As this sports crazy nation evolves into gearing themselves bigger and better to deliver sports in every sphere, they are digging deep to find ways to produce more proficient teams.
While supplements, and doping play a big part, the latest mal-practice is, poaching. There were serious brick-bats thrown at this site for bringing the subject up some years ago and now we take a more pragmatic view.
School sports in particular has gathered momentum and has reached a all new high over the last couple of years due to the exposure given in the media, passion of sports persons, involvement of sponsors and families and simple adrenaline of men.
Before, schools sportsmen and women took part in sports as a hobby, a means of recreation or even relaxation. However the human mind has evolved into such a competitive stance that sport, competing and winning at any costs seems the order of the day. Practicing skills more precisely, dragging themselves beyond limits of endurance and delivering the unfathomable is common place.
Of course the ‘win at any cost or some cost’ naturally brings in unwholesome and sometimes unethical practices that has become such a norm that society stops seeing the ugly side of it.
Interschool rugby has become one of the top spectator sports in the country, with school passion riding high, boys and men all in on singular-minded course for titles, cups and championships. No effort, it seems is spared to give the’boys’ the best. Full time foreign coaches, extended coaching staff, and finally talent spotting for potential players to fill in spaces in their existing line ups. The game that was played between schools to build men and mettle has turned in to a conquest and all player inadequacies in a line up are supplemented with scouts searching for replacements from the lesser rugby playing schools.
It was recently reported that, a well reputed school in the hill capital has taken a player from a lesser known school from the lower division for the upcoming 2013 rugby season. Not only is the player a key figure in the former school but he also happens to be 17 years of age making him eligible to play for the next two seasons.
The coach of the said lower division team who was devastated at the entire school’s carefully laid out plans which centered around this player were dismantled, contacted ThePapare and had this to say, “We have an extremely capable side this year and our main aim is to go in to the ‘A’ division next year. The pre-season training has gone off smoothly and we were confident of making an impact this year especially in the sevens arena. After this incident we need to re-think our strategies going forward. We’re not a school with a lot of resources therefore we rely heavily on the individual players to make an impact and take the school name forward”.
It can be argued that such transfers augurs well for the sport and spots and nurtures talent, preparing players for the national grid that may otherwise have not been unearthed. However on the other hand an entire school, players and families stand devastated and these lesser schools will continue to be denied their right to come into the big league.
There are two‘ schools of thought’ and this much talked about and debated topic, “player transfers” has come up numerous times in the local media. Should a law be laid down protecting these schools or should events take its course and talent be spotted and harnessed?
ThePapare.com as always opens the debate out to its forum. Over to you guys
