To refer back to @Gibbo’s grenade at #250….and subsequent commentary.
In my personal experience, there have been elements of a number of the comments made thus far that seem a reasonable and plausible response to such a grenade.
The one thing that I will question until the cows come home – is that ANY District Club can lay claim to “owning/possessing” ANY junior player at all.
All Juniors participating in the SJRU Competition are members of a Village Club. It is at these Village Clubs that they first learn to enjoy this wonderful game of Rugby. And it is at these Clubs where countless hours of volunteer work is undertaken by unpaid parents etc – in teaching the kids how to catch & pass – and run in the right direction !
The District Clubs become involved when Rep Rugby kicks in – and which runs for approximately 5 -6 weeks. However – again based on my own personal experiences – and reasonable anecdotal commentary – it seems that most of the District Clubs add little or no input – other then perhaps covering some of the hard costs – jerseys etc – which in and of itself is laudable – given the funding problems just about every club faces these days.
And I am very sorry Gibbo – but in my time involved in your District, I can’t recall EVER seeing a Gordon player come out to our Club to help coach – or even just to show up & help. Further – from my very limited involvement in Reps, albeit many years ago now – again, there was absolutely NO involvement from any players at the Senior Club that I was aware of– other than perhaps to present trophies or whatever at the post long weekend celebrations ( usually catered for by the Seniors, to be fair).
What usually happened was that a group of manic, over involved but usually well-meaning parent types ( myself included) – and whose passion generally far outweighed their playing or coaching ability - gave up huge amounts of time to coach, manage or run water during these Rep periods.
And I am sorry to pin your District to the mast head – but it was one of 2 that I had I had experience with ( and the other district didn’t even want to know us as a Club !!) – but I would suggest it was a pretty familiar experience at many village clubs/ rep teams. And further, it is not meant to be a public denigration of your District – more an historic personal observation. It may have been quite different with other teams within that District – and indeed may be quite different now.
And lets be realistic - Reps deals with perhpas only 1% of the total number of kids playing junior club rugby at any one time ( and let's not bring in private school rugby to muddy the waters !)
However – I take exception to any notion that your – or ANY District’s - Club “owns” a player’s loyalty. To paraphrase a previous contributor to these pages - Loyalty has to be earned – not expected or demanded.
If anything, given the countless hours put in at the Village Club level – if anybody/group has done something to earn the loyalty of their players – it is these guys. So please don’t “lob” in with how disappointed you are that someone who might have played Rep rugby in the U.11’s ( or whatever team for that matter) for your District – and is now at another District's Senior Club.
Using my own son as an example – he actually went back to play with a Subbies Club for a time, with a whole group of his mates – and they had a blast ! Was he good enough to play Grade – I don’t know – but some suggest that he may have been – but we will never know now - as his then wrok commitmen st basically eliminated any chance of \seeking top play grade at any level.
It is this sort of camaraderie that seems to have disappeared (in the never ending hunt for a quick buck by many young players today). And dare I say it – some of these blokes were from the school he attended – (and yes it was a private school) – but just as many weren’t – but they had ALL become mates playing rugby ( no matter where it was learned & played).
And this was what was the driving factor – wanting to have a bit of fun & enjoy the game – and have a few laughs & beers afterwards.
Make no mistake – they played as hard as they could – and gave as good as they got - and I have the Xrays & surgeons bills to prove it !
Lastly – can I also add that I don’t believe that in this day and age parents of junior players at Village Club level should be getting ticked off that someone from the District First Grade team hasn’t shown up to help train their children.
As a past employer of a bloke playing senior Grade - I am brutally aware of the hours & hours of commitment that are not only expected – but demanded – to be put in to play senior rugby. And lets not even start on the demands of those few individuals lucky enough to be paid employees of NSW Waratahs !
In my most humble of personal opinions - It doesn’t matter where they “learned” their rugby – as young adults, they will naturally drift to somewhere where they feel wanted, appreciated – and where they can enjoy the company of their mates.
If any Club can facilitate that - and also help them further their education or work-related studies/training – that is also a huge bonus that seems to becoming more important to many.
The Hound
