Quote: LeythIg "The more clubs adopt this attitude, the closer the championship gets to being a feeder / reserve league.
Yes, we need to attract fans. We need to do our bit to get as much of the local population interested in the sport in some capacity as possible.
But the one thing you absolutely need to play a game of rugby? Players. It's not a lack of fans that's causing concern at the moment, it's lack of players. Clubs are finding that they now need a squad of 30+ players to get through a season. Sometimes a club will get through 40+. You can't do this without developing players yourself. Even if it's taking players that are rejected by clubs between 16-19 and running a reserves, then promoting them to the first team.'"
You end up as ' feeder/reserve league when the clubs in it cannot afford to pay enough players to make up a squad to get through the season
The significant word here is ' afford ' , taking on the 100 and 1 st player on at 16 in an attempt to turn him into a proffessional ( SL ) player might well cost you 30K , and the odds on actually succeeding ? , probably 10 to 1 , you might make one player every ten years , so one player costing your club 300 K ? , is that an affordable project ? , especially to then see that player sign on for a local SL club 2 seasons down the line ?