RFUW plans next season

Details of the groupings for next seasons U15 and U18 leagues are out. Letchworth are not included - and are not along. The number of leagues in both age bands has shrunk significantly - down to six in both cases. North Eastern teams are particularly notable by their absence, and clubs from the South West are also rather thin on the ground:

U15 leagues:

	North		Midlands		Central
1	Tyldesley / Waterloo	1	Melbourne	1	London Irish
2	Liverpool St Helens	2	Hinckley	2	Welwyn
3	Eccles	3	Old Northamptonians	3	Berks Baa Baas
4	West Park Leeds	4	Spalding	4	Worcester
5	Vale of Lune	5	Wellingborough	5	Paviors
6	Manchester	6	Vixens	6	Oxford
7	Northwich	7	Ashby	7	Oxford Vale
8	Glossop	8		8
	South		London North		South East
1	Oakmeadians	1	Lakenham Hewett	1	Medway
2	Solent Sirens	2	Thurrock Chicks	2	Guildford / Camberley
3	Ellingham and Ringwood	3	Newmarket	3	Folkestone
4	South Sussex Barbarians	4	Rochford Hundred	4	O A Saints
5	Aylesford Bulls	5	Ealing Jades	5	Hertford
6	Swanage and Wareham	6	Saracens	6	Hackney

U18 leagues:

	South		North		Central
1	Oakmedians	1	Tyldesley / Waterloo	1	Paviors
2	Solent Sirens	2	Eccles	2	Lichfield
3	Ellingham and Ringwood	3	Preston G / Vale	3	Welwyn
4	South Sussex Barbarians	4	Manchester	4	Worcester
5	Aylesford / H 3	5	Bridgnorth	5	Berks Baa Baas
6	Swanage and Wareham	6	Liverpool St Helens	6	Oxford
7		7	West Park Leeds	7	London Irish
8		8	Glossop	8
	Midlands U18		London South		London North
1	Old Northamptonians	1	Thanet W	1	Newmarket
2	Aylestone St James	2	Folkestone	2	Lakenham Hewett
3	Sleaford	3	Medway	3	Thurrock Chicks
4	Hinckley	4	Guildford	4	Rochford Hundred
5	Vixens	5		5	Ealing Jades
6	Melbourne	6		6	Saracens
7	Eccleshall	7		7

Beyond that plans for the U13 band continue to exist in some strange parallel world. RFUW insist the new age band will be launched in September, despite there being...

• No coaches trained to teach the new game
• No referees trained to officiate the new game
• No school PE departments trained to offer the game (only six weeks to the end of term...)
• No sign of the promised DVD illustrating the new game (due to have been circulated last month)
• No documents of any sort, beyond the self-contradictory draft rules issued a few weeks ago
• No answer to many requests for information about the supposedly successful trails carried out last year
• No evidence that any girls involved in the above trials have moved into the U15 game

I could go on. Its like watching a runaway express train thundering down the line to certain doom, except in this case its fully manned by people quite capable of putting on the brakes but determined to go ahead because They Know Best.

What is even more remarkable is when you look at the cause of this..., well "lunacy" would not be pushing it. Overall rugby has lost players about 16% of its players over the past four years - but all of the loss seems to have been among adults. Junior player numbers (leaving aside one strange result in the 2008-9) are almost unchanged:

Once a month participation in rugby union, 18-19 year olds:

2007-08 - 34,600 players

2008-09 - 50,200 players

2009-10 - 35,600 players

2010-11 - 35,200 players

So its all very odd. Nothing seems to be being done to make changes the adult game where the "problem" is (and truth be told the loss of players will be entirely a men's problem), but instead RFUW are training their guns and risking all on the one area of the game where things are going quite well.

That is assuming it is a problem with rugby at all. Of 86 sports and past-times surveryed, 46 show a loss of players - and many are doing far worse than rugby. Rowing, weightlifting, rugby league, water-skiing, gymnastics - they have all lost over 30% of their players. What are the big gainers? Walking, body building, rafting, caving, cross training, judo, angling... If there is a theme here at all, it is a move from formal, organised sports and team sport to informal, individual past-times. It is a change affecting most sports, and is probably nothing to do with the nature of the sports and everything to do with how much spare time people can commit.

Its certainly nothing whatsoever to do with the physicality of rugby union!