The numbers decline of adult men playing Rugby League

[sensesmaybenumbed]

why 13? That's too many.

How about 3.25 people?

 

[no name]

Exactly I'm not sure what having 29 year old blokes running around playing local footy actually does for the greater game..

Focus on juniours.. thats where the stars will come from..

Heaps of blokes run around playing soccer till 50 but go home and watch NRL all night not soccer

Wtf? You are kidding that you don't know how the 29 yo local league player benefits the greater game, right?
The 29 yo is the local school teacher that gets all the kids at his school to play for their local club because they look up to him.
The 29 yo is the father who has two kids who want to play for the Maitland Pumpkin Pickers just like dad.
The 29 yo is the local hero of the town because he scored three tries on the weekend.
The 29 yo is the coach of the under 7s.
The 29 yo is the bloke who tells the egotistical 17 yo A grader that just signed with the Roosters to pull his head in and remember where he came from.

If you get rid of local grade comps, these juniors that you want o focus on will be close to non existent.

People underestimate the influence local footy players have on kids in those towns and suburbs. If we let these comps die, the junior clubs will follow.
The comps are on a decline as it is because employment is a lot harder to get and maintain these days. There are also more alternative sports which offer competitions.

The process NRL clubs use for the recruitment of juniors is also a problem imo, but to say that local players have no influence on the greater game shows that people know little of the greater game.

 

[hutch]

Touch, Oztag and leaguetag are not RL and the easy way out of claiming they are to artificially boost numbers is weak as piss and exactly what the governing bodies are doing to make themselves look less incompetent.

They are non contact forms of rugby league though and deserve to be included in the figures of people involved in rugby league in some form.

 

[hutch]

Touch or Oztag is no more rugby league than union is.

The NRL pissing money away by buying touch in Austsralia means jack shit. In every other country on the planet that has touch it has nothing to do with RL. In fact in many countries it is owned, run or affiliated with union.

If these non-contact games are RL, get rid of RL altogether and then put them on TV and see how many people watch.

Not true. Touch was formed by south Sydney. It is a non contact version of rugby league. Many countries have it as an independent sport with no affiliation to league or union.

And It is also run by rugby league in France as well.

 

[T-Boon]

How about 3.25 people?

Because that would be dumber than 13.
How about just a conversation about what the right number of players is in 2017? Is decoy running, 4 man tackles, lack of passing and line breaks evidence there are too many players on the field.

 

[T-Boon]

Not true. Touch was formed by south Sydney. It is a non contact version of rugby league.

League should drive that point home by having a 50 year anniversary (Feb 18) touch tournament at redfern oval with all the NRL clubs and stars and all the Touch stars playing.

 

[big hit!]

men are soft these days. being a soft fat merkin with tats and goatee (if you live in western sydney and beyond), or being a soft fat merkin with tats, beard and slick hair do (if you're in the city and surrounds) is what blokes these days believe will give the impression that they're hard merkins.

i mean, you can't even find men playing guitars or being able to run co-ordinated these days. they're all hunched over computer screens from a young age and take it into adulthood.

even at the gym, you'll have blokes wanting to put on muscle, but then do an hour of isolated arm exercises barely breaking out in a sweat. farkin grab a heavy bar of the floor and rip it all ya soft merkins!!

 

[Cumberland Throw]

Wtf? You are kidding that you don't know how the 29 yo local league player benefits the greater game, right?
The 29 yo is the local school teacher that gets all the kids at his school to play for their local club because they look up to him.
The 29 yo is the father who has two kids who want to play for the Maitland Pumpkin Pickers just like dad.
The 29 yo is the local hero of the town because he scored three tries on the weekend.
The 29 yo is the coach of the under 7s.
The 29 yo is the bloke who tells the egotistical 17 yo A grader that just signed with the Roosters to pull his head in and remember where he came from.

If you get rid of local grade comps, these juniors that you want o focus on will be close to non existent.

People underestimate the influence local footy players have on kids in those towns and suburbs. If we let these comps die, the junior clubs will follow.
The comps are on a decline as it is because employment is a lot harder to get and maintain these days. There are also more alternative sports which offer competitions.

The process NRL clubs use for the recruitment of juniors is also a problem imo, but to say that local players have no influence on the greater game shows that people know little of the greater game.

Problem is most of these blokes at the local club actually want to be paid $400 a win..

 

[RockWheel]

Problem is most of these blokes at the local club actually want to be paid $400 a win..

Do they though?

 

[OldPanther]

men are soft these days. being a soft fat merkin with tats and goatee (if you live in western sydney and beyond), or being a soft fat merkin with tats, beard and slick hair do (if you're in the city and surrounds) is what blokes these days believe will give the impression that they're hard merkins.

i mean, you can't even find men playing guitars or being able to run co-ordinated these days. they're all hunched over computer screens from a young age and take it into adulthood.

even at the gym, you'll have blokes wanting to put on muscle, but then do an hour of isolated arm exercises barely breaking out in a sweat. farkin grab a heavy bar of the floor and rip it all ya soft merkins!!

That explains the Sharks winning a soft comp.

 

[no name]

Problem is most of these blokes at the local club actually want to be paid $400 a win..

Some of them do, and some of them get it and more.
There are others that don't get paid at all.
Whether they get paid or not, it is better to have these blokes playing than to not.

 

[footy75]

Soccer is fast overtaking NRL and AFL as the number 1 participated football code in the country...especially at junior level.

 

[T-Boon]

Soccer is fast overtaking NRL and AFL as the number 1 participated football code in the country...especially at junior level.

One advantage the NRL/RL has over soccer is that we are in charge of our own rules. We can change them to make the game more suitable to younger generations who want excitement. FFA are bound by the rules of the game as dictated by the traditional power base.

 

[POPEYE]

Soccer is fast overtaking NRL and AFL as the number 1 participated football code in the country...especially at junior level.

No giant 100k twelve year olds playing Soccer . . . all Mum has to worry about is hurt pride

 

[LineBall]

Soccer is fast overtaking NRL and AFL as the number 1
.

I thought soccer participation at a Junior level has outstripped League for a long time

 

[LineBall]

Rugby League is a hard game to play. But rulemakers continue to make it even harder for blokes playing in suburban and bush competitions.

In my part of the world, games with total points exceeding 100 is a very common occurence.

The fitness levels required to play by current NRL-level rules is beyond that of the knockabout bush footy player. A prime example of this is seven tackle sets. Players in bush leagues simply do not have the skill level to execute kicks that do not always result in a 20m tap. Why are we punishing their defenders because of this. By the end of a set most of the blokes have simply given up getting back ten metres and a try will result.

They also get no opportunity to contest possesion to relieve their defenders. They can't strike for the footy, If they cause a scrum through knocking the ball down etc. there is no chance of winning against the feed. A mountain of defense is all they have to face.

This just isn't FUN. Having fun is something we normally advocate for kids but it should be the aim of adults as well.

I would designate in Country/bush/lower suburban competitions an eight metre rule for the defensive line and the scrapping of the seven tackle set, as a starting point anyway.

Couldn't agree more. If you want more adults playing the game, and to keep them playing longer, the game needs to be made easier to play.

 

[Bazal]

Soccer runs 6 a side outdoor and indoor modified rules comps mid-week, year-round.
Cricket has indoor keeping people in the game.

I bet both sports count these players in their participation numbers.

None of the people I know who play weekend full-size soccer and cricket train twice a week on top of this, as far as i know.

Cricket these days has Last Man Stands as well, which is a global competition. Two hour games of 8 a side T20 and it runs all year round. Canberra (for eg) has spring and summer twilight cricket Tuesday to Friday, and then weekend games as well, and it even runs in winter with a Sunday competition that has anywhere from 15-30 teams. The quality of cricket is outstanding at the top, we've got the number LMS 3 batsman on earth rolling out and smacking hundreds in the top grade. There's even a side sponsored by the special olympics hierarchy who play lower grades on and off. A lot of these kids would probably never play full on competitive cricket, but LMS allows them to come out and have a hit and even win games. People like ECT have utterly missed the point of including modified games as rugby league...

I'm like you, I gave footy away due to injuries. I just can't keep up with full contact RL anymore after two knee reconstructions and blowing all the ligaments in my ankle. I'd love an LMS style full contact equivalent, like a short and sharp sevens or nines competition with global stats and international tournaments that teams can qualify for.

 

[T-Boon]

Couldn't agree more. If you want more adults playing the game, and to keep them playing longer, the game needs to be made easier to play.

Wouldn't mind seeing a version of the game where the field resets after each tackle. Similar to american football.
Something like the following:
After the call of held the ref counts down 10 seconds before play restarts. The attacking team then must play the ball within 10 second of that restart. So they can organise a set move over 20 seconds and defence can line up big guys to defend against big guys.
That would work well with nines.

 

[Frankus]

Adults wanting a social game play softball. Pitching is much easier on the shoulder and is easier to throw accurately. Plus the underarm pitching means the ball can't be thrown as quickly, making batting simpler.


As for league, you are never going to get a lot of adults interested in playing such a brutal contact sport on the weekends. How many people ever even play a game of beach footy with mates or something and everyone actually agrees to go full contact? 2 hand touch is the general rule in my group of friends.

The risk of injury and the physical conditioning required to take part in a league match is simply too great for social competition. That, plus the invariable fights that break out every other weekend in amateur league matches puts most people off.

Expanding LeagueTag is the only way the ARLC is ever going to see a boost in senior participation numbers in league. But I suspect that is probably pretty difficult as OzTag seems to have most decent pitches rented out for their comps. So finding the space to play it is probably a little tough

Interesting regarding softball. Thanks for that!

True, I for one haven't played full contact since mid 20s. Agree it is a young mans game but there are some exceptions. My old man played until he was close to 40 albeit over in Perth.

I think it depends on your occupation to some degree as well.
E.g. When I am back upin Brisbane visiting family, my dad and I often go down to the local club and watch the opens, who have regularly fielded a team made up entirely of police a lot of whom look to be late 20s to early 30s, some maybe even mid to late 30s. And they cop it good and proper from the general public (some of the jeers are deplorable) and every team just lines up to bash them every tackle. I mean when else do you get to legally thump a cop without ramifications? Any injury they get I think is covered by police insurance based on a chat I had with one over a beer after the game.

As I said in an earlier post, I think the risk of injury in tag or touch although probably not as likely as full contact is still there as injuries still regularly occur.

So there are exceptions, however few and far between they may be but on the whole I agree with you.

 

[Perth Red]

Soccer is fast overtaking NRL and AFL as the number 1 participated football code in the country...especially at junior level.

That bus sailed past some time ago!

Community football clubs saw an increase of 7% in the past year to reach 499,361 players in 2,155 clubs in every state and territory.
The total number of participants in community clubs, school, indoor, social and introductory programs has soared to 1,188,911. For the first time, the number of registered female players in outdoor club competitions has passed 100,000. The AIA Vitality MiniRoos introductory program for boys and girls four to 11 years has jumped 10% to 214,414. -

See more at: http://www.footballaustralia.com.au...n40xo1brafn1hjppl64apyn0#sthash.STW3BcuN.dpuf
Read more at http://www.footballaustralia.com.au...n40xo1brafn1hjppl64apyn0#oDKQRgk5tjf**kFxE.99