Open age player review

[thepimp007]

2 hours ago, Marauder said:

True I think the kids should be left to play with their mates and if the Pro clubs want to give the better kids some extra coaching etc a BARLA Inter-town type competition should be set up.

Exactly, pinpoint the elite kids but keep them as much involved with amateur as possible.

Unfortunately we will never see it. When I was a junior the service area sides games were massive! I got sent for the under 18s a few times and there were 40 kids there. Unfortunately for me the coaches were Dudley Hill coaches (I wasn't at Hill as a junior) and they had a brilliant side that many went to pro out of, without being in a glut of academies. The best of the lot was a lad called Victor Tordoff who actually was in the Bulls academy, billed as future GB loose forward and because of the messing about by them he left and walked away from the game. Came back to Hill for one season and got player of the year as we won national league 3 then disappeared again.

Just using that of an example of what academies can do to kids as he should have made it

[bbfaz]

This is where NZRU get things so right in comparison to the rest of sport, which is that you can be playing internationals and yet you keep the affiliation to your first club and thus you stay in the game.  Let's say you don't make it at a higher level, you're still a member of your local club and if you sort out whatever stopped you from making it, conceivably you can get back up the ladder in a measured way that doesn't exist anywhere else.

I've said for years that, realistically, RL needs to find ways to make clubs lower on the totem pole stakeholders in clubs at a higher level.  They're so stuck in the viking harvest mentality that people get congratulated for scouting and sourcing players but ignore that the lower-level club did all the hard work, instead punish those clubs by making sure they're starved of funds.

[DoubleD]

1 hour ago, bbfaz said:

This is where NZRU get things so right in comparison to the rest of sport, which is that you can be playing internationals and yet you keep the affiliation to your first club and thus you stay in the game.  Let's say you don't make it at a higher level, you're still a member of your local club and if you sort out whatever stopped you from making it, conceivably you can get back up the ladder in a measured way that doesn't exist anywhere else.

I've said for years that, realistically, RL needs to find ways to make clubs lower on the totem pole stakeholders in clubs at a higher level.  They're so stuck in the viking harvest mentality that people get congratulated for scouting and sourcing players but ignore that the lower-level club did all the hard work, instead punish those clubs by making sure they're starved of funds.

I think some of the better SL clubs are now realising this, particularly through their foundations.

[Marauder]

1 hour ago, thepimp007 said:

Exactly, pinpoint the elite kids but keep them as much involved with amateur as possible.

Unfortunately we will never see it. When I was a junior the service area sides games were massive! I got sent for the under 18s a few times and there were 40 kids there. Unfortunately for me the coaches were Dudley Hill coaches (I wasn't at Hill as a junior) and they had a brilliant side that many went to pro out of, without being in a glut of academies. The best of the lot was a lad called Victor Tordoff who actually was in the Bulls academy, billed as future GB loose forward and because of the messing about by them he left and walked away from the game. Came back to Hill for one season and got player of the year as we won national league 3 then disappeared again.

Just using that of an example of what academies can do to kids as he should have made it

Looking it from the point of starting later, I took a team from U 13's to U17's and at one point (When we was in the CMS Yorkshire premier we had 13 turning out regular up to the last 3 years, the team still has 5 players from that team and they're now going to be 32/33 year-olds.

[Marauder]

1 hour ago, bbfaz said:

This is where NZRU get things so right in comparison to the rest of sport, which is that you can be playing internationals and yet you keep the affiliation to your first club and thus you stay in the game.  Let's say you don't make it at a higher level, you're still a member of your local club and if you sort out whatever stopped you from making it, conceivably you can get back up the ladder in a measured way that doesn't exist anywhere else.

I've said for years that, realistically, RL needs to find ways to make clubs lower on the totem pole stakeholders in clubs at a higher level.  They're so stuck in the viking harvest mentality that people get congratulated for scouting and sourcing players but ignore that the lower-level club did all the hard work, instead punish those clubs by making sure they're starved of funds.

The RFL are trying to build from the top downwards, the NZ way looks to be building from the bottom upwards.

[bbfaz]

12 minutes ago, Marauder said:

The RFL are trying to build from the top downwards, the NZ way looks to be building from the bottom upwards.

New Zealand have built layer-upon-layer over 120 years to create a hierarchical system that, while by no means perfect, is better than any number of alternatives.  Rugby Union is basically their national sport but they have the money and organisation to make good on the general interest in the game.

It's difficult for us personally and for Skolars and Broncos.  I am not blind to that fact.  Most of the guys who come to us and get the hang of it and seriously improve as a Rugby footballer are more likely to go on to play semi-pro union than semi-pro league, if only because there are a dozen places south of the river that will pay them to play in union but no league.

The only person who has seriously approached us and tried to get some sort of player pathway going was Andrew Henderson, when he was at Broncos.  I understand that Brian McDermott rejected the idea that cross-code converts can make any headway in League without having played it since childhood and a lot of the cross-code work was abandoned at his urging about 10 years ago.  However, that's as arrogant as when Union people act like you need a PhD to learn how to ruck in this era.

In my opinion, these pro clubs can't afford to not have partnerships with amateur clubs at adult and junior level.  They can't lose players who show ability and interest in the game, just as they can't afford to lose guys they've tried to develop as juniors who haven't quite panned out.

[usain bolt]

Deadline extended, anyone filled it in?

[Marauder]

3 hours ago, usain bolt said:

Deadline extended, anyone filled it in?

I don't know one player who got it emailed to them, the Pennine league have placed a link to the questionnaire on their website.

[topcentre21]

was talking to a guy who seems to think theyve had a large amount pf players whos done the review

[topcentre21]

hope they take on board what players say because ultimately its the players we need to get over all the postponements in both winter and summer.

[usain bolt]

2 hours ago, Marauder said:

I don't know one player who got it emailed to them, the Pennine league have placed a link to the questionnaire on their website.

Link on a few sites, ncl sites etc, but players probably don't see the advertisements for it. If they do see the adverts they then probably aren't bothered to reply.

[usain bolt]

14 minutes ago, topcentre21 said:

was talking to a guy who seems to think theyve had a large amount pf players whos done the review

Hope your right, and there's a large response. Interesting what their views are, and whether the responses are acted on.

[Death to the Rah Rah's]

Absolute waste of time. 

The RFL need boots on the ground, not online questionnaires.

each region of the RL World, humberside, West and East Yorkshire, London, Cumbria, Lancashire etc should have a team of local volunteers to go and visit each club on a one to one basis, pre-armed with a set of questions from the RFL to ensure continuity.

They should hold an open meeting with the players, officials and junior coaches to get real feedback and suggestions on how to halt the games decline from the people who have experienced the games problems first hand.

It wouldn’t be difficult to set up. An appeal for local volunteers, a training day with free lunch thrown in. A set of standard questions to ensure continuity and then an open floor to take concerns/suggestions from the floor.

cost to set up would be minimal

information gathered - priceless!

Despite all the modern technology, sometimes there’s just no substitute for face to face meetings

[Marauder]

1 hour ago, Death to the Rah Rah's said:

Absolute waste of time. 

The RFL need boots on the ground, not online questionnaires.

each region of the RL World, humberside, West and East Yorkshire, London, Cumbria, Lancashire etc should have a team of local volunteers to go and visit each club on a one to one basis, pre-armed with a set of questions from the RFL to ensure continuity.

They should hold an open meeting with the players, officials and junior coaches to get real feedback and suggestions on how to halt the games decline from the people who have experienced the games problems first hand.

It wouldn’t be difficult to set up. An appeal for local volunteers, a training day with free lunch thrown in. A set of standard questions to ensure continuity and then an open floor to take concerns/suggestions from the floor.

cost to set up would be minimal

information gathered - priceless!

Despite all the modern technology, sometimes there’s just no substitute for face to face meetings

They found time and money to go around canvassing when they wanted clubs to go to the summer.