skills in football are a funny one. Even at international level there are plenty of players who seem to struggle with the basics

That's because from the age of 8 they've been brought up in a culture where the focus is on how far and how fast you can run rather than what you can do with the ball at your feet.

There's a primary school near us that used to have 10 year old kids playing on a Saturday morning with a full size ball, on a full size pitch, ankle deep in mud. How is a kid going to learn about technique when he's got a teacher screaming at him from the touchline to hoof it as far away from his own goal as he can?

You can apply a similar argument to any of the primary winter games in this country.

Until rugby league gets its junior season moved to a time of year where kids are more interested in being outdoors and can have the time to work on their skills and decision making in daylight and relative warmth it's always going to struggle.

Two words: Geoff Thomas

Actually I read somewhere that one of the real problems is all the t@tting around they do - the actual "skills" they are taught. My 6 year old goes to football for a 1 hour session and last week they spent over half of it stood with a ball doing step overs. The week before they were standing on the ball and then hopping and chageing foot. Half a fekking hour! The continentals actually play football in training. All the kids get to feel comfortable in a match situation and to try things in a low pressure environment. They play very few real competitive matches until they get older. By then they all know what to do instinctively.
I've seen kids 11 a side games where they are all terrified of doing antything because they will get shouted at by the coach or laughed at by the parents watching.

Both my boys play RL - one open age and one u18 - they have played since 11 one thing that I have noticed through their younger years the prohibitive attitude of many parents - rather than enjoy and respect the efforts put in by these kids they appear happier to critisise them. This culture is not conducive to expression of skill as kids are scared of trying stuff for fear of a stern word - too many parents living their dream through their children

My brother reports the same at the rugby club that he coaches at, he's done teams up to U12, this year its the U8s that he's coaching but whichever team it is he and his fellow coaches always work on the principle that if the child turns up to train and play then he will get some game time even if it means taking off a player who is playing well one day.

You can imagine how a parent reacts when they see their child playing well and then be substituted by another kid who can't catch the ball and doesn't know where to stand - they bitch and whine all the time (the parents that is, the kids are usually very good and understand the reasoning behind the principle), fortunately the coaches have formed a great barrier to that sort of thing and simply tell the parent to go away (sometimes more forceful than that) or volunteer to help next week.

as some know i was a referee at a good level and am also a level 2 coach.
i see kids aged from 6 to 12 being 'coached' by fat clueless parents who simply want a game. the same applies to most sports.
i read somewhere last week that a RL coach was moaning that they don't get the kids till aged 12 which in a lot of cases is to late

When my daughter was still at primary school they had a girls team and it's the same with their parents mate.
Completely shocking and uncalled for when you've got a doylem shouting at 10yr old lasses like he's brian clough!!

I have to say that even football seems better organised here in some ways. My girlfriend's 7-year old started this year at a club, and they had 1 hour training per week with a game on Saturday. The club he's at ran something like 20 U-7 five-a-side teams, and was just one of four clubs on the inner northside of Brisbane. and yet 'soccer' is very much a minority sport here.

I coach under 7's and that's the way we do it. Kids all get a game, they are all part of the team. So far I haven't heard a single parent complain, they might be, but certainly not openly. We are lucky though, we have a team that has hammered everyone this year, so rotating players doesn't mean we lose games. Other clubs are different and we see that when we play against them. The coaches can be real ***kers. We hosted the big minis tournament in our area this September and our lads won all their games, and you should have heard the whining and moaning from coaches and parents. The coach of one team came over and lectured the guy I coach with.

I'm just a bit dissapointed with Smith's tenure as the National coach. I was excited at first, it was an appointment with a plan to improve the whole set up nationally and a long term one which i thought Smith would be well suited for... when he took the Wire job it was a disapointement - it was obvious his time was up. We need a long term appointment with no club comittments, someone to continue 'the plan' to improve our national game...Wayne Bennet would be ideal imo..

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 374591.stm Ford & Kear rule themselves out, although IMO Kear's rejection is less positive than Ford's.

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 374591.stm Ford & Kear rule themselves out, although IMO Kear's rejection is less positive than Ford's.

Mike Ford was overrrated as a player, and he's been out of the game a long time anyway (I know the first bit's irrelevant but I don't care ). Kear would be a step backwards.

I guess the main issue would be just how 'real' the rest of the job is beyond coaching the England team. If it's a nothing job with no clout then you could appoint almost anyone.

Given the lack of outstanding candidates I'd be tempted to go for Hanley, just because he's high profile and would at least make life interesting.