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Summer/Winter debate


ckn

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My apologies I thought Derby

And I understand where the RU club are coming from as this will create revenue all year round. I would still say progress would be a league running alongside the NCL From March to October i would suspect the few players who like RL and are good at it may be tempted to go to Peterlee to progress their standard of play

Yeah Peterlee are doing a great job taking RL forward in the region. Out of our squad I can think of maybe 3 lads that play RL only and don't play union. There were some more but they have stayed with us to play union as well.

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I understand you have to apply to join the NCL and meet the criteria (but that is a different subject)

But having leagues in the NE, London, Scotland, Midlands playing march to September with natural chance of promotion would to me be progress, but if the leagues only run May to August with part time players this to me is not the game expanding

This is what happens in RU and Football

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I understand you have to apply to join the NCL and meet the criteria (but that is a different subject)

But having leagues in the NE, London, Scotland, Midlands playing march to September with natural chance of promotion would to me be progress, but if the leagues only run May to August with part time players this to me is not the game expanding

This is what happens in RU and Football

It runs April to August up here but yes you are right it's not really expanding, and I don't think it will in the North East. In my opinion League will have to be content with playing second fiddle to union, it pains me to say that but I'm afraid that is the harsh truth. To that end I just enjoy League while I can through the summer months.

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Rugby League would not exist in my region if were not for summer rugby. Union is dominant and League is played in the union off season with a slight overlap of maybe 1 or 2 weeks.

Go and get a few tips from Rob Laverick up the road at Peterlee

You never fail until you stop trying

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I would suspect the few players who like RL and are good at it may be tempted to go to Peterlee to progress their standard of play

Peterlee is 40+ miles away from Darlington so a bit of a travel 2-3 times a week.

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I'm not surprised that you know Rob and appreciate his efforts, for me he should be in the New Years honours

He was the first person I contacted a couple of years ago when I wanted to play League, way before we set up our own side at Darlington. Unfortunately I didn't play for Peterlee due to the distance and joined a team closer to home. However, Rob has give me and some other guys at our club some great advice, decent guy.

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I take my hat off to people like you who struggle to keep the RL flag flying in areas like yours and I do apologise for appearing negative

I may say looking at the Midlands RL website that for all the years the league has been going it is very slow progress, not many teams and I do not see how a season running from May to August is progress, with some teams only playing 2-4 fixtures, in my view are the union lads just using it as a way of keeping fit

That is unless the website is not up to date

The top 4 clubs (Coventry, Nottingham, Leicester and Northampton) have progressed from the MRL to a higher level where they do play a longer season (though of those teams Northampton Demons are taking a step back to the local league) so there has been progress at the top end. I agree RU off season isn't as good as full season expansion though. Believe me the game is head and shoulders above where it was 5 years ago but unfortunately the junior game took a massive turn for the worse last season (a mixture of loss of Sport England money plus the creation of an academy taking the best players)

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He was the first person I contacted a couple of years ago when I wanted to play League, way before we set up our own side at Darlington. Unfortunately I didn't play for Peterlee due to the distance and joined a team closer to home. However, Rob has give me and some other guys at our club some great advice, decent guy.

I totally agree with your comments, Rob seems to be a lad who would offer help in any way that he could. All the best with your club at Darlington I'll keep an eye on your results and any news in your neck of the woods

You never fail until you stop trying

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I'm in the north east, we have 22 clubs. I'm not sure how the long the NERL has been going however I am told in recent weeks:-

"At the North East Rugby League AGM in November it was unanimously passed that North East Rugby League would become an RFL Member League. As part of this the current structures would dissolve and a new North East Management Group would be formed, consisting of a Chairperson and 3 club representatives, as well as 2 members from the RFL."

I am pretty sure that the majority of clubs in our region are made up from mainly Union lads who wish to continue playing through summer. Our own club, Darlington, is a dual code club but our League side is made up mainly our union lads. However all of us including the union lads do take it seriously and don't just treat it as "something to do in summer". In our first season last year we won the league leaders shield so that is encouraging for us going into this year. A big advantage we have is that we have the full backing of the union club and we are not a league side renting facilities from a union club, we are a dual code club.

thats good until RL starts to become the main team....I have seen this with RL and soccer , dual club etc....until the soccer had a couple of relegations and the RL is in the top division. ..then the infighting starts....the latest is the RL team are more successful and want the better pitch!

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thats good until RL starts to become the main team....I have seen this with RL and soccer , dual club etc....until the soccer had a couple of relegations and the RL is in the top division. ..then the infighting starts....the latest is the RL team are more successful and want the better pitch!

 

Give the lads a chance, they should be encouraged not given a doom and gloom scenario. Just look at the way Peterlee has developed as a club over the past decade or so.

You never fail until you stop trying

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Reality is starting to bite , one of our leading clubs as found the move in playing seasons is having a negative effect financially .

For the first time in the clubs history they could not generate enough interest for their Xmas social and Xmas party for the kids .

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Don't think playing numbers/helpers is just an issue with amateur rugby , local football team that plays in a Yorkshire wide league plus has a team in the local league and a social team has struggled with numbers right through the season , son could have played for any number of local cricket clubs during last summers matches , massive problems with numbers right through grass roots sport

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Speaking as someone who works in an extreme expansion area, I do not believe players when they say they want to play regular games.  What they want to a game every week so that they can pick and choose which ones they turn up to, and expect clubs to spread themselves as thin as possible to meet that. 

 

There is something to be said for playing less frequently and making players book the time..  

"You clearly have never met Bob8 then, he's like a veritable Bryan Ferry of RL." - Johnoco 19 Jul 2014

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Speaking as someone who works in an extreme expansion area, I do not believe players when they say they want to play regular games.  What they want to a game every week so that they can pick and choose which ones they turn up to, and expect clubs to spread themselves as thin as possible to meet that. 

 

There is something to be said for playing less frequently and making players book the time..  

That's dead right. Our league had several gap weeks last year and the players said it worked really well for them. Interesting reading an article in the latest 40-20 where David Gent says the RFL's stats are showing that August is the worst month for player unavailability. Our experience of early August every year would support this.

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That is not ground breaking news though is it , correct me if I am wrong but is that that the most popular month for going on holiday no matter where you live in the Uk .

So we did not need a survey from the RFL to tell us that did we ?

The traditional season took that into account or did it not , so are we now beginning to hear the pennies starting to drop ?

We have enough information to suggest that the switch in playing seasons was not the garlic bread the romantics thought it was .

Not be long now before we can start singing from the roof tops " we told you so "

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That is not ground breaking news though is it , correct me if I am wrong but is that that the most popular month for going on holiday no matter where you live in the Uk .

So we did not need a survey from the RFL to tell us that did we ?

The traditional season took that into account or did it not , so are we now beginning to hear the pennies starting to drop ?

We have enough information to suggest that the switch in playing seasons was not the garlic bread the romantics thought it was .

Not be long now before we can start singing from the roof tops " we told you so "

Or just have 2-3 weeks break in early August and play in the best weather either side of that? Especially considering that winter teams will play friendlies at the back end of August anyway.

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Reality is starting to bite , one of our leading clubs as found the move in playing seasons is having a negative effect financially .

For the first time in the clubs history they could not generate enough interest for their Xmas social and Xmas party for the kids .

 

Has that club thought about shifting the party away from Christmas when the club is now out-of-season in order to have a large summer one instead?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Move Xmas to summer is that not what the Aussies do lol .

its a valid point though to be fair......why not have a summer party.....weather will probably be just as bad as winter!

The other point regarding august.......isnt December very similar in a winter season....it is the party season after all....usually 2 week break over xmas......then theirs folk who have ski holidays. ......

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Or just have 2-3 weeks break in early August and play in the best weather either side of that? Especially considering that winter teams will play friendlies at the back end of August anyway.

I would more push for regular free weekends scattered through.  That leaves room for two weeks holiday (and does everyone really have two weeks abroad every year?).

"You clearly have never met Bob8 then, he's like a veritable Bryan Ferry of RL." - Johnoco 19 Jul 2014

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  • 7 months later...

For new kids aged 7-12 summer is preferable to winter ; if a child isn't sure about wanting to take up a sport having them out in 5 degree temperatures with freezing hands doesn't help convince them.  Unfortunately some kids parents don't wrap them up properly especially until they 'get the bug' and invest in skins etc.

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For new kids aged 7-12 summer is preferable to winter ; if a child isn't sure about wanting to take up a sport having them out in 5 degree temperatures with freezing hands doesn't help convince them. Unfortunately some kids parents don't wrap them up properly especially until they 'get the bug' and invest in skins etc.

aparently SL in summer would fail.... that was 20 years ago....

then it was semi-pro that would fail after their switch...again many years later they have all improved and are fine....

It will take 10-20 years for the new generation to filter through and will laugh at the thought of being stood out in 0 degrees in the sleet in semi-darkness with the old men around the club telling tales of how they used to play in this and smoke in the clubhouse and changing rooms and all the other anecdotes!

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