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Hi I am looking to set up a rugby league club in the west end of Newcastle and was just wondering if anyone can give any advice on what is required to set a club up ("open age to start with) 

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I was involved with a club that didn't start up correctly and I've been involved with a club that did start up correctly. 

If there is a merit League level in your region, you can play with as little as a set of matching shirts and a pitch that you can hire. So long as you can provide food for the opposition after the game and pay for a ref, that's acceptable. 

If you want to actually be a success, that's a lot more complicated and I'll come back to that later on when I get my laptop in front of me.

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It entirely depends on what your club is going to be.  If it's a "summer team" for a Union club, you need to talk to the RFL, register as a club and get a couple of the other volunteers to sign on as a committee.  If you have a built in base of players, more the better.  However, if you're going to go it alone, it's a lot more complicated than that.

Firstly, you need to make sure you're serious about this.  If you want to be really successful, you have to bear in mind you need to work 11 months a year.  That sounds insane but on things like social media, consistency is key.  It's not 40 hours a week, 48 weeks a year but there is going to be something that needs to be done all year round.  Take September off and get back to work no later than mid-October.

Secondly, you need to make sure you have a couple of other people who are serious about this too.  It's too much for one person to do, unless you want to look like a completely tinpot outfit.  Work out where your strengths are but one person needs to be the head coach.  The RFL won't give you community development resource, that's solely for juniors, and pretty much every coach knocking around the scene wants paying.  All the coach should be doing is working with the players, take everything else off his plate.  If you're the coach, you need to surround yourself with people to do off-field stuff.  You might need to take a backseat on off-field stuff and you need to be OK with that.

If you can't meet these two criteria, you're better off not going any further.  I hate to say it but that's realistically the first go/no-go point.  If you don't have a core of committed volunteers, you could bring the Burgess Brothers down but it won't stick.  Players won't turn up to training if there's no plan at training, new players won't find you because nobody is trying to look for them.  You might do more harm than good and, if somebody else comes behind you, they'll probably face issues due to your incompetence.

At this point, I'd contact the RFL.  Talk to them about registration, your project and your ideas.  Write something down on paper, articulate what you're doing and why you're doing it.  You need an outline of a budget, if only so you can see how much it'll cost and how much you need to bring in.

Thirdly, you need a steady home ground where you can build your club year-to-year.  The RFL have requirements to provide changing facilities and food for the opposition.  You can only move once and it has to be to a better ground so the place where you start has to be the place where you think you're going to stay for a long time.  If you can't find a decent home, then the club isn't going to work.  This is the second go/no-go point.  The RFL may be able to help because they have their own set of contacts.  This is also where contacts with Newcastle Thunder might come in handy.  Be flexible.  If you have the perfect pitch with a changing block and a pub round the corner that has a back room, that might work too.

If you get to that point, I'll tell you more but that's a hell of a lot of work right there.

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Was listening to an interview with the guy who invented Arena Football today.  When he taught sports marketing, he boiled down his ideas to something he called the three knows; kNOw your market, kNOw your sport, kNOw your finances.  The NO is capitalised because if you don't know any of these, you shouldn't proceed.

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As an aside I saw this RU post - https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/bournvillerfc/news/please-welcome-our-new-managing-director-phil-mayn-2376689.html and noticed this at the end, anyone know more (club is Bourneville in Edgbaston Birmingham)

We have developed a fantastic partnership with University College Birmingham and we are looking to host cross-sport participation in the area including male and female American Football and Rugby League."

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 17/06/2019 at 13:14, henage said:

Can understand your latest advice , its not the easiest game to be a volunteer . Sad but true .  

The problem is, the RFL will always find a way to kick you in the nuts.  It gets to the point where you wonder why you keep coming back for more, trying to improve your club and the sport in any way you can, when you all you can count on is getting kicked in the nuts.

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On 20/06/2019 at 21:14, bbfaz said:

The problem is, the RFL will always find a way to kick you in the nuts.  It gets to the point where you wonder why you keep coming back for more, trying to improve your club and the sport in any way you can, when you all you can count on is getting kicked in the nuts.

And before they (RFL) took control of the amateur game they would splash the cash and bend over backwards and even give you 2 or 3 votes to decide if you wanted to play in the summer, now they have got the amateurs by the balls they seem to have lost a lot of interest 

Carlsberg don't do Soldiers, but if they did, they would probably be Brits.

http://www.pitchero....hornemarauders/

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1 hour ago, Marauder said:

And before they (RFL) took control of the amateur game they would splash the cash and bend over backwards and even give you 2 or 3 votes to decide if you wanted to play in the summer, now they have got the amateurs by the balls they seem to have lost a lot of interest 

I love the game, it's a wonderful spectacle.  I could watch it at any level and find something to enjoy.  I just hate the sport.  I'm done fighting with them.  I'm over trying to fix their game only for them to keep breaking it.  I'm over the incompetence and self-interest.

The most sacred thing you can give after your love is your labour.  Sadly, we live in this awful neo-liberal society where most of us sell our time and grit our teeth like streetwalkers, with the idea that we get to go home to the people we love and do the things we enjoy.  Part of what I loved and enjoyed was Rugby League.  However, all the enjoyment has been ripped out of it and thus why would I spend the time I have to myself on it?  The club is not the problem, it's everything and everyone else.  I'm not the only person to have felt this way and I won't be the last.  I've had 7 seasons in the game and, for me, it's 7 and out.

This is why the game is moving in ever-decreasing circles.

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21 hours ago, bbfaz said:

I love the game, it's a wonderful spectacle.  I could watch it at any level and find something to enjoy.  I just hate the sport.  I'm done fighting with them.  I'm over trying to fix their game only for them to keep breaking it.  I'm over the incompetence and self-interest.

The most sacred thing you can give after your love is your labour.  Sadly, we live in this awful neo-liberal society where most of us sell our time and grit our teeth like streetwalkers, with the idea that we get to go home to the people we love and do the things we enjoy.  Part of what I loved and enjoyed was Rugby League.  However, all the enjoyment has been ripped out of it and thus why would I spend the time I have to myself on it?  The club is not the problem, it's everything and everyone else.  I'm not the only person to have felt this way and I won't be the last.  I've had 7 seasons in the game and, for me, it's 7 and out.

This is why the game is moving in ever-decreasing circles.

What happened?

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7 hours ago, Chamey said:

What happened?

 Incompetent refereeing,  inconsistent and incoherent application of the Competition rules, and a feeling that we don’t matter.  With hindsight, this is a problem that has been going on ever since I got into the game. The difference now is that I no longer feel like tolerating it.

 There are a number of specific complaints but I don’t particularly want to list them on this forum because I don’t want to get anyone else into trouble. This is a personal thing and a personal decision and I know that I don’t see the game the same way as everybody else does.

To be honest, a lot of it would sound a lot like moaning. People would say that we haven’t won a lot of games this year and I’m throwing my toys out of the pram.  If winning and losing mattered to me, I would’ve walked away after my first season in Rugby League where we could barely scrape a team together, drew the first game and lost the rest, including a humiliating 54-0 in the shield final.

 

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38 minutes ago, bbfaz said:

 Incompetent refereeing,  inconsistent and incoherent application of the Competition rules, and a feeling that we don’t matter.  With hindsight, this is a problem that has been going on ever since I got into the game. The difference now is that I no longer feel like tolerating it.

 There are a number of specific complaints but I don’t particularly want to list them on this forum because I don’t want to get anyone else into trouble. This is a personal thing and a personal decision and I know that I don’t see the game the same way as everybody else does.

To be honest, a lot of it would sound a lot like moaning. People would say that we haven’t won a lot of games this year and I’m throwing my toys out of the pram.  If winning and losing mattered to me, I would’ve walked away after my first season in Rugby League where we could barely scrape a team together, drew the first game and lost the rest, including a humiliating 54-0 in the shield final.

 

No matter who you are, no matter how much you love the game you will have quite a few periods where it gets like this, Being on a moaning group, sorry forum, can't possibly help because the down hearted, miserable, lost and most depressing can all type. Losing the will to fight is one of the gardest things to overcome though. I hope you manage to feel better about things and more able to carry on soon.

In the meantime avoid darkened rooms and Leonard Cohen songs especially Everybody Knows!

 

2 warning points:kolobok_dirol:  Non-Political

 

 

 

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On 17/06/2019 at 11:49, bbfaz said:

I'm changing my advice. Do something else with your time, don't get involved with Rugby League. 

When it's good, it's worth it. But inevitably people, the game and its governing bodies let you down. Repeatedly. And it grinds you down until you've had enough.

"I am the avenging angel; I come with wings unfurled, I come with claws extended from halfway round the world. I am the God Almighty, I am the howling wind. I care not for your family; I care not for your kin. I come in search of terror, though terror is my own; I come in search of vengeance for crimes and crimes unknown. I care not for your children, I care not for your wives, I care not for your country, I care not for your lives." - (c) Jim Boyes - "The Avenging Angel"

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On 23/06/2019 at 19:20, Marauder said:

And before they (RFL) took control of the amateur game they would splash the cash and bend over backwards and even give you 2 or 3 votes to decide if you wanted to play in the summer, now they have got the amateurs by the balls they seem to have lost a lot of all interest 

Edited for accuracy

"I am the avenging angel; I come with wings unfurled, I come with claws extended from halfway round the world. I am the God Almighty, I am the howling wind. I care not for your family; I care not for your kin. I come in search of terror, though terror is my own; I come in search of vengeance for crimes and crimes unknown. I care not for your children, I care not for your wives, I care not for your country, I care not for your lives." - (c) Jim Boyes - "The Avenging Angel"

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On 23/06/2019 at 20:49, bbfaz said:

I love the game, it's a wonderful spectacle.  I could watch it at any level and find something to enjoy.  I just hate the sport.  I'm done fighting with them.  I'm over trying to fix their game only for them to keep breaking it.  I'm over the incompetence and self-interest.

The most sacred thing you can give after your love is your labour.  Sadly, we live in this awful neo-liberal society where most of us sell our time and grit our teeth like streetwalkers, with the idea that we get to go home to the people we love and do the things we enjoy.  Part of what I loved and enjoyed was Rugby League.  However, all the enjoyment has been ripped out of it and thus why would I spend the time I have to myself on it?  The club is not the problem, it's everything and everyone else.  I'm not the only person to have felt this way and I won't be the last.  I've had 7 seasons in the game and, for me, it's 7 and out.

This is why the game is moving in ever-decreasing circles.

You are not on your own. I went to my first game in 1971 but watched football saturday and RL sunday until 1981 when I decided to give up football. I got into amateur RL on saturdays as well. Fell totally in love with the game. I played, administered, started new clubs, probably visited more grounds around the Country than most people, featured on RL raw, gave radio interviews and have my photo in one or Maurice Bamford's books. I love the game but hate the way its run. I would love to walk away from the game too but the problem is - there still isn't a better sport to watch. I have tried non league football and I also got into fell walking on Sundays but nothing is quite like RL. It's in your blood now and you will be back.

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  • 1 month later...

What's BARLA's position in all this nowadays? Why don't they administer the amateur game, or even the development side of it?

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