School sporting scholarships/recruitment

[loiterer]

I suspect that one of the issues at Shore is that the intake is almost exclusively sons and grandsons of old boys, so there's a bit of a closed gene pool and a very academically focussed one. Also I suspect that while much of their demographic might be rugby supporters, they don't all seem to be rugby participants. I'd reckon you'd find a lot of the soccer playing boys at Wallabies and Waratahs matches, but not many at Sydney FC or WSW matches.

Maybe mumsie doesn't like the idea of little Hamish being set upon by ruffians on the rugby field?

Shore's priorities don't lie with rugby, merely rowing. Though, I am not sure how many of those boys would go and watch rowing other than HOTR. If they prepared their rowers the way that they prepare their rugby teams, they wouldn't win a single race. If it was the gene pool they wouldn't win a single race, either.

 

[loiterer]

But interestingly Shore and Riverview are performing very differently. I would have thought given Shore's natural catchment area of Mosman for day boys and country NSW for boarders it would be performing comparably to Riverview (which doesn't appear to give out Rugby scholarships either and would presumably have the same enrolment demographic )

Appearances can be deceptive, Riverview may have a slight edge through their indigenous bursary program. Generally, I think that the cattle are similar but the feed-lotting at Riverview is much more effective.

 

[DragonMan]

Appearances can be deceptive, Riverview may have a slight edge through their indigenous bursary program. Generally, I think that the cattle are similar but the feed-lotting at Riverview is much more effective.

But where are these indigenous boys? I haven't seen any in their 1sts lately

 

[DragonMan]

I suspect that one of the issues at Shore is that the intake is almost exclusively sons and grandsons of old boys, so there's a bit of a closed gene pool and a very academically focussed one. Also I suspect that while much of their demographic might be rugby supporters, they don't all seem to be rugby participants. I'd reckon you'd find a lot of the soccer playing boys at Wallabies and Waratahs matches, but not many at Sydney FC or WSW matches.

Maybe mumsie doesn't like the idea of little Hamish being set upon by ruffians on the rugby field?

But wouldn't that mean they are more likely to play rugby if their Dads and Grandads played? The only boys who played soccer at Newington were the one who came from backgrounds where their families played or followed soccer.

 

[DragonMan]

Don't old boys from the other schools send their sons to the same school as well?

I've heard reports that in any given year at Riverview at least 80 per cent are sons of Old Boys so again this would appear to put it on equal footing with Shore

 

[Quick Hands]

Don't old boys from the other schools send their sons to the same school as well?

Not in the same numbers. I wouldn't think that there is a school in Australia under the same enrolment pressure as Shore.

 

[Quick Hands]

But wouldn't that mean they are more likely to play rugby if their Dads and Grandads played? The only boys who played soccer at Newington were the one who came from backgrounds where their families played or followed soccer.

You'd think so, but obviously not. As you said in an earlier post, they have a big rugby demographic, but only around 50% of their students play rugby at school.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

So at High you have a 50/50 chance of playing in 1sts*

* subject to injury

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Recruiting has a direct impact on participation at the other schools: parents see the size of the recruits (size being a very handy characteristic if you are to stand out at 12 years old) and say forget it.
I have heard it many times.
I wonder, also, whether the obsession with rugby, rowing and cricket in the GPS old boy network doesnt turn some parents off permitting Jack or Will to play rugby. It certainly fosters the impression of a closed shop.

 

[Quick Hands]

Some interesting tid-bits from this week's Shore newsletter.

Shore won 15 out of 21 rugby games against Newington
Shore won 6 out of 27 soccer games against Newington

And this quotations from one of the schoolboy contributors:

Our Shore football 1st XI are currently sitting on top of the ladder, just ahead of Joeys, and need one more win (against Joeys) this weekend to clinch the GPS title…………………………………….

Last weekend was a historic day for Shore sport because, due to the byes throughout the rugby teams, more football teams were fielded – a first for Shore.

 

[DragonMan]

Recruiting has a direct impact on participation at the other schools: parents see the size of the recruits (size being a very handy characteristic if you are to stand out at 12 years old) and say forget it.
I have heard it many times.
I wonder, also, whether the obsession with rugby, rowing and cricket in the GPS old boy network doesnt turn some parents off permitting Jack or Will to play rugby. It certainly fosters the impression of a closed shop.

Ok two scenarios here (I) Little Oscar has been playing junior club rugby and the boys he would be pitted against in the As (recruits or not) he would have seen and played against before so Mr and Mrs Darling-Precious of Balmoral would be hit with no surprises there (2) Little Rupert spent most of his time at Mosman Prep playing soccer, or running x-country and has no rugby skills to speak of, he fronts up at Shore to anchor the 13Gs so unlikely to come across any unusually large kids exceot for the King's prop, and his parents claim is simply 'big boned' or has a hormonal problem (caused by eating too many finger buns in the Gowan Brae boarding house). I thought that the one of the great attractions for rugby was that it was a game for all shapes and sizes. Realistically how many 60kg 12 year olds are actually recruited into year 7 at GPS schools. Of the schools that do recruit (whether they admit it on or not), wouldn't it make more sense to recruit when the kids are about 15 or 16?

 

[SonnyDillWilliams]

in the "better late than never" category ... I hear Shore is offering an indigenous scholarship

although I couldn't see any mention of it on the Shore website

and I hope it is a full-blown .. all expenses included type

you never know the next Kurtley Beale could wear that strange looking rugby jersey ... or by the sounds of it soccer jersey

for all the $cots bashing, they are miles ahead in the indigenous area

... although not saying they couldn't do even more

 

[DragonMan]

in the "better late than never" category . I hear Shore is offering an indigenous scholarship

although I couldn't see any mention of it on the Shore website

and I hope it is a full-blown .. all expenses included type

you never know the next Kurtley Beale could wear that strange looking rugby jersey . or by the sounds of it soccer jersey

for all the $cots bashing, they are miles ahead in the indigenous area

. although not saying they couldn't do even more

What was the impetus for this at Scots (not being cynical, just want to know why Scots started caring so deeply about the education of indigenous kids). New has one indigenous scholarship, but that was founded in honour of a boy who sadly took his own life and who happened to work a lot with Koori kids so his parents set up the scholarship in memory of his work.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Ok two scenarios here (I) Little Oscar has been playing junior club rugby and the boys he would be pitted against in the As (recruits or not) he would have seen and played against before so Mr and Mrs Darling-Precious of Balmoral would be hit with no surprises there

That assumes the recruits play in the A grade rugger comp.
They don't.
If you havent played it before chances are mum is going to be in a position of relative strength when it comes to saying no rugby.
And having watched some GPS soccer the only risk of injury is to the spectators when they keel over from boredom and hit their head on the ground. So mum wins.

 

[Quick Hands]

That assumes the recruits play in the A grade rugger comp.
They don't.
If you havent played it before chances are mum is going to be in a position of relative strength when it comes to saying no rugby.
And having watched some GPS soccer the only risk of injury is to the spectators when they keel over from boredom and hit their head on the ground. So mum wins.

I can confirm some of this. Friend of ours had little Rupert at Prep school and mum used to stay in the car during games as she couldn't bear watching her little darling playing rugby. This is despite the fact that he was reasonably big for his size and quite good it. (Won the rugby award). But mother was relentless and little Rupert took up soccer when he went to secondary. I asked dad about it "my life wouldn't be worth living if he was ever injured playing rugby"

Agree with your assessment of GPS soccer, I had the misfortune of watching two or three minutes of a game last Saturday as I walked from the front gate to the rugby at Joeys.

 

[Quick Hands]

What was the impetus for this at Scots (not being cynical, just want to know why Scots started caring so deeply about the education of indigenous kids). New has one indigenous scholarship, but that was founded in honour of a boy who sadly took his own life and who happened to work a lot with Koori kids so his parents set up the scholarship in memory of his work.

AFAIK the impetus at Scots was a desire to help indigenous kids. This was under the previous head I think though.

 

[DragonMan]

AFAIK the impetus at Scots was a desire to help indigenous kids. This was under the previous head I think though.

sorry what is the acronym AFAIK?

 

[DragonMan]

That assumes the recruits play in the A grade rugger comp.
They don't.
If you havent played it before chances are mum is going to be in a position of relative strength when it comes to saying no rugby.
And having watched some GPS soccer the only risk of injury is to the spectators when they keel over from boredom and hit their head on the ground. So mum wins.

The recruits don't play 13As? What is the point of having recruits?

 

[Hugh Jarse]

As far as I know AFAIK stands for As Far As I Know.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

The recruits don't play 13As? What is the point of having recruits?

A grade club