Quote: Him "From my own experiences both as a player and a coach -
As a coach we get several kids who are put off by the atmosphere at clubs. Just in the last couple of years I've had kids told not to go back because they were too small, that they're not good enough and should go to a "lesser" club, kids family members physically and verbally attacked on the sideline and numerous examples of aggressive and intimidating atmosphere at clubs. With reports of adult teams stood around the pitch drinking and swearing.
Whilst it can be difficult for a club to control all it's coach's or players actions, there are too many incidences of aggressive and intimidating behaviour at amateur clubs for the club officials to not be accountable for it.
I know of one club with a coach currently suspended allowing that person to continue coaching other age groups.
Unfortunately there are lots of people involved in amateur RL at all levels be it player, coach or official who need banning from the game.
Whilst there are issues at RFL/SL/Championship level of the game that means RL doesn't fulfil it's potential, I firmly believe the sports BIGGEST problem is the amateur game. It actively puts off participants, supporters and investors from becoming involved in the game.
Another final example of this, a lad I used to coach was at a Yorkshire amateur club, he eventually got sick of fights in games, u12's level mind, so he went to Union. He's now just got into some England Union scholarship programme.
Despite the fact that RL might have lost a potentially good player, RL has definitely lost a supporter.
Sorry for the rant, it just annoys me.'"
Unfortunately you are not alone in your experiences and I have encountered similar attitudes at numerous clubs to the point that as a primary teacher I recommend local Union clubs instead of league clubs for children who show interest in the game!
In many clubs once the game moves out the primary level (when leagues start) if you aren't big enough you will just not get played regardless of skills, knowledge, reading and understanding of the game. Unfortunately this means that up to a third of the players in a team (the smallest) will be lost to the game (to the point where they become so disillusioned that not only do they give up playing but also attending matches); this is at the point before they have hit puberty and they have developed physically. At the same time those going through puberty are being excessively played at a point in which they are prone to injuries (and being pressured to play whilst injured) to the point where they may not be able to continue playing. The sad thing is that in all probability it is players who develop later on who will become stars - Bob Pickles (talent scout) discussing the U16 Top Gun camps said Chev Walker was the only one who ever really made it.
The junior leagues attitude is they essentially don't care (which goes against their own safeguarding policy). Those in the RFL who are responsible for the junior game are also heavily involved in the junior leagues (see previous sentence).
The must win attitude (whether this is due to the league structure, unqualified / uneducated coaches living their ambitions through their kids, or trying to make up for other inadequacies) which encourages coaches play their biggest / favourite players is the reason why Union have not introduced leagues for age grade rugby - they acknowledge the negative aspects that this brings to the game and only have occasional tournaments or cup matches in which clubs really test themselves against each other.
