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Continued decline in Sydney Junior Rugby

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mangled

Frank Nicholson (4)
The comp. May be smaller
. But at least it wouldn't be dictated by those players that are relied on to back up after school games.. bring it on I say
 

oakhilldad

Stan Wickham (3)
The comp. May be smaller
. But at least it wouldn't be dictated by those players that are relied on to back up after school games.. bring it on I say


So my experience was that in U12 we had two teams, Sunday team of approx 20 kids and Saturday team of approx 18 kids.
Next year in U13 we had 35 kids who wanted to play Sunday and only 6 who wanted to play Saturday. Of those 6 , 5 were included in the 35 who wanted to play Sunday as well, one could not play Sunday at all and we lost him.
In a Saturday only comp, my club could not have fielded any team, in the Sunday comp we had two teams (and in U14 we able to field three teams). Not saying this would have been everybody's experience but it was thus for my village club.
Back to two teams for U15, one team for U16 and again for opens this year.
 

Dingasden

Ward Prentice (10)
I have no problem with Saturday rugby but it has to be collaborative not just a handful of clubs. That is a big challenge. A meeting was held last year of senior district clubs which covered the prospect of u17s being a younger colts like side but it was only supported by a small handful of clubs. Many did not want to take on the added responsibility of a junior team or could not see there was an issue worth addressing. Brick walls every you go.


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lincoln

Bob Loudon (25)
Now 7 years out of the JRUFC so am not current. I am interested that some of the debate revolves around keeping private school boys in the comp. Bottom line is they keep playing rugby at their schools and thereafter if they choose. My interest is in engaging the high school boys who for one reason or another do not have access to organised sport within their system. A club based U17 comp resonates with me, assuming clubs will come to the party.
 

Hugh Jarse

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
Some prestige needs to be restored to the Under 17 level rugby, because at the moment the standard is rather low in comparison to U16 level rep footy.

People crawl across broken glass to get their kids into U16 rep teams. The following years, the majority then seem to focus on making it into U18 NSW Schools RU and Aust SRU representative teams, rather than having a lash at U17 level representative footy.

SJRU do not seem to be able to run a competition to attract and retain players at U17's.

If the Shute Shield clubs are disinterested in running a U17 competition, perhaps the second incarnation of the Jnr Gold Cup should be an alignment of the squads with the NRC franchises at U15 and U17 level.
 

Dingasden

Ward Prentice (10)
I like the sound of that HJ but the main problem is lack of funds. The NRC seem to have the same issue


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Hugh Jarse

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
How many JGC squads were there? How many NRC franchises are there? Fairly close overall, although there were more regional JGC squads in NSW and QLD than there are regional based NRC Franchises.

Under 17 and U15 JGC was funded by ARU and $660 contribution from parents.
 

Hugh Jarse

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
Private Schools are going to do what they want to do, and will act in their own best interests, not the interests of rugby in general or SJRU in particular.

There is little alignment of "seasons" within the school association competitions let alone a willingness to realign their seasons to allow SJRU to offer viable alternatives that recognise the demands of school rugby in the older age groups.

Private School students are cocaine for SJRU and SJRU have become addicted to that cocaine. They make it easy to recruit numbers for teams, and bolster playing numbers, which in turn make for happy annual reports and census figures. Going cold turkey and having SJRU rely on players whose schools do not have rugby programmes would in the short term dramatically cut team numbers in rugby's "heartland" in the East and North.

The Village Clubs in the East and North would have to do what they do out West and in the South, and work their backsides off to recruit and retain kids from public schools, the catholic school system, and other codes. The likes of Eastwood, Penrith and Parramatta districts would start dominating Junior State Championships. The quality of play and players would be seen as being inferior to that of the Private School system. I'm not sure why this is a problem, but for some it is. Not dominating State Championships as they have traditionally done through their abundance of private school players seems to be a bitter pill that some administrators and districts do not want to swallow.

If player numbers and "quality" drop in Sydney, then the "centre" may be forced to do something about it. At the moment, ARU and NSWRU can sit back and bask in the reflected glory of the heavy lifting that the Private Schools are doing for them. This costs them little time or effort, but does very little to grow the game beyond the traditional enclaves. We are seeing that player numbers in the private school system are hardly going gang busters with some schools now having more diveball teams than rugby teams. The Private Schools don't care, they just want their kids to play a team sport for character development purposes.

To get player participant numbers up in SJRU without relying on the Private Schools is going to take some serious effort and money from ARU, NSW RU and SRU Clubs. The volunteer based Junior Village Clubs have little ability to do much on their lonesome. Problem is that there doesn't seem to be any no money, or will to commit those resources to assist the Junior Village Clubs to spread the gospel in the public and Catholic school systems.

With the prospect of having to report a fall in player participation numbers, the Administration seem happy to remain addicted to the Private School Player cocaine. Suddenly all the problems of the world go away, and "normal" service is resumed. With the volunteer Executive seeming only be interested in doing a couple of years "service" while their young'un is going through the system it's a case of "Steady as she goes Captain". Leave the journey into uncharted waters to the next watch.
 

mangled

Frank Nicholson (4)
Agree in full with that we should stop relying on private school kids..... after speaking to some clubs it is they that dont want to do the work of recruiting others... all I heard was it will wreck our club... You have a go at the sjru having short term commitment. .... I think you'll find Club land the same unless in West....
 

Hugie

Ted Fahey (11)
Boof reported (in the NSW Country thread) that they have a couple of enthusiastic development officers (I've never heard of that) in the Hunter who are doing good things growing the participation there, by engaging the local schools etc. Maybe what they are doing could act as the model for growing the game. First get some enthusiastic development officers, then....
 

Hugh Jarse

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
While the player participant numbers are being fudged, where is the incentive for The Pulverisor to throw money at some Development Officers?

The current fiscal climate in HQ ARU is tighter than a ducks backside. No money is going to be made available to address an issue that is not backed up with solid figures.
 

Druid

Herbert Moran (7)
The longer term view is very true. I am at a club which originally had 42 mini's. The committee at the time made a very deliberate decision to focus on mini recruitment. e.g. 6 and 7 yr old. For 3 years they did a huge amount of work getting flyers in schools, visiting shopping centres holding Come'n'Try days all organised by themselves before seeing any significant growth in mini's number. This club now has in excess of 100 mini's. However, if like many clubs they had given up in the first year or two due to lack of results, nothing would have changed.

The good thing about this recruitment drive is that many of the new players they attracted were not from the traditional Rugby playing private schools but from public, catholic and non-Rugby playing private schools. It can be done but do not expect to see dramatic results over a short period some of the growth strategies can take years to see fruition.
 

Rugby Addict

Herbert Moran (7)
SSUN
U16A
13
2 LOF Chatswood Stags 0 v Dural 28 BEAUCHAMP 2014-08-10 15:00

Chatswood had 12 players on the morning of the game last Sunday against Dural.

One of the players got 6 of his mates to come and help out so we could have a meaningful game – all of whom did not play club anymore but were former club players at various other clubs (Mosman, Hunters Hill and Lane Cove).

Two of the five had played with Lane Cove earlier in the year but ceased playing after the State Champs.

We thought we could not play them due to the Lane Cove connection but a check of the Lane Cove sign-on sheet revealed them to no longer be on their sheet with the assumption they had been de-registered.

We tried to register all 6 but the two Lane Cove boys were not able to be renewed on Buddha - either a system or user limitation.

They turned up keen for a game and we let them play on the basis it was 7th v 9th . The game was played and won by Chatswood 39-24.

We should have found out how to register them on the Monday but the boys all had a game and Dural got what they were after - a competitve game of rugby.

A picture of the boys was seen on Facebook by a Hunters Hill parent and the SJRU was notified who subsequently forfeited Chatswood.
 

Inside Shoulder

Nathan Sharpe (72)
So the game was actually played. Dural got a game. <edited>
And then Chatswood get a technical forfeit.
Everyone should be happy.
Why the F*ck would a Hunters Hill parent give one?
My god.
This has become utterly ridiculous.
 

Rugby Addict

Herbert Moran (7)
A picture of the boys was seen on Facebook by a Hunters Hill parent and the SJRU was notified who subsequently forfeited Chatswood.
It was a Wahroonga/West Harbour parent who notified SJRU not Hunters Hill.
 
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