I too played both codes and my son played for Yorkshire at both codes and I frequently attempted to build bridges.
Nevertheless I always felt then, and still do now, when I converse with RU people, a condescending and superior attitude towards RL.
During conversation I will often concede that there are positives in their game, but I find this is very rarely reciprocated.
A prime example being my brother in law who is a house master at a famous public school.

don't think this has anything to do with building bridges - it's just giving kids something to do in the winter. If they don't like rugby league, our cricket club are short on players....

Lets not be short sighted, kids should be urged to have a go at any sport that is available to them

This^^^^^^

It is all about give and take, you get Union Clubs, parents, players who will not have anything to do with RL. Equally you have exactly the same in reverse.

Quite a few of our players played both codes, playing League on Saturday, union on Sunday and school games on Thursday. At under 13 it became very hard for them as the physicality of the games started to show. If the RL season hadn't changed I think it would have been too hard to play Saturday and Sunday at under 14. The changing of the seasons means it is now possible. At Cas our last 2 games has been Hull and Cleckheaton. When we went to Hull I recognised a couple of Skirluagh players playing for Hull. And on Sunday the Cleckheaton coach said they had just gained 4 from Dudley Hill, due to the Barla cup the Dudley Hill lads played League instead of Union on Sunday. After the match I was talking to some of the Cleck parents who said their lads would be playing League for the first time in the Summer.

Unfortunately their are too many things for kids to do that just involving sitting down exercising thumbs. This in my opinion is the reason that numbers are declining. We think the clubs that try and keep kids active all year will hopefully keep the kids.


Wildycat I will send you a PM

You've just highlighted what's wrong with summer rugby for mine. I don't think it's beneficial for kids to be playing league and then union all year round. Traditional summer sports (athletics, cricket, and the rest) offer something different, and it's a shame to see that go (from a league fan's pov) when kids play RL in the summer.

I played union at school during the winter (to a pretty decent standard, though I say so myself), and hated most of it, mainly because I was bored out of my mind. I'd have loved to play league, and run with the ball, rather than spend most of the time with my head between 2 classmates' s, contesting a scrum, or burried in a ruck. I honestly wouldn't recommend the game to anyone, although I appreciate things may have changed a little bit in the 30 years since I last played.

If I'd had the choice, then, as a kid, it would have been league in the winter and cricket in the summer, and I would've been made up with both. For the kids who play league in the summer now, I'd go for some indoor winter sports, just for a something different, rather than play union.

And on a final note, if I did want my kids to play union, I'd send them to Sandal, in Wakefield, rather than Cas.

Hey, I aren't saying amateur rugby union is thrilling to play (I can only imagine far from it) but it'd be wrong to stop kids having a go if they want to "on principal"
We digress... a wakefield district sports club is trying to attract players, on a forum consisting mainly of wakefield people. Fair or not????
posting on a RU forum is pointless anyway, kids will already be signed up

Some people still either have shorter memories than me or do not know their history.
RL was the only game RU players were forbidden to play, even as an amateur
They could even play soccer professionally and also RU.
I can assure you all that the people in charge of RU are still as determined as ever to undermine our game which is why I cannot bring myself to assist or encourage RU in any way.
Any other sport YES.
Dave also says it all when he points out how pointless it would be attempting to recruit players for RL on a RU forum.

I think he's saying it would be pointless trying to recruit RU players on a RU forum, as they'd already be signed up to RU teams.

My son and a large cohort of his Spartans teammates tried a bit of RU in their school team - to a man, they found it boring and rejected it out of hand; I guess for lads who are used to playing RL at a fairly high level, RU just doesn't have the speed and collision that they enjoy.

We've ended up putting together an off-season programme for the lads that consists of sessions of other sports that will a) keep them occupied and b) contribute to developing skills that will be relevant in RL. Throughout December and January they're doing some resistance training, ju-jitsu, kickboxing and distance running and they'll come away from those sessions with individualised running and bodyweight training programmes that they can do in their own time. Then it's back to full training in Feb when hopefully, they'll be like machines!

I was referring to a mixture of both really Bren that's why I left it open.
If you can keep kids with a hand in rugby league 12 months of the year, that's fantastic!
All I'm saying is if it's an outlet for kids I would never discourage RU. Especially when the alternative is staring at a screen

I'm not objecting to it "on principle", mate, I'm merely stating that having spent 9 years of my life playing the game at school, I wouldn't recommend it. It may have changed a lot since those days, but it's the only game I know where practising the skills of the game is actually more interesting than playing the game itself. If you ignore the specialist skills like scrumaging and line-out, then the training is one area where playing both may be beneficial, but I'd argue that more variety over a year, doing different sports in the off season if your kids play league, is better for the kids and their physical development than a whole year playing 2 forms of rugby. Just my opinion, though.

Anyway, apologies for taking this off topic topic off topic by extoling the virtues of rugby league on a rugby league forum.

My sons U9's (school year 5) team at Crigglestone could do with an extra players or two if there's anyone interested? They have just started training on Sundays at 11 for the winter and with kicking coming in to the game for them next year it would be a good time to start.
PM me if you wish or just turn up.

I agree with Jacques, and our views have never changed. OK, there may be some decent folk in RU but I have never had anything other than condescention towards RL. We would be locked/ blocked and refused any chance of discussing RL on any RU forum. Sorry, this thread is rubbish and nothing to do with us. I have family in Kent, Wiltshire and Lincolnshire, hardly RL hotbeds, there is zero interest when I talk of League, quite simply, they think the game is inferior at all levels. It's Venus and Mars.
Most RU fans have no idea that the likes of Graham Steadman and Mike Ford are coaching them to tackle, looking at the crap on TV this weekend, a lot of work still needs to be done, or better still, not done.
Summer RL for juniors is a seperate debate and has not had chance to make a clear decision on its merits. We didn't want summer Super League but 18 seasons gone (and a few hundred million to players), we are still here.
Stop feeling inferior and promote our game. If you need proof of RU and it's merits, read Mike Rylance, The Forbidden Game, it will make your blood boil.
Once playing Union, lads would be persuaded to choose Union against League.
Do your poaching elswhere.