Today, I think I experienced much of what is wrong with junior rugby in Sydney. My boy plays rugby and soccer on Saturdays so we get the 'experience' of both sports. I don't think he will be a superstar but he scores plenty of try's and goals each week. The main problem with junior rugby (and all sports) is one sided results. It helps no one including the winning side. The comp rules are that rugby clubs are not allowed to grade their sides but it is clear that clubs/parents/coaches are gathering the best players they can find to form selected teams. Then the organisers of the comp allow the best teams from 1 club play the worst team from another, which creates 1 sided results. It's like first grade playing third or fourth grade in the seniors, which is ridiculous. Compare this to my boys soccer team which can gets regraded up and down every 4 weeks, so almost all games are competitive and exciting to play and watch. I'm sure the junior rugby clubs would love some money from the ARU, but the problem with junior rugby is the organisers, ie the sydney junior rugby who don't implement and enforce good policy. Then the junior clubs/coaches/parents get away with doing whatever they want. These people need to remember that it is about the kids and not themselves.
This is a separate issue and has never happened before - my wife is away and I wanted to send her some video of our boy playing rugby. I was told to stop filming because I didn't have the permission from the opposition players and coach!
So our 'rugby experience' today was awful - we got flogged (after we flogged another team last week) and had to deal with unfriendly and overly competitive people who are allowed to act that way by the sydney junior rugby. I appreciate that I'm whinging but 'rugby people' from the ARU level down to junior rugby, need to think about the 'experience' they are creating for junior players and their families because it's much worse (sometimes, not all the time) than soccer.
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