Drop-off in school players rings alarm bells for Tew
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) chief executive Steve Tew says the dropoff in playing numbers in school rugby did not come as a surprise, but he vowed to do more to keep young players in the game.
NZR released the independent review of New Zealand secondary school rugby on Tuesday, with 31 recommendations on how to improve a long-ignored part of the game, in terms of administration.
Perhaps the most concerning part of the review was the drop-off in playing numbers on the male side of the game, which was linked to player recruitment.
Auckland was used example in the review. as the
The number of boys’ and girls’ secondary school rugby teams within Auckland Rugby fell from 225 in 2013, to 188 in 2017, and 181 in 2018.
North Harbour had 92 secondary boys’ and girls’ rugby teams in 2014 and 64 in 2018.
Tew said NZR had been tracking the dwindling playing numbers for some time now, and the challenge was to find the way to keep those players engaged in the game.
‘‘We’ve got a generation of kids that if they’re not identified early as first XV players and go on into our high performance systems, they leave the game early,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve got to find a way to make the game remain attractive.
‘‘I wasn’t happy about playing in the second XV, but I did stay and play in the second XV. We’ve got to get back schools.’’
Tew said the job now was to work through those recommendations with the schools, but said the schools’ needs would be outweighed by those of the players.
‘‘It’s a summary of a lot of work to that approach in that was done last year and it’s identified some things that, in conjunction with some secondary schools around the country, we hope to do something . . . but we have to work through that with the schools.
‘‘Without getting into specifics, the key thing from our point of view is it has to be very athlete-focused.
‘‘We have got a little bit of a contradiction.
‘‘You’ve got some really highly focused schools that use sport as a part of what makes that school work, not just rugby, but rowing, waterpolo, other sports are in the same boat.
‘‘That has its really positive aspects and its negative aspects, and we saw that manifest itself near the end last year.’’
Tew was referring to 10 Auckland schools last month saying they would not play St Kentigern in this year’s 1A competition because of it recruitment policy.
The review was not undertaken because of the threatened boycott – it was commissioned earlier, in June last year – but it has become all the more timely and newsworthy because of it.
Some of the key recommendations include:
❚ Establish an advisory group (New Zealand Secondary Schools Rugby Union) to develop vision, values and strategy for secondary school rugby.
❚ Fulltime NZR manager of school rugby appointed.
❚ Guidelines for both performance and non-performance grades – equitable resourcing of girls’ rugby in co-ed schools and adequate resourcing in schools where girls’ rugby is a ‘‘new’’ sport.
❚ Guidelines for provincial unions and schools on format and form of secondary school rugby grades for both boys and girls.
The review won’t be the last document that examines the school rugby environment.
An independent panel is in the process of investigating St Kent’s complaints about the 11 Auckland 1A schools that threatened to boycott games against the private east Auckland institution because of what they believed were unacceptable levels of recruitment. secondary
‘‘We have got a little bit of a contradiction. You’ve got some really highly focused schools that use sport as a part of what makes that school work, not just rugby . . . That has its really positive aspects and its negative aspects, and we saw that manifest itself near the end last year.’’ New Zealand Rugby chief executive Steve Tew