Academy funding cuts

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

1 hour ago, Saint 1 said:

Didn't several of the bigger clubs do this in 2019?

To be honest, Saint 1, I cannot recall, but this link suggests that, no, there was no competition for reserve teams in 2019, unless some of them joined more geographically localised leagues, as did Les Dracs and TOXIII.

Super League: Reserve grade competition approved to relaunch in 2020 - BBC Sport

[dead man inc]

18 minutes ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

To be honest, Saint 1, I cannot recall, but this link suggests that, no, there was no competition for reserve teams in 2019, unless some of them joined more geographically localised leagues, as did Les Dracs and TOXIII.

Super League: Reserve grade competition approved to relaunch in 2020 - BBC Sport

I can’t remember exact details, but there was a reserves competition in 2019 - it was the SL teams that had academies plus the champ teams who also ran academies (London Broncos, Bradford, Newcastle & Widnes.)

They played approximately 4 games before Covid kicked in & season cancelled. The SL clubs chose to cancel the 2020 reserves to save money, but said it would come back after Covid.

Im not certain if it is starting again next season, but there are rumours it is going to be back.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

12 minutes ago, Saint 1 said:

Sorry, it was 2020 I was thinking of. Obviously as @dead man inc states, Covid stopped it in its tracks! Would be nice if it returned for 2022 though.

Thanks, Saint 1.  I agree; it would be good to see it return.

[RBKnight]

10 hours ago, OMEGA said:

 

Finaly we must get some of our star players into the public eye, whether that’s Paul Scullthorpe on Strictly Come Dancing,  Jon Wilkin Captaining on A Question of Sport, Kevin Sinfield on Question Time, Sean O’Loughlin on Celebrity SAS or Sam Tomkins on Ninja Warrior.

 

Gary Schofield for Bake-Off ?

[idrewthehaggis]

20 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

What's really needed are a couple of SL clubs to have the foresight, courage and locally raised finance to maintain both an academy team and a reserve one - with each participating in meaningful competitions - to demonstrate the merits of progressive development of youngsters, whether early or late developers.

And, of course, we have two such clubs!

So "Chapeau!" to Les Dragons Catalans and Toulouse Olympique XIII.

It may be worth noting here that SRD and Manchester Rangers tried to establish a reciprocal "St Esteve" type relationship, which the RFL duly blocked.

I will leave it to the reader's own conclusion to ponder whether the RFL acted fairly given the burgeoning farce of Bradford Hemel Ottawa Aces.

https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/manchester-rangers-withdraw-team-after-league-one-snub/

While we are here.

https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/leeds-rhinos-seven-new-signings-21959110

Just to emphasis my point, Leeds's recent junior signings from the clear Lioner suburbs of Oxford, Siddal and Wakefield.

Regional academies in practice, monopolies in reality

.

[Wanderer]

18 hours ago, RBKnight said:

Gary Schofield for Bake-Off ?

Or Man v Food ?

he could probably tackle a good Sunday dinner

[JM2010]

I think all SL clubs should have an academy, below that places like Bradford, Newcastle, Sheffield etc who aren't within the same city limits of an SL club should be given help to run academies. 

If there were any regional academies I think they should be in expansion areas and run by the RFL. I believe this is what happened before with the Cumbrian, Midlands, NE academies. They should only be run on the back of development work in these areas though and maybe have a minimum of 10 junior clubs underpinning them

[David Dockhouse Host]

Reserves and academy to run alternate weeks next season 

[dealwithit]

The RFL and SL need to decide what the best development pathway is. 
a) SL clubs fund academies and reserves

b) the SL clubs and RFL provide funding to the community game to develop talent

 

[JM2010]

My preferred system would be all SL clubs running elite academies with development underneath to increase the amount of junior clubs in their catchment areas.

Clubs such as Bradford, York, Sheffield, Newcastle, Coventry, West Wales, London also running elite academies with development underpinning these. The RFL could support these.

All other clubs (and SL) to run tier 3 academies in colleges to play in a college league system. The clubs can run or support as many of these as they wish. Colleges without tier 3 academies can also be offered support from the RFL to set up and run teams. A strong tier 3/college league would be a great way to keep 16/17 year olds playing and could be used to feed players into Championship and league 1 teams and also into the open age community game.

It could also be used for SL clubs to pick up any late developers or athletes from other sports who they didn't sign for their elite academies

[Marauder]

On 27/10/2021 at 21:45, dealwithit said:

The RFL and SL need to decide what the best development pathway is. 
a) SL clubs fund academies and reserves

b) the SL clubs and RFL provide funding to the community game to develop talent

 

Provided funding to the community game, would this result in all the best kids in one area being sqirrelled away to the amateur team of RFL choice (As been done before which resulted in teams having to fold as they didn't have the numbers to fill a team sheet)