Junior development

[paul hicks]

33 minutes ago, Daft old hooker said:

While ever we have a top down approach with all the resources at the top of the game the grassroots will continue to suffer but if I’m honest I don’t think it will ever change.

of course, it will not change . its the same in all sports just look at soccer

[JM2010]

13 minutes ago, Magic XIII said:

More importantly how active are they in non local areas, tapping into the nationwide potential - I am sure they realise that lads can be outstanding rugby league players even though they aren't born on the M62

I think the best ways to do that is either the RFL to run regional academies backed up by development work or SL clubs setting up Tier 3 academies in different areas again backed up by development work 

[Guest]

For a moment I thought it was a thread about Junior Moors.

At 37 - would have been a bit late.

[paul hicks]

19 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

Simple answer would be reduce each teams central funding to fund the academies. The problem then goes on to how to distribute the players as you would have to have a full restructure and some fresh ideas if they were to go down a draft type route. The result would be a better competition at the top of the game in my opinion but there is almost a zero chance that teams would go for it. 

Huddersfield in there just because of my experience of which clubs players in my area tend to go to. Those numbers for Leeds and Wigan are ridiculous though and if people do not see that as a problem then the game really is in a bad place.

scholarship is different to academy as it covers players of different ages who still   play for their own junior teams but get coaching and other benefits from the super league team as well as playing a limited number of games for the scholarship team. in effect for the u15s you would need to bring in a whole new squad each year as well as a few more players in the u16s ect

[glossop saint]

29 minutes ago, Magic XIII said:

More importantly how active are they in non local areas, tapping into the nationwide potential - I am sure they realise that lads can be outstanding rugby league players even though they aren't born on the M62

I'd love it if the 37 signed up for scholarships previously stated included 20 from Wigan/Leeds then 5 from London, 4 from Wales, 4 from Birmingham and 4 from Newcastle. Unfortunately I suspect it will not. Even if there were any number from Stockport, Macclesfield, Derby, Nottingham etc that would be fantastic. There really does need to be some form of expansion of the player pool, and hopefully some of those going on to be pro players.

[The Blues Ox]

https://www.statista.com/statistics/899302/rugby-league-participation-uk/

Participation numbers but unfortunatley does not show numbers for U16's although you would assume they would have had to also increase slightly to get the figures above. 

[Hopie]

I'd like to see the RFL set up regional academies in areas where there are no clubs, go back to the days when we had more development officers too. Clubs could pay "transfer" fees to sign up the best players. If clubs don't have their own academy they should have to pay into central funds the cost of setting one up (hopefully encouraging them to just run one anyway), and they could increase the salary cap for clubs who were willing to match the extra spending into central funding. 

[bigbaldnmad]

4 hours ago, The Future is League said:

All Super League clubs must be given the opportunity to have their own academies and i mean all club's, and if a club doesn't want or can't afford an academy that shouldn't be in Super League, and only clubs who are running academies should be allowed to be promoted to Super League.

By all clubs, do you mean that?

At the moment there are only SL teams (although one SL club this year were not allowed to run an academy side), and a select number of championship clubs that can run academies. My club were forced to disband their self funded academy 12 years ago.

Academies are really good, but they also damage the u16/17/18 sides of the community clubs. Managing to get 17 and 18 year old's, who are not attached to academies,  to turn down the lure of beer and young ladies to play the next day is nigh on impossible.

And what happens is clubs are not restricted to where they sign players from. A perfect example is Riley Dean, a Halifax born player, playing in the Warrington academy, around 50 miles away. Perhaps clubs should have an area in which they can sign players.

Another question, and I am sure someone may know the answer, but how may players do an academy pick up each year, and how many are converted into first team players? Assuming there are 10 players per SL academy (assuming that the academy has u17/18/19 players on an even split in a 30 player squad) that will be 120 players a year, but I would be surprised if any more than 30 make it. When I was involved at community club level, very few of the academy 'rejects' came back, they were often disillusioned by RL.

Not sure what the answer is, there are arguments both ways, but it does championship clubs no favors' if the local talent can be signed by clubs 40/50 miles away instead of representing their local clubs. 

 

  

[Copa]

16 hours ago, ELBOWSEYE said:

I maybe wrong but don't Penrith have more junior clubs than most of SL combined. I have lost touch with junior rugby but Warrington seems more involved than when I worked in junior schools and amateur clubs in the late 80s and 90s,were they did very little. 

Penrith has around 8500 players across 580 teams. (Source: https://panthersjuniors.com/home-2 )

Edited October 25, 2023 by Copa

[north yorks trinity]

I wonder if there's more going on that isn't made widely available. I heard the other day for example that Wakefield are involved with a junior club in Immingham and I think possibly others well outside their "catchment area" in addition to appearing to have a good relationship with their local amateur clubs. 

In a general game sense, any pro club helping any junior club has to be a good thing. I can see why there may be controversy when pro club A is working in pro club B's patch (but no guarantee that B would pick up the slack if A weren't there) but there are more than enough non traditional areas to be tapped that the only(!) limitations are to do with resources such as time, money and leadership.

[JM2010]

Whether there are academies or not it would still be difficult to get u18s to commit to playing on a Sunday morning. Maybe the college game and tier 3 academies need to be developed more to keep this age group playing and potentially unearth new talent. Club links could be created between community clubs and colleges so that players are encouraged to stay in RL after college. The SL clubs should still run academies as well as a few regional academies 

[Sports Prophet]

i think the junior seasons around the country need to work to a similar calendar with the RFL responsible for delivering talented player and coach pathway programmes for 3 months post club season including 8 weeks of fixtures. Similar to the old Service Area model.

Keep the professional clubs out of it until post U/18s, so their sole focus is on delivering the professional game and fantastic match day experiences for paying spectators.

The kids return to their junior clubs for the new season and retain their club identity, sustaining the grass roots game and ensuring clubs remain relevant to a young person’s social life throughout their late childhood and improving the likelihood of remaining with the club through adulthood.

Edited October 25, 2023 by Sports Prophet

[The Blues Ox]

8 hours ago, bigbaldnmad said:

Another question, and I am sure someone may know the answer, but how may players do an academy pick up each year, and how many are converted into first team players? Assuming there are 10 players per SL academy (assuming that the academy has u17/18/19 players on an even split in a 30 player squad) that will be 120 players a year, but I would be surprised if any more than 30 make it. When I was involved at community club level, very few of the academy 'rejects' came back, they were often disillusioned by RL.

Nail on the head right there. One of the big problems is that the majority of players in Acadamies at the moment do not "make it" but rather than filter back down the levels of the game be that Championship/League 1 or community level, a lot of them will simply quit playing. This is not concern to the SL clubs as they have only self interest at heart and are only concerned with the 2 or 3 that actually make it.