Is there a reason why the future looks bleak?

Not enough kids wanting to play rugby at the moment.

How sad.

The union set up is far superior and attractive to parents and children.

the Keighley Albion split has not helped - taking away different age groups and splitting resources. There is not room for two junior rugby teams in Keighley.

the cougar cubs need to start again with 6 and 7 year olds who get hooked and stay together to work their way through each age group.
there is also a need for fresh recruits to coach and generally help out.

I beleive there are kids wanting to play rugby but we need to find them and then have somewhere they can and want to play.

My son has wanted to play rugby for ages.Once he turned 5 I promised to find him a club to train with. He now plays for Keighley RUFC. We went on the recommendation of a friend. My son loves it. The set up and support network is great. It is run very well. The club runs it, not the parents so no back biting, no nonsense of my child is better than yours, or I am more important than you - or your face does not fit. Unlike a few other set ups that I have been to before. We dont like union, I cant watch it at any level, but under 7's play tag. They have a game every other week, and train when not playing. There is a huge pool that they play against so the kids at this level are aplenty, if you look in the right areas. So far my son has played against Baildon, Ilkley, Upper Wharfdale, Otley, Ben Riding and a few other teams. This Sunday they are in a tournament, there are 7 under 7 teams all playing tag. People need to look into this as rugby, and children that want to play - whether its league or union, they could do 6 months each. It really needs looking into, properly we could learn alot from the union club.