Rugby: Real reasons for schools review

NZ Rugby feels the need to have a major review now is largely down to three factors. Photo / 123RF

In 2013 the Herald carried out a major investigative report into Auckland's famed 1A secondary schools competition that ended up casting a number of schools, coaches, teachers and principals in a most unflattering light.

The unavoidable conclusion after a week of publishing was that school rugby in Auckland at least - but most likely across the country - had lost touch with what it should have been all about.

It wasn't necessarily true that the moral compass of some schools and individuals had been misplaced but there was a strong underlying sense that too many adults were overly determined to win and the desire to be successful had seen too much emphasis placed on the best players and not enough attention given to those who just wanted to enjoy the sport.

It is five years since the Herald tackled school rugby and now the national governing body has decided to do the same, effectively looking to answer many of the questions that were raised in 2013.

That New Zealand Rugby feels the need to have a major review now is largely down to three factors.

The first and most pressing is the concern that overall participation numbers remain stagnant.

There has been annual growth these past few years in the number of kids aged 5 to 12 playing but drop-out rates among teenagers remain high.

Almost half the current number of 13-year-olds playing today won't be playing by the time they are 18 and then there is typically another drop-off in the transition from schools to clubs.

NZR is trying to determine whether a greater emphasis on participation at schools instead of winning and fostering elite players would lead to a reduction in the numbers who give up the game prematurely.

The second key driver of this review is catering for the growth in popularity of rugby with girls.

Girls have basically been ignored until now and those schools which have built successful teams have done so largely on the back of the selfless commitment of a handful of dedicated teachers and parents.

Quite obviously competition structures for girls need to be developed, and investment increased.

There are thousands of new players potentially out there, but they need to be coached, refereed and put in meaningful competitions.

And thirdly there is the question of governance which interestingly is listed as the first thing the review wants to address. During the Herald's investigation in 2013, numerous teachers and principals suggested they felt NZR wanted to take ownership of schools rugby.

Understandably there is resistance to that idea among the schools who feel it would be potentially disastrous to cede control of what is effectively an extra-curricular activity to an external organisation that is largely about promoting high performance, professional rugby.

That resistance is particularly strong in Auckland where a few years ago NZR tried to pressure the 1A competition to open to the best teams from North Harbour.

The idea was rejected by the larger, traditional schools who said it would be wrong to cut out some of the less well-resourced schools.

There was also considerable ill-feeling among principals towards NZR when the national body, with limited consultation, announced there would be compulsory drug testing at the national Top 4 tournament last year.

However, it would seem that NZR wants to pose the question whether it is the right body to take control of all schools rugby and have everyone operating under one system.