Moree Junior Rugby Union Club are hoping a new Friday night under 14s zone competition will help to boost teenagers’ participation in the game and ultimately rejuvinate under 17s and under 19s competitions.
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It has been years since Moree has fielded an under 14s team in the Central North Junior Rugby Union competition, and Moree Junior Rugby Union Club president Chris Lamey is hopeful this new competition will encourage young players to keep playing throughout their teenage years, as well as encouraging new players to give it a go.
“We lose a lot of kids to boarding school,” Lamey said.
“Rugby is going through a bit of turmoil at the top end. But it’s not pulling all walks of life – the pool of people are more affluent and that’s not right. We’re friendly, we’re open, we’ve got a lot of good parents.
“We’re just trying to give the kids a fun time.”
With Moree currently unable to field an under 17s and under 19s team, the idea of introducing an under 14s and eventually under 16s side is for those players to stay on and continue on to the senior competition.
Lamey said the end game is for the young players to learn rugby skills so that when they’re older and move away, they’ll be able to join a team and make friends wherever they go.
“They might move to Forbes or Tamworth … wherever they go and work or go to uni, they’ve got 15 mates straight away from all walks of life,” he said.
“If they move around, they’ll have a sport to play.”
All clubs in the Central North zone are working together to make the Friday night competition a regular feature, with teams only having to travel an hour and a half at most.
“We’re trying to keep it down to under an hour and a half bus trip,” Lamey said.
“We might go to Inverell and Barraba and if we play Tamworth they might be able to meet us in Barraba.
“Moree’s the biggest travelling team, but a little help from all the clubs will see the whole zone be stronger.”
The Moree club is supplying a bus to transport their players for the Friday night competition, but is looking into council funding to support the venture.
The Central North under 14s Friday night competition kicked off last Friday, with 11 players from Moree travelling to Narrabri for the first round.
“We got absolutely smashed. It was really tough,” Lamey said.
Tonight (Friday, May 25), Moree will host Narrabri for a re-match at Weebolla Oval and in an effort to get a large crowd of supporters, all junior training has been moved to this afternoon, prior to the under 14s game.
Families are invited to stay on for a social barbecue to support the under 14s when they kick off at 6pm.
“We want all our club to be there; we want to get 100, 80 supporters to cheer these guys on,” Lamey said.
More players are wanted to join the fledgling under 14s side.
“We’re struggling – we need more numbers. We’ve got a team but we need subs,” Lamey said.
Lamey said the best part about rugby is that there’s a role for everyone.
“Everyone has a role. If someone’s fast they’ve got a role, if someone’s big they’ve got a role,” he said.
“They’ve got your back no matter what.
“It just does not matter about size or skill, it’s more about the social; the friendship and getting the town together and bringing kids from all the different schools together.”
Anyone interested in playing is invited to go along to Weebolla Oval at 5pm tonight, where there’ll be an opportunity to register.
“We’ll have a register there on Friday night if anyone wants to turn up and play,” Lamey said.
“It’s $30 for the year which covers insurance, socks, shorts and a team to play with. That’s pretty good value I think.”
For more information, go to the Moree Junior Rugby Union Facebook page or call Chris Lamey on 0427 240 064.
