A ruling to divide opinion

The argument for

Declan English, who is part of the Munster and Irish schools committee, is also head of rugby at Castletroy College — the school which originally proposed this new rule.

The rule would mean that in order to be eligible to play in the competition, ‘players must be in their second year at the school to play in this competition unless permitted otherwise by the Age Grade Committee’.

And he was eager to make it clear from the outset that the Munster committee have in no way acted wrongly in posing this motion.

“We are conducting our business as it should be. Like any democratic organisation, each school will have a vote and their say. Obviously the rule won’t suit all schools but it will most certainly benefit Munster schools rugby in the future.”

English says during his involvement with schools rugby over the past number of years, he has seen a growing number of young kids quitting the sport.

“The smaller schools cannot survive as a result of these alleged recruitment drives from schools around Munster. This has resulted in plenty of students walking away from the game at an early age because their schools simply cannot field a team. Munster is expanding while schools rugby is contracting.”

He goes on to say that students who have been enrolled in schools since first year are constantly losing out to the fresh faces that are introduced late in the senior cycle.

“I have a major issue with the way many disenfranchised parents and kids are currently being treated. We are continuously seeing new students being drafted into schools while a student who has been in the school and worked his way up, is told ‘sorry you can’t play — we’ve got someone else to join the school.’ It’s completely wrong.”

He argues that the smaller schools are putting just as much time and effort into the game but cannot compete with the larger schools who have more resources.

English admits that the ideas behind the rule have been greatly misunderstood in some quarters and strongly states: “There is a great misconception that we are trying to stop students playing Senior Cup rugby. This is not the case at all. There will be special commissions made for students with differing circumstances. It is important that people know that if the ruling does come in, it will not deny a student from moving schools.”

He firmly denied that kids from disadvantaged areas would be affected by the new rule and clarifies that every student will be given an opportunity to have his case heard by committee.

“If a student from a regeneration area in Limerick is looking to move school, I don’t see there being any problem in that. Any student that moves school and hasn’t been enrolled for over a full school year will go through the appeals process and will be dealt with accordingly.”

He also points to the struggling club game at U19 level in Munster, which he says is a direct result from schools players walking away from the game.

He states that if this rule is introduced, it would keep all students involved in the game while he also says developments have been made to introduce more ‘B’ competitions at all schools levels.

“There are seconds teams in most schools. We are working to keep everyone involved. If a player moves schools and hasn’t been enrolled for over a schools year, there is no problem in him playing in the Barry Cup — which has been reconstructed this year to make it a more attractive competition. We have also introduced new first and second year competitions in the hope of expanding the game.”

Mr English firmly believes that the proposed rule will greatly benefit both Munster schools and Munster rugby — he has little doubt that it will be passed at next month’s AGM.

“It’s been unanimously approved at Branch level with seemingly three schools still against it. As far as I’m concerned the rule will be put in place after next month’s AGM.”

The argument against

One school that are strongly against the proposed motion is Limerick’s, St Munchin’s College. Their principal Dave Quilter spoke about his anger at how the rule was first brought to light.

“We are very annoyed at the way the proposed rule was parachuted in last summer when schools were closed down. We had no input into it and the Munster schools certainly didn’t meet about it.”

Quilter argues that the ban would effectively deny parents their “constitutional right to decide where their son is educated.”

Plenty of his anger is aimed at the Munster Age Grade Committee whom he feels failed to provide adequate support and guidance before the motion was put forward.

“We were very disappointed with how they went about it. It was under-handed and there was a serious lack of communication on their part. It took us months to get a meeting with the Munster Branch to give our point of view. While it also just so happens that the two representatives on the Age Grade Committee are from one side of the delegation.”

The rule would allow some students to be exempt but he feels the Munster Branch are in no position to judge who should and shouldn’t be made an exception.

“Who are the Munster Branch to tell us that one student deserves to play rugby and another doesn’t? There is no expert there who is qualified to judge who can’t play schools rugby. The whole rule is totally unworkable.”

He also feels that should the rule be passed by the Branch, it would seriously harm the future of rugby in this country.

“No matter which way you look at it (the rule), it is to the detriment of Munster and Irish rugby. There are a number of players on both current sides who didn’t start their education in A schools which meant they had to move to play rugby.”

One such player is Munster and Ireland’s Donnacha Ryan.

Ryan, who moved from Nenagh CBS to St Munchins College in sixth year back in 2001, says that if the rule is introduced, Munster would miss out on plenty of country based players.

“From my experience, rugby players from the country are late developers — both physically andmentally. I think the rule would mean that Munster would miss out on these guys.”

He spoke about how he would have been denied the opportunity to play rugby had this rule been in place during his school days.

“I moved schools because I was overage for the Munster Youths and Nenagh didn’t have an U20s team. You get more games in schools rugby, at least twice a week so in that sense it was hugely beneficial in getting me where I am today.”

Mr Quilter echoed Ryan’s sentiments by noting only one club in Limerick has an U19 team and argues; “that if a student is denied playing Senior Cup rugby, he really has no rugby to play at all.”

Tony Smith, who was recently elected chairman of the Munster Schools Committee, has also voiced his opinion against the rule. Mr Smith feels that Munster is small enough without putting limits on schools players. He points to the recent Irish U18s squad that travelled to France and the fact that just two of the 26 players were from Munster schools.

Quilter firmly believes that schools are acting under double-standards and feels that you cannot have one rule for rugby and a different rule for other sports.

“There are certain schools who are supporting this ban, yet are actively involved in encouraging students to join their school to play Harty Cup hurling. It’s completely hypocritical.”

He is adamant that the rule would stop his school from helping students from Limerick’s regeneration areas.

“It’s not as simple as saying ‘school is just for education’. We have to strike the right balance and that is our main aim. One particular student who was expelled from another school in Limerick, joined us and he most certainly would have not survived two years of the senior cycle without having the distraction of rugby. He has since made the Munster U19s squad.”