Re: Skolars and our reserves. : Tue Jun 30, 2009 9:59 am  

PC Plum wrote:

I struggle to understand why you say this ? Every sports club finds it level and for years now Skolars have batted above their level. I am sure they will be around for years to come but why the obssession with them being in the Championship and getting flogged week in, week out ? Now they cannot draw on backpackers and randoms they are being found out, and how will this change in the short / medium term ? Like EVERY club in the region be they pro or amateur, until they get the juniors conveyor belt in full flow on the back of DO work they cannot be sustainanble.

My perception of the Skolars is they are caught between a rock and a hard place - they are not good enough for Championship, but too good for anything else on offer locally. The Skolars management do have a desire to be involved in the Championship and they pump as much money as they can into the club, but it is not enough money. They need more quality players from the north to supplement the youngsters if they are going to be the least bit competitive.

As for RL has no future ..... just look at the areas where rugby league is being played on a regular basis. Junior playing numbers are increasing year on year, a proper development model is in place with the best kids ending up at Quins RL and the rest filtering down to the right level. I referee the juniors and I can tell you there is some awesome talent out there.

If the guys at the helm are adamant that they want the Skolars to remain in the Chamionship, but do not have the money to attract decent quality to the side, then I see my idea of running some of our players out for the time being as possible. The conveyer belt will produce talent at a faster rate if the Skolars have some success, but shipping 60+ points a game isn't going to inspire the next generation of LMS's

Re: Skolars and our reserves. : Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:19 am  

gutterfax wrote:

If the guys at the helm are adamant that they want the Skolars to remain in the Chamionship, but do not have the money to attract decent quality to the side, then I see my idea of running some of our players out for the time being as possible. The conveyer belt will produce talent at a faster rate if the Skolars have some success, but shipping 60+ points a game isn't going to inspire the next generation of LMS's

Well said on both parts. The skolars are still a young club however they do punch above their weight. Getting the right coaching staff in place is needed and then getting the best London talent not conference players that are not up to Championship level.
Recruitment can done all over the world if you have the right structures in place. A few players from Quins will help in the short term but you need to create a culture within the club that attracts players to the club, atm i dont think this happens.

[brian2]

: Tue Jun 30, 2009 4:57 pm  

I am with gutterfax, if we can give some short - term help, which will not damage our team then i would agree. Losing skolars would be a pity..................

: Wed Jul 01, 2009 12:01 am  

brian2 wrote:

I am with gutterfax, if we can give some short - term help, which will not damage our team then i would agree. Losing skolars would be a pity..................

Losing Skolars would be of no concern to us whatsoever. I have no idea why people keep bleating on about this. Its like Castleford being bothered about what Featherstone are up to. If their demise was to occur, it would have no impact on us whatsoever, so why should we dedicate any of our resources towards them? What possible benefit would it give us?

: Wed Jul 01, 2009 12:47 am  

Dave Lister wrote:

Losing Skolars would be of no concern to us whatsoever. I have no idea why people keep bleating on about this. Its like Castleford being bothered about what Featherstone are up to. If their demise was to occur, it would have no impact on us whatsoever, so why should we dedicate any of our resources towards them? What possible benefit would it give us?

Because the northern people do not rate us in the south and the better development we have all over London....not just south or North London, the better rugby we produce collectively within London.
Skolars will never be the second London team in SL (if there was one) however a strong club in the lower grades is a good thing.

: Wed Jul 01, 2009 7:08 am  

Captain Jack wrote:

Because the northern people do not rate us in the south and the better development we have all over London....not just south or North London, the better rugby we produce collectively within London.
Skolars will never be the second London team in SL (if there was one) however a strong club in the lower grades is a good thing.

Ok, but if Skolars cant sort their poop out behind the scenes, what is the point of loaning them loads of Quins reserves as a means of life support ?

So the question is - whose responsibility is it to ensure that we have an effective development programme across London ? Quins RL ? Each individual club ? RFL ?

: Wed Jul 01, 2009 11:18 am  

PC Plum wrote:

Ok, but if Skolars cant sort their poop out behind the scenes, what is the point of loaning them loads of Quins reserves as a means of life support ?

So the question is - whose responsibility is it to ensure that we have an effective development programme across London ? Quins RL ? Each individual club ? RFL ?

Fair Point.....and I agree that things at skolars need to change to make the agreement more attractive. I am sure that quins reserve grade players are not too happy about going to play for skolars and getting smashed.
A good coaching staff that understands what London needs and much better recruitment is needed if players that finish up with Quins wish to to continue playing rugby league in the capital.
I for one hope it works however alot of work needs to happen on the skolars side as the last 2 seasons have been very poor.

Re: Skolars and our reserves. : Wed Jul 01, 2009 2:51 pm  

Batman in Disguise wrote:

I play for the U14's so I get to go to the first team games for free, and my accompanying parent can get in for £6 so my father and I went to see the game against the Rams yesterday and the Skolars did not do that bad despite the fact we lost 64-0. The only reasons the Skolars did not score was because of a couple of errors and the Rams scored at least three tries because of a bad referee - they scored twice from twenty metre restarts that were taken before the referee blew his whistle and one try was scored from a double movement. I do not think the Skolars need to do that much to start winning games.

Can I just say, if you really are under-14 I'm really impressed with the quality of your written expression. I wish my pupils and a large number of posters on this forum could communicate as well as you.

: Wed Jul 01, 2009 2:58 pm  

Surely the attraction to Quins is to develop Skolars as their feeder club to blood their reserves through, also to spread the Quins' catchment area further afield (progression from Skolars reserves to quins reserves).

The bottom line will be money, if Skolars can't foot the bill but Quins can keep the club going with their reserves then it's a non-issue. If Skolars can sort it out by themselves then you have to stay polite with them. If neither then no point discussing it.

Boo to our northern derby rivals!

: Wed Jul 01, 2009 4:11 pm  

Just a point Belgian X111 are you involved with the team in Wavre?