Brett Papworth’s recent article had many very salient points about club rugby, many salient points have been made in Green and Gold about school rugby. I also (and continue to) question the leadership in Australian rugby. The decisions of the QRU and ARU, the focus, the management and allocation of resources continue to baffle me.
The Junior Gold Cup is a case in point. I would dearly love someone from within the QRU/ARU to explain a couple points…..
- A number of teams in the comp have many players that have played every minute of every game. If any team has even one player in this position has the “development” opportunity for all boys been taken seriously?
- There have been a number of statements about some boys not being up to it. Maybe right, maybe wrong – if this is the case why do they get picked? To fill the 28 person squad at $960 a player? Who will take responsibility?
- And on selections what about team balance? A classic example - a Brisbane team has four halfbacks in their squad, one of which turned up weeks after the first training session – who made the decision to have four halfbacks in a squad? Who will take responsibility?
- The Junior Gold Cup is (so I am told) about a pathway for junior players. If coaches continue to play the same players, and have other players consistently NOT playing, one could argue the priority has to be about winning. Is this competition a pathway for kids, or a pathway for coaches? Who will take responsibility?
We have probably all been around long enough to know that there is nepotism in junior sport (not just rugby), always has been and always will be. I would argue that with more transparency, real leadership and accountability for actions, we (in rugby) could build a better environment for more people (including our kids) to have a genuine love of our game, irrespective of what level they achieve and not be disillusioned with what is supposed to be one of the genuine pathways for the game we all love.
Who will take responsibility?