One of the big problems of rugby as a sport is the creation of the structure of the junior categories, as well as their path to senior rugby. Few rugby nations have managed to establish a system that allows players to develop and further improve. What upsets most nations is what that system should look like, because the vast majority think they have it, and then they wonder why they don’t have more success in the senior competition, or why their players are stagnating, or why their younger categories are being wasted. Also, in order to create a quality structure you need to understand and know both global rugby opportunities and local ones.
Nothing comes overnight, and the structuring of junior categories must be long-term planned, with clear guidelines of what we want to achieve. When we say long-term, we mean first of all a period of 10 or even 15 years. Do not forget that players develop until the age of 25, when they acquire both physical and mental maturity, and when they actually enter their best years for playing sports. If someone starts training rugby at the age of 10, it will take exactly 15 years for his development. If you don’t have a detailed plan of how the players will develop, then you don’t have any structure or system. You are simply running a system of junior categories, where children do not see their future and do not want to be part of an organization that offers them nothing. Then we can invent various reasons, that children are not interested, that no one wants to play sports, that no one will train rugby because it is poorly promoted. How collective sport is in crisis. These are all excuses.
If you look at the structure and development of the younger categories in Serbia, there is no long-term plan at all levels, nor a structure that can produce players of all qualities in the senior division. The competition is not adequately created, where the emphasis is more on formally fulfilling the obligations of development and quality. Coaches are a rather vulnerable category, because they are mostly left to their own devices, where usually one coach leads one or more age categories. “One man show” is created, which can be very problematic if the coach gets fed up with everything, because he is overloaded with obligations. The other side of that coin is that the only coach does not want to improve and develop because he is the only one. So it often happens that kids overcome him with knowledge, such teams usually don’t last more than a season or two. There is also no long-term plan related to the training of trainers, as well as the organization of courses and trainings. This strategy is very important for the profession itself in order to work with young people in the best possible way. We organize courses, which are very useful. However, they are not organized regularly and not all coaches come to them.
The main problem of Serbian rugby is definitely infrastructure. And that is a very important item, because it is a mirror of every club, a place where children will come and where parents will come to bring them. If they see that the field is muddy, that the grass is not cut, where the props are old and dirty, why would anyone bring a child to such a place to play sports? And still paid for it. Even when the light from the spotlight looks like a scene from the movie Blair Witch, then you should not be surprised that the children do not come.
An additional problem is promotion. We have to do our best so that rugby in Serbia doesn’t look like a well-kept secret that we don’t want to reveal to anyone. It is equally important to be attractive on social networks as on other means of public information. We must improve and realize that today everything is done on the Internet, not today, but for the last 20 years.
6 spheres where extra effort is needed
For us, one of the most irresponsible floxes of our sport in general is when we read that the goal of playing sports is an alternative to the street. Then we stop for a moment and think, what are we really offering these children? We offer them training twice a week, with a match or tournament once a month. Besides, we do not offer them any alternative to that street. If a child is very good at rugby, if they want to train more, compete more, learn more about rugby, dedicate their life to rugby, our system and clubs offer them nothing. They are mostly left to fend for themselves, because when they reach the age where they need the means to live on, they will leave rugby. We do not offer them any alternative to get a scholarship at a rugby program abroad or to be professional or semi-professional abroad. They are left to their own devices.
Our point is that a player who starts training rugby at the age of 10 must be offered several paths to follow. If the player is very talented, let him develop his talent and have a clear vision of what awaits him in the near future. When he knows that he will play rugby at a high level from U12 juniors to U18 juniors, and if he is among the best, that he will have the opportunity to achieve a professional engagement somewhere in the world. If he does not want to play abroad or is not at a sufficient level, he will have the opportunity to play in senior competitions in the country. There must be a way, and that way must be organized and controlled, in order to maximize the talent we are developing, and so that in the future our national team will have more quality players available.
In our system of junior categories, the U14 pioneers are the players who are 7. 7th and 8th grade in school. Every boy who finishes the 8th grade must choose the path they will follow, that is, which secondary school they will enroll in. Parents who guide their child also participate in his decision. If parents have no option for their child to have a successful career in rugby, then rugby becomes a non-essential obligation that you do when you can. When that happens, the likelihood of such a player dropping out is high. This is not the only reason, there are tons of reasons. But we think this is a big point, because when rugby can be your primary option in life, that’s a fantastic thing. Take rowing for example, where there is a clear path for a good rower to get a scholarship to one of the universities in the United States of America. World Cup 2031 will be held there, so the investment in rugby will be at a much higher level than today. When Americans invest in sports, they invest mostly systematically. It can be a great opportunity for talents from this area.
The big rugby countries have solved their problem of structuring junior categories. But it’s not enough. When we look at Europe, all the countries playing the 6 Nations have a clear path for all players. Of the countries that are not in the 6 nations, the most dominant is Georgia, who have a huge base of quality players in the domestic competition, but that’s why they paved the way for professionalism in France, where you can’t find a club in the top three leagues without a Georgian.
When you ask our clubs what they think about the structure of the path of quality players. They will tell you, why should we invest in a player who will simply go abroad. If you are narrowly looking at one part of the bigger picture, then that is an ok reason. But don’t forget that parents, especially young rugby players, when they have a clear path and when they judge that they can follow that path, they become very motivated and satisfied. And let’s not forget that many others will be interested in sports then.
And then you can have a situation where your best two players find professional employment in France, where two of them get scholarships at foreign universities. A few more go to various problems, or to spend some time in some club. And that ten more juniors become seniors. Not everyone has the ambition to play professionally or to study abroad, some have the ambition to play quality rugby and continue their studies or get a job in Serbia. Also one of the ways is for young people to stay in domestic rugby, to be coaches of younger categories or to become referees. The point is that you can stay in rugby in many ways, you don’t have to be an active player, there is a place for everything.
Reforming the junior category competition
In one of the previous articles, we wrote about what to expect from the competition in the younger categories. There have been no matches in the younger categories for a couple of years. In fact, there is, when only two teams appear in a tournament and a game is played. Tournaments are played, where the matches last depending on how many teams have registered. So when you have a cadet tournament with four teams, and the cadets are allowed to play a total of 60 minutes a day, they will play 3 games of 20 minutes each. Where half time is ten minutes. The players can’t show and offer much in ten minutes, what they could in a game that lasts twice 30 minutes.
In the same way, you have teams of all qualities at our tournaments. For example, at the U14s tournament last fall, in a match that lasted 12 minutes, Dinamo defeated Žarkovo 60-0. If that score were theoretically added to the 50 minutes of rugby that the U14 pioneers are allowed to play, they would get a score of 240-0. Such results are possible because the field is short and is played without kicking. But the point of rugby is that in games like this there is no progress for either team and no point in playing. A team that loses by a high score is demoralized, and we don’t want anyone to lose players because of that. That is why it is very important to create a competition where there are teams of similar strength.
Where it is possible to divide into A and B group, it must be done. In our competition, it can be done in the U14s and maybe in the U12s. There are not enough clubs for juniors and cadets to do something like that. With this division, they would get more uncertain and better quality matches. There would be less risk of injury. We wouldn’t put new players in a situation of frustration, where they wouldn’t be able to cope with experienced players.
RK Čelik from Zenica has been competing in junior category competitions for many years. In a large number of cases, they come to almost all tournaments. They are not ranked here and cannot officially win anything, because the Championship or the Serbian Cup is played here, and teams from other countries cannot achieve an official result. However, there is a solution, which can have a good effect. All results from each tournament can be scored in two separate competitions. The first competition of the Championship or Cup of Serbia, where points would be scored without Čelik, and the second competition, which we can call the Open Championship of Serbia, where Čelik would also have the opportunity to win it, why not. People come from Zenica to all the competitions, why shouldn’t they be able to win the trophy. That would be very important both for them and for the other clubs in the region who are thinking about joining us in the competition.
Also, we must not forget the Final Weekend, which we have been insisting on for almost half a decade. The season must end with the finals. We know it’s a thorn in the side of all rugby players, but it’s the essence of rugby. Everyone likes to watch the finals, everyone likes to know what happens in the finals. There is nothing better than preparing and training for the grand final. The only thing better than that is winning the final. And we mean not only the main final game, but the final for all places in the competition. Where almost all teams would take some kind of prize from the competition.
Continuous work with trainers
With coaches, it is very important that there is both form and essence. Attention must be paid to the training of the coaching staff, specifically in our conditions for the coach to become an Operational Coach, which is prescribed by the Law on Sports. And not only that, but to create an atmosphere without vanity, where everyone would strive to be as high-quality and better as possible. Here in Serbia, and we believe also in the Balkans, the mentality of people is such that we all think we know everything and that we are the smartest in the world. Such an attitude is absolutely unacceptable. If you want to be very good at what you do, you must be willing to learn and improve.
We believe that, in addition to regular training, it is necessary to establish coaching workshops where special items from the game of rugby would be dealt with. For example, make a radio about the scrum, about the car or maybe about the defense. Create material and form a knowledge base that would be accessible to everyone. Create material and form a knowledge base that would be accessible to everyone. As we mentioned the structure of player development, we must apply the same for coaches.
Improve conditions for training
A very important thing is that the whole picture of the training environment plays quite a large role in making everyone feel comfortable and enjoy playing sports. If you have a lot of props, if the pitch is neat, if you have good conditions in the dressing room, then that is a space where everyone wants to be. Special attention should be paid to these things, because parents come to follow the training, and we have to present ourselves in the best possible light so that training in our club is attractive and interesting.
You certainly don’t want to have old and punctured balls, dusty pads, a slush from the pitch, uncut grass where you have to check yourself for a tick bite or maybe a dead cat carcass in the safety net.
Improve the conditions for competition
If we would like to look up to someone how matches of younger categories work, we can look up to the system they have in England. Almost every weekend, every club has home events. The pitches are properly marked and look like broadcast matches of the 6 Nations Cup or the World Cup. Okay, they’re not as good quality, but they’re marked the same way. Players have the opportunity to play matches in the best possible conditions.
The environment is at the highest level. We cannot expect our clubs to have their premises next to the field and to have maximum organization. But take an example, say, when parents want to come and watch their child. They are there in one place for a minimum of two hours. Apart from the match, they should also be offered the option to have a place to buy a refreshing drink, and considering that they will spend at least two hours on the field, as we said, they can be given the option to buy something to eat. All this can be a very nice income for the club, and it can give parents a real pleasure. It just needs to be done and offered. When those same parents have the option to sit down, have a drink or eat something and watch their child play a game, then you already have quite the atmosphere on your field.
Promotion
Take advantage of the potential of social networks where you can advertise yourself quite well for absolutely free. All it takes is will and organization. Promote what you do, promote matches or tournaments you organize or perform at. Have photographers and videographers to produce match material that we can successfully market to rugby fans. Report from matches or tournaments. Write about your members. Be active.
How to set up a good long-term plan? Where to start from?
The first and basic assumption is that rugby 15 must be played over the entire field and in the younger categories. You have to admit we surprised you? In order to defend our assumption, we must say that if you want to play rugby 15 in the juniors, you cannot play rugby 8 in the juniors. But don’t worry, our plan is to have all clubs involved in the competition system they would suggest.
We would take the U14 pioneer category with which to start the rugby competition on the 15-a-side rugby. And we would plan to start it on the 1st of September. That is, there are the players born in 2010, 2011 and 2012. which would have the right to play for the U14s. That is, they are the current U12s and the younger generation of U14s. They would choose several clubs to participate in the league. Those clubs should have good conditions for training, have the potential for a large number of players, have coaches and have management in the club who could present the whole project. When we look at the real situation, we can classify several teams, or maybe even establish an academy of the Rugby Union of Serbia that could be included in this project. Not everyone has everything, but they would work towards it by 1st of September we will have a very strong competition.
Phase 1: Determine the clubs that would participate in the project
From all the teams, they would choose four who can present the whole project. Each of the clubs would have to have at least 2 coaches and at least one person in the club who would deal with administration. They would also list the current number of players in these categories in order to have an insight into what we have at our disposal.
Phase 2: Recruitment of new players
They would continuously do recruitment and presentation in order to collect new players. The goal for each team is to collect 25-30 players in these years, in order to have a complete team from 1. of September. They would do this through promotional activities and presentations in schools.
Phase 3: Developing the team
Given that the players are playing in two age categories these years, they would organize a summer pioneer league, where each team would play 3 games. The goal is for clubs to train throughout the summer.
Phase 4: Start of the competition
Competition system for U14s from 1st September would be next. Super League would be played by 4 clubs, and they would play rugby matches in 15-a-side rugby. In the first league, it would be played as before, tournament and rugby 10.
If there were 4 teams playing rugby 15 in the pioneers, two rounds would be played according to the system each against each. Which would be 6 games in the regular season. Then, on the Final weekend, the two first-placed teams would play for 1st place, while the two last-placed teams would play for 3rd place. place.
In the U14 Super League, the Pioneers would receive 4 teams, which would play a total of 7 games each in the rugby 15 format.
As for the B League Final, the first four-placed teams would advance to the final tournament, and according to the 1-4, 2-3 system, they would determine the pairs of the ½ finals, where the winners would play the finals and the losers would play the 3rd. place.
All the matches and the tournament would be played on the same day and at the same place.
Phase 5: Beginning of work with U12s
At the end of 2024 year, we would start working in schools in order to gather players of U12s age. The U12s would play rugby 10, and we would focus on dividing them into A and B groups depending on the age and strength of the teams.
Phase 6: Continuous recruitment of U12s and formation of new teams
If we want to maintain the number of U14 pioneers, we would encourage especially the teams in the A group to do continuous recruitment throughout the year. For that, they would need to have trained instructors who would go to schools. It would not be left to the Association to send Chobi to do the presentations, but the club could deal with it independently. Also, if large groups are formed, you can always have a B team that would perform in the B group. If you are a team from B group that gathers a large number of players, you can also apply for A group, why not.
Phase 7: U16 cadets progress to Rugby 15 in September 2025. .
That would be the ideal development plan. We didn’t want to go too far in developing plans because this is just our proposal after all. If we could have a league for U16 cadets again, where they would play games, we would not waste time. They would immediately embark on such a project.
Don’t forget that we are in the spring of 2021. managed to play a league for U16 cadets with six teams. Out of 15 games in the regular season, 13 were played. We should also add the cadet final match, which was organized and played at a very high level. Then Rad defeated Dinamo 14-7 in a very uncertain match. That match was broadcast live and you even have quality photos from it that you can view via this link.
Stage 8: Women’s Rugby
Whenever there are mass presentations in schools, a lot of girls who want to try rugby come to the training sessions. We have to use it in the best possible way. The last time we successfully realized the presentations, we had very high-quality girls from Kruševac, Vršac, Loznica, Starčevo and Belgrade. But no domestic competition was established. If we concentrate on working with the ages of 2010, 2011 and 2012 , we must also come up with a plan for women’s rugby.
How realistic is it to implement such a plan in Serbia at the moment?
You have to keep in mind that, in general, sports in Serbia have very limited funds from the state. We beat ourselves up that we are a sports nation, but the fact is that very little is invested in sports at the amateur level. Our country prefers to invest citizens’ funds in professional popular sports clubs in order to collect political points. This has always been the case with us, unfortunately, so we are condemned to be maximally efficient with minimal means, with almost no right to make mistakes. This is precisely why it is very important to design a plan well, which must be long-term and which must be planned 10-15 years in advance.
We believe that our plan is a cornerstone for the future, which if implemented in the right way. Just take the example of the current players in the younger categories that have been invested in for several years, they are the best in the region. Imagine what the younger categories and senior teams would look like in 5-6 years if they were to successfully implement such a project.
