‘Winning and losing is part of life’: Souths Juniors reject non-competitive leagues.

  • We had an issue with background services between march 10th and 15th or there about. This meant the payment services were not linking to automatic upgrades. If you paid for premium membership and are still seeing ads please let me know and the email you used against PayPal and I cam manually verify and upgrade your account.

Woodsie

Feast yer eyes ..
Tipping Member
The controversial plan to abolish the awarding of competition points until the age of 13 and tackling until midway through the under 7s for rugby league matches has encountered official resistance after Souths Juniors refused to adopt the edict.

The NSWRL is in the process of rolling out the NRL’s nation-wide policy, which has already been implemented across Queensland and some parts of NSW. The changes – which require youngsters to play a non-contact version of the game such as League Tag and abolish competition ladders and grand finals – have infuriated some within the junior ranks.

A petition on change.org calling for the overhaul to be scrapped has received more than 7000 signatures. However, the first official opposition has come in the form of the influential South Sydney District Junior Rugby Football League, who on Wednesday informed the NSWRL in writing they would not implement the changes.
“Our clubs have discussed it with us, we’ve met as a board and we’re not in favour of it. We’ve told the NSWRL we’re not in favour of it,” said Souths Juniors CEO Luke Curry told the Herald.

“We’ve let them know it’s our intention to continue on as we have previously.
“We’ve always played competitively. We sought the feedback from our clubs about it and they love having grand final days. We understand that winning and losing is part of life.

A petition on change.org calling for the overhaul to be scrapped has received more than 7000 signatures. However, the first official opposition has come in the form of the influential South Sydney District Junior Rugby Football League, who on Wednesday informed the NSWRL in writing they would not implement the changes.
“Our clubs have discussed it with us, we’ve met as a board and we’re not in favour of it. We’ve told the NSWRL we’re not in favour of it,” said Souths Juniors CEO Luke Curry told the Herald.

“We’ve let them know it’s our intention to continue on as we have previously.
“We’ve always played competitively. We sought the feedback from our clubs about it and they love having grand final days. We understand that winning and losing is part of life.

The NRL introduced the protocols in the belief it was the best way to boost participation while protecting the welfare of young participants. However, Curry said there had been a boost of 100 additional players, up to 3100, for his association last season. He added that touch and tag versions of the game were also available to children whose parents were concerned about tackle-related injuries.
“In my opinion, why change something that’s working for us?” Curry said. “They may say that participation levels are sliding, but we’ve had a growth in the last 12 months.
“We understand that winning and losing is part of life ...we want to continue to play rugby league like we have in the past.”
Souths Juniors boss Luke Curry
“Not as many people play the game as they used to, I understand that. But in my opinion, the game is not for everyone.
“It can be a very full-on contact sport later in life and not everyone is capable of playing it. I hope this doesn’t come across negatively, but I don’t think we should be trying to get everyone on board, we should be looking after the ones already playing and continuing on without altering the fabric of the game.”

Sources with knowledge of the situation have told the Herald that several other associations, unhappy with the changes, are also considering their options.

The ARLC approved the new player development framework in 2019, but COVID-19 stalled its official introduction. The changes were put forward by a steering committee of league experts including NRL coaches, former players and senior management.

“TackleReady is our program that teaches correct and safe tackle techniques, preparing participants for tackle versions of rugby league,” an NRL spokesperson said.

“The program aims to provide participants with a systematic introduction to tackling and being tackled, leading to a greater level of enjoyment.

“TackleReady is based on research, trials and feedback, the results of which found 85% reported increased confidence and 86% increased competence.

“It also provides entry-level club coaches with the necessary skills and gives parents peace of mind by highlighting the game’s commitment to offering a safe, inclusive environment.
“Development competitions see players learning to win and lose but they do not play to win a premiership. Development competitions allow coaches to focus entirely on technical, tactical, physical and social development in their players. Highly pressured premiership environments have been determined to be the major reason players exit our game in these age groups.”

Despite their concerns, some associations may fall into line with the NRL’s protocols to ensure they continue to receive their required funding.
“That’s not an issue for us here,” Curry said.

“We have a licensed club built for junior league, so we’re lucky compared to a lot of other associations. It wouldn’t be a money factor around any ramifications for us.”
 
It’s bull**** anyway , I’ve got 2 grandsons who play , both since they were 5, now 11/13.

Competitive little bastards I must say , ALL about winning , scoring the most try’s, making the biggest tackles.

They watch the NRL and as Panthers fans just want to be , Yeo, Kikau , Cleary et al.

It’s human nature to want to succeed at sport.
 
The proposal to abolish tackling until mid-way through under-7's might have some medical merit, and the NRL needs to be really cautious there so that one I would probably be OK with.

The proposal to abolish points is just silly and South's are right on that one (something you won't hear me say too often). Kids are not stupid, they know who won, they know how the points-scoring system works and they know you get rewards for winning. Trying to pretend all these things are temporarily untrue just makes adults look stupid.
 
The proposal to abolish tackling until mid-way through under-7's might have some medical merit, and the NRL needs to be really cautious there so that one I would probably be OK with.

The proposal to abolish points is just silly and South's are right on that one (something you won't hear me say too often). Kids are not stupid, they know who won, they know how the points-scoring system works and they know you get rewards for winning. Trying to pretend all these things are temporarily untrue just makes adults look stupid.
My grandsons knew when they were 5 or 6 who won , even if they didn’t worry about scoring in the junior league they were in.
 
It’s bull**** anyway , I’ve got 2 grandsons who play , both since they were 5, now 11/13.

Competitive little bastards I must say , ALL about winning , scoring the most try’s, making the biggest tackles.

They watch the NRL and as Panthers fans just want to be , Yeo, Kikau , Cleary et al.

It’s human nature to want to succeed at sport.
No,no,no.no we can't have competative sports in juniors @Mark from Brisbane. Don't you realise how much you upset the millenial , hang wringing , everyone wins a prize brigade. The PC virtue signalling police state that this fu*ked up country has turned itself over to now. Heaven forbid that our kids would learn about disappointment and try harder next time little Johnny or Janney.
 
Learning how to win and lose gracefully is part of development
Agree , watch one of our little fellas play when he was about 10, lost badly.

Stormed off the field with the ****s big time.

I said “ get back on the bloody field and shake the hands of your opponents , yeah they were better today but you’ll be better next week because of it “.
 
For what it is worth Football has done it this way in the kids up to under 12's for a number of years

I can't speak to the benefits or otherwise of it however it does encourage a different style of coaching when there is a focus on skills rather than "results"

I think the over arching issue for kids sport is that there is no black and white solution - some kids want a competitive environment others simply want to play the game.

In larger sports such as football there is the ability to accommodate more of this however in league I am not sure what the answer is - and that is not including legitimate concerns about player health and safety
 
It’s bull**** anyway , I’ve got 2 grandsons who play , both since they were 5, now 11/13.

Competitive little bastards I must say , ALL about winning , scoring the most try’s, making the biggest tackles.

They watch the NRL and as Panthers fans just want to be , Yeo, Kikau , Cleary et al.

It’s human nature to want to succeed at sport.
Unfortunately it's getting that way across the board in Australia, for some bloody reason kids can't fail any more for fear it might hurt their feelings, what does that teach you about life and how do they cope when they get to the magic age when winning is everything? These d1ckheads who come up with these great ideas are never challenged, life is competition on every level and to teach anything else is bullsh1t
 
I watched an Aussie Rules game under 12's a few years ago in Western Sydney, John Longmire was watching that day too.

The rules I liked were each player played one quarter in the forward line, the back line and the centre and one quarter on the bench.

What i didnt like was they didnt score, and the kids hated that so much they scored themselves - problem was it was a very close match and no one really knew who's score was correct, which seemed to cause some frustration amongst the players.

Anyway its a load of bullocks not scoring.

FFS.
 
Last edited:
Since when have we become “ everyone wins a prize “.

Look whilst I love my league , and did play it as a junior , I was never very good at it and was soon bypassed by a bunch of kids much better than me.

Did I lose heart , absolutely not.

Played soccer for a bit , I wasn’t much better at that either , and then suddenly found I could play cricket , reasonably well.

Did any of this do me any long term harm, of course not.
 
Since when have we become “ everyone wins a prize “.

Look whilst I love my league , and did play it as a junior , I was never very good at it and was soon bypassed by a bunch of kids much better than me.

Did I lose heart , absolutely not.

Played soccer for a bit , I wasn’t much better at that either , and then suddenly found I could play cricket , reasonably well.

Did any of this do me any long term harm, of course not.

I would put myself forward as the worst basketball player ... ever ..
 
They tried this shiit 15 years ago when I was coaching U/8s-U/12s at Burleigh. They made all the coaches and trainers attend a weekend rewiring of the rules as far as no points scored, no full time results, no semis, GFs. We finished the Saturday session, and basically all the coaches told the junior league facilitators that the kids aren’t stupid. They won’t have a bar of it.
I rolled up on the Sunday, along with the facilitators, and that was it! The other 20 odd blokes didn’t show. And so that was the end of that.
‘All was not a complete waste of time. I was the only one who received my participation certificate for turning up both days. (Christ, I took some stick over that. Even the kids were into me).
‘But I did ask them as a group what they thought. And the overall feedback was what’s the point of playing if we don’t know who wins.
Ok, so that was 15 odd years ago. But I have to say with all the scientific proof of CTE now, we have to try something different as far as tackling goes. If I was a junior coach now, I think I would at least try the ready-tackle program. I believe CTE to be the biggest hurdle to face not just rugby league, but contact sports in general. The science can not be ignored anymore.
 
They tried this shiit 15 years ago when I was coaching U/8s-U/12s at Burleigh. They made all the coaches and trainers attend a weekend rewiring of the rules as far as no points scored, no full time results, no semis, GFs. We finished the Saturday session, and basically all the coaches told the junior league facilitators that the kids aren’t stupid. They won’t have a bar of it.
I rolled up on the Sunday, along with the facilitators, and that was it! The other 20 odd blokes didn’t show. And so that was the end of that.
‘All was not a complete waste of time. I was the only one who received my participation certificate for turning up both days. (Christ, I took some stick over that. Even the kids were into me).
‘But I did ask them as a group what they thought. And the overall feedback was what’s the point of playing if we don’t know who wins.
Ok, so that was 15 odd years ago. But I have to say with all the scientific proof of CTE now, we have to try something different as far as tackling goes. If I was a junior coach now, I think I would at least try the ready-tackle program. I believe CTE to be the biggest hurdle to face not just rugby league, but contact sports in general. The science can not be ignored anymore.
Same here wombatgc, I was the coach of my son's team in Bris, did two stints u7s to u8s, first thing I did was show them how to take down the opposition in tackles and to take the fear out of it. Some parents thought I devoted to much time on the tackling part of the game and not enough on trying to get their boy over the line to make him and his mum and dad happy. The crunch came when I was approached by the club on behalf of a group of parents to go easy on the tackling part of it. I did, and we duly got flogged next game because all they wanted to do was run the ball with no passes. The clincher came on the next training night, all the coaches where required to watch something called "being a good sport" virtually a video on how to lose and still be a happy little vegemite. Well, stayed on till the end of the season, that was my last.
 
Can the thread title be changed to league boss say league no longer a sport safe for your kids to play.

I guess it's one way to kill this game off quicker. They will be playing video games and afraid to step on grass soon anyways.

If Oztag is the answer, for generation next, creators not real inclusive of other nations. No world cup happening there.
 
Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
4 3 1 28 6
3 2 1 10 6
4 2 2 39 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
Back
Top Bottom