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IMPORTANT // Please look after your loved ones, yourself and be kind to others. If you are feeling that the world is too hard to handle there is always help - I implore you not to hesitate in contacting one of these wonderful organisations Lifeline and Beyond Blue ... and I'm sure reaching out to our PRE community we will find a way to help. T.
Maurice JNR
- Thread starter caesar
- Start date
Tony Braxton-Hicks
There are no stupid ideas, just stupid people
Apparently we are not allowed to link directly. Use the search function for "Two Riolis and a Long to play for NT under-16s"
I know St Pats have an indigenous program but aside from that Scotch is far better for Mjnr from an education and footy POV. As I wrote the APS football program is every bit as good if not better than TAC Cup.Tigermad2005 said:
St pats is one if not the best football school in the state. Plus 3 current Richmond starts fGhost of 29 said:
Have come from St pats.
E
easy_tiger
Guest
Tigermad2005 said:
I understand they have produced more VFL/AFL footballers than any other school.
and won a hell of a lot of the private school flags.
my dad and uncle played for them with George Pell in the ruck!!!!
Not sure Pell would be a good ruck. He is no good at protecting smaller boys from big nasty guys with evil intent.easy said:
Tigermad2005 said:
I know they have a rich football history like Assumption but the APS system is the best school boy footy in the land by a long long way. St Pats wouldn’t get close to the level of competition that Scotch would on a weekly basis.
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easy_tiger
Guest
Brodders17 said:
yeah, my old man was an rover and a gentleman, and thats exactly what he reckoned.
Having worked in both, there is no way that APS in better than TAC.
What I found, and still find, most alarming is the amount of players who would come back to TAC with poor habits or easily avoidable injuries. APS is great for playing with your mates, but from my perspective, most of the schools care more about the short term and not about what is best for the player.
What I found, and still find, most alarming is the amount of players who would come back to TAC with poor habits or easily avoidable injuries. APS is great for playing with your mates, but from my perspective, most of the schools care more about the short term and not about what is best for the player.
Personally, I'd like to see the TAC wound up and this function transferred to the VFL(VFA) clubs running an U18 comp in the same model that the WAFL and SANFL do. Obviously the resources the TAC cup teams have would need to be transferred to the VFL clubs to make it work though. And zones would need to be drawn up for the VFL(VFA) clubs.D85 said:
Awesome, more destruction of grass roots football in order to create a situation where quarantined, sterile "pathway" competitions (essentially nothing more than development squad competitions of 16-17 YOs) are the be all and end all. Eventually, no football of any meaning will exist outside of this and the AFL itself.tigertim said:
I envisage, one day we will see a situation where you have little kids playing from the age of say 6-11, a huge drop out rate from 12 to 14, then just a handful of the top talent continuing on and playing in "pathway comps" from 15-17 and then the AFL system itself. There will be bugger all people involved - playing, coaching, administering or following - to fill in the gaps between these two extremes of little tackers and the elite end. Certainly no adult competition outside a bit of fringe kick and giggle level.
Thing is, the elite end will look fine for a decade or two taking this approach. But eventually, when you've strangled the life out of any meaningful grass roots competition, it will affect the elite end through reduced talent pool of both players and drastically reduced grass roots community involved and interested in your sport.
See Rugby Union in Australia as a perfect case study. Or, the current situation of footy in Tasmania is another example.
Listening to Paul Roos, it's already starting to happen in Victoria. He said in Victoria, he's noticed that many talented kids give the game away if they don't make an U16 or U18 rep side, as there is nothing of any meaning in the sport outside of these "pathways". It's an early sign, but is a dangerous self fulfilling (and self destructing) spiral once this phenomenon takes hold.
The more you kill any existing meaningful competition outside of these official "talent pathways", the more you are ultimately sentencing your sport to a slow death. Whether that be 10-20 years down the track before we see material signs of the consequences.
Panthera Tigris said:
And what are you planning on doing for the country kids ?
Move them away from home at 16 to board in Melbourne ?
As an example of the sacrifices parents and kids make at the moment, David Astbury had to travel 100k each way from Tatyoon to Ballarat.
Just look at the Richmond squad:
Astbury - Ballarat, Butler - Ballarat, Drummond - Shepparton, Garthwaite - Albury, Grigg - Ballarat, Lloyd - Deniliquin, Martin - Bendigo, Miles - Albury, Rioli - NT/Ballarat, Townsend - Leeton NSW, Smith - Wentworth NSW, Nankervis - Goergetown Tas, Riewoldt - Clarence Tas.
The very reason why the TAC was set up was to conscript all the country kids from their home clubs into make-believe regional teams to make it easier for AFL recruiters to watch games with only the best kids involved. It's why they play a three game, country TAC triple-header in Bendigo every year.
Further to what PT wrote, The Victorian Parliamnet held an inquiry into country football reporting in 2004. https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/committees/rrc/footy/cf_report.pdf
All the things posters write about here were canvassed in that inquiry but it sank without trace once the AFL applied pressure.
The obvious solution to that is that a couple of the larger regional centres would need to have a presence in the comp again (as North Ballarat and Bendigo did have previously). For it to be a Victorian state comp, it is inconceivable that the largest regional centres don't have a presence. Bendigo, Ballarat, Geelong, Albury-Wodonga, Latrobe Valley (and even Tasmania) definitely should have a presence if you had a traditional style three grade (U/18, Reserves and Seniors) competition. The beauty being that not only do the recruiters see them playing other kids, but like the SANFL and WAFL, these kids have the chance of playing seniors and testing themselves against men some weeks - and the recruiters get to watch.RedanTiger said:
Additionally, what isn't taken into account is the impact taking these kids (and their families/support crew) out of the wider footy scene, into sterile development programmes - quarantined from the great unwashed - has on the local footy scene. Many of these kids (and their families/support crew) never to be seen in club footy ever again - even if they don't make the AFL.
But I fear grass roots footy in regional areas - just like in Tasmania - has had the guts ripped out of it for so long, that there just aren't the resources for such a model of state league anymore. As in, we are past the point of no return.
And yes I understand a lot of this has happened as a necessity as we've professionalised the elite end. But eventually if you strangle the life out of your grass roots to the point of killing it, you ultimately will have no elite end - or at least, it will be greatly diminished down the track.
Interesting discussion this. The VCFL are now currently in South West Vic, trying to put caps on playing lists and make the games 16 aside. It will mean the boys who have the most talent or hit puberty early will be right while the rest will miss out. Once out of the system most are lost to the game. Longer term it will effect competitions like the reserves as numbers will dry up. More needs to be done to have kids playing for longer and given more opportunties.
One point I will make. It’s not just Australian Rules Footy obsessed with this sports management style. In Australia, most sports are infested with it under the guise of being more “professional”.MB78 said:
And they boost their participation data by including all the little kids doing short introductory programs of a few weeks, in order to meet KPIs to receive govt funding. However if one were to analyse how many 17-35 YOs are participating in grass roots competitive sports, an educated guess would be - we are at our lowest participation rate for 50 years.
Australia is evolving from a nation of athletic people who play sports, to a nation of fatsos who watch (and bet on) sports from the couch. Obviously societal factors, such as a 7 day working week and a time poor society influence this trend. But the dominant sports management framework exacerbates the trend exponentially. And ultimately, I feel it'll come back to bite in the long run.
Panthera well written and said especially this quote below...
" Australia is evolving from a nation of athletic people who play sports, to a nation of fatsos who watch (and bet on) sports from the couch. Obviously societal factors, such as a 7 day working week and a time poor society influence this trend. But the entire management framework exacerbates the trend exponentially. Ultimately though, I feel it’ll come back to bite in the long run. "
My biggest issue.
My biggest fear is evolving in front of my eyes.
" Australia is evolving from a nation of athletic people who play sports, to a nation of fatsos who watch (and bet on) sports from the couch. Obviously societal factors, such as a 7 day working week and a time poor society influence this trend. But the entire management framework exacerbates the trend exponentially. Ultimately though, I feel it’ll come back to bite in the long run. "
My biggest issue.
My biggest fear is evolving in front of my eyes.
