Blackrock RFC pull out of J1 League

noital

Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on Blackrocks decision to pull out of the J1 league, after also pulling out of J2 a few weeks ago.

Last season they finished a respectable mid table in J1 and mid table in J2 (lower division).

And now they are registered in J3 league (not there last year) and J4 league again.

I know they have some financial issues but what are the lads who played J1 and 2 gonna do this year? Also, the branch have said that senior/J1 players will be ringfenced and not allowed play lower, but in reality I doubt this is gonna happen.

remwhite

noital wrote: »

Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on Blackrocks decision to pull out of the J1 league, after also pulling out of J2 a few weeks ago.

Last season they finished a respectable mid table in J1 and mid table in J2 (lower division).

And now they are registered in J3 league (not there last year) and J4 league again.

I know they have some financial issues but what are the lads who played J1 and 2 gonna do this year? Also, the branch have said that senior/J1 players will be ringfenced and not allowed play lower, but in reality I doubt this is gonna happen.

Lansdowne 3rd As bonus pointed them with 14 men on Sunday so they don't appear to be stacking so far.

Very sad to see a club with such a rich heritage in such a state.

Hagz

Ah that's sad news.

noital

remwhite wrote: »

Lansdowne 3rd As bonus pointed them with 14 men on Sunday so they don't appear to be stacking so far.

Very sad to see a club with such a rich heritage in such a state.

To be fair Lansdowne had an unbelievable team at J3 last year. They pretty much moped the floor with everyone bar Marys last season.

Just hope that they don't have any messing!!

skregs

They have loads of experience sending J1 banger teams to play J4 social teams, so they should be well used to playing J4

GavMan

I can assure you both J3 and J4 teams are genuinely of that standard.

Most bar 4 or 5 of the J2's have completely retired. There is no J1 team this year because there simply isn't numbers. There would literally be 5 bodies and they are training and playing with the AIL team as they are needed there.

J3 team this year consists of some guys who played J4 and a few remaining J2 players with a smattering of U21 Prem Players who haven't gone up to Senior Rugby.

J4 team will consist of players who played J4 last year and U21 pennant players, with some new members.

It's a sad situation we find ourselves in but there was an Passionate EGM last night and a firm commitment to get our house in order off the field and rebuild on it.

sickpuppy

How many players does Blackrock school churn out every year?
surely a senior team should be able to field teams
obviosuly organisation in the club is poor if teams cant be fielded.

[Jackass]

Very surprised by this, considering they have the largest rugby feeder school in the country.

GavMan

Completely Organisational.

Mismanagement, paralysed by inaction, head in sand stuff. Members really feel enough is enough and I think there is a determination to tackle the issue. The only reason that J3 and J4 teams exist is because we organised it ourselves. It started small, but we worked and worked at. Lads got their mates to play, they got their mates, etc etc.

This is the first year in a long time that 20's players have come back to play junior rugby. Hopefully more will follow and we can improve that next year.

It's going to take a few years but with enough application we can do it.

IMO, the club needs to cast the net wider for players and look beyond the school as its feeder and look to places like CBC Monkstown, Andrews, Michaels, etc

Not that recession and emigration has hit us hard too. Lots of lads genuinely have moved abroad

GerM

It's not an isolated case. A fair few long standing clubs are having serious financial issues and have been doing so for the past couple of seasons. It's mostly down to mis-management and a complete absence of a proactive approach. In the long run, if the clubs pull through, it could be what they needed to shake them out of their lulls and push themselves to recruit more and move their sides forward.

remwhite

GavMan wrote: »

Completely Organisational.

Mismanagement, paralysed by inaction, head in sand stuff. Members really feel enough is enough and I think there is a determination to tackle the issue. The only reason that J3 and J4 teams exist is because we organised it ourselves. It started small, but we worked and worked at. Lads got their mates to play, they got their mates, etc etc.

This is the first year in a long time that 20's players have come back to play junior rugby. Hopefully more will follow and we can improve that next year.

It's going to take a few years but with enough application we can do it.

IMO, the club needs to cast the net wider for players and look beyond the school as its feeder and look to places like CBC Monkstown, Andrews, Michaels, etc

Not that recession and emigration has hit us hard too. Lots of lads genuinely have moved abroad

Best of luck getting it back together. I've always had respect for 'Rock. Matches against 'Rock are always good contests of rugby unlike some other clubs.

The above mentioned Lansdowne J3 team was the result of hard work by the players and coaches. I just had a look at the team photo from after the cup final last season, of the twenty odd in the photo, 13 were not playing rugby either at all or with Lansdowne 2 years ago. We spent months bullying our mates and lads who we used to play with to come back down until we had a squad of about 30 odd. We lost a load of players for various reasons over the season but the hard work recruiting ensured we stayed strong.

Basically, if you want a strong team/club you have to get up off your hole and make it strong(I can see you are aware of that GavMan, I'm just making a point). No one else is going to do it for you. Also, you'd be amazed how many people want to get back into rugby they just need a little nudge.

passpop

I know Rock had a good few st michaels players play there when they won everything at 20s about 4-5 years ago, and a St michaels coach. They also had CBC, st andrew and gerards players. Seems to of changed. Pity, they have given so much to the game, and produced great players. a lot of clubs will follow suit unfortunately, professional game has killed club rugby. I think we all know that now. In total, irish senior rugby clubs owe the bank close to 15million i was told this week by a very reliable source. Clubs doing well now are community clubs

Bruff
Seapoint
Armagh
Nenagh
Cashel
Boyne

I think they will be competing in AIL 2A or 1B within the next 3 seasons. I know Bruff are already

remwhite

passpop wrote: »

I know Rock had a good few st michaels players play there when they won everything at 20s about 4-5 years ago, and a St michaels coach. They also had CBC, st andrew and gerards players. Seems to of changed. Pity, they have given so much to the game, and produced great players. a lot of clubs will follow suit unfortunately, professional game has killed club rugby. I think we all know that now. In total, irish senior rugby clubs owe the bank close to 15million i was told this week by a very reliable source. Clubs doing well now are community clubs

Bruff
Seapoint
Armagh
Nenagh
Cashel
Boyne

I think they will be competing in AIL 2A or 1B within the next 3 seasons. I know Bruff are already

Add NUIM Barnhall to that list. That merger was a brilliant move.

whysomoody

passpop wrote: »

I know Rock had a good few st michaels players play there when they won everything at 20s about 4-5 years ago, and a St michaels coach. They also had CBC, st andrew and gerards players. Seems to of changed. Pity, they have given so much to the game, and produced great players. a lot of clubs will follow suit unfortunately, professional game has killed club rugby. I think we all know that now. In total, irish senior rugby clubs owe the bank close to 15million i was told this week by a very reliable source. Clubs doing well now are community clubs

Bruff
Seapoint
Armagh
Nenagh
Cashel
Boyne

I think they will be competing in AIL 2A or 1B within the next 3 seasons. I know Bruff are already

Barnhall struggle for a seconds team as well no?

Mister Dread

Barnhall have 5 senior teams although that's with a bit of stretching.

anonymous_joe

Is there still a Blackrock AIL side?

GavMan

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Is there still a Blackrock AIL side?

Yes, of course

Eoin

So do they just have a big AIL squad that has little or no overlap with the junior teams?

bamboozle

Eoin wrote: »

So do they just have a big AIL squad that has little or no overlap with the junior teams?

they must do, saw Clontarf tonk Rock 2 weeks ago in the AIL, albeit with 2 late trys, still seemed to be a decent home crowd there with plenty of kids playing minis, rock probably need to get their hands on their academy players to be more competitive at AIL level.

remwhite

bamboozle wrote: »

they must do, saw Clontarf tonk Rock 2 weeks ago in the AIL, albeit with 2 late trys, still seemed to be a decent home crowd there with plenty of kids playing minis, rock probably need to get their hands on their academy players to be more competitive at AIL level.

Academy players would be the worst route for 'Rock to take. They are frequently unavailable and cost money. Good club players is the way to go.

Eoin

If they do have to bring in a junior player to cover for injury, then that's a pretty big step up. Unless their AIL squad is so big that there's no interaction at all between senior and junior.

remwhite

Someone told me that 'Rock applied to be made a Junior club but were rejected. Anyone know if this is true or what the wisdom would be in them doing it?

GavMan

remwhite wrote: »

Someone told me that 'Rock applied to be made a Junior club but were rejected. Anyone know if this is true or what the wisdom would be in them doing it?

Not true.

remwhite

GavMan wrote: »

Not true.

Fair enough.

Luckycharm

noital wrote: »

To be fair Lansdowne had an unbelievable team at J3 last year. They pretty much moped the floor with everyone bar Marys last season.

Just hope that they don't have any messing!!

Lets be honest Lansdowne has been known to stack a Team especially at J3 level where they won 3 doubles in a row - I know quite a few of the players on that team who were of much higher standard that were not available for selection for any other teams.

It is shocking that a club with the biggest rugby feeder school in the country and that puts out 2 under 20 teams every year cannot put out a J1 or J2 team. It is a sign of terrible management, a few of dublin clubs are actually putting out more teams then they used to Marys now has 2 J4s and J5 team. Stillorgan with no feeder system puts out the same amount of Adult teams as Blackrock.