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Leigh announce Academy and pathway plans


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Not knowing the detail of Academies/funding/grading etc what encourages me is its not rushed and is very supportive of the majority who will not make it. There is a lot happening in a short space of time at LSV, most of it very positive. LSV is very unique in having a 6th form college and a plethora of first class sports facilities on site.

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Sounds like a good initiative. Can someone remind me of the different Academy category statuses please?

The other element of this is the tie in with local Academia. I think this is essential for all Academies but we should go a step further and continue it onto the HE sector. Cricket tie in with Universities and as per the All Golds model, we should be doing exactly the same developing a pathway through schools/community rugby all the way through to the professional game.

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Good move by Leigh, it's a good Idea linking up with Wigan and Leigh College , Wigan have good links with UCLAN and Warrington with Chester University and since both have been doing this for a while it must be mutually beneficial.

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Radio 5 Live: Saturday 14 April 2007

Dave Whelan "In Wigan rugby will always be king"

 

This country's wealth was created by men in overalls, it was destroyed by men in suits.

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Would this be the academy they scrapped last year?

And who will sign for them?

Players who aren't snapped up by wigan,or saints... third choice wontcproduce the quality players needed and will starve the community clubs of the next gen of players!

And as we witness not many players go back to play for their amateur clubs once they are tossed on the scrapheap!

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Would this be the academy they scrapped last year?

And who will sign for them?

Players who aren't snapped up by wigan,or saints... third choice wontcproduce the quality players needed and will starve the community clubs of the next gen of players!

And as we witness not many players go back to play for their amateur clubs once they are tossed on the scrapheap!

We didn`t have an Academy side last year but we did have a reserve in 2015 but due to spasmodic fixtures,it became untenable but you probably knew that!

We`re on a road to Nowhere.......................

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Good on Leigh. Part of the reason they lose young local players to the likes of Wigan, Saints & Warrington is because those local lads have no other clear pathway to becoming pro players. Having it available within your home town will encourage more to stay

 

Of the 37 players Saints have recently signed up to their Scholarship program for 2017 (U15's and U16's), 3 of them were from Leigh.

St.Helens - The Home of record breaking Rugby Champions

 

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Would this be the academy they scrapped last year? - No, didn't have one to scrap

And who will sign for them? - Don't know but I would guess the package will be sold to current Y11 kids in the area for the start of their 'A' level or equivalent phase of education

Players who aren't snapped up by wigan,or saints... third choice wontcproduce the quality players needed and will starve the community clubs of the next gen of players! - the best will migrate to the best, its up to each club to raise the bar to compete, it wont happen overnight

And as we witness not many players go back to play for their amateur clubs once they are tossed on the scrapheap! - Historicaly more probably did so in the Leigh area when we ran colts/academy

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Good move by Leigh, it's a good Idea linking up with Wigan and Leigh College , Wigan have good links with UCLAN and Warrington with Chester University and since both have been doing this for a while it must be mutually beneficial.

 

Interesting Padge. What are the links and what do both parties get out of it? 

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So basically Saints Wigan and Salford currently sign up all the talent in the area....Leigh competing for this talent will just mean taking average players who will never play SL away from their community clubs...many will never return and feel rejected and bitter towards TGG as they will have been in a pro environment. As good athletes they will end up playing low level union for a few quid a game.

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Not knowing the detail of Academies/funding/grading etc what encourages me is its not rushed and is very supportive of the majority who will not make it. There is a lot happening in a short space of time at LSV, most of it very positive. LSV is very unique in having a 6th form college and a plethora of first class sports facilities on site.

Category C academy is the same as the national colleges premier league. It includes sides from the midlands, north east, Wales and south west
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Think that must be some other club Padge, this link is with Leigh college

 

 

He`s just using the signage which is used to adorn the LSV College site but I knew what you mean`t.The Crust munchers like claiming anything and everything!

 

House.

Visit my photography site www.padge.smugmug.com

Radio 5 Live: Saturday 14 April 2007

Dave Whelan "In Wigan rugby will always be king"

 

This country's wealth was created by men in overalls, it was destroyed by men in suits.

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Only in rugby league could a club be criticised for trying to bring through young local players.

When we dont learn from mistakes yes!!

Leigh wont sign and develop any player that wouldnt already make it to SL.

What leigh will do is sign 20 lads a year who will never play SL.

It wastes resources and damages the community game!

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When we dont learn from mistakes yes!!

Leigh wont sign and develop any player that wouldnt already make it to SL.

What leigh will do is sign 20 lads a year who will never play SL.

It wastes resources and damages the community game!

 

Looks like its 3 lancs, 3 yorks and London going forward then.

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I am not sure how anyone can suggest a SL team establishing an Academy and pathways is not good for the game in the long run.

 

The suggestion that the current swoop for players by existing Academies have already picked up every kid that will make Super League is nonsense, people develop at different rates for a start. And if trying to suggest Leigh will have 20 lads who will never play SL, exactly how proficient are all the other SL academies at bringing every kid every year through to SL? I suspect the majority of each year group end up elsewhere in the game or give up as seems to be the overly positive suggestion on here. 

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

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When we dont learn from mistakes yes!!

Leigh wont sign and develop any player that wouldnt already make it to SL.

What leigh will do is sign 20 lads a year who will never play SL.

It wastes resources and damages the community game!

 

Leigh is developing a model very similar to those already established by a number of Championship and League 1 Clubs.

Barrow has been running theirs for two years now and this season their U19s squad (25 or so players aged from 16 to 19) are competing in the College League Premier Division under the name Furness Raiders. 

Underpinning the U19s is an U16s squad of around 20 players, some of who will progress to the U19s next season.

For sure there are lads in the U19s who have been at SL Academies in the past but have chosen this route for a number of reasons.  Many in the squad have played at international and County level via BARLA teams.  People shouldn’t think that SL clubs take all the best kids – they don’t because some choose a career to run alongside their Rugby League ambitions.

Virtually all of the squad work in Engineering (mainly at BAE Systems) and even the younger boys aged 16 currently earn circa £10k a year.  All have the potential to be earning £40k in their day jobs by their early twenties.

Even if they don’t progress to the professional ranks they are not risking their future employment prospects.  If they did progress to a SL club at aged 20 they would always have an apprenticeship in the Nuclear Industry to fall back on.  If they don’t make the pro ranks then they have a good job to continue with.

The other bonus of taking the College U19s route is that there is little impact on the Community game.  All the Barrow U19s players train with their respective Community clubs and play Open Age at the weekends.  To me this is a win-win because SL U19s primarily are not exposed to open aged opposition.

Of course some lads do choose the SL Academy route and (so far as Barrow is concerned) they go with the area’s blessing.  It is their choice but at least the College set up offers a good option for others.

The concept has certainly taken off at Barrow and the team is a self-funded organisation linked to the parent club but financially independent.  The community clubs have a say in how it is run and all our coaches are drawn from the local amateur ranks. Out of interest when we play at home (at Craven Park) with an evening kick off crowds are excellent with the best being around 350 paying spectators.  Even an afternoon kick off will draw a three figure crowd.

What’s not to like really and good luck to Leigh with their efforts.

Follow the link below to watch our recent match against Halifax ERA (which Fax won 20-16).

 

https://youtu.be/8XMvbozzHOI

BarrowRaiders-keithnutter-1.png

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