Do We Really Care?

If you were a company wouldn’t you be vaguely interested in such a team? I bet you would, except no one is because these are Juniors and Intermediates – the future of our sport!

The team in question is the Three Counties Junior Angling Association (currently residing under the name of Peatmoor Juniors). Based around Swindon it draws on the talent from Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and the Oxford/Berks area. Membership is free! The only commitment is to act responsibly and enjoy the fishing.

Thousands of juniors have gone through the ranks of the organisation and have progressed into senior circles – take a look at Ian Didcott of Essex VDE – he’s one of our ‘old boys’ who openly acknowledges the grounding the Three Counties gave him.

And he still comes back to help the up and coming juniors.

All of this has been achieved with little in the way of financial backing – parents have twisted arms of business contacts to get things like tee-shirts, or a loan of a van, a school ‘lends’ their minibus, a tackle shop gives cut price bait for the national events.

It is no surprise that things are getting tougher when you are regularly up against the likes of Warrington or Barnsley on waters you have never seen and have no funds for practices. Networks of contacts are relied upon to get them up to the minute information for the team’s plan to be formulated. However, all the hassle and financial worry is worth it when the lads and lasses do the business.

The largest participant sport is angling, therefore logically it is the hardest to get to the top as there are more participants in the way. Yet, firms are more willing to sponsor a junior football team that will perhaps win only one or two games a year rather than a successful angling team. Similarly the tackle trade is just not interested -they would rather sponsor adult match groups who will fish in a specified location and frame in matches of about 15-30 anglers where most junior competitions are twice as big. Moreover the juniors have more disposable income and are their lifeblood for the future, so why ignore them? The better companies actually acknowledge the portfolio they are sent, many never even bother to do that. It gives a very clear but sad message.

The Three Counties JAA believes that the juniors do matter and if our sport is to survive then we have a responsibility not only to make them better anglers but also instil in them the respect for the environment and for others that is so sadly lacking these days. It would just be so much easier with some help!

Details of the organisation and its achievements can be viewed at 3Counties.homestead.com.