After coaching my son since he started playing when he was 5, this year he may not be able to play.
Last year he played U14, this year he moves to U16...he is unsure if he wants to play given the size of some kids he will be coming up against, plus, we may not even have team at our club for that grade.
5 of the smaller kids have indicated they will stay in U14 (they are U60 kg so can without dispensation)
So in the Whangarei comp last year, we started with 8 teams in U14, one team bailed halfway through as they were getting beaten by 80+ each week.
They won't have a team this year, we probably won't, so likely 6 teams in U16 this year in Whangarei comp.
So that's >30 kids who played rugby last year, not playing this year...without looking at the Far North comp that had 4 teams play one another for 16 weeks or so...