London Scottish teams up with Scottish Rugby

[LSFC C49]

I don't think anyone was suggesting that London Scottish Football Club would cease to support and develop young English players, or any other nations come to that if they wish to play for LS at the Athletic ground. I think/hope the same would be said at any Championship club with a thriving academy and amateur sides. All GKIPA Championship sides, Scottish, Welsh and Irish included, must field a minimum of 16? EQP's in their 1stXIV match day squads to qualify for the RFU's annual funding of £500K+ every year until at least 2020. That money might not be so important to Irish, but it bloody well is to every other team in the Champ. I'm sure LS will continue their relationships with Prem clubs to take players on dual registration and give them game time.

 

[RedruthRFC]

I don't think anyone was suggesting that London Scottish Football Club would cease to support and develop young English players, or any other nations come to that if they wish to play for LS at the Athletic ground. I think/hope the same would be said at any Championship club with a thriving academy and amateur sides. All GKIPA Championship sides, Scottish, Welsh and Irish included, must field a minimum of 16? EQP's in their 1stXIV match day squads to qualify for the RFU's annual funding of £500K+ every year until at least 2020. That money might not be so important to Irish, but it bloody well is to every other team in the Champ. I'm sure LS will continue their relationships with Prem clubs to take players on dual registration and give them game time.

As far as I know, only a portion of the central funding is contingent on teams fielding a monthly average of 16 EQPs.

Now that the SRU deal has fallen through, I don't doubt that LS will be hoping to take as much advantage as possible of DR / loan players. Had it been in place, they would have already have been trying to crowbar 10 players into the 4 available spaces in their match day squad (in hindsight, the originally touted 15 would have been a ridiculously high number), how on earth could they have given game time to AP players as well (AFAIK other than one DR, which would have increased the cap by one)? That is unless the players in question were de-registered from their primary club / union and registered to LS, which is the sort of gaming of the system I referred to above and would make a mockery of developing Scottish talent.

 

[Peat]

In fairness, I imagine the SRU and London Scottish would have gamed the system by using plenty of EQ Scots.

I do think it's a shame this has fallen through, particularly at this moment when LI won't be farming out Championship standard prospects anyway. There's some risks involved for English talent development but the pros outweigh the cons.

I do wonder at what point though people try to reform the system to ensure a better pathway for youngsters.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

Never really understood why we were funding London Scottish anyway.

Like mentioned already the SRU doesn't even have alot off money as it is never mind trying to fund a team down south. Still think having a third professional club in Scotland is the best way right now to help young players develop.

 

[RedruthRFC]

In fairness, I imagine the SRU and London Scottish would have gamed the system by using plenty of EQ Scots.

This would have helped meet the 16 EQP quota, but wouldn't have helped them to cram 10 Scottish loan players plus possible AP loans / DRs into a match day squad.

I do wonder at what point though people try to reform the system to ensure a better pathway for youngsters.

When all the clubs simultaneously, spontaneously combust! Maybe I'm being cynical, but the clubs hold so much power that I just can't see any meaningful changes happening. Don't get me wrong, I think there is plenty that could be done better, but I just can't see it happening. If you could wave a magic wand, something pretty close to the NZ system would be ideal IMO.

 

[Peat]

Oh, there's a limit on the number of loans/DRs?

edit: And improving the pathway for youngsters is good for the clubs too; possibly better for them than England tbh.

 

[RedruthRFC]

Oh, there's a limit on the number of loans/DRs?

While part of The Championship's raison d'etre is being a development tool, there is also the competitive integrity of the league itself to be maintained. With this in mind, I'm pretty sure that this regulation applies to The Championship:

13.4.4 Loan & England Academy Players

A Club may not play or select as a replacement or substitute in a Match more than four players from another club of which no more than three shall be Loan Players and the others (up to the maximum of four) must be England Academy Players under the age of 24 as at 1 September 2015.

 

[welshglory]

I think a prerequisite should be to impliment academy structures for Championship clubs. Its wrong for example that Bedford are struggling so much when they are they the only clubs that runs their own academy without assistance from the RFU, they should be given financial rewards for that.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

I think a prerequisite should be to impliment academy structures for Championship clubs. Its wrong for example that Bedford are struggling so much when they are they the only clubs that runs their own academy without assistance from the RFU, they should be given financial rewards for that.

Don't Nottingham now have an Academy. (they have quite a few sponsors for it).

Agree RE Bristol.

 

[welshglory]

Yeah my mistake there, seems a few others like London Scottish as well. Should be financially incentivised by the RFU to invest in it though.

 

[Peat]

Should, but look at it from the RFU's point of view - they're already pumping a lot of money into the Premiership academies and they're going to snag all the best players. Bedford produced three England U20 players - Jamie Elliot, Josh Bassett, Aaron Morris. I think Bassett is the only one of them who did a full pro season for the club, the others moved before that happened.

So why spread the money more thinly when the lads are going to move, instead of concentrating it a few big centres?

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Should, but look at it from the RFU's point of view - they're already pumping a lot of money into the Premiership academies and they're going to snag all the best players. Bedford produced three England U20 players - Jamie Elliot, Josh Bassett, Aaron Morris. I think Bassett is the only one of them who did a full pro season for the club, the others moved before that happened.

So why spread the money more thinly when the lads are going to move, instead of concentrating it a few big centres?

Should be compensation for a club if a player leaves an academy for another academy before 20 IMO, Say even just 20,000/30,000 a player signing fee.

 

[Peat]

Should be compensation for a club if a player leaves an academy for another academy before 20 IMO, Say even just 20,000/30,000 a player signing fee.

Again, should be, but do the RFU want to block players moving to the big clubs?

At least watching the Premiership clubs stealing from each other might prompt PRL to push something through.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Again, should be, but do the RFU want to block players moving to the big clubs?

At least watching the Premiership clubs stealing from each other might prompt PRL to push something through.

Yeh hoping that the Wasps starting to muscle in on territory and players will lead to a big change up in he academy system.

also hope that more championship teams get included in the U18 league.

 

[j'nuh]

Ultimately, the Championship teams need feeders, so Championship academies aren't going away. Losing a handful of players each year to the Premiership clubs shouldn't be seen as a particularly big loss in the context of what the academies are there for.

I really don't like the idea of monetising the transfers of youngsters though. I think we should be putting the academy players before the clubs in this instance. If the academy player thinks their progression would be better done elsewhere, or if the youngster needs to move for family reasons, then they should have that freedom IMO.

Ringfence the Premiership to 14 teams. Focus resources there. And encourage more loaning out of unused players to the Championship.

 

[Peat]

Bedford's squad of 23 features two guys who've spent time in their academy as far as I can tell. There's definitely more than that in the Premiership. And Bedford have definitely produced more U20 players than any other non-RFU academy club, so we're definitely talking one of the stronger youth producers.

Why create players if you can get nigh-everything you need elsewhere and the best of what you make is for someone else?

 

[LSFC C49]

Can't be arsed to post it fully, mainly because the statement makes me cringe, but a somewhat reduced SRU/LSFC deal is back on for what appears to be academy players. Announced on the LSFC website, but can't find it on the SRU's. Read the full posting on www.londonscottish.com

Update, statements now on both websites and the BBC's

 

[LSFC C49]

Scottish seem to have removed the last statement from their website, but I love this take on the whole affair by The Scribbler on Twitter

The Scribbler 16th​ June, 2016
Twitter: @RugbyScribbler

London Scottish and the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) have put their differences aside and rekindled their relationship it has been confirmed today. The main reason is thought to be for the good of their children.

At the start of the year the SRU took the executive decision to settle down and try and raise a family of their own, choosing to tie the knot with London Scottish (LS).

When citing reasons and official SRU spokesperson had this to say "We think London Scottish are the way forward really. Having explored all avenues, we feel like LS is the best place to rear our young. Richmond is a lovely community with lots of parks and play grounds for our next generation of Scottish players to take advantage of"

However, the relationship hit the rocks when SRU officials Google searched 'Sean Lamont', only to find his oiled up, naked body on display. This threw a phallic, Sean Lamont shaped spanner into the works and even caused the SRU to send a hitman onto fellow winger (unconfirmed) Tim Visser, who 'sadly' suffered a hamstring injury, giving Lamont a call up to the senior side, thus proving the SRU need not invest in 'youth' players. Although not drawing blood, the hamstring injury was enough for SRU and many thought that was the end of the short SRU/LS affair.

That was, until today when the SRU has ripped up the divorce papers (and hundreds of posters of Sean Lamont's naked body) and re-ignited the love with London Scottish.

In unconfirmed reports it is said that over a candle lit dinner, the SRU and LS ironed out their differences and jumped back into bed together, but deciding this time to only have eight children, as opposed to the originally agreed fourteen.

We contacted LS for comment and they told us "We're really glad the SRU chose us. Despite Sean Lamont initially convincing them that he would be good for another 200 caps, played anywhere on the pitch, the SRU finally came to their senses. Oh and sorry for making up lies about the SRU, everything is our fault, they are perfect and we aren't. I was not told to say any of that by Mark Dodson".

(No offence intended- It's great to hear the SRU and LS have sorted things and love him or hate him, Sean Lamont is a true servant to Scottish Rugby and deserves all the credit he gets)