[CULWULLA]

i saw this coming years ago.
bring back weight dision or junior league will collapse.

Islanders 'too big' for league
Article from: The Daily Telegraph
EXCLUSIVE by Nick Walshaw and Amy Dale


CONCERNED rugby league officials are demanding an immediate switch to weight divisions - fearing the Polynesian player explosion is driving smaller players straight into the clutches of AFL.

As the battle for Sydney's sporting west intensifies, a special league task force is studying ways to keep schoolboys in the code.

Penrith Juniors chief executive officer Don Feltis, a task force member who oversees the state's biggest junior league, insisted reviving weight divisions was a major part of the plan.

"About 40 per cent of our players are Polynesian - over at Parramatta it's the same," Mr Feltis said.

"And if those numbers keep increasing we're going to have a problem where a lot of the smaller, white players are driven out of the game.

"Kids will leave rugby league for Australian Rules - a code that has warned it will spend $28 million in Sydney's west between now and 2011.

"I know they've already sunk a couple of million into Penrith and Blacktown councils and league needs to combat that.

"We can't sit around waiting until 2011 . . . if we can get support I'll start weight divisions tomorrow."

Sydney schoolyards have been steadily transforming into battlefields this winter as officials from league, AFL and soccer vie for hearts and minds.

And one of the determining factors is size.

While Polynesian power has exploded on the NRL in 2008, Sydney parents are far less impressed when poor Johnny is trampled beneath a set of size 10 boots.

"And if a kid isn't happy playing league, he might try another code, yes," ARL official Graham McNaney agreed.

"But our main focus on weight divisions isn't about what other codes are doing. It's about making league enjoyable, safe and keeping as many young players in the game as possible."

Feltis and McNaney were part of a delegation that visited Auckland in 2006 to study their use of weight divisions.

The ensuing program, done in conjunction with the Childrens Hospital at Westmead, has a series of Sydney high school carnivals run on the basis of age and weight.

Divisions are 12 years (55kg), 14 years (65kg) and 16 years (75kg).

And the groups could soon be part of a new western Sydney league strategy involving a new academy at Blacktown, 15 development officers and increased funding.

"We'd like parents to encourage clubs to get involved with the weight divisions," NSWRL development manager Marty Meredith said.

"It's been running successfully in New Zealand for 16 years and we're confident the same thing can happen here."

Still the battle rages.

Lynn Brydon insists the weight debate is turning kids toward her Penrith Swans Rules club, where she has been an official for 10 years.

"You can compare two eight-year-old boys and there will be a 10kg difference," she said.

"I wouldn't want my son in that situation."

 

[Maroon Grown]

i grew up through the ranks with age divisions and yes, the big moaris amd samoans would trample the smaller fellas. (there are some big white boys too). i once lost a game 110-0 because 3/4 of the other team were the size of grown men when we were 13.

i woud just say harden up, but if its gonna keep kids in the game, then why not bring it back. my old man played in weight divisions and i always thought that concept was soft, but im not against bringing it back for the health of the game.

eventually everyone grows up and weight divisions could be scrapped after 16's or 17's. i found out that the boys that were big in 13's weren't as big as they seemed in 16's / 17's.

 

[67868]

weight divisions are needed if rugby league wants to keep player levels up. it can't be fun going down to the local park on a saturday and getting thrown around by people that are much bigger than you, whether or not they are lslanders. if someone stops playing league he will go play australian rules and when he gets home after the game he will be more likely to watch the swans game than watch his penrith play. a sport that one plays is always going to be the sport they attend and hence give money to.

 

[Auxodium]

although i agree with that, the concerns that the NRL have in the west is a losing battle with football(soccer) it is really a matter of when it will surpass NRL and AFL(to be honest AFL has no foothold in West Sydney).

but something has to be doen to encourage people to play the sport and not get squished.

 

[BrizzyChris]

Weight divisions at younger ages is definately a very good idea. It's used in NZ and works fine.

 

[TOCC]

yeah it was a bit of a shock when i went over to NZ on a representative rugby union tour, i didnt know about the weight divisions over there.

So we went over and fronted a team that was bloody enormous compared to our team, because of the weight division principle some of ther player were 2 years older then us.

Needless to say, i finished every match feeling incredibly sore.

 

[Fabian]

I'd support it. Teenage boys reach puberty at different stages and weight divisions would be fairer for boys in this age group.

 

[christarrant]

Gotta have weight divisions. Like you guys, I've seen poor little white kids cruched by the bigger Islander lads ( no fault of the islanders, they're just bigger ) .
The looks on parents faces are priceless !

At the end of the day it's just another reason to switch to other codes like soccer and AFL.

League has job a massive job ahead of it to stem the losses of people from the game.

 

[Aesthetics of Otara]

I remember playing in a school tournament here in Auckland that was based solely on age, and I tell you at thirteen some of the Island teams were already sporting moustaches! Pretty frightening stuff! Mind you, I played in weight divisions as well and teams just cheated the scales, so it was more moustaches and more crushing defeats. Maybe they can divide things up based on how much fluff a kid has under his nose - is that not a better indication of his physical development?

 

[crazyknightsfan]

Discriminates against greeks and lebs then doesn't it? :lol:

I swear my greek mate was born with pubes he's that hairy.

 

[CULWULLA]

i had a mate when i was 12 and 170cm /he had a beard. he was fully grown and muscular. he was front row and scored 5 tries a game.
by the time he was 16 he was our halfback because he stayed same size.lol

Also just on big kids, when i was young ,we had a kid in our school call glen murgatroyd.
he was 180cm at 10. (we were all under 150cm). he was big and fast.
he scored 10 tries per game and kids were scared of him.
murgatroyd sounds like a robot.
he still has the oldest record in Australia for the 200m/400m sprint!
see here>
http://www.littleathletics.com.au/site_content/pdf/100006160.pdf
he was given drugs to stop growing and now is still 180cm , normal looking and refs soccer.
he would have been a giant and a legend in aussie sport.

 

[RSG]

Weight divisions is the best idea. All kids should be allowed to play league. If this comes on board, then players can start training in their chosen position at an early age instead of being a forward for ten years then change to hooker or something.

 

[TOCC]

Weight divisions is the best idea. All kids should be allowed to play league. If this comes on board, then players can start training in their chosen position at an early age instead of being a forward for ten years then change to hooker or something.

um, i dont really understand how that works.

For starters, im mainly reffering to Rugby Union here since that is what i played growing up, even if it is in weight divisions, your position on the field is generally dictated by your skill and speed when your younger.


Rugby Union has being dealing with the islander issue for years, but it doesnt seem to the be the issue that it is in league, probably due to the nature of the game. You dont have the same problem where you have massive forwards running at the smaller backs all game, it still happens but not as much as it does in league.

 

[dsfenasni]

murgatroyd sounds like a robot.

 

[RSG]

um, i dont really understand how that works.

For starters, im mainly reffering to Rugby Union here since that is what i played growing up, even if it is in weight divisions, your position on the field is generally dictated by your skill and speed when your younger.


Rugby Union has being dealing with the islander issue for years, but it doesnt seem to the be the issue that it is in league, probably due to the nature of the game. You dont have the same problem where you have massive forwards running at the smaller backs all game, it still happens but not as much as it does in league.

I simply mean that if you have a bigger kid in the under 10s he will be put in the forwards regradless of potential. As he is growing up he does not get much bigger (the other kids getting bigger) he no longer will be in the forwards. If you have seen otherwise than that is ok. I am not acitve in the sport so it was just an idea to bounce off.

 

[hack404]

CONCERNED rugby league officials are demanding an immediate switch to weight divisions - fearing the Polynesian player explosion is driving smaller players straight into the clutches of AFL.

The majority of AFL (the competition, not the sport) players are over six foot so this seems odd...

 

[renell]

Also, I'm pretty sure there are Polynesian kids playing AFL...they're not all "murgatroyds" who are shaped like future bouncers.

I think the fear could be just losing the kids to whatever sport. But I would've thought at most it would be to soccer.

 

[Maroon Grown]

^^ yeah but afl is hardly a contact sport

 

[Perth4life]

oh yeh hardly a contact sport? no contact at all!

there is constant tackling and bumping, just because a whole bunch of hugely built men arn't jumping ontop of each other doesnt make it non-contact, i could guarantee that a fit 6 foot 6 AFL player could bump harder than a 150kg built rugby player, reason for this.. momentum and well NRL is such a slow, stoppy starty game that i couldn't see large players building up much momentum in the 5m they have to run prior to getting tackled.

Everyone having a go at AFL just because it's becoming increasingly popular and the AFL are actually putting money behind this trend is pathetic, it's not out fault we have a good CEO unlike you're narrow minded boss.

 

[TOCC]

oh yeh hardly a contact sport? no contact at all!

there is constant tackling and bumping, just because a whole bunch of hugely built men arn't jumping ontop of each other doesnt make it non-contact, i could guarantee that a fit 6 foot 6 AFL player could bump harder than a 150kg built rugby player, reason for this.. momentum and well NRL is such a slow, stoppy starty game that i couldn't see large players building up much momentum in the 5m they have to run prior to getting tackled.

Everyone having a go at AFL just because it's becoming increasingly popular and the AFL are actually putting money behind this trend is pathetic, it's not out fault we have a good CEO unlike you're narrow minded boss.

haha, your such a insecure ill-informed person..

And before you go jumping up and down calling me a league supporter, well im not really, im a union supporter. Im just not stupid enough to believe some of the shit you just wrote.