Saturday 4th April Team Selections! President’s Message
Beecroft Rugby Club is please to announce the following;
For this weekends games please click on the following link ROUND 1 SELECTIONS
Also, many of you would have received an email outlining a change to our lower grade structure. For those who haven’t seen it please read below.
President’s Message – Grading and Team Selections
Gentleman,
I thought I would give you an important update on what’s happening with the grades as I am sure a few of you have some concerns. Now there will be some new changes to the way some of the lower grades are structured post Sundays Grading Day announcements. Let me firstly explain the issues and then explain the proposed solution so you can have a clear understanding and we as a club are all on the same page. I will try and keep it simple. Please take your time to read it.
One of our policies at the Croft has always been that everyone gets a run. This will not change. The first division competition we compete in states we need to field 6 teams every week. No more no less. The Beecroft Rugby Club can do this easily, in fact we can boast we have enough for 9 teams, including the under 85kg side. To put it into perspective we are now one of the biggest rugby clubs in existence, in fact I don’t know any other clubs anywhere or at any level that can boast that many senior players or sides.
Hence this is where the problem lies. With the 45 Colts that have been turning up week after week we decided, early on in the piece, to create obviously a Colts side and the rest would flow into and create the recently announced 5th grade squad. We did this to ensure Colts and their other Colt mates can stick together and also because the older age grade players hadn’t turned up. We made that decision with the players that were in front of us. Last minute we have had a massive influx of grade players and this has caused the issue. Colts be clear you are the future of this great Rugby Club and we want you to remain as a part of this great Club. Hence we have decided on the following.
Our Club goal in 2009 is to take the 1st Division Club Championship, make no mistake. Now if that’s true then we as a Club need to field the best teams all the way down to 5th grade and including Colts. The solution we have come up with is as follows:
- Those Colt players that were originally named as the 5th grade squad will now be entered as a 2nd Colts side. Known as Beecroft Colts 2nd’s
- Those over age grade players named in 6th grade will automatically move into the 5th grade squad.
- Those over age players who were named in the “train on” squad will now become the 6th grade squad.
As you can see everyone now gets a run.
For those playing 6th grade please be aware, like last year, you may have to play some of your games away when the rest of the Club plays at home. We will do our best to keep us all together.
So you’re all clear selections for grades commenced on the 28th of January at pre-season training. Now with so many players naturally some of you aren’t in the grades you think you should be in. Your ability also says you should be in a higher grade, we agree, if you feel that’s the case, go out there and prove it to us on the paddock but remember keep the talk positive.
The sides announced at Sunday’s Grading day are for round one only and with the amount of talent we have everyone is under pressure to keep their spot. This is a good problem to have. Also most of you will remember last year we had 37 players unavailable by half way through the season. That’s enough to field 2.5 teams. Your position and grade will no doubt change over the season. Its just what happens. So please stay positive, we are trying to do the right thing by everyone.
I hope this has given you a quick understanding of some of the issues the Committee and Coaching staff have faced over the last few days and weeks in trying to sort this out. All I ask for is your patience as we try to accommodate everyone and we do apologise if you felt left out but it wasn’t till Sunday’s Grading day when we finally found out exactly how many players we had.
Please click on the following link to view the new teams list – beecroftrugby.com
If you are unavailable please advise Gregg Levett ASAP on 0418 449 905.
Looking forward to seeing you all in what promises to be a massive 2009, on and off the paddock.
If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to call me or send me an email.
Howard Baynie
President
Beecroft Rugby Club
Ph. 0411 676 253