At Last!
At last the cavalry are set to be sent from Twickenham to help rescue the ailing North. The England XV are considering playing a game at Old Trafford in Manchester, Anfield in Liverpool, or Elland Road in Leeds to boost the morale of the Union devotees in the area. A winner, as long as the RFU doesn’t charge its customary £35-00 car parking fee!
Thank goodness then that the “powers that be” are alert to the fact that the RFU’s policy of open professionalism down to grassroots level has proved a disaster in comparison to the British Amateur Rugby League’s insistence on a totally amateur stance; with draconian rules in place in the event of infringement by any club below the fully professional Super League, or the two semi professional Championship Leagues.
Twenty years ago in the St.Helens/Newton/Prescot area six rugby union clubs were collectively fielding every Saturday over twenty five teams. The clubs still surviving are now struggling to maintain ten teams. Despite the harshest economic situation for decades club 2nd XVs are often travelling 100 miles to fulfil a fixture while 1st XVs in some minor leagues are expected to help fund coach travel to up to four counties. By contrast clubs in amateur rugby league can choose in which level of League system they play – a premier division or a local league.
Is Rugby Union encouraging lads to play the 15 a side game when, in certain leagues if a club’s 2nd XV team concedes three games in a season that team is excluded from all fixtures for the rest of the season? And the club’s 3rd XV, and below, will also be expelled from the league for not stepping up to fulfil the senior team’s fixtures! A ludicrous situation today when many 3rd XVs or 4th XVs consist simply of lads who just want to play social rugby and are not physically capable of playing at a higher standard without risk of serious injury against some 2nd XVs which contain paid players.
What is a club supposed to do with those players who are stopped from playing the game? Lock them all up in bundles of six in a cupboard and tell them they can all come out to play next season? What cost to the club when teams and their opponents no longer frequent the bar after a match? Many will leave the club or stop playing rugby union. A farcical outcome when amateur rugby league treats a concede as an 18-0 defeat and only relegates the team at the end of the season if the concessions continue.
Why, too, do most clubs go without a game for up to two weeks over the Christmas and New Year holiday period, a time when cash strapped clubs are desperate to take advantage of the many supporters eager to watch some rugby and meet old friends amid a festive spirit?
Bring the England XV up the M6 by all means. But, Gentlemen at Twickers, get real to what is really happening out there on the pitch and in the clubhouses at grassroots level in many areas of the North.
Ray French
Thank goodness then that the “powers that be” are alert to the fact that the RFU’s policy of open professionalism down to grassroots level has proved a disaster in comparison to the British Amateur Rugby League’s insistence on a totally amateur stance; with draconian rules in place in the event of infringement by any club below the fully professional Super League, or the two semi professional Championship Leagues.
Twenty years ago in the St.Helens/Newton/Prescot area six rugby union clubs were collectively fielding every Saturday over twenty five teams. The clubs still surviving are now struggling to maintain ten teams. Despite the harshest economic situation for decades club 2nd XVs are often travelling 100 miles to fulfil a fixture while 1st XVs in some minor leagues are expected to help fund coach travel to up to four counties. By contrast clubs in amateur rugby league can choose in which level of League system they play – a premier division or a local league.
Is Rugby Union encouraging lads to play the 15 a side game when, in certain leagues if a club’s 2nd XV team concedes three games in a season that team is excluded from all fixtures for the rest of the season? And the club’s 3rd XV, and below, will also be expelled from the league for not stepping up to fulfil the senior team’s fixtures! A ludicrous situation today when many 3rd XVs or 4th XVs consist simply of lads who just want to play social rugby and are not physically capable of playing at a higher standard without risk of serious injury against some 2nd XVs which contain paid players.
What is a club supposed to do with those players who are stopped from playing the game? Lock them all up in bundles of six in a cupboard and tell them they can all come out to play next season? What cost to the club when teams and their opponents no longer frequent the bar after a match? Many will leave the club or stop playing rugby union. A farcical outcome when amateur rugby league treats a concede as an 18-
Why, too, do most clubs go without a game for up to two weeks over the Christmas and New Year holiday period, a time when cash strapped clubs are desperate to take advantage of the many supporters eager to watch some rugby and meet old friends amid a festive spirit?
Bring the England XV up the M6 by all means. But, Gentlemen at Twickers, get real to what is really happening out there on the pitch and in the clubhouses at grassroots level in many areas of the North.
Ray French