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Thread: "Premier Grade" for Juniors.... The Juniors saves the day and we have U18's in WA

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    Veteran pieter blackie's Avatar
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    "Premier Grade" for Juniors.... The Juniors saves the day and we have U18's in WA

    Letter 1 from RugbyWA

    Dear Club Leaders,

    As you are aware there has been some discussion about the reversion of the Colts to an U/20 competition and the fact that there will be a three year window down to the next age competition being U/17. The majority of Senior Clubs remain in support the U/20 model, with some reservations about the cohort of players who are in the U/18 age bracket (those lads with a birth year of 2000). While there have been a few responses to my last request about significant concerns on this model, there has been nothing provided to change the current plan. As a result the Colts competition will be running as U/20 in season 2016.

    However, as part of the discussion on this the WA Junior Executive are willing to consider running an U/18 age group competition if there are enough teams to make this viable. Note the key aspects of this are:
    · All Junior Clubs will be asked to canvass their members and then to express interest in fielding a team in the U/18 age division for 2016.
    · A close off date for this expression of interest will be Mon 14 March, with a decision then made straight after.
    · If there are sufficient team numbers (minimum 6) then a competition will be administered.
    · Any U/18 competition structure will be open to all clubs whether Premiership or Championship aligned.
    · The Juniors propose that these matches would finish prior to the start of senior matches.
    · Note the U/17 competition will still be run.
    · The competition will be conducted under the auspices of the Junior Rugby Union.
    · This will be a one off arrangement for season 2016, with future season Junior age structures subject to further review this year.

    To that end while this is essentially a Junior Club query, it crosses over and links to Senior Club matters with regard the Colts U/20 competition.

    So while I am not asking senior clubs to respond on this I am making you aware of this dialogue and will keep you informed once the JRU gains feedback and makes a decision with regard this matter.

    Any queries at senior or junior level can be directed to me. Please note I will be out of office next week so contact can be best made via mobile.

    Regards....


    Letter 2 From RugbyWA Juniors

    Dear Junior Club Presidents and Secretaries,
    As you may be aware, the Seniors Structure this year has moved away from the U19's and been replaced with an U20's Competition.
    This has left a large gap between the U17's and the U20's - a 3 year window for which the ARU policy does not allow dispensation.
    Rather than lose a group of players who may not yet be ready for U20's, however, too old to play U17's, we are proposing we run an U18's Competition under the RWA Juniors banner this year - marketing it as a kind of "Premier Grade" for Juniors.
    The U18's would play under the RWA Juniors Competition Rules and Regulations, as the U20's are going to be using the modified U19's rules, threfore it would be a seamless transition for them.
    The U18's could play before Senior games rather than at Britannia.
    · A close off date for this expression of interest will be Monday 14th March, with a decision to be made thereafter;
    · If there are sufficient team numbers (minimum 6), then an U18's Competition will be administered;
    · This will be a one-off arrangement for Season 2016, with future season Junior age structures subject to further review this year.
    For this season, it is too late for us to consider restructuring the U15's and U17's, however we can consider this for next season. We also do not have enough data about numbers for the U15's and U17's to consider changing the structure this year.
    We look forward to your feedback and response by return email.
    Thanking you.
    Yours in Rugby,...

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    How can you come up with this kind off idea this late in the season
    the pros and con of going to under 20s should have been thought out 6 months ago
    This is a half arsed idea that put more pressure on clubs and volunteers to rush around trying to find players coaches managers and equipment for another team that may come to nothing
    pull apart teams that have been organised in the 17s to fill the gaps pushing up players from 15s to fill those gaps
    If you are prepared to do this to clubs now why not just go 14s.16s.18 which would make more sense and be organised alot easier than throwing around expressions of interest this late in the day
    Junior executive does not have enough rugby people on it

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    Champion Ralto's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sevenmile View Post
    How can you come up with this kind off idea this late in the season
    I glad you could work it out, I have no idea what it is - are proposing a 20's and 18's, and 17's???

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    Rookie Loose Cannon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ralto View Post
    I glad you could work it out, I have no idea what it is - are proposing a 20's and 18's, and 17's???
    you got it ... their going to morph some new players in and develop a 18's on top of everything else. So 15s,17s,18s,20s

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    Quote Originally Posted by Loose Cannon View Post
    you got it ... their going to morph some new players in and develop a 18's on top of everything else. So 15s,17s,18s,20s
    I don't understand why it has to be so complicated. I am sure back in my day it just went from under 8's up to Under 20's with 2 years in each grade. eg U8,U10,U12,U14,U16,U18,U20. Why doesn't that work anymore?

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    Rookie Loose Cannon's Avatar
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    Here it's U6 - Under 15, 17's and (used to be 19's) ... now 20's

    So the 15/17 works as well as anything as it kinda skirts around the issue with School rugby in year 11/12. However now if you are turning 17 turning 18 this year you don't qualify for 17's and have to play 20's. Senior rugby has a minimum age of 18 without dispensation. Problem being you must have the Level 2 coach sign you off to bridge the three year gap and includes signoff from RWA and in the case of front row I think the ARU etc.... So the ARU I assume see it as a problem for their insurance.

    So the question is now:

    What happens to the 17 year old who can't get a sign off due to skill/size? He can't play 20's and he still can't even play 5th grade (still needs the sign off). Could probably hack 19's but now with a proposal of an 18's competition seen as the "top of junior rugby" ... lets get a bit realistic about this being a "Premier Grade" for junior rugby (god knows who tried to sell that to the clubs!!!) and we wont even consider how many kids are out there to make this a viable option

    So the 17 now has the option of trying to get a sign off to go up and play guys much older, skip a year and wait until he is 18 and then come back to club rugby or play mungos Under 18's who must be p@@#ng themselves laughing

    I'm pretty sure if you go east you don't see under 20's in Union. They stick to Under 19's. Maybe for once they are the wise men in the East?

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    I wouldn't call it "saving the day". More like a rehashed idea tried many times before with limited success. With most clubs struggling to field one colts team how on earth do you expect most clubs to find an extra 20 players, 1 or 2 more coaches, a manager, jerseys and training equipment barely a month before the senior competition starts?
    Last year there was a 2 year gap between 17s and 19s and what did we get as far as a competition was concerned? We started with 10 teams but by mid season 2 had pulled out due to lack of numbers. So we were left with eight teams in a competition where the age gap was more favorable than the one we have this year.
    The issue of player retention for the 18-21 yr olds age group is far more complex than i think the junior committee comprehends.
    These kids are faced with social pressures, employment pressures, study pressures, financial pressures and more importantly they are faced with trying to structure their lives in their transition to adult life. With so much change going on in their lives it is always going to be hard to find the time for sport (up to 8hrs a week) when there is so much pressure for their time from jobs, study and social engagements through to starting families and getting into housing.
    Most of these factors are controlled under the parental construct.

    Trying to solve the retention problem has been around for a long time and with the way lives are forever being sped up, the problem will be around for a long time to come. If there was a silver bullet, don't you think it would have been discovered by now?

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    Champion Ralto's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Buddha Handy View Post
    I don't understand why it has to be so complicated. I am sure back in my day it just went from under 8's up to Under 20's with 2 years in each grade. eg U8,U10,U12,U14,U16,U18,U20. Why doesn't that work anymore?

    In my day - the bit where all the player's roll their eyes back. Good luck finding the players - especially around finals time. Unless there are dispensationssssssss.

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    Immortal jargan83's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ralto View Post
    Unless there are dispensationssssssss.
    Or ring in's...

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    Player Kev's Avatar
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    Wow ... rugbyWA community must have picked up Richard Graham pretty quickly !

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