REVIEW OF NATIONAL COMPETITION RULES
Queries Received (27 April 2017)
I would be obliged if the Championship Committee could review and consider the attached proposals I have received in respect of the draft NCRs.
Comment Received / Rationale Provided / Comment?1. A limit should be set on the number of divisions there can be for a Dual Registered Player between his Primary and Secondary Clubs.
This should be set at no more than “2 leagues below”.
Bishopton RFC / “Bishopton RFC would like to propose that a limit be set on Dual Registered players in terms of leagues how many leagues below they can play for a Secondary club. We feel that in some instances say potentially of a Premier 1 player could play in a West 3 or 4 match. There is a significant health and safety issue with Semi Pro players playing in these leagues.”
2. "The relaxation of Rules and Registration Regulations as recommended by the working group for the Regional Reserve Leagues and Division 3 & 4 of the Caledonian Leagues is introduced to our own Regional League Regulations for the lowest or lowest two leagues".
Isle of Mull RFC / “1) There is a significant decrease in rugby playing numbers.
2) At the lower levels of rugby the old days of multiple teams and selection have all but disappeared.
3) It is now mainly a "who can you get to play this Saturday" team selection.
4) Many of today's youngsters look on leisure time in a more relaxed and less committed way.
5) Competition for leisure time from all sectors is fierce.
6) Communication of various "time competing" leisure suggestions within the young is instantaneous and easy via facebook and the like. The advantages of prearranged team games has consequently diminished.
7) Lower league status should be elevated. These league should be viewed as the foundation of rugby. A place to introduce any players to the game of rugby and we should respond to this by relaxing the criteria for playing.
8) Rules that stop any player who wants to play rugby for a foundation team, even on the spur of the moment, should be removed or adjusted.
9) Ideas should be introduced that reward foundation clubs for introducing new players to rugby and attracting players back into rugby.
10) The worth of foundation Clubs and the efforts of their volunteers should be supported in every way possible with the aim that every area in Scotland should has an accessible foundation Rugby Club.
3. If a fixture is not fulfilled (apart from weather etc.) the other team gets the points and the fixture is then considered fulfilled (not carried over).
This penalty is strengthened by bringing non fulfilled fixtures into whether a team is eligible to get promotion. For example if a team had two? unfulfilled fixtures in a season they would be ineligible for promotion. They can however still win the League but the highest team(s) that have fulfilled their fixtures are given the option of promotion.
Isle of Mull RFC / a) We take on board the concept that points should be gained on the playing field and not in the committee room however this approach has serious negative financial consequences to Clubs and players involved. Teams that miss a fixture through reasons other than weather are most probably struggling for numbers for one reason or another. Whether the fixture gets played on the second or third time of asking becomes a lottery. This Saturday we had a fixture called off by the league leaders for the third time. One of our players has taken three Saturdays off work. This has financial consequences for the young man involved. The loss of revenue the the Club is also well documented. Rearranging this type of unfulfilled fixture is a classic case of throwing good money after bad.
b) If a club is struggling for numbers no matter how good the players are at that Club the Club is probably unsuitable for promotion".
4. COMPOSITION OF THE REGIONAL LEAGUES.
Para 2.3: delete “,though normally comprising a maximum of 10 teams,”
Cumbernauld RFC / “For simplicity and to allow regional committees the flexibility to determine the size of lower leagues without there being a suggestion of size.”