Re: Pyramids (was: The Structure of the English Competition)

DC wrote:

> The Green Phantom wrote:
> > Ian Diddams wrote:
> >
> > [...]
> >
> ...
> > You can take any level you like and it will contain at least one or two
> > players who want to take it further.  At the lowest levels there will be
> > someone with a turn of speed who feels that he should get into the first
> > team and makes his effort to get there - thereby displacing someone less
> > ambitious.  In the first team there are players who think that the team in
> > the next town is pretty cool and furthermore they are close to the top of
> > the league whereas their own team is near the bottom - it's probably
> > because they have better players/coach/sponsors/etc so he will make an
> > attempt to get into their team.
>
> But if a good player suddenly appears out of the blue in London Div 1,
> how long before that player can appear for England? Would they have to
> be scouted and *signed* by a London based ZP team directly, or for a
> London based Nat Div team?  Or is this question just too hypothetical
> and theoretical to have any meaning? Or perhaps only at age-group level?
>
> (Does English club rugby have a "transfer window" as in football, or can
> a player move upwards -- or be loaned upwards -- to the next level
> without encountering such bureacratic issues?  Don't some ZP clubs
> already have de-facto feeder pyramid arrangement with junior clubs?)
>
> *In the past" it has happened (AFAIK) that a player playing for a
> Western Province based club one week, could be selected for the Western
> Province Currie Cup team a week later, and South Africa a week later.
>
> Obviously using South Africa as an example doesn't prove much any more
> today, but I'm using the example as a description of a "true" pyramid
> with a natural flow and formalised upwards selection and filtering --
> not just the chance of a scout seeing someone play. (*)
>
>

The answer to that is there is not really a formal system.  It is the archetypal
laissez-faire English way of doing things.  The best migrate to the top somehow
or other.  Poaching to you!  The likelihood of a true English qualified player
*these days* coming through from a third or fourth tier Club in say, half a
season, to make an appearance in the 6N is nil.  However, in the
paraprofessional era it happened quite regularly.  Peter Winterbottom played for
Headingly, Yorkshire, The North, England and the Lions in the space of about the
first six months of 1983.  Wade Dooley followed a similar route from Preston
Grasshoppers circa 1995.  Dewi Morris was spotted playing for Lymm, next
Liverpool St. Helens, The North and England in 1988.  The last two beat the
touring Wallabies.  It did happen, and quite often - and for most of the 5N.  A
good performance, especially by a back, in the Oxford vs. Cambridge Varsity game
- and you could get your first cap the next month.  I'm sure there are many more
examples from that era.




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