Continued decline in Sydney Junior Rugby

[Man on the hill]

Interesting comment - IIRC at an all districts meeting about a month ago an SJRU committee member with Hunters Hill affiliation proposed to all the districts that the opens or u17's be moved to the premiership clubs. It received support from those in attendance and was being taken to the NSW board to try to enable from the top.

I sincerely hope you are right & I am proven to be wrong.

I think you will find that NSW Juniors is where it would get interesting - SJRU have 2 members, Country 1 & the president being ostensibly independent. As to NSWRU, the new "Juniors Rep" is from SJRU after 2 years of schools being the Juniors ambassador, so again, no sure thing there and the Premiership Clubs have proved in the past to be pretty short sighted and not interested in Junior rugby.

 

[Man on the hill]

^^^^If some of the Prem clubs aren't interested, then invitations should be extended to Illawarra and the Coasties and Hunter combined Under 17's/18's to see if they can stand up a team to play as <insert club name> Colts 4ths. A fair bit of travel would be involved for the out of towners but the experience and player development would be awesome for them.^^^^

Word is that Southern Districts were considering applying to enter the Illawarra competition to get a few barbarian teams up, so the traffic may yet be 2 way!

 

[Hugie]

If true this would be good.

Last year Illawarra had 6 U17 teams, Shamrocks, Vikings, Bowral, Campbelltown, Uni and a JV Kiama/Shoalhaven. It made for a good comp. with a Shamrocks-Campbelltown Grand Final that had a crowd of well over 2000. a great night of rugby.

If Southern Districts entered this comp it would strengthen it. IMHO a good initiative.

 

[Whale berry]

I can think of 3 reasons why village clubs will never surrender any teams or players to any other organisation. Newport, Hunters Hill & Beecroft! Anyone know the background / club allegiance of the current SJRU board?

Add Mosman and Canterbury to that list

 

[Whale berry]

In the older age groups joint ventures happen naturally anyway. It just needs to be formalized and in the A comp called for what it is "a rep team".
In this years 16's age group there are 2 teams from Gordon one of which I hear intends to fold after the state champos. The same thing happened with a Newport team last year. After the State Champs the village comp for a great number of private school boys is not required as they are already getting a decent level of rugby and coaching at their school, they just use the comp as a second avenue to get to another rep system which includes zone, Sydney, and state teams. The SJRU has put in place some good rules to try and stop this happening, but it is easy to get around those rules. Those rules and changing to a Saturday from 16's up will go a long way toward ensuring the system is not being abused by people who are just not committed to the competition. It will also help grow the game in Sydney that is declining in these age groups. To grow the game we need to encourage more people into the game not just the boys who are already playing from fancy schools.

 

[Whale berry]

Junior AFL have formal JV systems in place.
If in an age group you have 20 players from club x and 20 players from club y, typically you will have 1/3 good players, 1/3 ok players and 1/3 newer players.
With the AFL system they take the the best players and put them in a combined x/y A team and the rest go in a combined x/y B team.
They have different divisions with each age group so the A team plays against like skilled teams and similarly the B team plays against teams of a similar ability. They also can promote kids up and down from A to B as required.
The benefits are that each kid gets to play with and against kids of a similar level. Newer and less talented kids can learn and have fun without getting smashed or embarrassing them selves.
It works well, particularly for kids coming to the game later in age.
The continued growth of junior AFL teams endorses this approach.
There are some down sides, 1 club last year got together al the rep players in their area and tried to create a super club. The AfL jumped on them and made them break up the team and introduced regs regarding numbers of transferred in etc etc.
I don't know the SJRU admin but strong admin is required.

 

[Fat Cat]

In the 16's this year Mosman have joined with hunters hill which = Norths rep team

 

[10to12]

In the 16's this year Mosman have joined with hunters hill which = Norths rep team

Interesting if this occurs as I would have thought both Mosman and HH have B teams and will be required by the SJRU to merge their A and B players.
As Whale Berry said in #526 kids should play others at their own level. I feel a major cause of our decreasing numbers is this stacking of teams so the B grader just gets bashed and leaves the game.
The kids might all aspire to be as good as "superstar" X but along their rugby journey they don't want to play him and 14 of his superstar mates.
They want to play other B and C players and give as good as they get.
Leave the rep team mentality to the rep programs.

Remember if you loose the kid at 15 you will never know if he could have made it in colts and grade when he's grown into a 100kg testosterone filled 20 yo

 

[Freddo Frog]

I was also surprised when I heard about this merger. From my understanding, both Mosman and HH separately have enough boys to field a team made up of their own players.

 

[Fat Cat]

I also hear in the age group below at Hunters Hill / North's there are a number of players from out west in the team that get bused in for games. Not sure but I think the VP reps for SJRU and NSWJRU is a Hunters Hill guy also.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

^^^ That would be disappointing if it is true, but somehow (and sadly) I would not be surprised in the least if it was.

The "official" inquiry will exonerate all the usual guilty parties, meanwhile somewhere out west, a struggling village club team quietly folds up its tent and leaves town.

 

[Fat Cat]

Further I have just found out that the 15's HH coach has the gig for the Northern Zone 15's this year. Does this mean that as well as the village club and district teams out west being weakened, the zone team out west will be weakened also ? Are we not trying to build the game in in western Sydney not destroy it ? I understand also that in the age group above a key player from Penrith was in the North's team last year also, not sure if families have moved over this way or boys given boarding scholarships. I really hope my information is incorrect because if it is correct it means that it is being condoned at the SJRU.

 

[Gary Owen III]

Further I have just found out that the 15's HH coach has the gig for the Northern Zone 15's this year. Does this mean that as well as the village club and district teams out west being weakened, the zone team out west will be weakened also ? Are we not trying to build the game in in western Sydney not destroy it ? I understand also that in the age group above a key player from Penrith was in the North's team last year also, not sure if families have moved over this way or boys given boarding scholarships. I really hope my information is incorrect because if it is correct it means that it is being condoned at the SJRU.

I know the Penrith kid you are referring to - he was at Newington last year and played at Hunters Hill with some of his Newington school mates. His schooling situation has now changed and he is playing at Raptors this year.

Apparently that Hunters Hill A team from last years U15's has all but disolved with only 4 players returning in 2014.

 

[10to12]

I was also surprised when I heard about this merger. From my understanding, both Mosman and HH separately have enough boys to field a team made up of their own players.

Lets see if the SJRU stands against this, I doubt it, Its the same bunch who stuffed up the selections from the 15s rep age group last year. I think Hugh Jarse has it right with his WIIFM etc politics

 

[Gary Owen III]

In the 16's this year Mosman have joined with hunters hill which = Norths rep team

Another one. Newport, Narrabeen and Wakehurst have also joined in the U16's = Warringah Rep team.

 

[10to12]

Another one. Newport, Narrabeen and Wakehurst have also joined in the U16's = Warringah Rep team.

GO111, do you know whether they had B teams or is it just soaking up the few remaining boys still playing club rugby. The issue with the norths teams is each club has a B team the players should play with.

 

[Slugga]

That would be the same Norths 15's from last year that made up the bulk of the bar bars zone side, the team that could only manage third in champs and zone but still had 9 players plus coach in the Sydney team.

Let's hope this years coaches/selectors don't involve the partisan empire builders of last year and the playing field is level.

 

[Fat Cat]

Apparently that Hunters Hill A team from last years U15's has all but dissolved with only 4 players returning in 2014.

GO111 - see posts 471, 514, and 518. I rest my case

Another one. Newport, Narrabeen and Wakehurst have also joined in the U16's = Warringah Rep team.

Having 2 graded teams instead of 3 teams folding mainly due to rugby league changing to Sundays. League boys whom given the chance would be playing rugby on a Saturday as well.

 

[Gary Owen III]

GO111, do you know whether they had B teams or is it just soaking up the few remaining boys still playing club rugby. The issue with the norths teams is each club has a B team the players should play with.

10to12 - that I don't know. I just see that they have nominated two teams also.


Apparently of the Norths Rep U15 team last year 13 or 14 (of the 23) are not returning or have joined other clubs (Randwick and Raptors). So might be some soaking going on there also.

 

[Fat Cat]

Where are the western rapters from ?