Playing Season Poll

[TaxiEgg]

What are peoples thoughts ?

[Spidey]

I've assumed this is Open Age... my answer does differ for OA v Juniors

[TaxiEgg]

It can cover all age groups juniors to OA

Vote for the section you are must involved in and add a secondary comment on the forum .

[MethleyRoy]

September to May, break in Dec/Jan.

Games tend to be getting called off around the dec/jan months anyway so a break shouldnt hurt too much.

And Winter rugby is better because what else is there to do on winter weekends? vs things you can do in summer weekends

[LordCharles]

One thing that seems to be overwhelmingly obvious based on opinion and statistics is that a split season is required and playing straight through July and August is not productive on any level.

 

So wether its March-Early July and then Sept-Nov, or Sept-Nov and then Feb-May/June, it will be far better than the current policy at 16's upwards to play straight through from March - Late Sept/Early Oct.

 

It was marketed as a March-November season yet from 16's upwards in NWC October and November are not used and we play through the height of the Holiday season in July/August with poor fixture completion rates.

[Distorted1]

Everybody is going to have their own opinions on this issue and all playing seasons have their pros and cons but one thing is for certain and that is the whole of the community game needs to be playing the same season. Whether that be March/November or Sept/May. The community game is becoming a joke!

[Gonch]

In Cumbria we had a break for the school holidays in Summer and on resumption it was a definite fail

[Bedford Roughyed]

The problem with breaks is people drift away/lose interest. 

[Harold Hill]

One of the best pieces of advice I received, many years ago, was to never arrange fixtures for the second weekend of a half-term - because you'll only ever raise half a team.

 

When the drift to Summer began, I was convinced that it could never work at school age level because of the enforced breaks at Easter and during the long Summer holidays. But when did 'they who must be obeyed' ever listen to the volunteers?

 

Summer advocates can fall back on festivals and round-robins, but I fail to see how youth rugby will ever be able to sustain a league format that takes place weekly between March and November.

[TaxiEgg]

The problem with breaks is people drift away/lose interest. [/

Not if you manage it and run festivals etc we have never had a problem either winter or summer ,

[yipyee]

The problem with breaks is people drift away/lose interest. [/

Not if you manage it and run festivals etc we have never had a problem either winter or summer ,

if you run festivals you are not having a break and thus defeats the object......

it in fact elongates your playing season!

[TaxiEgg]

And what exactly is your point Yippee .

Not everybody goes on holiday at the same time ,

So to stop kids drifting away we run festivals so that the kids not on holiday if they so wish along with their clubs can organise and participate in festivals it's supply and demand .

Important revenue earners the community game clubs do not get the hand outs the pro clubs get .

And probably why we have in the north west the biggest growth and retention in the game .

[Bedford Roughyed]

The problem with breaks is people drift away/lose interest. [/

Not if you manage it and run festivals etc we have never had a problem either winter or summer ,

 

I was thinking about it from an OA perspective.  If your team knows it isn't going to win anything (midtable obscurity) and then you have, say 4 weeks off, I think it would be really hard to keep things going.  Players seem to want a game week in and week out (even if they then go shopping instead, lets face it players are contradictory!).

 

I can't talk about the kids game as I have 0 experience.

[TaxiEgg]

From an open age perspective if a break was introduced to stop the drop off then league managements could for example run a mini 9s league .

We must look at doing something different to stop the loss of players clubs same old same old is clearly not working .

[Marauder]

20 week season with a 6 week winter break, start again with a 20 week season with a 6 week summer break.

 

What we're seeing in all leagues and divisions at the moment is a massive shift within a season in a clubs playing strengths. two short seasons with a 12 month period would see lots of promotions and relegations which in turn would see clubs playing a lot of different clubs over a short time, may be this could produce a greater interest in our game at amateur level.

[bowes]

20 week season with a 6 week winter break, start again with a 20 week season with a 6 week summer break.

 

What we're seeing in all leagues and divisions at the moment is a massive shift within a season in a clubs playing strengths. two short seasons with a 12 month period would see lots of promotions and relegations which in turn would see clubs playing a lot of different clubs over a short time, may be this could produce a greater interest in our game at amateur level.

I certainly think that would be the way forward at junior and youth level, probably with the 6 week summer break used for scholarship. Open age I'm undecided as this would have its benefits but I think it would be beneficial to have all levels of the game playing the same season if possible

[Marauder]

Couldn't everyone play these seasons, teams doing badly don't have to suffer for long before dropping into a level they could compete in, cowboy teams can climb up to where they belong quickly.