Quote: JCWWRL "Start producing your own players 1st. '"
How many more kids play RL in places like Wigan and other hotbeds of the game compared to Salford? It’s a long tradition for Juniors in these parts to play Junior football and aspire to be the next Ryan Giggs rather than the next Sam Tompkins. Many of the kids in Manchester won’t even know who Sam Tompkins is. I actually saw Tompkins in a packed Trafford Centre a few months back and nobody knew who he was other than me. (A superstar of British Rugby League) It says it all.
If you consider the ratio between kids playing football and kids playing rugby I think it explains why. It's also one of the reasons we are way behind Australia and failing at International level. There are hundreds of junior football teams in these parts compared to only a handful of dedicated amateur rugby league clubs.
There is no quick and easy solution. It’s not just about attracting kids to play rugby league it’s about having the infrastructure in place with many dedicated people with the necessary skills to develop these youngsters. Furthermore how many great young athletes in these parts turn to junior football because they prefer playing in a team with their mates? How many of these juniors fail to make it in Football but would make outstanding rugby league players?
A question, how many experienced and commited junior RL coaches are there in Wigan? Bucket loads of them who live and breath for nothing else but RL. (Just like their parents and grandparents.) It's in the blood! It's a similar situation with coaches of Junior football in the Manchester area.
It easy to point blame but Salford and Manchester has a long tradition spanning decades of juniors and ‘as importantly hundreds of dedicated coaches’ who choose football before rugby.
I am sure that without football being so strong for years in these parts, Salford would probably have a squad of mainly local lads like Wigan.
Salford must have the biggest catchment area in RL with the least interest because football has been traditionally so strong. This is a fact not an excuse.
Quote: JCWWRL "Start producing your own '"
Maybe Wigan should 'start producing' more local, wigan based fans rather than pinching the few potential RL followers in Salford. Although on second thoughts they are more than welcome to people like you.
An Absolute Classic!