RFU confirm plans for NCA Cup competition

I would be surprised if any take place as that would mean players coming in for a version of preseason to play in friendly fixtures. I would have thought it will all be binned and into preseason in July matches in August for September start as by that time according to government roadmap every adult will be vaccinated.

The NCA meetings this week confirmed that Clubs can play friendly matches in any of the summer months, if they choose to. 

Scrumtime wrote: Not a surprise  But that’s it for 20/21 See you in Sept, if we are lucky  UPDATE: We are disappointed to announce that there will be no official competitive rugby for the semi-professional game this season, after the NCA agreed to cancel the proposed Cup competition. More here: ncarugby.com/announcements

At last some realism, sad as it may be.

Monkey Boy wrote: Halliford wrote: That’s rubbish, Monkey Boy! What some of us have been trying to do is to find positives. You can sit in your Ivory tower and moan but some of us have Clubs to run and players to listen to. Many of them have wanted to play when possible! It may not now be possible but it has always been worth trying. We are having to live with a Government that has signally failed to manage this pandemic and left us all at the mercy of others while offering nothing but platitudes. There were positive periods in the autumn and there will be in the spring. Let’s take advantage of them and be positive about the outlook for the Ckubs we run. It’s far from rubbish.  A good dose of realism has been required through all of this. Maybe letting the players know that it wasn’t happening would have meant taking a more authoritative approach and they would have approached other things in life a bit better. There’s a strong possibility that rugby doesn’t take place in 2021 and that’s something that people must prepare for

Taking a balanced view, I always thought the Cup idea would be a non-starter, I believe Rugby will start as usual in September.

Reasons,

1) by then everyone over the age of 50 should be fully vaccinated so crowds should be ok,
2) the numbers of people catching the virus will therefore have reduced dramatically (a lot of younger people will already have had it)
3) there will be a surge in opinion to get back to normal (may still require masks on public transport as a precaution - but that may be here for a few years, similar to the Far East)

Thatbloke wrote: It's one thing being positive, another being in dreamland. Just because I am opposed to a start up doesn't mean I think any less about rugby. For those seeming to question my pedigree, as a player I was 1st XV captain at two seperate clubs and was still playing first team rugby at the age of 41. I have since served as Secretary, Director of Rugby, Committee member and am still heavily involved. In short, rugby has been my life very often to the detriment of my work and my family so please don't patronise me by telling me how hard it is to run a club. Been there, done/doing that, got the tee shirt!

Islander ...... probably because they are realists not idealists. 

That’s rubbish, Monkey Boy! What some of us have been trying to do is to find positives. You can sit in your Ivory tower and moan but some of us have Clubs to run and players to listen to. Many of them have wanted to play when possible! It may not now be possible but it has always been worth trying. We are having to live with a Government that has signally failed to manage this pandemic and left us all at the mercy of others while offering nothing but platitudes. There were positive periods in the autumn and there will be in the spring. Let’s take advantage of them and be positive about the outlook for the Ckubs we run.

No shock/horror from me Puli - absolutely agree - the only possible disparity from my point of view is that Professional/elite sport should also be shut down. The idea that all this testing, playing a full game of contact sport then sitting in the stand with a mask on once substituted will halt the spread of the virus is laughable. Oh yes and we can now add to that no celebrating tries or after match handshakes - futile. There's no such thing as "safe" anymore! 

Yes like so many others I miss my weekly visits to watch a local rugby match.

Edited by Puli. - 09 Jan 2021 at 15:42

I think worker bee was joking but it still does raise important issues. Don’t forget we still do not know if the vaccine prevents infection or symptoms. If the latter then those vaccinated will still be capable of being infected and transmitting to others. Being symptom free means they are less likely to realise they are doing that.