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Sydney Junior Rugby Union - 2013

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Hugh Jarse

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
I think it is a good concept that has been rushed through without being being fully "wargamed" to iron out all the bugs.

It sounds a wonderful theory with a most likely a lot of input from the marketing, spreadsheeting theoretical geniuses and meeting attending committee people who can spin a good story and produce 500 charts and statistics to support their concept, but who have little actual ability to achieve the wonderful KPI's that were so professionally touted.

Where did all the Cross City Tunnel, Lane Cove Tunnel, and Airport Rail link planners go?

I hope that they are now not advising the ARU.
 

Inside Shoulder

Nathan Sharpe (72)
I think it is a good concept that has been rushed through without being being fully "wargamed" to iron out all the bugs.

It sounds a wonderful theory with a most likely a lot of input from the marketing, spreadsheeting theoretical geniuses and meeting attending committee people who can spin a good story and produce 500 charts and statistics to support their concept, but who have little actual ability to achieve the wonderful KPI's that were so professionally touted.

Where did all the Cross City Tunnel, Lane Cove Tunnel, and Airport Rail link planners go?

I hope that they are now not advising the ARU.

Have to disagree: combining 2 age groups (if that's the plan) skews the whole squad.
Make the squads smaller if you need to be but i think you have to have continuity.
There will be kids who get in in u15s who miss out the next year and then, if they're still in the game, come back in at u17s.
what happens to them in terms of development in the year off?
 

S'UP

Bill Watson (15)
The 90 minute rule needs a complete review, i don't disagree with kids under 14 playing to that standard but over 14's should surely be able to play 2 full games in a day. to stop the stupid games of 22 and a half minutes.
 

Hugh Jarse

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
^^^ Makes for a very long day at the State Champs, and they may be looking for venues like St Lukes Park and Rat Park with 3 or more ovals to accommodate all the extended games within the hours of available daylight if the games were of longer duration.
 

S'UP

Bill Watson (15)
^^^ I could live with the pool games being 22.5 but surely they could make the quarter / semi's and final at least 30. It might actually some coaches to give their bench a run towards the later half of each half.
 

Hugh Jarse

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
When reading participation numbers - I only look at registered junior, seniors and schools 1. ( sorry ladies). I have heard anecdotally that some well funded girls private schools such as PLC on the North shore of Sydney now offer rugby sevens as a sport. As we have seen, there has been a massive push into women's sevens ( women's 15s funding has dried up) and hopefully this should increase the supporter base.
One small ray of light is that Allambie rugby club on Sydney's northern beaches has reformed after many years with 100 players this year.
Has sydney junior club rugby really shrunken so much and how was it so big when the game was amateur, they had no money and the mungos were picking the eyes out of our senior ranks?

Season is all done and dusted.

How did things go in the wash up with Sydney's newest junior club?

More numbers for next year I hope.
 

Dave Beat

Paul McLean (56)
Season is all done and dusted.

How did things go in the wash up with Sydney's newest junior club?

More numbers for next year I hope.

It was a good year.

All the kids had a ball, most will be back, and some rugby just aint their game but they all still had fun.

Already have a growing list for next year which is a good sign.

The hardest but also best part - Manly does have a huge paddock of Grass Roots 3 teams won the state champs this year. Allambie has a lot of kids who started their rugby a couple of years ago with either Harbord, Seaforth, Manly, and Forest and they like to stick with their mates / club they started with even though they live in Allambie.

It would be good to double our teams numbers next year.

Being mindful of the wording here as it is off topic, but important in my eyes - the 3T development that is referenced in another thread needs to look at things like successful grass roots, growing into a successful colts system, and flowing into a successful, and financially successful grade system.
 

Hugh Jarse

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
I also think that there are a couple of very fledgling clubs in the Inner West as well. Possibly playing under Uni district, but in a combined minis competition at St Lukes Park in a West Pirates District administered Competition.

Some glimmers of hope.

All these developments seem to be from the community level or Shute Shield Club district initiative rather than part of an orchestrated campaign from SJRU/SRU/NSWRU/ARU.
 

Gary Owen III

Syd Malcolm (24)
I also think that there are a couple of very fledgling clubs in the Inner West as well. Possibly playing under Uni district, but in a combined minis competition at St Lukes Park in a West Pirates District administered Competition.

Some glimmers of hope.

All these developments seem to be from the community level or Shute Shield Club district initiative rather than part of an orchestrated campaign from SJRU/SRU/NSWRU/ARU.

Actually the Inner West Minis was started by the clubs involved and NSWJRU. It is not a Wests Pirates Administered comp. It is run by a committee of these clubs from West Harbour (Wests and St Pats), Sydney Uni (Balmain, Petersham and Canterbury) and Norths (Drummoyne and Hunters Hill) and they simply use St Lukes as a permanent base to keep things constant whilst they build the comp.
NSWJRU as i understand were quite involved in the formation of the comp and ARU development officers were assisting also. They deserve credit where it is due as this has turned out to be a good little comp that is growing each year.
 

Hugh Jarse

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
Thanks for clearing that up.

Often minis competitions are too hard for one district to get critical mass in, and they work well when several districts combine.

We should try to get more of these organised.

Kudos to the ARU development staff and the NSWJRU as well as the community organisations.

It just goes to show that input is needed from the top, middle and bottom to feed the grass roots.

Is there a master plan from ARU, NSWRU, SRU or their Junior affiliated bodies to roll out the "Inner West Minis" model to other places in Sydney Metro, and larger regional centres, where there is currently no minis, or limited minis?
 

Jaghond

Ted Fahey (11)
HJ
My understanding was that it was a case of "build it & they will come" - which proved quite successful.
By allowing parents to turn up with their children at roughly the same time each week ( thereby providng a degree of certainty from a forward planning perspective) to a well administered, friendly environment that was "policed" ( internally) to minimise the parental "angst" that often appears, the participants seemed to thrive on the environment presented.

It seemed that there was minimal effort from the parents initially so they didn't have to do much except sit back, have a coffee or sausage & egg roll - and enjoy the rugby !

However, as with all such endeavours, slowly feeding in a bit of responsibiltiy along the way ( ie, setting up or pulling down goal post pads etc, having a stint on the BBQ) - the parents are only too happy to oblige.

Just goes to show that you don't need huge $$ to set something like this up - just a few dedicated people with a bit of passion and a few resources made available to them.

And cudos to NSWRU AND Waratahs - they were there in numbers to help kick it off , which the little kids ( and even some of the "bigger" kids...) absolutely thrived on.

Hopefully, more can be rolled out in the future.

The Hound
 

Hugh Jarse

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
One thing that is important to new parents of little'uns is certainty.

If the minis play at the same oval (St Lukes) every Saturday, at more or less the same time, then parents love this. There is a huge benefit in not having to think or plan too much.

Many other sports have under 6's - Under 10's playing all around the place, at different ovals and times each week. Sometimes the draw for other sports isn't any more than 2 weeks ahead.

When the little Jarses were little, we got the full seasons draw before the first game. It changed from time to time as happens, but we always got a draw for the rest of the season. It was at the same park every week, and while timings changed from 9am kick off to 11:30 am kickoff, we knew that that Saturday morning was rugby, and the rest of the weekend was OK for other activities. Too easy Campese. Parents loved that certainty and simplicity.

Here's hoping more of the Inner West Minis models are rolled out around Sydney. Much better for the game than throwing another coupla hundy K's at the ARU Top up payments for the Men in Gold.
 
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