North Brisbane Junior Eagles news

I was asked last week: What makes a good junior rugby club? It was not something I have had to think about in the rush to survive this year. So my response here is open to challenge. Good rugby clubs seem to me to draw their life blood from three areas: committed players and coaches with an agreed approach to coaching a distinguishable brand of rugby; a healthy climate around the club; and good organisational support structures with quality leadership and management.

Commitment is something enduring and consistent. It is about constantly sending the message about working together in the true spirit of the game; about playing an agreed brand of rugby which distinguishes the club from the other 26 in the competition; and about coaches who are knowledgeable and constantly learning and analysing the game. Commitment is not the same as attitude. My image of attitude is the sweet crunch that a pack of forwards make when they hear the word ‘engage’; or when a back makes a last desperate attempt to stop an opponent crossing the try line (sorry, but I have to mention that other code of rugby with its Billy Slater stopping what would normally be a sure try).

A healthy climate is about a feeling good, about social networking among young people and parent members. It’s the social glue which holds members together; and it’s about volunteering one’s services and support when needed - the simple but often demanding things if left to one person: helping to set up fields on games days, serving in the canteen, being a linesman or a marshall, and a host of other important tasks.

And lastly, there is leadership and management. It doesn’t take an election or appointment to a position on a Management Committee to be a leader; everyone in the club needs to and can be a leader. Within the organisation of the club in 2010 the twelve members of your Management Committee (nothing too serious should be read into the number twelve) have scoured its registration lists, slashed unnecessary costs, proposed changes in its organisational structures and reorganised its financial procedures.

The above three elements make up what we might call ‘club culture’. If they don’t work sweetly together then a club loses its ’soul’. Come along to our Annual General Meeting on the 19th November (to be confirmed) to hear how Community Rugby at Norths Junior Eagles has been rejuvenated in 2010; and how you might participate in exciting new developments in 2011.

On the weekend I attended a number of games: the U16s at Kenmore and the U17s at Sunnybank.

The games were an experience in contrasts. Our U16s were made up of twelve U15 players who because of the struggle during the season to maintain numbers have played on in Div 3 of the post season U16 comp.

Unfortunately, the promised 8 players from Brothers who were to bolster our numbers did not show and we were again left short in numbers. Despite this, the young men in the team took to the field on and played in the true spirit of North’s Rugby players against a stronger opposition. Warm congratulations to them and their coach and manager.

The second (U17) game was quite different. The attitude was the same but there 23 players taking the field some of whom have been selected in the Australian Schoolboys team; and many others about to be propelled into the BJRU representative team to play in the State Championships in late September. Confronted by our star studded team, the opposition (Easts) were well short of points and the game finished with a score line of 42-5.

The common denominator in each game seems to have been the willingness of these young men to work together as a team; to play for each other; to take pride in their jersey colours not matter what the challenges; and to enjoy the game while playing according to their abilities. They can be the backbone of a rejuvenated North Brisbane Rugby Club in the next three to five years. The Juniors are committed to the new entity which will allow smooth transition from Juniors to Seniors teams.

We are fast coming to the end of a competition season for the players, not the Juniors Management Committee. I am looking forward to reporting in full about the work of twelve hard working committee members and the progress we have made in 2010 as platform for spring boarding into the 2011 season.

Best wishes, Leo

Leo Bartlett
President, NBJRC