While schoolboy rugby has been covered at length of late, we really need to be looking at the age groups of under 6s to under 12s.
Even at these age groups, there is a ton of politics and ‘bigger is best’ mentality. The coaches who have the bigger is best mentality believe it is the best way to win trophies.
With that in mind, should they even be playing for trophies, or should coaches be focused on boosting player numbers, and giving everyone sufficient game time so they can develop skills.
Leinster were the instigators of this. People involved in the game there said that rugby has to really work on increasing participation numbers.
Currently the ARU, in their under 6 to under 12s pathway, mention that comps, ladders, and grand finals are allowed from under 8s Finals
With no finals series, I imagine coaches will look at picking their best players to get to the grand final and streaming the kids if there are other divisions. The kids are too young at the lower age groups to be streaming them in to As, Bs, Cs etc as kids are playing for enjoyment and develop at different rates.
Where I coach, as soon as a kid thinks that he is in the B team their heads drop and show resentment. Streaming happened when I was playing in under 7s and that was a long time ago.
There was a team that won every match and the other lost every match. I couldn’t imagine that unions and sub-unions not having competitions and grand finals given the mentality that exists. Kids currently go on to full pitches from under 10s so it wouldn’t be easy for clubs and even schools to find enough pitches with posts and lines if they are fielding a number of teams in each group.
Disbanding the comps from under 8s to under 12s to follow the Irish and English model to play union or club/school blitz days and carnivals might be a way of reducing the current costs of the $220 levy per junior team. It also means that each age group has a squad rather than a firsts, seconds, thirds split in to divisions.
Some clubs don’t have the numbers to compete in each division in their relevant area and I imagine the junior levy is another deterrent. They will just pay the $220 per age group and split the squad up on a blitz day. The amount of teams they can field on a given day is determined by how the many the opposition-field.
There have only been a couple of times where we had to lend or borrow players – it happened regularly when I was a kid. This will eliminate the pressure of fielding complete teams. I remember having a result overturned at under 12s level as the opposition had put a load of kids from a higher division in the age group in to the match. It was a ridiculous mentality and it wasn’t even a final.
The fact that the ARU have an under 6s grade further highlights the importance of getting kids in to the game. You have to get them even younger these days. England even have rugby tots for toddlers. Under 6s and 12s are important and there has to be a constant flow through the club each season in the good club as the city clubs lose players from under 13 to under 18 to the big schools.
Here in Ireland, they play under 14s, 16s and 18s in the clubs to counter that.
My club manages because of strong squad numbers coming up from minis (under 12s and below). For example, under 14s could consist of two teams. Create a younger team consisting of the kids who played under 12s the previous year to keep them together.
The other team will consist of the older kids in the age group who have stuck together. This eases the pressure of having to fill each grade and there aren’t enough clubs that can do it to form under 13s and under 15s competitions.
This is why under 6s to under 12s is important. If you have the numbers in each age group you can field squads in every group which is better for the kids and coaches. If there are kids that can stick with the club they are moving up as a squad in to youth rugby.
The more players you have in the club, the greater likelihood that they will encourage their friends to come down. I have found in my club that has been the most effective and affordable way of attracting players into the squads. Subs from junior registrations are valuable to smaller clubs that don’t have big club houses, and struggle with reduced sponsorship and low senior numbers.
My club has about 600 kids in the youths and minis and less than five senior teams. Due to the high kids numbers there is an expectation to get more recruits to boost the clubs coffers as the senior numbers have dropped.
In regards to rules, under 8s seven-a-side focus on catching, evasive skills and tackling techniques, catching and passing. Under 9s and 10s, who have ten players per side play on quarter size pitches with rucks, tackling, scrums and lineouts (uncontested) and no kicking introduced.
Under 11s and under 12s, 12 a side with contested scrums and lineouts on a half pitch so you can two games going on at the same time. All this keeps everyone involved in the squad together in the same location. Kids get to know each other better too.
All this puts the focus back on the clubs and coaches in to what they should be working on rather than the easy route of bigger is best and picking the ‘top’ players to win trophies.
More kids can get involved and hence the better chance of retaining participation at a later age. There needs to more of a focus on retaining players so that teams can be filled through the age groups. A smaller comp like the ACT, which has participation issues and regular forfeits, could trial this.
Bakkies
Guest
The biggest problem in Australia is perception and that you have to go to a certain school to get in to the game. There are clubs popping up in places that didn't have them in the past but do kids and parents know about them. Rugby social media marketing has to improve as people are lazy about reading promotions and remembering things. So if you didn't read properly or deleted newsletters you are not going to know about meet and greets, camps, club reg days, etc. I often ask people do you know that such and such is on. The answer is often is no and it's too late to organise for their kids to come down so they miss out. These days it's so easy to keep up to date and people are on their phones constantly but can't get organised. Munster did this with their race, news come out last minute through clubs that players were visiting but you couldn't do much about so that they got small crowds in some community events where you would expect them to be mobbed.
Bakkies
Guest
Our players travel a lot and get sucked in to match preparations when at home there aren't always going to be players available to visit camps. The ones that are left behind aren't the stars the kids want to meet. Here the kids do Summer camps which suits the players so they are available. I can't recall Rugby camps being on offer in the Summer in Australia. Definitely did Cricket camps.
bigbaz
Roar Guru
I coach junior rugby for my club in an area that was once a private school rugby strong hold. No longer, the number one code for both private and public schools here is league and, rugby, whilst still played is a very very poor cousin with the good league players transferred in if the school rugby teams look like achieving higher honours.Rugby ,though only have themselves to blame,at u/12 league camps the league get upwards of 200 starters and produce current and past maroon and kangaroo legends that the kids flock too. Rugby produce some poor bu..er who is called the development officer and are lucky to attract a dozen kids. Not all is lost though,even accounting for the petty local politics ,club union is thriving at both senior and junior level and I believe will continue to do so in spite of ourselves. I always wonder though how much better and how far we could go if we had the resources and organisation of league and the AFL.
Bakkies
Guest
Any rugby club has to focus on keeping regular players turning those players away reduces their income.
Bakkies
Guest
What are your player numbers like?
Bakkies
Guest
Getting in to schools is not that simple. Some schools have principals and boards that don't want to risk the high insurance costs associated with Rugby or are die hard supporters of another game that they don't want on their patch. To move the game forward the insurance issue needs to be addressed. It's an issue here during the Summer so club grounds are chronically underused due to the IRFU insurance running out.
kunming tiger
Guest
I think he has some valid points,
Bakkies
Guest
NZ and Ireland use tag Rugby at primary school for that purpose.
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
Great piece bakkies. As you and others have said, I think clubs should welcome 'casual players' who do not have a rugby background or just want to give it a go, train etc. In my teens I played football at club level but often trained with my local rugby club as all my mates were playing there. All coachez and players were welcoming blokes like me and I felt it was a great way to promote the sport of rugby to youngsters with a different rugby background. And eventually, as an adult I played the game seriously so in a way their inclusive approach worked (wilder third halves were a great incentive too, no question!). here in sydney, I think it would be great if clubs, schools etc were inviting players with a non rugby background, am thinking asian kids here. Even if they just train, play touch footy or non tackling part of training sessions, I think it will increase rugby exposure.
hog
Guest
Private Schools are quite big up here, I don't know exactly how many but i would say about dozen private schools. It is a bit of a side issue, but with private schools being the strength of rugby, one down side you get is lack of exposure, what i mean is all of the Rugby grounds are hidden behind big private school gates, so for a lot of people they just don't see the sport, that invisible thing. You drive around up here and League and AFL are everywhere. You just don't see rugby so people don't think about it. And don't start me on Melbourne people can live there for 30 years and not see a rugby ground. I know it is generalizing things but its the perception that people get.
Bakkies
Guest
QRU and sub unions are responsible for Sunshine Coast aren't they? Are there many clubs up there? Couldn't imagine private schools Rugby being prominent up ther.
hog
Guest
I agree nmpcant, I recently moved from Victoria to the Sunshine Coast. my son who is 4 is already enrolled in aus kid at kindy. The rookies to reds program is great and my older daughter brought a pamphlet home from school. But what i am trying to say is if you ask anyone up here about playing rugby 99% will tell you to enroll them in a private school. To me the biggest failure of the ARU has been the lack of growth that it has delivered in this area.You look at the AFL and they have single minded pursued growth at the domestic level, yet i have always had the feeling that the ARU have been dragged kicking and screaming into the 20th Century. And are pushing junior level rugby now the ARU, or are they doing it out of sheer necessity now., since they are broke.There is a difference from wanting to do something or having to do something?????
nmpcart
Guest
Hog, at junior level there is a very broad base of players. The challenge is making more people aware of the game at this age group, so getting them involved in it for later on. The QRU's Rookies 2 Reds program has done a good job of taking the game out to the masses but still more needs to be done to get into schools.
nmpcart
Guest
Hog, at junior level there is a very broad base of players. The challenge is making more people aware of the game at this age group, so getting them involved in it for later on. The QRU's Rookies 2 Reds program has done a good job of taking the game out to the masses but still more needs to be done to get into schools.
hog
Guest
A good piece Bakkies, I am no expert on the details you have brought forward, however I am 1000% sure that for Rugby Union to grow in Australia it must become more inclusive and genuine long term growth will come through involvement at an early age. Rugby Union biggest failings since the inception of professionalism or Super rugby has been its inability to grow the sport from its private school base,
nmpcart
Guest
At our club in Brisbane there is an emphasis on giving every player equal game time. There is no streaming (grading we call it) until Under 11's in Brisbane and there is no finals series. Kids want to win games but there is no emphasis on results overall and the kids get to play against kids of different sizes and abilities. We try to develop skills and teamwork in the kids. Our club has teams for kids that are too young to play Under 6's whereby they just train on a Friday night but don't play matches - they love it and it helps get the kids involved..