I think the main problem for Sydney with this point is that they cover such a vast area compared to the NRL teams. According to this link there are 154 primary and 47 high schools just in the eastern suburbs, st George and Sutherland shire area. Who do they target? They represent the whole area. They can't just contact all the schools about visits because they could potentially have to turn many of them down since they can't be everywhere at once. So they probably only go to schools that enquire about players visiting.

For the sake of getting kids involved in the game by this method you would probably be better off creating a system where people from the second tier clubs like Rockdale, APIA Liechardt and Sutherland to go around to schools to promote the game.

WE have to make football as cheap to play as possible. Currently most clubs in Victoria use their juniors to fund the senior team. This has to stop so our game will become on par with AFL cost.

TBH the only point I will bring up by pv4 is our football season cost.
Now don't get me wrong I'm happy to pay my way for my beloved game - heck been playing for 45+yrs but between myself and my 2 boys (mind you the eldest only just helping started to pay his way 3rd yr Uni via his part time job) football was costing me near on $1k per season, add boots shin pads. (my other cost at times is academys for the youngest but thats my extra choice not incl here)
I'm thankful I can afford it but buggered if I know how people do it with low incomes and like me 2 boys on average.
aru/arl local teams for as long as I can remember would be issued their full kits, oh I forgot add on $10 for socks we pay as well.
aru/nrl local teams some have the benefit/support from the local licensed clubs and thats their cash cow I suppose whereas the many Football teams in areas don't have this resource.
In this modern nanny age I really don't see many Mums throwing johnny into league etc but I may suspect a very small minority may do so due to cost.
My only disappiontment is say for eg my sydney team SFC.
I don't know what other HAL teams do but they are not active enough to visit schools etc.
I know they have done the end of season gigs visiting Finals etc but my local school has visits from the Tigers handing out PR garb and afl does its little bits.
Unless I'm mistaken SFC do this elsewhere but not in my local area and I'm 10-15mins from the SFS and the same to Mac Uni where they train so our area isn't miles away.

soccer will be dead if we don,t look after grassroots, we love the A-Leauge so why isn,t little jonny playing for Sydney Fc u8,s

When I played league in my early 20's it was all free. Never paid a red cent, and still had my costs (mostly) covered when I dislocated my shoulder in a game and needed an ambulance ride to hospital. Plus a club dress shirt to wear on match day and full time trainers to strap you up before the game.
Football now costs me 320 for the year, and the club was only giving polo shirts to new players till we had an overhaul of our kit and got new ones. So I had 2 polo's in 6 years.

:roll:

Although the aboriginal point is a valid one.

It's cute how you think football doesn't have those exact same problems :lol:

It's a sport. Wow...

Football has plenty of wifebeaters, rapists, drug cheats and thugs. Seriously mate, a sport isn't going to turn someone evil overnight. You've got problems.

I don't take my nephew into bad suburbs as I don't want to expose him to drug dealers & prostitutes.

I don't let my nephew watch MA rated movies as he's not old enough to be exposed to that

I don't let my nephew play a sport that brands a game of aboriginals vs non-aboriginals as "us vs them", a player convicted of glassing his mrs in the eye and then recruited for a charity boxing match, confirmed drug culture, the league made up of wifebeaters, rapists, drug cheats & a thug culture - as I don't want him to turn into a cxxx

parents are irresponsible for exposing their children to a sport with such embarrassingly fxxxed-up ethics.

Have you considered letting the kid decide?

From my experience once clubs start offering everything for free they are nearly dead.
My local league club was offering everything for free about 15 years ago. They would come to school, scouts, whatever assemblies offering it to kids. There were some that signed up but after a couple of seasons they had switched to football, some went via the AFL ground next door, where all their friends were. The club still apparently exists but hasn't fielded a team for around 10 years and their field was given to football.

My local Rugby League club is offering free rego to everyone. Kids, all-age, everything. From what I've been told by a few sources, the NRL have realised that their sport is dying a slow & painful death, so they're re-investing into juniors to get more people playing.

My little 8-year-old nephew got offered free rego & gear to go play Under 8's league for this upcoming season, and while ~$150 to play football isn't a great deal in the grand scheme of things, my sister had a serious think about whether she wanted to put him into league instead. The voices of reason (aka my old man & me) were on-hand to pull her out of the idea of letting him play anything but roundball, but I can't help but think how many of his little mates have parents who would let their kids change sports because of this free rego thing.

I understand that football rego costs are broken down into insurance, federation fees, club fees, etc - but this understanding doesn't help the fact that kids are getting lured away from the sport because of rego costs. I know my local football club had ~370 rego'd last year, and this year they're under 300.

I really like the idea that A-League teams are getting salary caps subsidized due to the Fox TV deal, but would all/some of this money be better off being re-invested into local football? I'm imagining all the money local rugby league clubs have to give free rego from is coming from the NRL's TV deal.

I know the sponsorship that NNSW have with Newcastle Permanent is meant to be the best they've ever had and all - but is enough being done, from grassroots through to the A-League?

How many kids will we lose to league, and when we realise that rego numbers have dropped considerably & something needs to be done about it - will it be too late?

Edited by pv4: 25/2/2013 01:23:40 PM