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Rugby on the rise in school sports pecking order

Henry Speight of Australia breaks through to score their second try during the rugby union international match between Japan and Australia Wallabies at Nissan Stadium on November 4, 2017 in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
11th December, 2017
22

Looking outside its traditional nurseries has enabled Australian rugby to claw itself up from near the bottom of the school spots participation charts.

In a tumultuous year on and off the field, the Game On program for six to 12-year-olds provides some much-needed good news.

Participation numbers have rocketed up 112 per cent over the last two years, with girls making up 46 per cent of the 56,000-plus kids signed up.

Behind the rise is the non-contact Game On program, which concentrates on skills like evasion and running into space, passing backwards and filling space in defence.

Prior to the implementation of the program in 2015, rugby was struggling in the crowded and competitive battle to win the sporting hearts and minds of kids.

“We we were sitting at number 28 of 32 sports that were in sporting schools, we were quite shocked that we were so low down the pecking order,” Rugby Australia’s Cameron Tradell told AAP.

Rugby has since moved into the top 10.

Prior to Game On, Tradell said the approach to junior rugby had consisted of “a mosaic of different programs and products, where this is a more formalised approach.”

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The sport’s governing body realised it need to broaden their junior base beyond traditional nurseries such as private schools. Many government schools now run Game On.

“We were talking to the old people people that we always had, we weren’t really building a conversation with new people and how we might engage new people,” Tradell said.

“We made some different fundamental changes to how we communicate the message, but also rejigged our activities so that they were really more fun focused than skills outcome focused.”‘

Tradell acknowledged the code faced the challenge of keeping youngsters in the sport once the physical contact element was introduced.

“It is a challenge because the physical contact will be a barrier for some people, but it’s also something that we shouldn’t shy away from, because it is a key part of our game,” he said.

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