Age versus weight: The junior rugby league debate

This might seem blasphemous. But another thing to consider should be what is the child's healthy weight range. Rather then what is the actual weight of the child. As a fat kid. I was initially held out of junior club rugby by my parents because my weight put me into groups with the under 10s when I was 7. Obviously an unfit and overweight 7 year old shouldn't be playing on teams with 10 year olds. That's just common sense. I was later allowed to play in an age based team the next year. I'm not sure what the best solution is. However I would suggest divisions with significant overlap. So hypothetically a fit 13 year old who had developed early would be eligible to play in 3 different divisions. A team filled typically with 15 year olds, a team filled with 13 year olds and under 12s via weight. Then it's about clubs putting the best interests of their players first. Possibly with the help of an outside expert at the start of the season.

My son played under 10ys yesterday and was up against some much bigger kids. All of his team were much smaller. One thing that made the game dangerous was the young referee not penalising the bigger kids for palming above the shoulders, jersey sling tackles and dipping in with their shoulders when carrying the ball. The rules are there for the game to be safe but young and inexperienced referees and over zealous coaches and parents make it a dangerous game when playing bigger kids. A couple of our kids bravely tried to tackle a bigger kid running at full pelt and were flattened.....luckily both ok. No amount of correct technique can help these smaller kids in a front on tackle when the bigger kid is being encouraged to run over the top of the smaller kids

3 hats , Your great memories are my nightmares, lol.

I think you might be right Birdy, I was that fast nippy little halfback. The big blokes couldn't catch me. I used to give it to them also! LMFAO Great memories.

Oh, this is very true, If we leave it to the medico's, they will get it wrong with the footy part and vice versa!

Tough to find a balance and to protect everyone...

14s is too young. Some hit their spurts later when the early growers have slowed down. You also get kids who take the game up at 13 and you want to see them turn up for the next season.

Yes, Barry, I think on reflection U14s should be the absolute maximum age for the weight for Age cutoff. years 7 and 8 together BUT... I am also open to the idea of an Under 12s, weight for age, cut off, Primary School years 5 and 6 together. We must keep the maximum 2 years difference, though! We can't have 12-year olds playing against 15-year olds and the same in reverse, we can't have 12-year olds playing against 9 or 10-year olds. We have our Junior Reps teams at U16s and U18s As I mentioned above we do need an open division for those players who are well advanced and/or are not scared of the bigger players. We still need to be producing the type of players of the Toovey, Langer and Churchill ilk. for example.

I am glad you like my idea, Chris, It is very difficult getting the right mix as many of us are talking about the various connotations that we can do but we have to have enough of actual players to make it work, that is why I suggested merging the Junior leagues together as above so that we can have enough players to fill ALL of those Divisions. Weekend Footy is what we are suggesting all this for but School footy is something different. On reflection, I think U14s should be the cut off for the Weight for Age divisions as First of all the actual number of players at 15 and above start to drop off and Secondly the physicality of the boys at age 15 and above start to mature. We have our Junior Rep teams at U16s Harold Mathews U18s S G Ball In the 80s S G Ball was U16s when I was at High School in the 80s we had 3 divisions, U14s, 2nd Grade and an OPEN Grade. I was playing in the Open Grade at Halfback at 15.

Yes, they may have been in a combined Junior League in 2000, but they are separate once more! Manly Junior Clubs: Avalon, Bulldogs, Beacon Hill Bears, Belrose Eagles, Cromer Kingfishers, Forestville Ferrets, Harbord United Devils, Manly Christian Brothers, Manly Cove Rebels, Mona Vale Raider, Narrabeen Sharks, Narraweena Hawks, North Curl Curl Knights, Valley United Spartans. North Sydney Junior Clubs: Asquith Magpies, Berowra Wallabies, Hills Hawks, Ku-ring-gai Cubs, Lane Cove Tigers, North Sydney Brothers, Pennant Hills/Cherrybrook Staggs, Willoughby Roos

Junior football in my day was minor league up to and including u/13 then you went into junior league u/14 to u/18 then grade. The only time I played weight divisions was primary school which I suppose if you work it out is U/13 and below,, Very few PI kids played in my day but watching junior matches today I think I would agree with some sort of weight / age comps be introduced at least until age 13.

Your boy is undoubtedly exceptional as he is in the rep team but there are hundreds at different stages of development who would be turned off. As a father you would think you would understand this.

Perfectly said.....

An issue that should have been dealt with a long time ago....many junior players have been lost to soccer/afl because they simply cannot compete with bigger/older footballers who have been bundled into their age group. Moms don't cope little Johnny getting beaten up week in week out - and they shouldn't have to - before they simply drop their boy off at oz kick. Go to any juniors on a Saturday morning and the issue plainly clear - weight divisions until a certain age, say 15, would not be a bad thing - and would put an end to the whole age rorting that is plainly evident.

One of the few advantages a PI boy has over other kids is his bigger size at a younger age, which gives him an edge in RL and is why we see a large proportion of the NRL consisting of our PI cousins. But, no - some people want to take away this so they have to play with more mature kids who would have a greater knowledge of the game and therefore even up this inequity. Are we saying we are fine to have PI's play, as long as our little white kids have an artificial benefit to even up a natural phenomenon.,

I think up to a certain age weight should be a consideration to keep the smaller players in the game. Or promote larger players into older age groups to there is level playing field? Mind you with reduced interchange, players will need to be leaner, fitter which will or could naturally resolve this issue.

It seems to me that the major problem is that the Polynesian Kids seem to be the "bigger kids" at a younger age. If you talk to Peter Tunks on the 2SM Radio show Talk'in Sport from 3 to 7 in the afternoon. He will tell you that when he was coaching in the South Sydney District that many of the Polynesian Kids had NO Birth Certificates to prove their correct age and Peter said "on air" that he suspects that the kids were up to 3 years older than what they actually were. All that was required was a Stat Dec. that he says "were quickly written on a paper bag from the tuck-shop, get that? He even said that one was even written on a cigarette pack! There were kids in the U 15s with Beards! How could a 14 or 15-year-old have a beard? They must be closer to 18. Many Polynesian kids come to Australia to live with relatives when they are very young! Apparently it is true that these kids have a "Christening Day" where they may be 3 or 4 years old, but are then recognised as officially born again, within their religion and culture! So a 3 or 4-year old then becomes only 1 again! This may be the reason why these kids are sometimes way taller and double the weight of the white boys. Of course, the ones born have to have a ligament Birth Certificates.

Yes, Bryan, that is why I have mentioned above that 1 Division in each age bracket be an open Division. So basically, a No weight division so the better players will be on that team. The other players will be in their weight for Age Division.

The size debate is one that has raged healthily through the years , I know that , when I went to primary school in queensland , there was an 8 stone limit on the playing members . Today , with boys maturing earlier and who seem to be so much bigger and heavier , at a younger age , reaching an equakising balance , that is fair to all , is seemingly impossoble .A smaller player who is up to three or four years older than the others in the team , can have skills the rest of the tean hasn't even thought of , yet putting him , or her , into their age guoup could be detrimental to them . Maybe a case by case judgement of where a player should play may work , then we need to get a panel that would come to the correct splution , surely this would be difficult , to say the least . In my time , coaching young and prospective Rugby League hopefuls I have seen bigger players who would be lost if put into a higher devision , and then Ihave encountered some who could comfortably skip up to three years and handle the situation comfortably . trialing players in different age groups may work , however getting everyone to agree , especially Parents will be difficult . All I can say to whoever gets to work this out is Good Luck .

I like your idea 3 hats. Group the kids and then have two weight divisions under and over a determined weight for each group. I think that once you hit under 15s or perhaps 14s weight should be discarded. Kids still need to learn how to deal with bigger opponents. I believe by that age they can learn appropriate techniques to tackle big opponents. I myself, was small for my age and it wasn't until I turned 17 that I started to catch up with the boys that were turning into men. In the western suburbs competition I played against a lot of Polynesian players who were more than double my weight. I was able to learn techniques to use their weight against them to bring them down but wasn't able to do this until I was older and a bit more mature. I remember we had a guy in our team who was 90kg in under 10s. Every time he tackled a player he would break their collar bone, arm, leg whatever he landed on. He had figured out how to use his weight as a weapon by that age. When players tried to tackle him he would continue running up the field sometimes with 6 kids hanging off him and so many times did kids dislocate their shoulders trying to tackle him. I think definitely bring in a weight based competition for those younger kids.