Growing grassroots game will be difficult with lack of local fixtures
The well known Bible quote, “let he who is without sin cast the first stone”, shows that most of us have skeletons in our cupboards and the announcement by new RFU CEO Steve Brown regarding the future development plans of the RFU (including how it has reacted in the light of the problems currently facing the FA) has perhaps exposed one or two.
Although much of what Brown said was confined to the £443m to be spent over four years, slightly over £110m per year, and how that would make England rugby the “strongest sport” in the country. Which is an admirable ideal, with a number of goals that seem to have a level of achievability with such a large sum of money being devoted to making it happen.
I wonder if that sum includes the remaining part of the fixed £112m (£28m per year) plus the additional God only knows how much the RFU will agree for the second part of player release contract, which is to be paid to the Premiership from 2020 as part of “rugby revenue share partnership” signed in 2016. Not forgetting the additional monies already earmarked for various projects and a minimum guaranteed £7m for the RPA’s new five-year deal (also signed 2016).
As a person who grew up through schools, junior club (grassroots) and senior club and played professional rugby for a couple of years, then being one of the first National members on the RFU council (Bill Beaumont was the other), England’s U21s’ manager and finally a privileged member of the RFU, I hope that he and the team, nonplaying, at Twickenham can achieve that goal – but it’s going to be extremely difficult.
The ambitions of Brown’s plans to grow the game by keeping more of the thousands of players that desert the game when moving from mini/juniors to the adult game, will involve putting more direct funding back into the grassroots game, which would mean a total reverse of previous RFU practice.
It is at grassroots where the vast majority of people begin their rugby journey and where, unfortunately, it ends for most of them.
A majority of young children will start their journey in the game on a Sunday morning being taught the basics by a mum or dad who has some connection with the senior side of a club. As they get older, they will begin to move into the senior section of the club where unless they are good enough or lucky enough to be in a position where the club loses a player, the journey ends.
When I started, clubs had five or six senior teams and the youth players moved seamlessly into a mixed aged team in the lower levels of the club, developing their skills as they moved up towards the first team.
Some of the most fun I had was playing in the lower teams of my junior clubs where the game was played with no less passion than when playing for the first team but purely for the game itself.
Whatever level you play, winning is everything, but, unlike the professionals or the first team, losing in those lower teams didn’t affect the wages or the league position, but it does damage something more valuable, your pride.
How grassroots clubs will start and maintain the extra teams to hold on to the players who currently drop out even if the RFU were to provide funding, is beyond me.
A little by little approach where clubs start adding teams as more players become available is unlikely to work, as clubs grow at different rates and would find it difficult to build a fixture list with enough local clubs.
A major problem for the lower sides are fixtures, because without regular fixtures you get a slow drain of players. Rugby is a habit game that you have to play every week, having the odd week off is just about manageable but cancelled fixtures every other week and it becomes a self-perpetuating scenario.
A club unable to raise enough players to fulfil fixtures cancels, leaving the players at the other clubs without a game, they go home and don’t bother coming the following week, so their clubs have to cancel and so on, until the clubs are forced to ‘drop’ the lower teams’ fixtures.
The growing women’s game will provide grassroots with some extra teams but re-starting the men’s lower teams is the only real answer to increased retention of players.
Although the RFU haven’t had any- thing on the scale of the current FA scandal, they have had a few moments that would have raised the odd eyebrow.
Brown’s comment: “From our perspective it’s about being transparent, open, clear, making good quality decisions, and keep checking and challenging ourselves to make sure we live up to those high standards we set and if we carry on our lives like that then, hopefully, we’ll always find ourselves on the right side of a tricky position.”
It is a fact that in recent years the RFU have used non-disclosure clauses in contracts to silence any criticism from employees either sacked or who have left. Non-disclosure has also been used by coaches to stop players’ criticism and has resulted in at least one player forced to pay compensation.
Admittedly, that wasn’t during Brown’s tenure, so, following his comments, let’s hope there will be true transparency at the RFU from now on.
“Clubs grow at different rates and would find it difficult to build a fixture list with enough local clubs”