It has always struck me as odd that priests from Ireland would have their schools play an English game, league has always struck me as a much more irish game to play.

By Irish i mean far more working class ( Sydney working class)- maybe as australians of irish ancestry worked their way up in wealth and education and intergrated with non-catholics etc they took on English games, and if their colleges could play a game against the best grammar schools and win …. prestige was theirs.

Of course i have always associated aussie rules as a more predominatly catholic game but i dont think this is the case australia wide but growing up in Canberra aussie rules was mainly played by kids from catholic schools as was rugby leaving government schools to league.

BTW i do remember a convo we had about irish influence in aussie rules and specifically about catholic clubs such as Collingwood, Richmond etc, i had a bit of a read and found there was a hurling club around the 1880s that operated out of Collingwood so the irish influence their goes back a long way, possibly a lot longer than i thought.

I have evidenced this by highlighting the shrinking number of players from the ACT with Aust Schools representative honors over the past five years or more. This is fairly compelling in showing the shrinking of quality and numbers from the once strong Union heartland as well as a continued reliance on the code in the region on these two nurseries, St Eddies and Marist Bros for their GR’s despite a decade of the Brumby’s being in Canberra. These two schools are entering less teams each season as are junior clubs across the ACT from what I have been told by parents who are involved in the game at that level.

Does this not ring warning bells for you Brett?

I can’t vouch for the rest of the country but the non Union demos are going through a honeymoon period I expect, showing small growth but overall Union is not travelling well here in Oz and a Victorian presence aint’t gonna change that one iota.

Alot of Kiwi names in your Vic honour board list mate. i wonder how many of them learnt their trade in Melbourne. I reckon all those blokes were of PI or Kiwi heritage with a dad and mum who gifted them the rudiments through their DNA.

Your right however about the VicSchool boys cred of late. The Brumby’s have been working hard in developing Vic GR over the last 5 – 6 years while the ACT historical pedigree is all but a thing of the past. This is a very interesting shift because the Aust Footy GR are growing significantly in size and quality in the ACT while Vics are in decline.

Bever fever is correct in his observation that expat Saffas and Kiwis have kept the game of Union alive in Oz especially in WA and now Vic, certainly the Storms patronage is predominately PI and Kiwi.

Beverfever, I have often asked myself the same question with regard Catholic Colleges being the backbone of Union in this country. Many of these colleges were Irish orders as well, which is a contradiction in itself. I know that the same can be said of the game in Argy where Unions strength can be attributed to the Irish Catholic bros influence throughout their colleges also.

I also attended a ra ra College in Canberra, St Eddies and although I hated to play the game, preferring Aust Footy, I didn’t mind watching the First XV do battle from time to time and still get down to the old school to watch a bit of schools ra ra when I can. I think you are an old Darra man are you not?

Cheers

Keep them honest, by all means Republican, but there’s far more important things in rugby to worry about than this. Your concerns about declining numbers for eg, especially if your thoughts and opinions on the matter gain supporting evidence, is an obvious worry.

Christian Lealiifano would be a handy pick-up by the way, the sort of player you could build a team around. Market the bloody heck out of the fact he made the Aust Schoolboys from Melbourne – twice!

I actually don’t have any problem with Fitter and Roffy being labelled as “Victorian” Wallabies. Yes, it’s a stretch, but they are Wallabies, and they are for all intents and purposes Victorians too. The locals need to be able to associate with past and current champions, and if this is a way of doing it, then well and good.

There’s far, far, faaaaaaarr bigger problems in Australian rugby that the Rebels using some “creative’ marketing…

Yes Roff is a massive stretch as would Elsom be…however Digby played all his junior union and league here in Melbourne until 15. As did christian Lealiifano-Brumbies (completed school here), John Ulugia-Brumbies (completed school here), Tala Gray-australian 7’s(completed school here), Ben Tapuai-Reds, Lloyd Johanson-Viadana, Ole Avei-Waikato not bad for the last 6 years. Add to that the 10 other Australian schoolboys we’ve had over that same 6 years while still living in Victoria and 5-6 having moved inter state reaching the same level…good position to start from probably better than Force and quite possibly close to the Brumbies starting point. Compare that to WA and ACT over the last 6 years….no use being a big dog pissing if you can’t back it up!

There is no doubt in my mind that expats run rugby in Perth and without them it would hardly exist.

I went to a RU orientated school in Canberra and find it a bit of a joke that they call it the running game, a lot would need to change for it to grab my interest.

I am sure that the new team in MNelbourne will have its supporters but as the article suggests- if they play the same old rugby that is dished up ATM they aint gunna get new ones.

SA can play boring , NZ can play boring because they dont have other football codes that quite simply are more entertaining and open.

I would much prefer to watch league out of the 2 rugby’s as much for its entertainment as for its IMO much more part of quintesential Australiana than the rah rah English game.

Which brings me to another point – how has rugby in this country become such a catholic boys school game?.

Friday couple of schooners rant over.

Yes – it was puzzling to put it mildly.

Who can predict where it will all end – by that time – we’ll both be dead.

You are merely defending you home turf mate I understand that.

I don’t believe this has been done with honorable intent and as it turns out it isn’t even that subtle.

What about your Doggies going to NZ in 2011? Two home games for a mill and at the expedience of the ACT and NT. This cringe element that has infiltrated our national game looks like it’s gathering momentum.

i reckon a relocation to the land of the long slow pizzle might be in the offing for those westies heading east!

Ooroo

I believe there is alot of damage being perpetrated on our culture in the name of ‘brilliant marketing’ which seems to assume a dispensation of sorts as far as honesty goes these days.

i will do my best to keep these pretenders honest Brett as far as any ensueing Vic Union chest thumping on Roar goes.

Cheers

But in truth, the Vics are going to need to make these types of tenous links to help the good people of Melbourne know that future Wallabies can be born in Victoria. If they happen to snare Ioane and Elsom, it’ll get way worse than this (think headlines about “coming home” and “prodigal sons” just for signing announcements).

At its worst, it’s slightly stretching the truth, and at its best, it’s brilliant marketing. I don’t think it’s a massive problem…

I trust this type of misleading hyperbole is not what we can expect from the cringing Union fraternity in that city, as they embark on Super Status.

He grew up in Canberra attending Marist College Pearce where he learnt Union. If he had not migrated to Canberra at a very young age he would never have realised such sporting hieghts.

Cheers

Tottenham beat Wigan 9-1 playing soccer, outscoring the Wannabe’s by a point on the weekend.

So why can’t the governing bodies get it right and create a game that entertains and still remains faithful to the rugby stalwarts?

The NH are finally conceding that there’s an elephant in the room.

There’s a couple of good articles at timesonline that everyone should read:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_union/article6932581.ece

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/owen_slot/article6929501.ece

Lets hope they put an end to the game of “whistle ball” and bring back runnin’ rugby sometime soon.