At Bradford our U19s and U16s set up is by no means a continuation of 20 years work. Remember we’ve been in administration twice and had numerous changes in personnel and facilities. Thankfully our owner sees it as an investment as it produces players more cheaply than constantly dipping into the transfer market. The supporters trust contributes thousands too so I don’t think we’re in too much danger hopefully. Obviously having had big names come through previous systems in the past helps recruitment but 16 year olds now have no memory of players older than the Burgesses/Whitehead etc. It’s all about the quality of what you offer and in that we’re amongst the best in the country (putting the 1st team to shame last year).

With the right staff and commitment from your owner and help from supporters you can build something special that can create long standing foundations. By all means start building relationships with community clubs. No need to jump straight into it but hopefully you’ll be doing it right in a year or two. After all why should Wigan and Co benefit from lads playing on your doorstep?

Problem is that the best kids aspire to the Best clubs, and that has been Wigan, Saints and Wire which are all within 10 miles. For 20 years the best kids in the Bradford/Dewsbury/Batley/Halifax area would aspire to join Bradford. Huddersfield will benefit at present as Leeds cant take them all. I am a great fan of the RFL running regional academies to supplement the better ones at Hull, Wigan, Leeds, Warrington and St Helens, because no matter who we support we are RL fans and the more and better players we produce the better our sport becomes

If Leigh get the right people running things and do it right they will be able to compete with the other big clubs. Kids join clubs for different reasons. For some it’s about the big signing on fee, for others it’s because the club is successful. For us we can’t compete financially and 1st team success isn’t exactly dragging them in. We can however offer a genuine pathway to 1st team rugby without being farmed out to another club, plus we have good facilities and staff. It’s been enough for us to keep our best young lads out of the clutches of bigger clubs so far.

I happen to think it’s easier to offer kids a chance in the championship because you have less to lose. The standard is a bit easier to get up to than SL. Also if a kid has a bad game you’re not risking relegation. .

Kids get hoovered up by the big 3 round here then most get spit back out again, the didn't quite make it end up as squad players at Widnes or Salford, or in the Championship as PT. Outside the 3 you are looking for scraps until you can offer a similar proposition but that wont be overnight.

I'd be interested to know if certain local clubs are still ignoring RFL guidelines on Scholarship numbers ?

Please explain mate, for those (like myself) who don't know, what are the rules/guidelines ?

Correct me if I am wrong but, doesn't Leigh as a town have 2 of the most successful amateur RL Clubs of recent times in Miners & East.

Seemingly most years I am reading about how highly one or the other/often both have finished or that they have won a comp outright. Of course there are other clubs of note in other areas who are always there or thereabouts such as Hull Dockers, Thato Heath etc, but even the Wigan clubs can't hold a candle to our two over recent times.

How is it then that Saints can see something in Leigh ARL players that we don't ?

Do LCRLFC have scouts watching ARL & our local teams in particular & does it have a proper scouting system in place ? Do we look further afield at other areas in ARL ? Who is/are our scouts ?

Not really having a dig at the Club, more that as a fan with no connections inside the Club it is hard to know what if anything the Club are doing in this area.

It would be nice to think that we are planning for the future without just chasing Aussies or released SL players etc.

Recruitment, Rangi Chase aside has been very good, but we are buying in, economically & for the good of British RL, only importing, either from overseas or other SL Clubs is not IMHO the way forward, Leeds must be the model, Bradford to as a Championship example.

I know it's early days & that we must first consolidate our position in SL but long term, academy RL is the road to success.

Just my opinion.

The rules used to be ( might still be , not sure ) that clubs were allowed 10 or 12 at any single age group from I think it was 12-15

Some clubs used to flaunt these rules running 60/70/80 kids in their Scholarships

To me it is quite simple , if you can run Scholarships and academies properly , with a reasonable share of the best quality kids , then do it , if you are constantly trying to turn sows ears into silk purses with little success , then don't bother

Salford possibly have taken this decision

Was only a humorous comment, wasn t looking for a bite

Its quite difficult as most U16 players will want to join a category 1 (academy) club. The benefit of being a category 1 club is they get to keep those players all season, which means that they cannot go to any other club.

As Salford where downgraded to category 2,U16's would only get to play a maximum of six games per season,usually January/February and then return to their amateur clubs.

So straight away you have to ask the question? Where is the clear pathway to U19's and First team levels being a category 2 club?

If Salford were downgraded to category 2 then they only have themselves to blame.

Not sure how it affects Leigh if you're just beginning. Do you have to start at Category 2?

Easy to preach from your former lofty heights when your current batch were signed up 8/9 years ago , this might change given your current status

The Wigans/Leeds/Saints of this world take any and all youngsters displaying any potential knowing full well 95% will get nowhere near a first team shirt , other clubs then have to take whatever is left and try to produce players , hardly surprising not many manage it

Suppose it depends upon what you regard as beginning.So now we are in SL we should have an academy or shouldn't be in SL is the one going around,but who feeds the academies?

Personally I dont see the RFL academy approach helping Leigh or assisting the game in our area.We need to take it a step further and not be put under the restrictions of the RFL.If we are to have an academy I'd rather it be independant/ in-house,and the RFL can keep their funding.

So you would like Degsy to 100% fund a LCRLFC Academy & pass/refuse the £100k from The RFL atomic ?

Who would we/the academy team play if it were entirely in house/independent ?

Sorry pal, I just don't get your reasoning on this.

I believe its 5k per player Ste..So if we have year 10 U16's 20 of and year 11 U16's 20 of.That equates to £200k.Thats before we start on the U19's.Gameplay is only part of the curriculum,its not reserve or A team scenario. Six games max for U16's,Eight for U19's..