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| Monday March 8th 2010 |
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| Are the new under18 & under 20 Academies the answer? |
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While the RFL are confident that the new non-recorded U18s and Championship U20 Academies will produce more home grown Super League Players for the future,(which will be a positive outcome) as Chairperson of an Amateur Club ( I dare not say Chairman in the present climate) I am not sure what the effect will be on Clubs such as ours who strive to produce the best players we can and seem to struggle to keep our U18s going every season.
The recent RFL Survey to determine why players age 16-19 drop out of the game ignores the fact that many players are attracted in to Professional Clubs by the potential contract when in reality many are there to make up the team and are simply being mislead, the knock on effect is that these young lads are released and then in many cases are lost to the game forever as they feel they have failed to make the grade, the offer to play in a Professional Clubs Academy is attractive for any youngster and they quite naturally are impressed, but the reality is hard to take and when they have given it their best shot many become disillusioned with the game and do not return to their Amateur Clubs leaving the Club short of quality young Open Age Players.
This I beleive is the case at many Clubs and with the re-jigging of Service Area RL and Scholarships now brings even younger players in to the Elite category where they will beleive they have a potential future in the game only to discover down the line they were being used to make the numbers up to be then let down and feeling like failures.
We at our Club have always and will continue to encourage the most talented players to go as far as they can but we need some help to retain the high numbers deserting the game. Imagine a Squad of 18 players at U17s when 7 of the squad get approached by the local Professional Club to play U18 Academy, they all fancy a go at it of course but what do the Amateur Club do with the remaining 11 Players? More importantly what do the 11 lads then do when there is no Rugby on a weekend? Those lads are going to be lost to the game eventually and "The League For All" policy is blown away.
We are a Club in this situation with players who would be excellent players for our U18 and Open Age sides being lured away by the attraction of playing for a local Professional Academy and yet the Club are realistically using some of these players as"makeweights" (meaning no disrespect to the lads who are having a go at it).
In the bigger picture I would ask the RFL what is being achieved as they are simply "robbing Peter to pay Paul," and ticking some boxes for Sport England money but the grass roots game where I am from and where many of our top players came from is losing out. The kids who are good enough will be watched and spotted before they reach 16 years old, so why not let the late developers play with the Amateurs and keep their teamates in the game as well with a chance of being picked up a little later if they are good enough?
Yours In Sport - Chris Smith, Chairperson Shaw Cross Sharks (Club for Young People)
PS. Many of our Coaches are being utilised by Professional Clubs on their Scholarship Schemes, so the old excuse that they are getting better coaching at the Pro Clubs is not valid, and I am sure this is the case throughout the game. They are being well coached at most Clubs so pick the best (and pay them) and leave the rest to enjoy playing with their mates.
BARLA would welcome any comments on this article. Comments may be directed to secretary@barla.org.uk |
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The British Amateur Rugby League Association.
West Yorkshire House, 4 New North Parade, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. HD1 5JP, England
Tel: 01484 510682, Fax: 01484 519985, info@barla.org.uk |
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