Rugby Australia is forgetting their roots

What a free kick to soccer and Aussie rules

You're making the assumption that a bona fide school performance pathway is the sole driver of participation in school boy rugby. It's not. Nor has it ever been. How many of the 13F team say to themselves "Oh I'm not going to play Rugby anymore because Rugby Australia has changed the Junior high performance pathway"? You're lamenting (quite rightly) that participation numbers are down but attribute this to financial support of the Australian Schools Rugby union? There are a number of factors responsible for the decline in numbers but this is not one of them.

Exactly.

How is it controversial to say schools shouldn’t ideally be part of the elite pathway? Ideally schools should merely be a location where players at the start of the pathway are chosen from, not a step in the pathway.

Thanks for supporting me with your rather narrow assessment of things. Yes, the schools teams have been dominated by the private school system and the RA should be grateful to these private schools for the development these schools and the schools pathways provide. If you read my previous article you would realise that I made the same point you make and that is the problem. RA needs to get off their pedestal and get out to the other 80% of schools that don’t have regular rugby programs and spend some time and resources helping develop it and just maybe, they might find a David Pocock or Israel Folau lurking in the shadows. AFL did it and they’ve been kicking butt ever since !

Hey Johnson , do you work for RA. Your attitude that schools have no business being in elite pathways is the same as theirs , elitist. So you are saying that all the, money and resources already spent over the past decades has been for nothing? If it wasn’t for schools you wouldn’t have had pathways and development. Don’t you think schools do the groundwork for future rep teams and create pathways for students. If you look at those pathways you would realise how many hundreds, if not thousands of school students have access to these pathways . What RA is suggesting is that 80 kids in 2 states nationwide will now have such access. So all those kids in schools who miss out on Academy selection will be lost forever! Australian Schools Rugby, and the associated pathways now find themselves in limbo with the withdrawal of all funding and the taking over of nearly all aspects of the schoolboys team. This team as already pointed out has a strong history with a proud record of success. And so Australian Rugby with its recent run of great success are now saying they want to control all aspects of rugby. Wow! RA isn’t a train without a station , it’s a train without any passengers!

About time all schools got a look in it’s the only way all talent gets thru, GPS schools were always the only way to get a look in as a lot of very talented kids were overlooked because they didn’t go to the right school , have to give Robbie Deans credit when he was coach one thing he tried to get rolling was looking at country kids & public comps for talent. Sadly went back to old school ways once he left. Sounds like we are finally doing the right thing , will take a few years to reap the rewards thou.

SO sad...seems RA is going from custard to porridge....get rid of Castle et al....start from scratch and stop getting overseas players … I mean hell, any young Joey in OZ Rugby must be shaking their heads in disbelief with foreigners being given jerseys just so the WBs have a TEAM...and now I see Gibson is after some 200cm Jappie lock... for the Tahs...I am sure there are plenty of young-ish players in the burbs and outbacks who can do just as good....shame really,

Also I don't think there will be much change in where rep players are coming from. Most come from GPS schools because GPS schools are recruiting the best players.

So basically this is a rare good thing being portrayed as bad?

I'm not sure how this will have any real impact on club rugby. Nothing changes except that it's trying to open rep programs to these players more. It's neither a positive or a negative when it comes to junior club rugby participation. Rugby is hurting a lot in the 10-18 age group. Positively there seems to be some growth in womens and also getting primary school kids back in. But this has only been 2017 and 2018 so it's a long way off really meaning anything. How are past teachers opportunities being taken away? There are still rep programs. These individuals can still be involved if they choose to.

probably not

This article is not correct and info is wrong, poor ground work by writer. I have been involved with Open Schools as a Coach at National level and the previous system only benefited private schools NOT ALL SCHOOLS and thats reflected in who controlled the money and politics with school boys rugby. Good public school rugby players never got a look in. New system is Australian wide and I know as I am coaching the new u18 system and not in NSW or Qld, it is a much better system and will open doors to alot more rugby kids in long run. If you have any doubt as if my facts are true look at where all the Aussie open school players come from each year. All are private school system with a token public school kid thrown in each year. Good on AR only good thing done in recent times.

"What does it matter if it’s not a schoolboy team? Can the author actually explain that? How is it elitist to merely be picking on merit, not where a player is playing their rugby?" Yes got me stumped too. Why does the team name need to have "schoolboy" written after it to give it value to the author? Schools have no business being in elite player pathways. They dont have the resources, the time or the expertise to do the job properly. Every cent that gets spent on a GPS, CAS, ISA or whatever rep team would be better spent on reinvesting in what school do infinitely better than clubs - grass roots development. A game of Rugby for any kid who wants one against like for like opponents. Leave the rep pathways to people who know what they are doing and focus on getting the inter-school competitions going - with quality coaching and officiating - for every kid - regardless of ability, not because of their ability.

You are correct when u say the new pathway will pick up kids once they leave school. Trouble is, there won’t be many left as they’ll all be playing soccer or AFL. Do you really have any idea about much junior rugby is dying? Village rugby is all but dead, very few clubs still exist. Yes the private school system exists (though their numbers are dwindling as well) and helps provide most players at a representative level and no doubt most of those who end up in the academies will come from those schools. Yet these schools only account for approx 16 percent of boys who attend secondary schools - in Queensland this would be even less. So what about the other 84 percent out there? If you get rid of the schools pathway your pickings will become very slim especially if you don’t identify them earlier enough. If you think our playing ranks are thin now - and you would be stupid to argue otherwise, what’s going to happen in the future? And what about our coaches - so many have been past teachers and now you are taking away their opportunities. You mention the NRC being a pathway, you gotta be joking. Unfortunately it hasn’t lived up to its hype or purpose. To ignore schools rugby is to admit defeat and RA has obviously now done that by cutting all funding to the schools program.

Yes grassroots are very important and - your rebranding "shame they can’t use ROOTS, as this seems to be at the crux of their problems" is quite meaningful. But in fact RA could be equally be rebranded as - STUFFED!

What do you mean too late? When kids are school age they are part of certain programs. Once they exit they graduate to different programs designed for different age groups. I don't understand the relevance of where kids are expected to play. This is merely trying to open the system to capture a wider group isn't it? The GPS system is great because it does a lot of the work of identification and development. Practical reality says kids in 1st XV will be more likely to be picked, as they are more likely to be talented and prepared. But it's about ensure there is a better pathway for those outside of it.

That would be fine junior rugby along the eastern seaboard wasnt considered the the heartland of the game but it is, kids are expected to play school before club. Plus that talks about once students exit school, bit late then isnt it? Hasnt academy systems failed before here with state unions, Tahs?

Perhaps take that up with the Head Coach, who was from ACT...

Actually this is a move to align with what other nations do. Schoolboys is an outdated concept. Internationally, Under 18s is a program which is now run. It's not only in NSW and QLD. It's every state. This is from the Fox Sports article: "Player identification and development in stage one of the model will be supported by the Junior Gold Cup (U15) and the Junior Rugby Championship (U16). Importantly, players from outside these national competitions can still be selected for any state academy program via school and club programs. The second stage of the model provides opportunity for players Under 17 to 18 to compete for their state academy teams in a series of matches in 2019. As players exit school they will enter stage three of the academy model working closely with senior clubs and competitions. Players in these programs will play representative matches in the new Under 19 Rugby Championship (URC), the National Rugby Championship (NRC) and battle for selection in the Junior Wallabies and onto Super Rugby selection." This program is open to everybody. The fact is there is stages and it whittles it down to groups, and then whittles them now. Kind of like how elite systems work. No different to what exists now. Schoolboy rep teams aren't really open to kids in 2nd XV. What does it matter if it's not a schoolboy team? Can the author actually explain that? How is it elitist to merely be picking on merit, not where a player is playing their rugby? It's no silver bullet but it's actually a step to align with what successful nations are doing.