A game for all sizes, but a game for all?

Jonathon Joseph and
Chris Robshaw (opposite)
are both products of
Millfield's excellent
rugby program

Firstly, before I go on let me say that I am not suggesting some communist agenda within rugby. The independent schools in the UK are the lifeblood of the history of the game and it was at one of the most prestigious, Rugby School, that our beautiful game was born. As a player and now as coach, going to away fixtures with my team to schools such as Cokethorpe, Haileybury and Merchant Taylors were always great events. Mostly because of the great post match dinners they would put on but also because of the sense of history and place these schools had. What I am suggesting in this article is not the dumbing down of their role in player and game development but a raising in profile of schools who are not as traditionally associated with rugby union.

Secondly, when referring to state schools, I know there are state schools and state schools and the variety in ethos, intake and success is a veritable smorgasbord of educational marketization. Put simply, some are better than others and this can often but not always be differentiated by selective and catchment area schools and this can also breed a mix of successes on the rugby field.

Right disclaimers out of the way to get the educational political correctness police off my back, I can get on with it. Firstly have a look at the table below.

Josh Lewsey	Watford Grammar	Selective
Jason Robinson	LEAGUE
Will Greenwood	Stonyhurst College	Independent
Mike Tindall	Queen Elizabeth Grammar	Independent
Ben Cohen	Kingsthorpe Upper School	State
Jonny Wilkinson	Lord Wandsworth College	Independent
Matt Dawson	RGS High Wycombe	Selective
Trevor Woodman	Liskeard School	State
Steve Thompson	Northampton School for Boys	State
Phil Vickery	Budehaven School	State
Martin Johnson	Robert Smyth School	State
Ben Kay	Merchant Taylors School Crosby	Independent
Richard Hill	Bishop Wordsworth's School	Selective
Neil Back	Woodlands School	State
Lawrence Dallaglio	Ampleforth College	Independent
Dorian West	Ashby Grammar	Selective
Jason Leonard	Warren Comprehensive	State
Martin Corry	Tunbridge Wells Boys Grammar	Selective
Lewis Moody	Oakham School	Independent
Kyran Bracken	Stonyhurst College	Independent
Mike Catt	NON UK
Iain Balshaw	Stonyhurst College	Independent

38% of the 2003 World Cup winning team came from private education backgrounds. Now look at this table.

Alex Goode	The Leys. Oakham	Independent
Chris Ashton	LEAGUE
Jonathan Joseph	Millfield	Independent
Manusamoa Tuilagi	Mount Grace	State
Ben Foden	Bishop Heber, Bromsgrove	State/Independent
Toby Flood	King's School	Independent
Danny Care	Prince Henry's Grammar	Selective
Joe Marler	Heathfield Community College	State
Dylan Hartley	NON UK
Dan Cole	Robert Smyth School	State
Tom Palmer	Boroughmuir High School	State
Geoff Parling	Ian Ramsey School, Durham School	State/Independent
Tom Johnson	Dean Close School	Independent
James Haskell	Wellington College	Independent
Thomas Waldrom	NON UK
Lee Mears	Colston's School	Independent
Paul Doran Jones	Old Swinford Hospital/Wellington College	State/Independent
Mouritz Botha	NON UK
Phil Dowson	Sedbergh	Independent
Lee Dickson	Barnard Castle	Independent
Owen Farrell	St George's	State
Brad Barritt	NON UK

This is the last England team from their final outing against South Africa in the summer tour. 68% of the team have had all or some of their education in the private sector. That’s a 30% increase.

Now I know some get offered sports scholarships and that their independent education may not be reflective of socio-economic background, but this is not a question of class. This is a question of access.

One of the main things that needs to end is the competition between school and clubs. Most of the students I coach turn out for school on a Saturday and their club on a Sunday. Throw in a few county games and the training sessions that come with this and you have got a rugby load that even the most impassioned player would struggle to adore. I once played three games in a weekend, school Saturday morning, men’s rugby Saturday afternoon and Colts on Sunday. I wouldn’t get away with that in these times, and rightly so. But it gives you an idea about the potential problems posed.

Here are two options we could explore as a possible solution.

Option 1 – Chunk the season

1^st Term – School Rugby – Saturday fixtures, all schools.

2^nd Term – Club Rugby – Local side, get rid of the leagues and play friendlies with a cup competition

3^rd Term – County and Representative – Gives a whole year of assessment rather than packing assessment into 4/5 disjointed games as they are currently assessed on. Not as serious players have a whole summer to play other sports and train for the new season.

This means schools get their players without increasing the risk of injury from multiple games in a week, they get a full weeks training again without interruptions of representative rugby.

Option 2 – National Sports Structure

All schools sports have allocated days, Year 7 Monday, Year 8 Tuesday, Senior Squads Wednesday, Year 9 Thursday and Year 10 Friday. Training takes place at lunchtimes and after school on off days and all the schools across England play fixtures on their allocated afternoon. Rugby first term, football second term, cricket third term. This leaves weekends for club and representative rugby and other sports if not a rugby nut like myself.

The problem at the moment is that all schools to different things, some are one term rugby, some are two term, some do a mixture of sports across the terms. The beauty of these systems is that the independent schools can keep hold of their traditional fixture lists which are rightly precious to them, new rugby schools can log on to fixture sites like schoolsrugby and find other teams of a similar standard and the mid ranked schools can pick up fixtures above and below their standard to drive up standards across the board.

The end product. Higher standards and consistency in coaching. Higher participation at the countries junior clubs which will have an positive impact on player retention as they become the sole source of rugby post education. Higher standards of football in schools as those good at football and rugby are not being made to choose until they get to the elite end. Schools are maximising their athletic assets whilst not exhausting them. A greater sense of belonging both at school at their clubs.

This is obviously pie in the sky and will almost definitely not happen because of the egos of various people in various sports looking out for their own. However, there is genuinely no need to compete with each other, there IS space for all, and all that is needed is consensus and an open mind.

To summarise, the options are there, as long as we give and take a little. Socialism in rugby, not quite. At its essence rugby is meritocratic, you get out what you put in. This is a message that all schools should benefit from, not just a few. Maybe in the future we can see more rugby players from Queen’s School, Bushey complimenting those from Millfield, Somerset, making rugby both inclusive, but at its core still a game for those who are looking for the ultimate in physical and mental competition. Also, it could mean plugging gaps in our teams with players who have played most of their rugby in England, rather than looking at overseas players qualified through residency. But that’s another article…