THE long awaited rebirth of junior rugby union on the Lower Mid North Coast will start in March next year with teams meeting over a six-week period under floodlights on Friday evenings at Wallamba club’s ground at Nabiac.
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For more than a decade the region from Old Bar on the coast to Gloucester in the ranges, incorporating Forster-Tuncurry, Taree and Nabiac, has engaged in senior rugby, surviving without a junior rugby system, initially with the Myall Mudcrabs fielding a side in the south at Hawks Nest .
Inevitably, the practice has come back to haunt the clubs. Myall withdrew last season for lack of players. Other clubs have continued with diminishing numbers with the retirement of senior players and others seeking employment in metropolitan areas.
Last week, at the Nabiac Hotel, the North Coast development officer of NSW Rugby, Tom Davidson, chaired a meeting attended by club representatives at which the Lower MNC Junior Rugby Union was formed.
Initially, it was decided teams would be formed for under-10-year-olds, under-12s and under-14s for the floodlit competition with a view to expanding the age group to under-16s.
As a long-range plan, it was essential that such a lifeline for rugby be introduced, but in the short term, it is apparent to all clubs that a competition for 16-year-old or 17-year-old players must be introduced this winter or endanger the future of more clubs.
“It is absolutely imperative we have such a competition as a stepping stone for young players to experience rugby’s technicalities and become accustomed to features of the game such as scrummaging and rucking and mauling,” one club official told Mr Davidson.
“It is essential we introduce this age group for clubs to continue on in the code and to thrive in this region.”
As an indication of the aging of some players in the competition, the Forster Dolphins’ former Penrith Emus first grade hooker, Mark Coble, took part in last winter’s competition, one minor premiership game in which he scored two short-range tries – at the age of 49.
Coble’s son, Brody, is an aspiring rugby player who will logically take part in the introductory games next year in the proposed under-12 competition.
The next meeting of the Lower MNC Junior Rugby Union to develop plans and a competition structure will be held on January 23.
