‘Mini-Footy’ rules for little league players

Press, 9 December 1983, Page 12

‘Mini-Footy’ rules for little league players

“Mini-Footy,” a variation of rugby league developed to increase the involvement and hone the skills of the code’s youngest participants, will be introduced by the Canterbury schoolboys board of control next season.

An Australian concept, “Mini-Footy” has proved to be extremely popular with players and parents across the Tasman for the last two years. In Canterbury it will be adopted for what are currently the 8 years and 9 years grades.

“We now have three sections in the 8 years, with the youngest players grouped in one division. If there are sufficient entries we could have a separate grade for the seven-year-olds,” said the chairman of the schoolboys board, Brian Evans.

“The object of ‘MiniFooty’ is fb teach children

the fundamentals and promote the sport. The rule changes make it a less aggressive game around the play-the-balls, and increase its attraction to parents” he said.

Graham Lowe, the national director of coaching, has supported the use of “Mini-Fodty” rules in the lower grades, and Canterbury is one of the first provinces to introduce them. Teams have 12 players, with eight on the field at any time — but all 12 must participate for 10 of the 20min duration of a match.

The scoring system is designed to teach team-work. A try scored after two passes or fewer counts three points; five points are awarded for tries that result from more than two passes. Kicks at goal — dropped or placed — can be taken only as conversions and fye

worth two points, but attempts must be taken in rotation of players. All kicks are from in front of the posts. Although there is no limit to the number of tackles that a team may retain possession, it has to relinquish the ball to the opposition if less than two passes are made during three consecutive movements. Similarly, if a dummy-half (at a play-the-ball) or scrum-half chooses to run and is caught he must hand the ball over. Sides consist of three forwards, a half-back, and four other backs. The sport is “mini” in other aspects, too — fields measure 70m by 30m, the height of the crossbar is just 2m, and the specially-designed balls are smaller than those usually used in schoolboy grades in New Zealand.