Coventry Bears

[RoverBear]

5 hours ago, Bearman said:

Your silence is deafening.

I'm not often accused of being silent  

[Cumbrian Mackem]

Would love to see a similar grassroots explosion in the West Midlands like that in the north east with the thunder.

[OriginalMrC]

22 hours ago, Cumbrian Mackem said:

Would love to see a similar grassroots explosion in the West Midlands like that in the north east with the thunder.

Hopefully this will help kick start that. The midlands has a great opportunity because there are also a number of community clubs. Regular matches for junior players is a key to long term growth of the game 

[OriginalMrC]

On 06/01/2021 at 10:07, newbe said:

Gone into a black hole,  could they name the community clubs were the money went?

I'm still waiting for that apology newbe, you've gone very quiet 

[langpark]

5 minutes ago, OriginalMrC said:

I'm still waiting for that apology newbe, you've gone very quiet 

Armchair critics, will always shout the loudest and be first to point the finger and even accuse those that are actually doing all the hard work.  Sad fact of life. 

[Northern Eel]

As I understand it, the work Coventry hope to achieve this coming year means that more youngsters from the satellite clubs can take part in localised fixtures. That has to be a good thing.

There's similar work going on in a number of locations across West and East Midlands. Most of those clubs are purely junior set-ups, building from the bottom up. Covid permitting, this year promises to be the largest in terms of participation, number of festivals and localised fixtures for a number of years in the region. In the East Midlands, at some junior age groups there are informal merit type structures in place this year.

Turning junior teams into open age teams is difficult, and many have failed in the past. Give it 5 years and we may well see a huge growth in open-age rugby league in East and West Midlands.

[OriginalMrC]

2 hours ago, Northern Eel said:

As I understand it, the work Coventry hope to achieve this coming year means that more youngsters from the satellite clubs can take part in localised fixtures. That has to be a good thing.

There's similar work going on in a number of locations across West and East Midlands. Most of those clubs are purely junior set-ups, building from the bottom up. Covid permitting, this year promises to be the largest in terms of participation, number of festivals and localised fixtures for a number of years in the region. In the East Midlands, at some junior age groups there are informal merit type structures in place this year.

Turning junior teams into open age teams is difficult, and many have failed in the past. Give it 5 years and we may well see a huge growth in open-age rugby league in East and West Midlands.

Yep. A number of teams in the midlands have always had decent junior set ups but getting them regular games without loads of travel is always a problem. I really believe the midlands can become a major region (outside the heartlands) for rugby league. Let's hope developments in Coventry and also elsewhere in the midlands is the start of something great for the region