63 replies to this topic

[Marauder]

i agree with mick , the pro game is killing the youth and junior game and have been doing for the past 5 years . but what concerns me the most is the RFL barla rift is worse now than its ever been and our game is dying because of it . i dont agree with mick a lot but his last post is spot on .
is it summer v winter or is it RFL v barla that is causing the most trouble , i think i know the answer to that

With well over 100 teams still playing winter and looking like more will be moving back how can anyone say BARLA is causing trouble, for me they have been far to quiet in outlining what the RFL have really been doing to entice clubs/leagues away.

[bowes]

With well over 100 teams still playing winter and looking like more will be moving back how can anyone say BARLA is causing trouble, for me they have been far to quiet in outlining what the RFL have really been doing to entice clubs/leagues away.

The Pennine League are the only people that have been proactive in pushing winter. And in a responsible way not hysteria and propaganda

[mr chairman]

With well over 100 teams still playing winter and looking like more will be moving back how can anyone say BARLA is causing trouble, for me they have been far to quiet in outlining what the RFL have really been doing to entice clubs/leagues away.

Not saying its all Barla but a lot of point scoring is going on at the moment . The RFL have a lot to answer for , look at the clubs that had a lot of money spent on them , London, south Wales , Paris, Bradford, Toulouse and Catalan no one can say the RFL handled that properly . We have never had a leader with vision and passion who can take our game forward and money as been at heart of all that is bad about our game . Barla have been going backwards for years with no vision and jolly boys outing attitude

[bowes]

Not saying its all Barla but a lot of point scoring is going on at the moment . The RFL have a lot to answer for , look at the clubs that had a lot of money spent on them , London, south Wales , Paris, Bradford, Toulouse and Catalan no one can say the RFL handled that properly . We have never had a leader with vision and passion who can take our game forward and money as been at heart of all that is bad about our game . Barla have been going backwards for years with no vision and jolly boys outing attitude

Catalans has been a success otherwise agree

[mr chairman]

Catalans has been a success otherwise agree

With a lot of money and a lot of aussies

[EdinburghExile]

With a lot of money and a lot of aussies

And now it's paying off with a higher-profile French game and a strong European team in SL.

[mr chairman]

And now it's paying off with a higher-profile French game and a strong European team in SL.

Sing the same song when it's full of Frenchmen

[GeordieSaint]

Sing the same song when it's full of Frenchmen

I guess we could all sing a song when every English side is full of Englishman or an NRL side is full of Aussies! I've read all your comments on this thread with interest, much of which is seemingly sensible and correct, but the bit about Catalans is silly and outdated.

[mr chairman]

Only time will tell my friend . It's an opinion and I except yours . Just to get back on thread . The views of Phil Johnson the Leigh east chairman where his and not that of Leigh east . Phil is a good man but made a mistake in tapping the wrong button on his keypad that should have sent a personal reply to Diane manning but was sent to 200 instead . I will say though that there is a growing feeling from the people I have spoken to that the summer switch needs looking at come the end of its inaugural season. I hope everyone will now let the season finish then go through the right channels in sorting the problems out . That means getting the right people round a table and staying there till they all sing from the same hymn sheet

[eastlad]

I think its simple - too much politics involved when talking about RFL and BARLA.

Ask the players! If you did a poll at a training session I would guess it would be 50 - 50 the arguement for Summer and Winter to be honest. Why not have a NCL Summer and NCL Winter league? The stronger teams can enter one in each or choose which one they want to enter. Would maybe cut the number of teams down in each league but would ensure the teams in it want to be in it and games were consistantly competitive? (reduce to 2 leagues??)

Some of the scores this season have been embarrasing to the game havent they?

With regards to the youth, to have a strong amature youth game its got to be played outside of the pro clubs season in my opinion. At the moment lads are trying to spread themselves too thin. Could be playing for school/college/uni, scholarship, academy, their club, County, Country etc!! Lost count on the number of teams really! Have a Winter season then they can go to their pro clubs in Summer. A month or 2 outside of each season for rest and pre-season woul be enough I reckon.

Seems everyone is getting bogged down in who is right instead of just asking what each club really wants and working round it! Square pegs in round holes doesnt work!!

[samsung]

I think its simple - too much politics involved when talking about RFL and BARLA.

Ask the players! If you did a poll at a training session I would guess it would be 50 - 50 the arguement for Summer and Winter to be honest. Why not have a NCL Summer and NCL Winter league? The stronger teams can enter one in each or choose which one they want to enter. Would maybe cut the number of teams down in each league but would ensure the teams in it want to be in it and games were consistantly competitive? (reduce to 2 leagues??)

Some of the scores this season have been embarrasing to the game havent they?

With regards to the youth, to have a strong amature youth game its got to be played outside of the pro clubs season in my opinion. At the moment lads are trying to spread themselves too thin. Could be playing for school/college/uni, scholarship, academy, their club, County, Country etc!! Lost count on the number of teams really! Have a Winter season then they can go to their pro clubs in Summer. A month or 2 outside of each season for rest and pre-season woul be enough I reckon.

Seems everyone is getting bogged down in who is right instead of just asking what each club really wants and working round it! Square pegs in round holes doesnt work!!

What sense!! You see, this is the problem - not enough notice is taken of the players/coaches. Kids in the 8-12s should definitely be summer, but I can see the sense in the older kids being in a winter season as you describe.

The NCL having a Summer & Winter competition is worth looking at. Perhaps the Summer comp could be regionalised to make it a bit easier, finance-wise - and it shouldn't be mandatory.

The people that are suffering the most I think are the coaches at the moment. I'm sure they must be longing for the days (not too long ago) when they had a reasonably full first team squad to pick from!

Edited by samsung, 13 July 2012 - 09:58 AM.

[gillmeister]

It was always going to be a steep learning curve moving to Summer and I agree you cant throw the towel in after 4 months . But you have to look at the bigger picture and look to the long term future of the game.
If we dont learn by our mistakes we will lose the game ,i have raised concerns at the increased number of games lost even at junior level due to unavailabilty of coaches players etc since we switched to summer.
Looking at the open age game we also have a lot of games cancelled outside the Ncl FIRST teams, now ignore those alarm bells at your peril.
The RFL performance department have decimated the youth program this summer putting scholarship games as a priority to the community game which is absolute fecking madness despite all the advice from seasoned administrators .

The RFL dont come out of this with many brownie points do they ?

We as a game need to be solid let the Pros run their game but leave the amatuers to people who have an empathy of the aims and objectives of the community game.

That post is spot on. In all of the politics that goes on the biggest losers are the kids, if the game is to grow we need more children playing the game to boost it in the long term but the RFL focus to much on elitism and high performance and the BARLA hierarchy seem to be mainly focused on the open age game and there respective member leagues with one or two notable exceptions

[Marauder]

That post is spot on. In all of the politics that goes on the biggest losers are the kids, if the game is to grow we need more children playing the game to boost it in the long term but the RFL focus to much on elitism and high performance and the BARLA hierarchy seem to be mainly focused on the open age game and there respective member leagues with one or two notable exceptions

BARLA seems to be painted poorly all the time but wasn't the juniors committee at BARLA made up from members of junior leagues/clubs?

[gillmeister]

I based what I wrote above on anecdotal evidence that I have heard. If you look at a lot of the BARLA management they are elected on a open age mandate such as Spen Allison, Malcolm Sellars etc, how many are actually youth orientated? The focus for the game in this country really needs to move away from elitism and also from the lets have a tour mentality lets get the game right in our backyard with increased participation and maybe then we will have a better chance of international success and we can spread the game to Jamaica etc

[bowes]

I based what I wrote above on anecdotal evidence that I have heard. If you look at a lot of the BARLA management they are elected on a open age mandate such as Spen Allison, Malcolm Sellars etc, how many are actually youth orientated? The focus for the game in this country really needs to move away from elitism and also from the lets have a tour mentality lets get the game right in our backyard with increased participation and maybe then we will have a better chance of international success and we can spread the game to Jamaica etc

Fair point. Always wondered why amateur clubs should pay to lose their players to foreign tours. The amateur game should really be club orientated (open age and junior)

[Marauder]

The junior game should be run by BARLA or the equivalent up to the Under 19's then the elite teams could kick in leaving the lads left behind to go into open-age rugby, So the Pro game could track these kids from an earlier age the old inter-town games could be run mid-week.

[mr chairman]

Super league 1. Summer
Super league 2. Summer
Championship. Summer
National conference prem. summer. ALL RUN BY THE RFL
National conference one. Summer
Regional conference east. Summer
Regional conference west. Summer
---------------------------------------------------------------
Regional 1east and west. Winter
Regional 2 east and west. Winter. ALL RUN BY BARLA
Regional 3 east and west Winter
---------------------------------------------------------------

National conference youth premier. Summer
Regional conference east Summer. ALL RUN BY RFL
Regional conference west Summer
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Regional 1 east and west Winter. ALL RUN BY BARLA
regional 2 east and west Winter
Yes some will say what's the difference but it what you put in between like tours and inter league challenges and of course rules that players only play summer or winter . Barla conference v Rfl conference
Clubs could run both winter and summer if they wish , would mean clubs get revenue all year round , match officials not a problem . The origin games decides the best leagues . Promotion and relegation all through the leagues . Proper distribution of Rfl monies from top to bottom. Just an opinion

[sheephead]

how can teams run both summer and winter when the season is 9 months long?

[TaxiEgg]

Looking at the crowd on the highlights at yesterdays Leyth Derby ,think Mr Johnson may have some substance to his beliefs .

[top of dent]

Well to be truthful..brow crowds are up and we have the the local footie boys wantin a game...club doin well.