What do the shaded areas of the Player Pathway diagram represent?

There are two shaded areas on the Player Pathway. These represent flexibility on age bands for RPDCs and National Academies. For RPDCs, players over the age of 14 could access the programme but wouldn’t be eligible for an RPDC subsidy. In exceptional circumstances a player may be selected to attend a National Academy from age 11 in which case their programme would still be subsidised the same as all other players on the programme.