Seth wrote:
No I was busy, though I must say I'm strongly opposed to the notion that somehow no rep rugby until u15s is a good thing. That combined with saying an extended CPD programme replaces this and the idea of volunteer coaches profiling their players and feeding back to the rfl is barking. They ought to save their pennies rather than buying 'embed the pathway' jackets, bags, ipads and nice lunches!
Im complaining, i never got an Ipad !!
there will be a lot of oppostition to the RFLs plans, for some Rep rugby is the be all and end all for everything, but when you look at the facts and figures they present, you can see why they are trying to address the drop out rates and the reasons for kids dropping out at age 14 and 15 preodiminantly.
Teams having to postpone fixtures or have blank weekends because 6 or8 of there squad are away with rep teams, players having to choose between training with there club or scholarship team.
problem is that kids are identified at 10-12, get into these squads at 13 -14and stay in, yet ones who develop at 14-16 struggle to break in to the existing set ups.
The whole concepts need re-assessing, ETP may not be the right way going forward but at least they are looking at a different approach.
Im sure we all know kids who stood out head and shoulders above everyone, made every rep team, scholarship. Academy etcy etc but are no longer playing or are in a pub team ?