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No idea but probably
Maybe I'm getting my comps muddled up? Harold Mathews is U17s right? That's schoolboy rugby equivalent, no ones getting paid to play schoolboy rugby.
I think the majority of rugby journos are equivalent.
So do schoolboys play Harold Mathews and for their school?
Yeah I remember the pages and pages of the sky is falling on junior player numbers..Yeah that was me too, and when this thread was created that was completely true, at that time league had less total players than male teenage rugby players. The big % increases over the past three years is evidence that it was true.
So while it's good to see those numbers increase, something I (and Te Kaha) have been advocating for in the entirety of the thread, it has to be read with the following asterisk in mind.
I suspect a decent portion of that growth is for the week long national tournament, which does not mean those juniors are playing week in week out league (I've seen other sports attacked for using one of tournament figures on this forum), in fact many are rugby players playing a one off tournament at the end of the season. As I noted in just recently in another thread, the U18 league final in my region was played between two rugby clubs so there's a mixing of the player base (which I've alway said happens).
Also, as it's another Fatima Kdouh (who I think posts here as Gob) "article" I'd like to see the actual figures in the annual report first before the champagne glasses are brought out. I don't know why Mainsbridge is even talking to her, but he's a typical hypocritical Cantab who whines about an overrated Crusaders U20 player leaving yet his team is constantly pinching players from all over the country. Although maybe he's just speaking to NZ Herald journalists who pass on quotes.
What's even dumber about George's opposition is for all their talk about wanting to be a homegrown team there's still a look towards Australia first lean to the club anyway.
"Is this true? 16 year olds can earn $20k? Personally I don't think that should be happening in either code."
No I wasn't wrong at the time, and I'm not going to re-litigate everything again, but there was evidence pre Covid from Auckland RL itself that numbers were dire. If you want to pretend otherwise then go for your life, you tend to like indulging in fever dreams on this thread.
If they're at school I don't think they should be, which was I was asking questions about whether Harold Mathews was for school kids or not. Are the kids at Keebra Park for example getting paid that kind of money?
"Seriously bro, even if that is halfway true it does not compare with the state of league in NZ - league is not booming in NZ. The domestic game where I'm from is basically dead and guys on here are even saying it's not going well in Auckland, the teams I played for at school age don't exist anymore, none of the guys I used to go to Warriors games with go anymore, in fact most of them don't follow the game at all."
Why are you pretending that what exists now was what was existing back then? I mean I'm pretty sure you know how time works. You posted a quote from three years ago.
You haven't actually answered any of the questions I've asked.
Suaali played nrl from school I think
Yeah, but are they getting paid like the article said Harold Mathews players are, and are they the same players in the school and Harold Mathews.
Lol mate, I don't care where or how they earn 20k at 16 or if they're in school.
Are you the son of a tech bro? You think $384 a week is pocket money for a 16 year old????
Weeks roads tolls money
I'm not a bitter prick obsessing over a code war like you so I have nothing to get over, I'm genuinely happy that things have improved. If you had any sort self awareness you would easily have seen in this posts from that time that a number of us Kiwis were concerned with the state of the game at the time, and for good reason.
Throw in the cost of a private school is 40k pa
There's a article this week quoting the Crusaders about the juniors going to NRL..
With NZ there's scholarships to private schools, but the reality is there's way more better non private rugby schools, but as far as I know players in NZ aren't getting paid to pay. I wonder if the Warriors Harold Mathews players are - I might send them an email and see if I get a response.
The article said the warriors have signed 26 players from union juniorsThere's a article this week quoting the Crusaders about the juniors going to NRL..
When an NRL franchise is on his doorstep with 15 million to spend in players, juniors ect..
Basically out bidding NZ's most successful Rugby franchise 3 to 1..
That's a f**king blow mate.
It's actually going to deal an even more massive blow than I thought!
