Grassroots Game

[Doorzetbornandbred]

Anyone else on here involved in the Grassroots Game in any way at all? If so how worried are you for the future of the game in the current climate? With the rumours of allegedly no scrums till post xmas 2021 what will the game look like? Will it be a one size for everything game? The team I coach theres already front row lads talking of packing it in, they have no interest in what will be some bastardised version of league.
A worrying story Ive heard is 10 aside, no scrums, lineouts, mauls and tackles strictly below the waist. Free kicks for knock-ons etc. The RFU/Govt want less than 15 contacts in 3 minutes and my understanding is a tackle would be 1 contact and if 2 players from each side contest the ruck that would take it to 5 contacts. I can't see how its going to work.
A friend who coaches at a relatively well known old club said having spoken to some RFU bods he knows they said they aren't concerned with the Grassroots game at the moment as the sorting out of redundancies is the top priority...
A lot of clubs may well vanish and be gone from all of this and the resultant loss of future players in Juniors etc etc. I know of clubs whose facilities are used by outside organisations which bring in much needed funds etc and they are struggling with it now.
Or is this all just a bad dream?

[Digby]

It's entirely possible even that number of proposed contacts is unrealistic. I'm very concerned, but without knowing what's possible it's hard to know what can be done.

[fivepointer]

Cant see how you can regulate the number of contacts in a game. And a game without scrums isnt really a game to my mind. Think there's a case for getting minis and juniors back into rugby this autumn, but the older kids and seniors might be more of an issue.
Like everything else in our lives, it depends on just what is happening in the control of covid in the community. If the infection rate is low enough, then I could see the game being tentatively reintroduced. If we get a spike in winter, though....
Terribly hard to see where we're going. Its very difficult to make any kind of plans as we dont know where we will be in 2/3 weeks time, let alone 2/3 months.
Very concerning times for all clubs. There's a strong chance the game will lose players at all levels and some clubs may be pushed to the brink.

[twitchy]

I think the matches should be used as opportunities to focus on things like ball handling etc. In other sports they are implementing similar things (just concentrating heavily on what is allowed).

Get the lads some clips from some super rugby aotearoa get every one trying to attack like that.

[Doorzetbornandbred]

Well it seems that the RFU have done their redundancies, all RDOs and CRCs to be made redundant...

[Puja]

From the information coming off my rugby club, a move to phase C, which would mean larger group training and touch rugby, was imminent but with the recent government announcements the RFU are staying at phase B for the moment (maximum groups of 6, no touching).

Puja

[Stom]

[OnlyMonikerRemaining]

Yes it is a worry. Even more of a worry is the likely prospect of no rugby at all before Christmas. We are relatively lucky in that we have only 1 paid employee. He joined us too late to be furloughed and the club has stuck by him so far but there is more or less no income, no product means no, or very few, sponsors.
Kids will drift away from it and many won’t come back.
And just what is needed right now is for the RFU to make all its RDO’s and CRC’s redundant and invite 189 of them to reapply for 40 jobs nationwide. They are needed more than ever just now.

[Doorzetbornandbred]

Yes it is a worry. Even more of a worry is the likely prospect of no rugby at all before Christmas. We are relatively lucky in that we have only 1 paid employee. He joined us too late to be furloughed and the club has stuck by him so far but there is more or less no income, no product means no, or very few, sponsors.
Kids will drift away from it and many won’t come back.
And just what is needed right now is for the RFU to make all its RDO’s and CRC’s redundant and invite 189 of them to reapply for 40 jobs nationwide. They are needed more than ever just now.

Apparently there will be 24 coaches working under a new job title but doing the same job as before covering the country in 4 areas. I can see the standard in coaching dropping off. People wont attend courses, clubs wont fulfil the RFU Accreditation Scheme and funding will stop(another money saving scheme) for those clubs.

[Doorzetbornandbred]

From the information coming off my rugby club, a move to phase C, which would mean larger group training and touch rugby, was imminent but with the recent government announcements the RFU are staying at phase B for the moment (maximum groups of 6, no touching).

Puja

Its a bloody worry Puja whats gonna happen from all of this, Jeff Probyn's article in the Rugby Paper summed it up very well that Rugby is a game of habit and if people dont play for a reasonable time they just wont return. A fair swag of my lads I coach are talking of packing it in if we end up playing some weird game with no set piece etc.

[OnlyMonikerRemaining]

Yes it is a worry. Even more of a worry is the likely prospect of no rugby at all before Christmas. We are relatively lucky in that we have only 1 paid employee. He joined us too late to be furloughed and the club has stuck by him so far but there is more or less no income, no product means no, or very few, sponsors.
Kids will drift away from it and many won’t come back.
And just what is needed right now is for the RFU to make all its RDO’s and CRC’s redundant and invite 189 of them to reapply for 40 jobs nationwide. They are needed more than ever just now.

Apparently there will be 24 coaches working under a new job title but doing the same job as before covering the country in 4 areas. I can see the standard in coaching dropping off. People wont attend courses, clubs wont fulfil the RFU Accreditation Scheme and funding will stop(another money saving scheme) for those clubs.

I was told there would be 24 coaches and 16 “other roles”, not that it makes any material difference. Completely agree.

[Raggs]

Think it's the times reporting a 10 a side, touch, to get started with. No contact.

I'd say treat it like summer touch. Lots of fun and games, good laugh, try the silly offloads etc. Spread the fatties out and have them provide a crash ball. Make it a big social event, and hope that you can hold onto the props by just making it a good laugh.

[Mellsblue]

Yep, the times are reporting that but it’s been circulating around clubs for a while now.
Free burger/pie and a beer for any member of the front row after practice and matches = problem solved.

[Raggs]

Summer touch was great fun last year, I was really looking forward to it this year, and we had a number of front row turn up and enjoy it.

Think the attitude around training will need to change, but that may not be a bad thing, but I would hope a lot of the rugby community could be kept for at least a period of time.

[Puja]

The training at my club has been really enjoyable actually (with the caveat that I am fat and unfit and constantly limping in behind). We're a fairly big club, so we're placed in groups of 6 and rotated round stations like a circuits class, with activities like capture the flag, a football-netball-grubbering hybrid, passing drills, tyre flipping, 3-on-1 and 3-on-2 overlaps and of course, lots and lots of running and burpees and that sh*t. The coaches have planned it well and got quite creative, and are using retired players and clubmen to run each station (usually about 10-11). It's actually the most fun I've had in pre-season.

Of course, the question will be how much fun it will remain if it's still all we're allowed to do in 3 months' time.

Puja