Expansion is the only positive for RL participation

[East Coast Tiger]

Non-traditional rugby league areas need more support from NRL

• CRAIG BELLAMY
• The Australian

During the week, three talented Victorian rugby league juniors signed with Canterbury Bulldogs. In addition, there are another three or four players under the age of 18 who have had offers from Sydney-based clubs.

We’re not happy about it, but considering the state of affairs within grassroots rugby league — including Victoria — I’m not surprised either.

I’ve said this a few times before, but part of our brief here at the Storm is to try to build the game, build the profile of rugby league in Melbourne.

From a personal perspective, I feel the governing bodies of our sport need to give more assistance to the code in non-traditional areas. While it’s great to host Origin games and Tests, we need to grow the sport from the ground up also. There are enormous growth opportunities for the code in areas such as Victoria. The challenges are real.

For By way of example, the under-16s, under-18s and under-20s representative teams in Victoria have nowhere to train in the off-season, as things currently stand. There’s no ground they call “home” so you can understand that’s far from ideal.

In 2006, there were 600 people playing rugby league in Victoria. Fast forward 10 years and in 2017, that number has grown to almost 4000. There has been an increase in junior participation for every year for 11 consecutive seasons.

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Pretty much sums it up. If you're not going to support the grassroots in the bush and let it die you need to expand the NRL to places with potential to grow. There is no way the growth in Victoria would have happened without the Storm. Participation is plummeting nationally but the only expansion market with a team is going the other way. It might have taken a few years to take off, but it did. The lessons are clear.

 

[TheDalek079]

Yes. We need the CC Bears

 

[cleary89]

Hes not happy victorian players signed with dogs? Why didnt he sign them then?

 

[POPEYE]

Hes not happy victorian players signed with dogs? Why didnt he sign them then?

Because he's a Supercoach not Superman . . . he's just making a point, anyone who thinks Melbourne's scouts miss much is a fool

 

[Perth Red]

When your rosters full of Queenslanders the Victorian kids have to go somewhere

 

[POPEYE]

When your rosters full of Queenslanders the Victorian kids have to go somewhere

Qld teams usually have their rosters full of Qldrs ol' mate, the one in Victoria does look further afield than the others admittedly . . . much to the chagrin of the Warriors

 

[cleary89]

Because he's a Supercoach not Superman . . . he's just making a point, anyone who thinks Melbourne's scouts miss much is a fool

Whats his point? They need more money because some kids signed with the dogs?

 

[POPEYE]

Whats his point? They need more money because some kids signed with the dogs?

The point is there are more youngsters playing RL in Victoria, and he's intimating it's because the Storm are successful. He's also surmising that Victorian RL might be worth investing in after all, along with other previously unidentified locations . . . not f**king rocket science from anyone coming to the same conclusion. If you need further help understanding the 'point' you could ask Bellamy himself . . . he sometimes struggles with middle men

 

[Greenstar5]

Expansion is easy.

In the non traditional RL areas.

Get the games on Channel 9 not Gem. Get coverage in the newspapers.
Games for premiership points in major centres, pre season games in regional areas.
Teams get invovled with the community when playing these games.
Continue to improve and grow the local competitions.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Because he's a Supercoach not Superman . . . he's just making a point, anyone who thinks Melbourne's scouts miss much is a fool

 

[AlwaysGreen]

So what Craig wants you to believe is that he wants the game to grow in non traditional areas.

What he really wants is more money to pay queenslanders and kiwis to play for the storm.

 

[cleary89]

The point is there are more youngsters playing RL in Victoria, and he's intimating it's because the Storm are successful. He's also surmising that Victorian RL might be worth investing in after all, along with other previously unidentified locations . . . not f**king rocket science from anyone coming to the same conclusion. If you need further help understanding the 'point' you could ask Bellamy himself . . . he sometimes struggles with middle men

But hes doing it without providing any facts or figures other than "kids are getting signed to clubs now and im not happy about it". Shouldnt he be happy kids are now at a level in victoria where they sign for nrl clubs?

 

[cleary89]

If i was in charge of an area of rl and we just had 3 kids sign that would be a positive. Trust Belamy to turn it into a negative.

 

[Canard]

Goes against LU's "Storm do nothing for RL" mantra

 

[azza29]

So what Craig wants you to believe is that he wants the game to grow in non traditional areas.

What he really wants is more money to pay queenslanders and kiwis to play for the storm.

If you'd bothered to read the article he's arguing for more grassroots investment. There are few community rugby fields in Melbourne, and the ones that do exist are mostly funded by the VRU. Hard to build the game when there's nowhere to play it.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

If you'd bothered to read the article he's arguing for more grassroots investment. There are few community rugby fields in Melbourne, and the ones that do exist are mostly funded by the VRU. Hard to build the game when there's nowhere to play it.

Maybe instead of giving players two pay checks they could have spent the money on grassroots.

 

[Stallion]

If you'd bothered to read the article he's arguing for more grassroots investment. There are few community rugby fields in Melbourne, and the ones that do exist are mostly funded by the VRU. Hard to build the game when there's nowhere to play it.

You mean the affluent private school system funding such grounds (code for propagation of RU via wealthy private schools that dont allow RL)
The storm are doing a good job and the development people of rugby league should give Victoria decent support. I know of RL junior clubs at the end of the rail line in Melbournes southeast so RL is making its mark and is a worthy sports option for young kids. Just needs decent funding and support.

 

[ed-grimley]

I see AFL going backwards.

 

[Perth Red]

One thing I have seen here in the west is how little,support for jnr clubs there are, especially new ones starting up. There should be a nrl funded national insurance scheme cutting player registration costs, a national,kit provider where j r clubs cna get kids kits dirt cheap, start up grants and free equipment, Acess tomcacohing and devlopement officer support is pretty good but the costs for new clubs trying to get started are pretty significant and a struggle for most.

Maybe if more of the grassroots funding increase of last few years actually went to grassroots instead of the expensive semi professional nsw and qland cup clubs things might be better?

 

[Cumberland Throw]

Has anyone at the nrl asked NAB for $8m a year to sponsor a national schools based rl program ?

They seem happy to give it away to other codes ??