Nationwide? There's no chance of that when there's schools in Wigan where RL isn't played, especially at junior school level. From my experience it all depends on the background of the PE teacher, if they are 'football' or 'rugby'. If its rugby then lessons tend to be split, if its football then rugby tends to get pushed out completely.

I know even when I was a lad at Mornington High in Hindley we only had Union as the PE teacher played union.I dont know about now though.

All my mates played for Thomas More in the early sixties I attended Gidlow School Beech Hill they only played football we asked could we have a Rugby team as we had over 20 interested head master said no chance.

Pipe dream.

The focus needs to be on driving kids towards community clubs because the schools system is as bad as it has ever been and getting worse by the day.

Some obvious points coming up, but they need making. Rugby League is a shambles. There is no money in it.
Many “fans” seem to be unconcerned with anything more than 5 miles from their home. Super League clubs are allowed to play in dirty and ramshackle grounds. There is very little in the way of career progression, as some teams have little or nothing in the way of academies. Most club sponsors seem to be small local businesses, as they have always been. I don’t think much has really changed since I started watching in 1966. I’m not trolling here, there are many individuals in the game who are talented and work incredibly hard, but the general parochial attitude means they get nowhere. The Aussies have a structured development path. Also,In the USA, I lived in a small town of 25,000 people just outside Memphis Tenn some years ago. The high school played (American) Football on Friday nights and 10,000 people came to watch. There was something for everyone to get involved with, players, band, cheerleaders, ground staff, admin, food vendors etc etc all being volunteers. For the best players, there was progression to College football at various levels, and for elite College players, the professional leagues. They had a structure. When I was in Texas just before the pandemic, there was the same set up. The funny thing is, I’m not particularly a US football fan, but I’m an admirer of their structure and organisation. Will RL ever get near this level of organisation and structure?
Not long as humans have a hole in their bottoms, I suspect.

I agree with that, but something has to change. It is hard to get kids to go to community clubs if they have no experience of the game, the RFL need to get off their backsides and get coaches, players etc. into the school environment.

What seems to be the issue is PE teachers either not wanting to put the extra effort in or not understanding/knowing the game so they favour sports they do know….football.

My sons school had a history of annual tours to Australia, his age group have 13 players on scholarship all at the school…the school has had a change of staff and now there is no rugby league at the school. This is a school that up to 5 years ago was producing top SL players and took great pride in that.

Meaningful, regular international fixtures are the only way to expand.

Have a product that goes beyond NW club games and develops interest nationwide as only internationals will do.

This will drive up a sponsorhip, increase revenue, feed it back into the game,. Interest at a national level develops local interest and support, more players encouraged to play.

More funding from international then use to support developing grass roots.

We've seen from TV audiences in the WC people are interested in international fixtures.

Union only really started to grow at club level when they started their WC competition, and expanded their internationals beyond 6 nations. They have regular autumn internationals, 6 nations and a WC and a huge audience for all.

Our random approach to internationals doesn't allow sponsorship deals, TV rights any chance of developing beyond a ah - hoc piecemeal approach.

The problem with Internationsals is who is going to play, England v France doesn't really generate much excitement when it has been tried and England v Wales, Scotland or Ireland even less at present and there is no way Aus & NZ will travel on a regular basis as the interest does not seem to be there from them. Getting meningful international fixtures is incredibly difficult. In RU the home nationals are very competitive and France as well are a top team, TV is not interested in one sided, poorly supported RL "internationals" where one side racks up a high score against the others.

The RLWC has generated a level of interest but capitalising on that is difficult and it is hard to see how this can be taken forward before that interest fades away as there is nothing obvious in place already.

I was talking to a PE teacher recently. He said 95% of applicants specialise in football. They're crying out for a PE teacher who specialises in rugby, hockey, athletics, gymnastics...

Most PE departments have been cut to the bone in the last decade so the chances of having anyone specialising in either code has been reduced massively. Less staff means less nights for training etc. etc. and that’s before you get to the general malaise in the teaching profession anyway. You’ve also got community coaches trying to dictate to kids they don’t want them playing for schools. We certainly don’t help ourselves as a game.

Be that as it may, I'll wager there are many times more schools in England playing Union than league. Every bloody private school for a start, and many State ones.

I’m a parent Governor at my youngest lads school and the Head is a fanatical Wigan Warriors fan. You can imagine the banter I have with her at Governor meetings.

They prioritise RL over football largely due to her and the contacts she has with the club. Also helps her that Liam Marshall’s wife to be is a teacher there.

My lads although loving RL do prefer football if pushed and they moan that RL is given more importance there.

It does seem to be more dependent on the Head Teacher rather than any sort of local curriculum.

It was happening well before that.

to be fair, Wigan have done quite a lot in regards to schools over the last 12-18 months (not sure how much that has changed or not). One of my mates was telling me that the primary school his sons are at used to have a dedicated sports coaching company (small local one) come in to do PE and holiday sports camps. The primary school due to costs, have now dropped some of that, and are using Wigan Warriors Community Foundation, and thus there is a RL focus being delivered in those sessions. From an RL and a fitness perspective its great for the kids, however thats probably only happening in RL towns like Wigan, St Helens, Warrington etc. Once you get out of the heartlands, will there be any desire to get into the schools. This is where the RFL and possibly clubs should come up with a plan and perhaps target different regions of the country. We should have hours of video to sell the game to kids, and if we could back that up with a joined up approach to going into schools to start off with basic skills, then surely we could start to entice the next generation into thinking about RL as a minimum. I know you would need community clubs etc, to really help the game take off, as its no good just doing schools alone, but there has got to be an ambition from somewhere in the RFL to grow the game we all love