Getting adult newcomers playing league

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

Plenty of chat about getting Canadian youngsters through and rightly so. 

However I've seen through social media quite a lot of Wolfpack fans organising adult games--lots of pictures of red faced fellas having a laugh! .... Plenty of guys in their 40s plus- newcomers and loving the game

My union team regularly has a recruitment drive for adult newcomers... Some in their 40s plus 

How does it work up north? Seems to me not many people past 30 play? Met some Wakey fans this season... All lads in their 20s who looked like they had just stepped out of the gym but said they used to play but they are to old to play now

[GUBRATS]

RL played as a proper full contact sport is essentially not playable past 30 unless you're being paid to play it 

Tag and touch is ok , but that loses a huge amount of what RL actually is 

[Southerner80]

10 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

RL played as a proper full contact sport is essentially not playable past 30 unless you're being paid to play it 

Tag and touch is ok , but that loses a huge amount of what RL actually is 

I agree it's like Gridiron in terms of brutality. 

You can't really slow it down like say Union can be at a social level. 

I'm 39 and fairly fit yet would not dare go near a RL pitch for full contact RL. 

[GUBRATS]

3 minutes ago, Celt said:

a flag of convenience i feel.  Gives people an excuse.

Some RL is absoltely not 'brutal' at all. Even at what is perceived as a reasonable level.

Take a look at the reserve team of NW crusaders for example - a bunch of callow youths, who may be fairly quick and agile, but are absoluterly not a physical, 'brutal' bunch.

For me, a bunch of guys in their 20s, who have all 'just stepped out of the gym' are well capable of playing amateur rugby league.  And over 30s can easily play it too..... <refs at community level CAN slow the game down too, by allowing the tackler an extra second or so to get to his feet, and policing a very "skinny 10" (about 8.5m) and allowing the defence to go as soon as the PTB is placed on the ground if he needs to control the speed further.

Essentially, Rugby League is full of small subtleties and nuances that officials can control/vary according to the level of the teams/competition. 

It's all about opinions I suppose, but I can't agree with you on this one.

It's fine if both sides are equal in size fitness and attitude , but you get 3/4 players on one side who aren't and there will be problems , there are few other team sports where actual physical domination of the opposition is so paramount as in RL 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

3 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

RL played as a proper full contact sport is essentially not playable past 30 unless you're being paid to play it 

Tag and touch is ok , but that loses a huge amount of what RL actually is 

You think? I played the odd summer vets until late 30s (not masters just over 35s vets) when we had fixtures

[Phil]

I made my full contact international debut at the age of 47, it can be done 

[Damien]

Rugby League is a damn hard sport to play and is stuck between a rock and a hard place on this this. There simply isn't the levels that you get in other sports and even playing for a 2nd team in NW Counties is physically demanding.

There is then a huge drop off to things masters and tag which actually don't interest a lot of people because they aren't competitive and demanding enough. There is certainly a huge gulf and void between these 2 extremes.

In my experience many just go on to play RU in their 30s and 40s, even if they actually have little interest in it, as it is well organised, requires little fitness and still has the social element.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

11 hours ago, Phil said:

I made my full contact international debut at the age of 47, it can be done 

Come on then - I feel there is something behind this? A story I suspect you've told here a few times before? 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

11 hours ago, Damien said:

 

In my experience many just go on to play RU in their 30s and 40s, even if they actually have little interest in it, as it is well organised, requires little fitness and still has the social element.

Which is my experience. Is that the same up North then? 

[Damien]

11 hours ago, Phil said:

I made my full contact international debut at the age of 47, it can be done 

And going the other way, after playing for as long as I can remember at Primary School, by my 30s I had 2 knackered knees, a dodgy shoulder and certainly couldn't cope with spending days in pain and barely being able to walk after a game and trying to work. Playing Football to stay fit was much easier on the body. 

[Damien]

4 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Which is my experience. Is that the same up North then? 

I certainly know people that have played for the likes of Wigan RU after finishing Rugby League and these are people that would have never played RU before.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

2 hours ago, Damien said:

I certainly know people that have played for the likes of Wigan RU after finishing Rugby League and these are people that would have never played RU before.

Well I never

[Phil]

2 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Come on then - I feel there is something behind this? A story I suspect you've told here a few times before? 

I went out to Holland with the Heavy Woollen Donkeys social Rugby League club to play in the Rotterdam 9s we played against Holland, Serbia and Germany, playing for Germany were a couple of very young Keinhorst brothers.

It was a great experience 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

9 hours ago, Phil said:

I went out to Holland with the Heavy Woollen Donkeys social Rugby League club to play in the Rotterdam 9s we played against Holland, Serbia and Germany, playing for Germany were a couple of very young Keinhorst brothers.

It was a great experience 

A genuine fellow international sportsman eh? Nice to meet you

I played cricket for Bolivia when I had a 2 year secondment at work many years ago ( the standard was somewhere between Sunday Village and league 7/8 Saturday league cricket.... I took a 3 for and scored 27

Phil- very few people understand the pressure of international sport like we do

[headtackle]

Jeff Grayshon played into his 40s in Division 1 if I remember right back in the 70s

 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

17 minutes ago, headtackle said:

Jeff Grayshon played into his 40s in Division 1 if I remember right back in the 70s

 

Who's the oldest ever Superleague player? 

[Scubby]

43 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Who's the oldest ever Superleague player? 

Stanley Gene (56)

[TheLegendOfTexEvans]

On 28/06/2019 at 17:14, GUBRATS said:

RL played as a proper full contact sport is essentially not playable past 30 unless you're being paid to play it 

Tag and touch is ok , but that loses a huge amount of what RL actually is 

People seriously need to take a look at semi contact versions like Eurotag (not to be confused with flag football).

It fills this gap perfectly.

 

[Sports Prophet]

Got to agree with a few posters on this forum. Modern RL is simply too physical a sport to play much over the age of your mid 20s. I would often think any person playing amateur RL as a 30 year old must have rocks in their head.

The only way I see an opportunity to minimise the physicality would be to reduce the 10m to 5m for the amateur game.

Soccer is obviously a sport you can play into your 40s.

I am 41 and playing Masters Aussie Rules. You can go to London and find eight clubs playing at a social level in the third grade with lads regularly 35 and over. It’s because the tackling is not a dominant feature of the sport.

Rugby Union is such a slow game to start with. The crowded pitch and defensive line with the ruck both lend itself to minimise tackling impact. Very rarely will a player get close to a full head of steam and run straight at an opponent trying to bring the person down.

In saying all that, there are alternatives to retain members past playing age and I don’t mean playing a derivative like touch or tag.

[Allora]

8 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Who's the oldest ever Superleague player? 

In the modern era Steve Menzies was 39

[redjonn]

Modern RU is brutal and physically demanding too at the top levels...  I only mention this as this doesn't get in the way of much older social RU ... 

Seems to me its more a cultural divide than anything else, including the fact that in that damn other code it only recently became fully professional, so to speak. Many many clubs are and have been built with the social aspect at the core and its only primary goal.... 

[Damien]

14 minutes ago, redjonn said:

Modern RU is brutal and physically demanding too at the top levels...  I only mention this as this doesn't get in the way of much older social RU ... 

Seems to me its more a cultural divide than anything else, including the fact that in that damn other code it only recently became fully professional, so to speak. Many many clubs are and have been built with the social aspect at the core and its only primary goal.... 

RU at lower levels is far less demanding than the equivalent in Rugby League. You can literally play it with little or no fitness and without even training for it and just playing on a match day. You cannot do that in Rugby League.

[fighting irish]

This is a strange argument. Some people can play ''safely'' and some people can't.

You can't generalise this issue or make a rule about it. I remember playing with different classes of player, some of whom ended up with quite serious injuries because they weren't up to it, but not because they were over 25.

I remember one poor chap in particular, who took to the field wearing a matching pair, of every neoprene compression ''bandage'' made by a company called Vulcan. Wrists, elbows, shoulders, waist band, thighs, knees and ankles were hidden from view, in the hope that the foam rubber would protect him from injury. The peees takers immediately knicknamed him ''Vulcan Man'' which chimed in with the double V on his chest. He was consigned to the hospital after his first carry resulted in him colliding with our version of Kevin Ward travelling towards him at a relative speed of about 35 miles per hour. I don't think he ever played again, but his legend lives on. 

[GUBRATS]

1 hour ago, fighting irish said:

This is a strange argument. Some people can play ''safely'' and some people can't.

You can't generalise this issue or make a rule about it. I remember playing with different classes of player, some of whom ended up with quite serious injuries because they weren't up to it, but not because they were over 25.

I remember one poor chap in particular, who took to the field wearing a matching pair, of every neoprene compression ''bandage'' made by a company called Vulcan. Wrists, elbows, shoulders, waist band, thighs, knees and ankles were hidden from view, in the hope that the foam rubber would protect him from injury. The peees takers immediately knicknamed him ''Vulcan Man'' which chimed in with the double V on his chest. He was consigned to the hospital after his first carry resulted in him colliding with our version of Kevin Ward travelling towards him at a relative speed of about 35 miles per hour. I don't think he ever played again, but his legend lives on. 

Which is my point , it isn't just the age or fitness level ,it is also the attitude , if all are equal then fine , which I believe you might get in Union , but if you have 2 or 3 ' nutters on one side then there will be damage 

[Number 16]

I was never anything other than ordinary, but I played full contact RL into my 50s. It is possible. Yes, it takes longer to recover the older you get, but this thing about reaching 30 something and being too old is rubbish.

Older people run marathons, do triathlons, climb mountains, cycle continents. It's a mental thing.