Re: Summer Rugby everyone? : Thu May 27, 2010 5:36 pm  

I know people worry about the pitches in summer, and I did before RL in the south switched to summer, but in all honesty it's been a non-issue. The grounds are harder, but so are well-drained grounds in winter. However, this is an English summer we're talking about, so you tend to only get a few weekends of serious heat, and plenty of rain. Boots are simply dealt with - there are plenty of cheap astroturf and hard ground boots on sale. I've been playing and refereeing for more than a decade down here now, and I've never seen any issues regarding hard dry grounds. However, I do remember lots of issues in winter when grounds were frozen, rutted or waterlogged.

It is also worth mentioning that the skill level and speed really does rise when playing in dry conditions. Couple that with a far higher likelihood of getting people to training on light, warm evenings, and the only downside left is that plenty of people go away in August. But effective fixture planning can deal with that, and it's a far lesser disruptive issue than dealing with postponed and cancelled games due to winter pitch conditions and/or players not turning up in the freezing rain.

For youth rugby in particular, our experience here is that it's far, far easier to get kids in and hook them when it's warmer and drier than it is in winter.

When I opposed the change originally, I don't think I had a better reason than "it's not what I'm used to", although I tried to justify it referring to hard grounds. But it's clearly been a good move. I support it fully.

Re: Summer Rugby everyone? : Fri May 28, 2010 10:04 am  

Speaking from a club who already plays there rugby in the summer months. Its generally ok with the weather but take last weekend for example, it was horrendous playing in 27 degrees, yes it allowed more open expensive rugby to be played, but the effect on some of the players bodies was much more playing in Winter and i can only think in the long term it will have an effect playing of "dust bowl" surfaces.

Re: Summer Rugby everyone? : Tue Jun 01, 2010 10:20 am  

There's pro's and cons of all the options being put forward

Summer rugby has the weather on its side, better for training (light nights etc) but on the down side has the rock hard and badly managed pitches and also (especially with youth sides) the fact that there are school holidays and families going away during July/August and hence possibel issues with numbers.

The current setup with a two month gap in January/ February is also problematic as this can prove a distraction as kids lose focus. And you have once again the state of the picthes, frozen, rutted, waterlogged etc.

Having a continuous winter season can also be probelmatic, especially for the more successfull clubs who have extended cup runs.

Why not split the current league season into two halves with a gap mid season which is dedicated to cup competitions. Might it also be prudent to look at restructuring the size of the leagues to allow for the flexibility in case matches are cancelled.

Obviously the Super League summer model includes well looked after picthes, regularly watered etc. Maybe summer rugby is the answer but the compromise is that the RL must invest at grass roots level (no pun intended) in ensurimg pitches are of a certain standard. Many clubs can't afford this luxury and see summer as a time their pitches can recover.

Re: Summer Rugby everyone? : Sat Jul 03, 2010 8:47 am  

Looks like it is a done deal anyway. http://www.therfl.co.uk/home/news_item_top.php?id=18250 So, what are the RFL going to do to help clubs whose council have said no to summer rugby? Seeing as we have a lack of match officials in the overlap periods between summer and winter, where are we going to get all the necessary match officials from? Apparently we can play mid-week to help with match officials etc. but will work allow that? I'm not sure that having been at work since 8.30am I would want to get home at 5.30pm and start preparing for a game at 6.30pm. Have they got a glut of volunteers lined up to take the place of people who don't want to give up the whole of their summer and decide to leave the game? If it is all about recruiting more players, we don't get masses training in pre-season as it is, so where are all these extra players going to come from when you now have to recruit in the winter? Are they ignoring the summer teams that fold in order to sell the idea that summer rugby will save the game? Will they accept the responsibility when it goes wrong, or it will be the club volunteers fault? On the positive.......... .........I'm struggling!

Looks like it is a done deal anyway. http://www.therfl.co.uk/home/news_item_top.php?id=18250 So, what are the RFL going to do to help clubs whose council have said no to summer rugby? Seeing as we have a lack of match officials in the overlap periods between summer and winter, where are we going to get all the necessary match officials from? Apparently we can play mid-week to help with match officials etc. but will work allow that? I'm not sure that having been at work since 8.30am I would want to get home at 5.30pm and start preparing for a game at 6.30pm. Have they got a glut of volunteers lined up to take the place of people who don't want to give up the whole of their summer and decide to leave the game? If it is all about recruiting more players, we don't get masses training in pre-season as it is, so where are all these extra players going to come from when you now have to recruit in the winter? Are they ignoring the summer teams that fold in order to sell the idea that summer rugby will save the game? Will they accept the responsibility when it goes wrong, or it will be the club volunteers fault? On the positive.......... .........I'm struggling!

Re: Summer Rugby everyone? : Mon Jul 05, 2010 9:03 am  

Milly wrote: Looks like it is a done deal anyway. http://www.therfl.co.uk/home/news_item_top.php?id=18250 So, what are the RFL going to do to help clubs whose council have said no to summer rugby? Seeing as we have a lack of match officials in the overlap periods between summer and winter, where are we going to get all the necessary match officials from? Apparently we can play mid-week to help with match officials etc. but will work allow that? I'm not sure that having been at work since 8.30am I would want to get home at 5.30pm and start preparing for a game at 6.30pm. Have they got a glut of volunteers lined up to take the place of people who don't want to give up the whole of their summer and decide to leave the game? If it is all about recruiting more players, we don't get masses training in pre-season as it is, so where are all these extra players going to come from when you now have to recruit in the winter? Are they ignoring the summer teams that fold in order to sell the idea that summer rugby will save the game? Will they accept the responsibility when it goes wrong, or it will be the club volunteers fault? On the positive.......... .........I'm struggling! I'm struggling also...it's not so much the 'result' of the consultation as i suspected it and genuinely feel that if you ask lots of players, they'll be a majority for summer. but I'm very concerned that they haven't looked at certain critical factors, such as pitch availability etc. that can only be known by Secretaries. They are effectively off-loading a lot of the liabilities and problems that will result, onto the clubs to sort. Is 2012 enough time for clubs to plan the switch? I feel they now need a separate round of consultation with club administrators to understand the implementation barriers (although I recognise, there is an inherant resistance to change amongst many which might make them difficult to engage). Also, they are going to give themselves an issue - the Sport England funds are dependant on increasing participation, I'd suspect that the increases at the minute come from winter players doubling up in summer...

Milly wrote: Looks like it is a done deal anyway. http://www.therfl.co.uk/home/news_item_top.php?id=18250 So, what are the RFL going to do to help clubs whose council have said no to summer rugby? Seeing as we have a lack of match officials in the overlap periods between summer and winter, where are we going to get all the necessary match officials from? Apparently we can play mid-week to help with match officials etc. but will work allow that? I'm not sure that having been at work since 8.30am I would want to get home at 5.30pm and start preparing for a game at 6.30pm. Have they got a glut of volunteers lined up to take the place of people who don't want to give up the whole of their summer and decide to leave the game? If it is all about recruiting more players, we don't get masses training in pre-season as it is, so where are all these extra players going to come from when you now have to recruit in the winter? Are they ignoring the summer teams that fold in order to sell the idea that summer rugby will save the game? Will they accept the responsibility when it goes wrong, or it will be the club volunteers fault? On the positive.......... .........I'm struggling! I'm struggling also...it's not so much the 'result' of the consultation as i suspected it and genuinely feel that if you ask lots of players, they'll be a majority for summer. but I'm very concerned that they haven't looked at certain critical factors, such as pitch availability etc. that can only be known by Secretaries. They are effectively off-loading a lot of the liabilities and problems that will result, onto the clubs to sort. Is 2012 enough time for clubs to plan the switch? I feel they now need a separate round of consultation with club administrators to understand the implementation barriers (although I recognise, there is an inherant resistance to change amongst many which might make them difficult to engage). Also, they are going to give themselves an issue - the Sport England funds are dependant on increasing participation, I'd suspect that the increases at the minute come from winter players doubling up in summer...

Re: Summer Rugby everyone? : Wed Jul 14, 2010 5:15 pm  

without going into a great amount of detail I can say that I've played alot of Rugby in winter for a long time now (way too long) and quite honestly I wouldnt be unhappy to see the back of freezing cold and boggy pitches (saying this as it's now unloading the mother of all storms over Garswood). Winter Rugby games too often end up with stick it up yer jumper Rugby and I remember as a young ad being pretty damned bored stood out on the wing or in the centre's way too often ...

It's pretty clear there are going to be challenges but I think long term it will benefit the game if we go for summer Rugby or worst case a split season (and thats what I said when the RL rang me up and asked for my opinion as a player)

Re: Summer Rugby everyone? : Thu Aug 12, 2010 11:45 am  

So in 2012 after finishing a winter season then would you be expected to play a summer season as well?