77 replies to this topic

[Rolly]

I'm not involved at any club, but try to watch a game every weekend. However I'm not getting to as many games as I would like due to other commitments over the summer months.
I was just wondering how clubs are finding the summer rugby so far.
Are your crowds up & how are the players finding it?

[jimmyyon]

I know it was magic week-end on Saturday, but I attended a NCL Premier fixture and you could virtually count the crowd, that's after the chairman stated in the local rag 'Bring it on' barbies and bouncy castles-not to be seen.
Speaking to an old mate from the visiting team, he said their home games were down.
The ground was rock hard and needed a good watering.

[Mark Greenwood]

I agree the crowds are down.
Specatators have other options in the summer.

[casyorkie]

I think crowds are down a little but i also think this was the first week that we had real summer rugby conditions ( maybe even too warm for players).

Personally im a little disapointed i thought more would be watching

I think it will take a little time to see fully how summer rugby crowds are compair to Winter

I notice Warriors are playing Dudley Hill on Monday i bet there will be a big crowd that day with it been bank hoilday weekend

[chinaman]

Having watched Siddal home and away for many seasons I have chosen to mainly watch top quality local cricket (weather permiting) as I usually do in summer but will try to do both if time allows.I will also be away for several saturdays this summer holidays/wedding. A big part of my social life has changed and the club bar will suffer
The crowds are down and a lot of the long standing supporters are doing other things and generally not happy.
If we get more hot weather the players will also suffer and get fed up/injured.Standard of rugby has gone down generaly and players have not the same enthusiasm with clubs struggling to pick anything like a consitent team and raise a second team
On top of this we are now hanging on to the coatails of those cretins at the Rugby League.The NCL is just a part of this with more jobs for the boys and girl and extra brass for the odd semi redundant poor quality journalist.
Needs sorting out as the best amateur league has been ruined by the determination of the RFL to try and rule our rugby world.
Teams will be looking long and hard at their future and all we have is a dilution between summer and winter rugby.

[labsy]

I am a spectator now not a player, but having been in Hull on Saturday in boiling hot sun watching East Hull and Thatto there seemed enough support around and it was far better than being there when its cold and wet and blowing a gale. I suppose the game was spoilt a little bit by the fact that Thatto had only 4-5 first teamers on show in a team that including the Statman, but it was the strongest available and they even had a second team out at Home. Teams will miss first team players due to holidays/stag do's but it will give young lads and others the oppurtunity to show what they can do at a higher level.

[chinaman]

Nuf said!! Thatto with only a weakened team out quality of rugby reduced,lack of enthusiasm/ambition to win ok managed to put two teams out but fine if you have a raft of play when you want me to players.
Oh and while I am at it you only need to see the lack of activity on this forum an obvious reduction in interest in the league.
Anyway this weekend Summers here and the time is right for dancing in the streets.

[cheesecretary]

Totally agree - Our crowds are down prob 60-70 per game. Players wise we are making 7/8 changes every week through unavailability. We have weekend coming up with a wedding and 2 stag dos on same day so maybe couple our masters over 50s will be playing.

It is a concern, along witht he standard of officiating. In my opinion this has been shambolic and not up to NCL standards.

What was a premier league in my opinion is becoming a farce

[EdinburghExile]

Surely it'll take a while to settle down? Next year, players will have had more chance to plan holidays and big events with more notice. It'll never be perfect, but this year was always going to have trouble with things that were planned many months ago. The first season after any big change is bound to be messy.

[gillmeister]

As someone involved with a club in the cumberland league it has worked for us, purely because we have had the flexibility to play games on Thursday, Friday nights etc, something that clubs in the conference dont have

Just my oppinion but it may be that for it to suceed that option is needed, do the leagues below the premier division possibly need to be regionalised???

[bowes]

I think the RFL would have liked division 2 or at least the proposed division 3 to be regionalised and BARLA proposed regionalising at division 1. If the clubs want to play nationally (or at least north wide) then that needs to be respected.

Incidentally the Yorkshire bias of the lower divisions will change over time as once you get past Underbank and Kippax there's no plausible new clubs from Yorkshire. Unless the Pennine League ever goes summer.

Edited by bowes, 30 May 2012 - 11:59 AM.

[chisholm 2]

Always thought this was a bad move and nothing so far has changed my mind. Crowds are down, teams are turning out depleted sides.The weather last weekend was to hot with grounds to hard.

We should remember these lads are only playing for the love of the game but sometimes family time and other commitments must come first.

A lot of players are young men with young families and a lot of wives and girlfriends dont watch rugby therefore ear ache all round !!!!!!!!!!!

[Marauder]

Always thought this was a bad move and nothing so far has changed my mind. Crowds are down, teams are turning out depleted sides.The weather last weekend was to hot with grounds to hard.

We should remember these lads are only playing for the love of the game but sometimes family time and other commitments must come first.

A lot of players are young men with young families and a lot of wives and girlfriends dont watch rugby therefore ear ache all round !!!!!!!!!!!

Players partners will embrace the summer to start with but then when the ear ache does come I can see a lot of players going to their nearest winter side along with the older player - One concern I have is the life expectancy of an amateur player on the harder grounds.

[Mark Greenwood]

I agree with most comments on here.
Clubs or players can not be blamed for fielding weakened sides due to a Wedding or a Stag do, however it does an injustice to the league, it's not a true table. No disrespect to East Hull but you wouls expect Thatto to win on Saturday but they had to play a 2nd string due to a stag do.
Yes lads will get ear ache from partners during the summer due to other events such as BBQ's etc.

I just think the whole thing needs assessing at the end of the season.

[once a ref always a ref]

I just think the whole thing needs assessing at the end of the season.

..............and moving back to winter.

[casyorkie]

Players partners will embrace the summer to start with but then when the ear ache does come I can see a lot of players going to their nearest winter side along with the older player - One concern I have is the life expectancy of an amateur player on the harder grounds.

I thought you were invloved with a summer team do you have problems keeping players or do you lose a lot to winter teams.

We are in the first frew months of this and i think it will take at least one season before players decide if they like summer rugby or swicth to a winter team

[terryg]

Just a reminder that at the latter end of the last winter season Leigh East had to play 8 games in 23 days. We had to call on U18's, 2nd & 3rd team players to fulfill fixtures.
Next year teams will be aware that they have to plan for weddings, Stag doo's etc. The league allows flexibility of fixture dates so long as both clubs agree.
These problems didn't occur at pro level, simply because it's a job. The NCL players pay to play and we will learn from this first season.

[nadera78]

I agree with most comments on here.
Clubs or players can not be blamed for fielding weakened sides due to a Wedding or a Stag do, however it does an injustice to the league, it's not a true table. No disrespect to East Hull but you wouls expect Thatto to win on Saturday but they had to play a 2nd string due to a stag do.
Yes lads will get ear ache from partners during the summer due to other events such as BBQ's etc.

I just think the whole thing needs assessing at the end of the season.

That last sentence sums up everything that is wrong with RL. Something does't work perfectly immediately so it gets ditched. It's ridiculous.

[Marauder]

I thought you were invloved with a summer team do you have problems keeping players or do you lose a lot to winter teams.

We are in the first frew months of this and i think it will take at least one season before players decide if they like summer rugby or swicth to a winter team

Only playing Pennine League now, after 7 seasons in the sun we gave the players (Both winter & summer) a vote on where they wanted to play and the Pennine won every vote, they didn't want the summer because of the reasons mentioned even though they enjoyed it, they didn't want the Yorkshire League (enough said)

We had no problem with players during the summer, we recruited union and soccer players and always had plenty of numbers, you have to remember we had no other team anywhere near us and the standard was about the same as Pennine 2 to 4 mainly, the only exceptions where the ones rammed full of NCL players.

We also had a lot of players who would only play winter (The only season we got everyone to play in the summer we won the regionals)

I'm not sure how the NCL will react to taking extended water breaks or playing in 4 quarters in the heat, the competitive nature of the NCL will see the better side becoming frustrated because after training to a high standard some teams will lose the advantage their training has given them because of breaks in the game allowing some of the lesser clubs off the hook.

[Marauder]

Just a reminder that at the latter end of the last winter season Leigh East had to play 8 games in 23 days. We had to call on U18's, 2nd & 3rd team players to fulfill fixtures.
Next year teams will be aware that they have to plan for weddings, Stag doo's etc. The league allows flexibility of fixture dates so long as both clubs agree.
These problems didn't occur at pro level, simply because it's a job. The NCL players pay to play and we will learn from this first season.

Yes love we are getting married but it can't be on these days we've just played seven years in the RLC and I'll tell you now, stag parties, weddings and holidays will go ahead and who was running the fixtures in the NCL and why couldn't the season be extended a couple of weeks to cater for the odd bad winter.............."Yer nearly forgot who was doing the NCL fixtures as well as the RLC & RLCN".........(Do fixture secretaries get paid and if so by whom?)