kingofthehill wrote: ↑Sun Apr 24, 2022 9:23 pm
Ulster should be throwing money at the clubs system
jean valjean wrote: ↑Sun Apr 24, 2022 9:37 pm
Look at the hundreds of kids who play at ravenhill at half time and every sat morning. We've all seen some naturally talented kids with good hands and balanced running but how many of them will reach the narrow funnel of a few top schools? There is got to be a pathway for these kids and the club system has the biggest and widest net. If schools don't want to pay for coaching then UR needs to invest in quality training for club coaches.
Cannot not agree more with these two posts. This
has to be the way to go in both the medium and long term. The clubs have the opportunity to build a long term relationship with both children and family, beginning with minis, that the schools do not. Yes, getting them in first off requires both the visit to the primary schools and a pipe-line into the club from those initial contacts... Clubs also have those things called enthusiasts and volunteers - something school sport is increasingly lacking and those schools who do want to go down the route of serious competitive sport are having to resort to salaried coaches to fill that gap. The vast majority of NI state schools, from whichever sector, believe that they have better things to spend their cash on than sport. It's resource intensive in both people and facilities. There is a need to break the 'Saturdays is school fixtures first' mind-set though..... and get the clubs running sides up beyond the u-12 level.
Developing the clubs does, of course, require that the issues of parental worry around injury be addressed - both through age appropriate play (which is now there with the various stages at which tackling, scrums etc are introduced) and the NZ idea of size-related matches. Whilst allegedly rugby is a game for all sizes, at 12/13/14 it really isn't, whereas hockey and hurling don't offer so much of a size premium at any age really (height helps, but not so much). From personal experience, being amongst the smallest in an u-14 match is no fun whatsover. The size-related game makes sense, but it does run the risk of losing kids who are not playing with their mates from the same (school) year group.....
It was really good to see that UR kept as much of the development stuff and staff during COVID as it did, but there's never enough for such a worth-while project. Oddly, where the GAA gains in having the funds to put into both physical and coaching facilities for ordinary clubs (which are frankly really impressive even in small places like Lifford) because it doesn't have the drain of money to pay players, it loses out later on because it doesn't offer the paid route for the better participants when they get older. Well, all bar the Australian Rules route for some of the footballers. Rugby has it the other way round.....
Furthermore the clubs are already there and representing the sport - you only have to see Virginia RFC, Letterkenny RFC, Enniskillen RFC, Clogher Valley RFC, City of Derry RFC kids at half-time on the Saturday matches at Ravenhill to know there is a presence across the province. That very interesting Southern Star article had a number of interesting points - the clubs were far more visible (in the article) than the schools. But even then, the schools were happy to link up with the clubs (e.g. Bantry). I'd also contend that the regular presence of the Irish u-20 matches in Cork doesn't harm at all in providing some exemplars to go and see.
One of the other real challenges for Ulster Rugby is that it's perceived as too-Belfast centric. Ok, 750k or so of the 2.1m people in the Province live within 30 minutes or so of Ravenhill, and that's reflected in where most of the players come from (the 4 B's of Bangor, Ballymena, Banbridge and Ballynachinch seem to be the furthest afield at present). I've seen Nathan Doak scooting round in his sponsored BMW 1-Series. I do hope that Robert Balacoune has one that takes him to Enniskillen with equal facility. Ideally, the AIL would fill the gap below - and that's where a lot of the fringe players are, however it doesn't seem to get the profile, even on the Ulster Rugby Show [why can't they fill their non-URC weeks with a round-up of what the clubs are doing ? Sure Tommy Bowe or Rory Best would be welcome in Coleraine or Letterkenny.....?]. UR need to get further than Portadown even with their pre-season stuff. Offer to go and play a match in Derry, Ballybofey or even Clones....!
And finally, given the success of Tyrone, Donegal and to a lesser extent Armagh, the talent pool of athletic youngsters is there. I'd suggest that the local pride in local success is there too - even my partner's farmer father, a stalwart of the Lodge and a UUP Council member, had the red and white fertiliser sacks on his telephone poles when Derry went to, and won, the All-Ireland in 1993. There is a team in red and white with a longer wait for a trophy than Ulster Rugby....
Let the big 8 schools in NI do what they want - they will anyway. Commit to the clubs with money (coaches and YDO) and time (coaches and current player visits etc) and do it for the long term and it will pay enormous dividends. The big 8 schools will love UR too as what the clubs develop is also their target market too.... Oh yes, and it builds your spectator base too, although UR have to deliver here too. Which brings us neatly back on topic....