There have been a few headlines over the past few days about the changing role of clubs in South African rugby. But I wonder if clubs can play a far more fundamental role in the transformation of South African rugby. An article by Stormsaam.
When I was at school, soccer was not available – it was looked down upon. It was pretty much an unspoken rule at junior school that everyone had to play rugby in winter and cricket in summer. At high school, hockey was an alternative to rugby and waterpolo was an alternative to cricket. Those who wanted to play soccer typically joined a club like Rygersdal – who had age group sides.
I wonder if this is not the way to provide rapid access to rugby to township schools? Why couldn’t clubs like Villagers and False Bay start junior sides and attract township talent? In my mind this would solve a number of problems:
- Club rugby has faced declining fortunes with a drop in profile since the advent of professionalism
- Good players at school level often don’t make the step up to play rugby at club level – offering age group rugby would provide a feeder programme
- Rugby has floundered in the townships due to lack of facilities and skilled coaches.
Of course there are a number of problems:
- Transport from township schools to club facilities
- Applicability to very young age groups (e.g. under 9s and 10s – should they be travelling to practices and matches at non-school premises?)
- Availability of coaches during working hours
- Ability of fields to support more play
- Ability to find space in existing school schedules.
I am sure solutions could be found to each of these issues. For example, when I played club rugby a nearby school field (literally across the road) stood unused except for once every year when the annual sports day was held. I understand this was either due to lack of interest in sports from the kids or lack of staff to coach sport. Immediately this says to me that there is an opportunity to gain an extra field for the club and potential age group players from the school. With regard to coaches, I am sure varsity players schedules may allow them the flexibility to coach during working hours.
Maybe some clubs do offer age group rugby. Maybe they do see townships as a potential source of players. If you know of these examples, please comment.
My point is that I think that if we look for opportunities to take rugby to the masses there will be opportunities to strengthen the game. Club rugby is an option in doing this.
If we take a business minded approach to this and employ marketing minds, I am sure we could capitalise on the World Cup success.
Some months ago I watched a Carte Blanche insert on train surfing. I was astounded to hear from the kids that they mostly train surfed to gain the admiration of young girls. It made me think. Maybe we should be marketing sport to young township girl spectators. If they were enarmoured with the thought of big strong rugby-playing boys, I am sure we’d soon find young boys clamouring to play the game.
Finally, I am sure further lateral examples would show potential. What about schools who lack rugby playing numbers. Schools like SACS, Rondebosch, Bishops and Wynberg (to name a set from a very small area of South Africa) have from 5 o 8 teams per age group. Other schools battle to find the numbers to fill the positions for one team. Should we be precious about disallowing kids from other schools where rugby is not offered to join schools where it is, or see this as an opportunity? Of course I am not talking about creating open clubs at schools, but merely highlighting that there are some schools where rugby battles to survive because of lack of playing numbers and others with underutilised facilities. There must be an opportunity to put that right.
What do you think?
November 7th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Excellent ideas from SS
How to make it happen?
November 7th, 2007 at 10:24 am
Lets not have this idea of him disappear as well
I wonder if it should be really simple.
Like: “Mission 2011: 700 000 SA rugby players�
“Want to play rugby? Even just touch rugby?�
“Email: info[at]sarsu.org�
The email could give an auto response with a list of clubs nationwide and their contacts. And you’d have email addresses to follow up.
But I think the mission part is important. Let’s get people excited about a big inclusive goal – the most club players in the world.
Comment by SARugbyFan_FormerlyKnownAsStormsaam — November 6, 2007 @ 11:55 pm
November 7th, 2007 at 10:25 am
Howsit SS
Train surfing
i watched that, very weird.
Some schools,(i dont know how many)do allow kids from other schools to play for them.Bergvliet High has that program, i know this because i saw and ad in a local paper and thought it was a good initiative.
November 7th, 2007 at 10:35 am
I think we’d have to be careful of oopening schools. I remember how we hated the post-matric programme some schools ran. It really gives strong schools a huge advantage.
But I can’t see too many problems with age group club sides. Think of all the hundreds of schools in that don’t have sports facilities in the False Bay region?
November 7th, 2007 at 11:06 am
I know Primrose has an age group side.
November 7th, 2007 at 11:24 am
I remember playing an Avondale age group side at cricket as well – so there is precedent there.
November 7th, 2007 at 11:27 am
I think if transformation is going to work though, we need to get the traditionally white clubs to recruit township kids into age group sides.
They would then be joined by kids leaving school sides at u21 level. Which is the important bit.
November 7th, 2007 at 11:38 am
SS
Is there a database of all the qualified IRB 1,2,3,and elite level coaches in the country?
November 7th, 2007 at 11:45 am
In KZN “mini-Rugby” is a huge thing at ALL the rugby clubs.
Mini Rugby is essentially what you guys are refering to here as age group rugby.
It starts right from u/7 and in the first few seasons (when i was still in SA) were really limited to MINI rugby with only the real youngsters playing, by the time i left there were already u/14 mini Rugby sides and i am sure there will be u/16 “mini-rugby” sides by now.
Do the other Provinces not have this?
If you have ever watched a match live at KP you would have seen the mini-rugby guys playing a match at half time on the main field.
November 7th, 2007 at 11:49 am
KSA perhaps. They didn’t when I played. WHich was a long time ago…
I think we need to get away from the “mini-cricket/mini-rugby” psychology though. it has a place but the connotation has always seemed to me that it is a way to start playing rather than a way to progress.
If club age group rugby were to succeed, we’d see Pirates playing St Stithians or Villagers playing Paarl Gym.
November 7th, 2007 at 11:52 am
As an example of this mini-rugby working you only have to look at a friend of mines little kid. (Not so little anymore)
When he was in primary school his school did not offer rugby and he played mini-rugby for Toti Rugby club.
When he got to Std 5 he was seen and approached by Glenwood High school who offered him a full scholarship to glenwood to come and play rugby for them at u/14 (Std6) already. He has been at Glenwood for two/three years now and his rugby is going great.
I am sure Toti would have preffered him to still be playing club rugby at Toti, but to me an important issue is that he was playing rugby for 6 or 7 years already by the time he got to a school that finally offered rugby.
He did not have to learn his rugby skills when he finally got to high school. He already had quite a few rugby skills thanks to mini-rugby.
November 7th, 2007 at 11:55 am
There are similar projects – but not that well cOOrdinated KSA
very much stop start
will follow it up
November 8th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
With respect Stormsaam, I have to disagree.
I like your ideas but I think the practicalities are, by and large, insurmountable.
Lets at the school situation. There’s a damned good reason why schools don’t allow outsiders to play in their teams and its simple. Its all about discipline. School rugby in watched by thousands every weekend, its reported in newspapers.
Schools are proud of their achievements and of the image they portray.
And one of the reasons it creates a good image is because schools can discipline player that play dirty, get red carded or tarnish the image of the school. That avenue is not available when the player is not a pupil in the school.
Now like it or not the school system is where the majority of players play their rugby.
And it works well.
Why would you now want to replace it with a club system?
The schools already have the set-up in place, the facilities, the coaches and a steady stream of players.
Oh, and the little thing that the kids actually play for free.
Now you want to change it to a club system where there is no set-up, little or no discipline as evidenced in seniors club rugby, no coaches, no money. And then an unreliable player base.
All you’re then doing is swapping one set of problems with another.
Yes it would be great to see primrose playing Paarl Gim but its not practical. Paarl Gim will walk over them.
Clubs like Primrose already play average second tier schools in the suburbs of Cape Town and get torn a new one.
As for the transformation and clubs debate. Yeah I see where you’re going with this but again, I don’t think rugby clubs are to be blamed for being lilly-white or totally black etc.
That’s a problem we have in society. Rugby clubs are simply indicative of the neighbourhoods they’re situated in.
The fact that they are for a large part not integrated is more an issue of society at large and a legacy of the apartheid system than an issue with the clubs transformation policies.
It has been my experience that guys play for the club nearest their home or nearest their work.
Its very noble to want to bus guys in blacken up the side but in reality its not possible and nobody wants to travel that far just to play.
I move 10 kilometres and I change clubs for convenience sake.
In my opinion bussing guys in is just more window-dressing.
When you integrate communities clubs will integrate of their own accord. The same way they’ve done in some areas where the community has integrated.
I agree more can be done and like the principles behind your ideas although I just don’t feel they are totally feasible.
I think we’ve learnt in SA Rugby that forcing the issue to try to reflect what we feel society should look like just doesn’t work.
Society and the communities that make up that society need to change and then the rugby clubs and rugby will change, not the other way around.