The RPA Awards 2022". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "The RPA Awards 2023". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "The RPA Awards 2024: Winners". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. 29 May 2024. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
^ "RPA 15 Under 23". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
^ "RPA Hall of Fame". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[1] "About Us". The RPA.

[2] Hopley continues as players' boss BBC 2006-10-30 Retrieved on 2009-02-13.

[3] "The RPA on Twitter". Twitter. The RPA. Retrieved 15 August 2022.

[4] "Christian Day Elected General Secretary of the RPA". The RPA.

[5] "Our Team - The RPA". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[6] "The RPA Awards". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[2010_Awards-7] "The RPA Awards 2010". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[2011_Awards-8] "The RPA Awards 2011". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[2012_Awards-9] "The RPA Awards 2012". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[2013_Awards-10] "The RPA Awards 2013". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[2014_Awards-11] "The RPA Awards 2014". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[2015_Awards-12] "The RPA Awards 2015". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[2016_Awards-13] "The RPA Awards 2016". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[2017_Awards-14] "The RPA Awards 2017". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[2018_Awards-15] "The RPA Awards 2018". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[2019_Awards-16] "The RPA Awards 2019". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[2020_Awards-17] "The RPA Awards 2020". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[2021_Awards-18] "The RPA Awards 2021". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[2022_Awards-19] "The RPA Awards 2022". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[2023_Awards-20] "The RPA Awards 2023". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[2024_Awards-21] "The RPA Awards 2024: Winners". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. 29 May 2024. Retrieved 29 May 2024.

[22] "RPA 15 Under 23". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[23] "RPA Hall of Fame". therpa.co.uk. Rugby Players' Association. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

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