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Widnes Give Up


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Just now, ShropshireBull said:

And how does closing pathways in areas where people love the game help it grow anywhere else.  

I think all clubs at Champ level should have to be involved with an academy set up but making it a requirement to be SL or effectively Newcastle and London is bizarre. 

It's what a lot of championship fans have been saying on here for a while. There is simply no league infrastructure outside the invitational league for anyone wanting to set a serious academy up. 

Not sure if anyone saw Matt Shaws chat with Derek Beaumont on his Facebook page last night, but DB confirmed he was looking to apply for an academy should we survive and tick the box as an SL club.

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4 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

No didnt catch it.  For clubs outside the SL joint regional academies are the way to go but keeping them outside the set up is mental. 

Create conferences if you have to but we have no Welsh Academy,  no South Yorkshire Academy,  no Cumbria Academy or Manchester . This is absurd. 

The regional academies and development officers were the first casualties from the loss of Sport England funding,which sort of sums up the game in this country.

Given that £1.8m was withheld from TWP and now £0.8m from Leigh,how many development officers and or regional academies would that have funded ?

There is plenty of talent out there,it's not always on your doorstep.

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22 minutes ago, LeytherRob said:

It's what a lot of championship fans have been saying on here for a while. There is simply no league infrastructure outside the invitational league for anyone wanting to set a serious academy up. 

Not sure if anyone saw Matt Shaws chat with Derek Beaumont on his Facebook page last night, but DB confirmed he was looking to apply for an academy should we survive and tick the box as an SL club.

Indeed, and Leigh will have to be creative in their recruitment for that academy for it to be successful.

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2 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Indeed, and Leigh will have to be creative in their recruitment for that academy for it to be successful.

Frankly, an academy in Leigh would be a waste of resources because it wouldn't produce any additional players. It might mean players come through that academy rather than those of Wigan or St Helens, but they wouldn't be additional players.

"Just as we had been Cathars, we were treizistes, men apart."

Jean Roque, Calendrier-revue du Racing-Club Albigeois, 1958-1959

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3 minutes ago, nadera78 said:

Frankly, an academy in Leigh would be a waste of resources because it wouldn't produce any additional players. It might mean players come through that academy rather than those of Wigan or St Helens, but they wouldn't be additional players.

They don't have to run it / recruit from Leigh - hence having to be creative

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5 minutes ago, nadera78 said:

Frankly, an academy in Leigh would be a waste of resources because it wouldn't produce any additional players. It might mean players come through that academy rather than those of Wigan or St Helens, but they wouldn't be additional players.

They'll need to take from the wider greater Manchester area as well as Leigh. Even if they do take from Leigh that would have gone to saints or Wigan, it just means those clubs will also look a bit further afield. No different to all the west Yorkshire academies so close together. 

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16 minutes ago, nadera78 said:

Frankly, an academy in Leigh would be a waste of resources because it wouldn't produce any additional players. It might mean players come through that academy rather than those of Wigan or St Helens, but they wouldn't be additional players.

Agreed, which is why they need to be creative - otherwise they will just be a worse version of Leeds, Saints and Wigan.

Creativity, ingenuity and/or a fair bit of money may be needed and competition will force other clubs to up their game too.

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11 minutes ago, LeytherRob said:

They'll need to take from the wider greater Manchester area as well as Leigh. Even if they do take from Leigh that would have gone to saints or Wigan, it just means those clubs will also look a bit further afield. No different to all the west Yorkshire academies so close together. 

Starting out I'm not convinced they will even get the best talent even in Leigh. Scholarship players and their parents are notoriously mercenary unless its one of the big clubs who they are fans of.

Its about looking broadly and offering a package that is attractive.

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10 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Starting out I'm not convinced they will even get the best talent even in Leigh. Scholarship players and their parents are notoriously mercenary unless its one of the big clubs who they are fans of.

Its about looking broadly and offering a package that is attractive.

Build it and they will come. Get the infrastructure in place, stay in Super League and they'll get the local lads on board

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11 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Starting out I'm not convinced they will even get the best talent even in Leigh. Scholarship players and their parents are notoriously mercenary unless its one of the big clubs who they are fans of.

Its about looking broadly and offering a package that is attractive.

I agree, it'll take time to get things up and running. Beaumont seems determined to leave a lasting legacy at the club in the way of an established SL club with full academy. 

I don't have the exact quote but what he essentially said to Matt Shaw last night was 'if I finish up at leigh and all I've done is spent my kids inheritance on player contracts without really achieving anything, it will all be for nothing. I want to make a lasting difference to the club'

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10 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Starting out I'm not convinced they will even get the best talent even in Leigh. Scholarship players and their parents are notoriously mercenary unless its one of the big clubs who they are fans of.

Its about looking broadly and offering a package that is attractive.

Superleague clubs do miss players for a variety of reasons,late developers,playing for unfashionable amateur clubs and often the standouts at 15 & 16 fail to make the grade whilst other less talented at that age do.

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Just now, Hela Wigmen said:

I just can’t get my head around Academy licences only being handed to Super League clubs and those from non-heartland areas. What an incredibly naive and stupid move. 

Yeah it doesn't make much sense and doesn't really encourage clubs to grow the game or themselves. Even the reseverves became a farce below SL because the RFL wouldn't enforce it and it became a handful of clubs just playing glorified friendlies amongst themselves and cancelled fixtures left right and centre. The last full season in 2014 had a pretty well attended grand final at LSV where Leigh lost to Dewsbury. Chris Hankinson, Joe Bullock, Jack Hanson and several others currently in the pro/semi pro game were in the Leigh team that day. How many other late bloomers are getting lost to the game that would've been picked up in the championships academies/reserve setups?

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3 minutes ago, Spidey said:

This is all going towards a closed shop. How else can they contain Academies at SL clubs.

If a club gets relegated do they then lose their Academy licence?  

And what about if, let’s say Halifax, build nicely over a period of time, are they not allowed in because of the Academy?

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2 minutes ago, Spidey said:

If a club gets relegated do they then lose their Academy licence?  

Not necessarily but it does make it more difficult if not outside the heartlands, London and Newcastle will keep theirs and I doubt they'll touch Bradfords as long as it keeps producing. Widnes were the most vulnerable after the admin and losing part of their funding, they would have more than likely been the ones to miss out if there were any other applications.

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Just now, LeytherRob said:

Widnes were the most vulnerable after the admin and losing part of their funding, they would have more than likely been the ones to miss out if there were any other applications.

The funding shortfall was known before the start of 2020 and Widnes planned to run with the Academy & Reserves and maintained they had the budget. I get Covid has changed things. But if the funding was really the issue why start 2020 with the Academy in place? 

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Just now, Spidey said:

The funding shortfall was known before the start of 2020 and Widnes planned to run with the Academy & Reserves and maintained they had the budget. I get Covid has changed things. But if the funding was really the issue why start 2020 with the Academy in place? 

Possible they either think, or have been told they might be losing their Cat 1 status and decided to cut their losses early. It's all speculation though without knowing whats gone on behind the scenes. May all become clearer when the new licenses get announced.

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Really sad for the game in the Halton area and I’m sure the club must be gutted. Not sure why a few posters above seem to be saying Widnes are giving up or can’t be bothered though, I’m sure they’d be interested to hear from you if you can help them fund it. 

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1 minute ago, Spidey said:

Build it and they will come. Get the infrastructure in place, stay in Super League and they'll get the local lads on board

The local lads of any quality will go to Saints Wigan or Warrington as they do already. It needs a point of difference otherwise it'll just be a worse version of what already exists and if anything will weaken the academy pool.

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19 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

Superleague clubs do miss players for a variety of reasons,late developers,playing for unfashionable amateur clubs and often the standouts at 15 & 16 fail to make the grade whilst other less talented at that age do.

I get that completely, but equally they miss because they don't search creatively (in the case of the big clubs because they don't need to and the smaller clubs because they can't afford to). I don't particularly think the system works that well anyway all told for a number of reasons, not least the collapse we see at some clubs between age 15 to 19.

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14 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

So, with this news, can we assume that Bradford will lose their licence too?

If we lose our Academy, we might as well just shut up shop. It's been the one shining light over the last 10 years of gloom.

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