A re-structure of Group 19 junior rugby league has caused debate among clubs and the sport's governing body.
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The new strategy, proposed by NSW Rugby League, will see the Group divided into three clusters - northern, western and southern - with the younger 6 to 12-year-old age groups playing in gala day-style competitions among themselves.
Group 19 clubs informed Australian Community Media they are concerned with the international age groups being segregated from the younger age groups, particularly if the under 14s through to under 16s are playing in a different location to under 12s.
One club reported to ACM "it is going to split up families and mean more travel for everyone."
"The biggest issue is, from my point of view, we are going to lose club culture that we have worked so hard to get," they said.
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Another club backed up this concern and cited a problem for parents who have children in both the younger 'clustered' age groups as well as older, international players.
But when questioned about the potential "splitting of clubs" NSWRL chief executive officer David Trodden said that is not the case.
"For every new strategy you introduce, there may be other issues that arise," he said.
"One of the things that you suggested was families being split up on occasions.
"Once we re-stimulate participation, maybe the question of tweaking clusters so families are not split up, maybe that shouldn't be beyond the imagination of some clever administrators.
The clubs who contacted Australian Community Media insisted they had spoken with Group 19 president Kate McCulloch and NSWRL league and club support coordinator Harrison Hunter regarding their concerns.
They stated they were told they would be bringing the game into disrepute if they spoke out against the proposed structures and there is no changing what has been put in place.
But Trodden quashed that.
"If the strategy needs adjustment because of local circumstances, in particular there might be difficulties with appropriate numbers in the cluster, then naturally we adjust the strategy," he said.
"It makes no sense to pursue a strategy that is an impediment to participation rather than a stimulus to participation.
"Clearly if the thing is is not going to stimulate participation because the climate is not there in that particular circumstance for it to happen, then we won't be doing it.
"We won't be setting people up to fail as opposed to setting them to succeed."
NSW Rugby League have assured concerned parties within the Group 19 junior rugby league system they are doing their best to address concerns about the competition's structural over hall.
The "potential" clusters which have been earmarked will see Glen Innes, Inverell and Ashford in the northern cluster, Moree, Warialda and Bingara in western and Armidale, Guyra and Uralla in the southern.
Trodden said the reasoning behind the cluster is based around distance and travel time.
"One of the things that has worked really well in other areas of the state in order to address those issues, in the younger ages at least, is playing games in clusters so you limit travel," he said.
"By limiting travel, you incentivise participation."
In recent seasons, international age groups for boys have struggled to maintain numbers with a large number of clubs unable to field teams.
Larger clubs have consistently had players in the older age groups.
Those larger clubs are now fearing if they are put into cluster situations where only two clubs can field teams they will be potentially facing each other on a regular basis.
Trodden insisted that is not the case.
"If it was ultimately the case, that a cluster was one team or two teams, you wouldn't have a cluster so we would have to find a way of addressing that problem," he said.
"If you are playing the same team every week, that is not going to stimulate participation.
"We are about stimulating participation.
"If it turned out they [a club in a cluster] didn't have a team, we would come up with another strategy to address that."
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