My nephews are in their 30's. I haven't stood on the side line of a club Under 7's rugby game on a freezing Saturday (or Sunday) for well over 25 years.
Kids' rugby has changed a lot since then. TAG had just started when my nephews were that age but it was played a bit differently. These days each kid wears a Velcro (I don't know if other brands are available) belt, furry side out which has a strip of webbing in team colours pressed on each side - two tags that the opposing team can make a grab for and tear off.
Opponents are only reaching for the tags on the kid with the ball. Tear off a tag and the ball has to be passed. After 5 tags torn off the team with possession, the ball has to be handed over to the opposition and the game moves in the opposite direction for a while (5 tags of a while - or until someone scores a try by reaching the touch line).
The touch line is each end of the paddock. My father (as a 4 year old playing rugby in the days before modified games and reduced size paddocks) famously got hold of the ball, ran like heck, dodged all the opposition, saw a line and touched down, only to be informed that was the side line.
These days kids twice his 4 year old size are playing on fields the size of a tennis court - not a lot of running involved there. I do know that TAG is designed to reduce the damage done by a high impact sport played full on but I do wonder to what extent it promotes the concept of a team. In 6 games watched at a tournament on Sunday, only once did I see a kid pass the ball strategically before anyone tore a strip off him. In all other cases it was a matter of individual performance with the object of personal glory if the try line could be attained unassisted before anyone got hold of a tag..
Grand-lad told me he had scored 7 tries when we reviewed things at the end of the 4th game. When I asked how many assists he had made he had no idea what I was talking about. Seems all they have to learn at this age is to catch (in a static position) and then run holding onto the ball.
Their coach is called Pumba. She used to play rugby herself and apparently earned the nickname for being a bit of a bulldozer.
Some kids seemed more pleased with themselves for tearing off tags than their performance in possession of the ball. Having successfully captured a tag they would hold it aloft waving it like a prize while the game came to a standstill and 'the pass' was made. There is still a lot of 'basketball' going on in the pass.
Sunday started in drizzle, so mud was the order of the day. It did actually dry out a bit and firm up by the end of tournament mid-afternoon. The 4 hour tournament (and all the hanging around before it started) was a bit long for the kids; interest and enthusiasm had definitely waned somewhat by the 6th game. Only the most devoted were still playing rugby, an awful lot were by then dragging themselves in desultory manner behind the action.
Hot chocolate had to be promised.
At least the day was calm and the biting wind did not blow in until just before the last whistle.
(F seems to have been the only adult prepared to get hands dirty playing 'pass and catch' between games and had the devil's own job to keep the mud off her coat. Hadn't gone prepared for impromptu coaching in catching and pulling the ball in against the body, but it kept some kids from running riot through the gazebos set up to keep the spare clothes - and spectators - dry.)
Hari OM
ReplyDeletehmmmmmmmmmm.... being from a rugger-playing family and having grown up with the game, I actually didn't know about this adaptation for kids - which rather more sounds like 'the ball is mine until you tear strips off me'. I wonder how many got to watch the Six Nations and see how it is really done??? YAM xx
Mud. One thing in rugby that doesn't change!
ReplyDeleteCheers, Gail.
I laughed - but kindly - at the thought of your father's 'try.
ReplyDeleteWell done for supporting the youngsters, even if most of them didn't seem to grasp the point of the game. I wonder how long it will be before the game is banned altogether - everything these days is 'dangerous' . . .
How times change. My nephew played rugby as a small boy, but the real thing. He did earn a few bruises, but lived to tell the tale.
ReplyDeleteI blame it on that William Webb Ellis picking up the football and running with it. 😊
ReplyDeleteI hated the game at school and still have absolutely no interest in it, but this sounds even worse.
ReplyDeleteI know rugby is a brutal game but this doesn’t seem to be the answer.
ReplyDeleteIt’s like everything these days. It’s all about me me me. Kids these days just don’t understand co operation or actually playing like a team. It all began with giving everyone a medal just for participating. Now kids are doing everything they can to stand out. Because let’s face it. If everyone is going to get a prize comping first doesn’t stand out any more
having never seen a rugby game, i had trouble following, but i do get the gist of what they were doing and the not playing like a team. ugg on the mud. i don't watch football, or any sport, but last night we watched a movie called My All American and I came close to understanding what was going on. It was all about building team playing and I cried a few times.
ReplyDeleteThe same is happening here with Cricket and Netball - yes they are (sort of) teaching them the skills - plastic bats and rubber balls backyard cricket style - but team participation doesn’t seem to appear until aged 11 with junior teams. Quartered oranges still appear at the breaks though!
ReplyDeleteAt local Aussie rules senior games the kick to kick father/son and everyone else on the oval just for the fun of it seems to have disappeared from many clubs - all the adults seem to be more interested in what’s happening in the clubhouse or hanging around with a pie (and beer) letting the kids find their own entertainment. Of course many of the women are in the clubhouse sorting out the food in the canteen.