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I can remember the exact moment that alarm bells began ringing for me in regards to the widening gap between grassroots rugby and the top end of the game.
It was 2013 and the British and Irish Lions were touring. Lions tours for me represent everything great about rugby.
The quality of the footy is high, but it’s the atmosphere surrounding the tour that is what makes it different. There’s something wonderfully old fashioned about taking a team on tour and taking on all comers.
They’re special things, they only tour every four years and they only visit these shores every twelve.
So if you get the chance to go watch them – or better yet play against them – it becomes a cherished rugby memory.
In 2001 the Lions played a tour game against the NSW Country Cockatoos in regional Coffs Harbour. A fairly one-sided affair finished 46-3 in favour of the tourists.
In 2013 the Lions would again face country opposition, in the form of a combined NSW and Queensland Country team in Newcastle. The Country side would be selected from the NSW and Queensland Country sides that had in turn been selected from their own regional Country Championships.
At the time, I remember thinking that it was an absolute masterstroke from the ARU.
Representative football in the country doesn’t attract players the way it used to. This gave country rugby players a reason to commit. There was an end goal of real value in sight. A genuine once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play against the touring Lions.
Instead, the ARU back-flipped on their proposal and named a Combined Country squad that was of ‘country origin’ – meaning that anyone who had lived in the country was eligible to be picked, even if they had long since moved on to the cities to pursue professional rugby careers.
And so the squad was stacked with fringe Super Rugby players and players from the Sydney and Brisbane Premier Rugby competitions. The justification was that the Country side needed to be of a high enough standard to provide a worthwhile exercise for the Lions.
Of the fifteen players who started the match for the Combined Country side, only three were genuine country players not currently plying their trade for Super or Premier Rugby sides.
The Lions ran in ten tries as they strolled to victory 64-0.
How embarrassing, to so publicly slap country rugby in the face and insult the standard of competition in the bush – rightly or wrongly, and then lose by an even greater margin than the amateur Country Cockatoos had in 2001.
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Granted, the game had changed a lot in the 12 years between those matches. The gap between the amateurs and the professionals had grown wider – rugby had only become fully professional six years prior to the 2001 Lions tour.
But picking a team comprised of genuine amateurs from country footy would have done more for the game even if they’d lost 128-0.
It would have given, not only those players, but every member of their home clubs a story to tell for years to come. Every four years they’d be able to recount the time that their player represented their club and country rugby players everywhere against the Lions.
The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that makes all those years of Tuesday and Thursday night training sessions after work worthwhile.
Of the ‘Country’ side that played that day, four players; Phoenix Battye (Force), Angus Roberts (Rebels), Jarrad Buttler (Reds) and Josh Mann-Rea (Brumbies) all got to play against the Lions a second time on that tour for their respective Super Rugby franchises.
The reason I still carry a great deal of angst with me about that game is that it represented everything going wrong with the leadership of the game in this country and the disconnect between the country and the professional game.
Since then it has only deteriorated, and the grassroots have become more and more disenfranchised with the game and its governance.
Club rugby, especially the Shute Shield in Sydney, is currently experiencing somewhat of a resurgence. Crowds are on the up, with more than 7,000 people watching Warringah take on Manly two weeks ago.
That’s not far shy of what the Waratahs were getting through the gates by the end of their season.
But far from being due to the administration of the game, it is almost in spite of it.
Club rugby has found a way to tap into the tribalism that comes – and can only come – from that grassroots connection to a club.
That tribalism and sense of belonging to clubs at the amateur level is a different connection to what fans feel for a professional franchise.
What is the ARU doing to encourage this level of tribalism in fans? (Photo: Paul Barkley/LookPro)
So why is that not embraced more by those running the game? Far from being celebrated, club rugby – especially outside of the major metro regions, is neglected.
If you needed further proof of the short-sighted and top-end focused nature of the ARU’s decision-making process, you need look no further than the current arrangement with David Pocock.
Pocock will reportedly earn in the region of $750,000 this year from the ARU, despite not pulling on a Wallabies or Brumbies jersey this season. That figure is part of a three-year deal understood to be worth upwards of $4 million.
Pocock is an incredible rugby player and by all accounts, a wonderful human being to boot. I don’t begrudge him earning that money if the ARU are willing to pay it.
Their argument will be that one of the most effective marketing tools for the game in this country is to have a winning Wallabies team and Pocock assists them greatly in achieving that goal.
But they’ve taken a massive gamble on a player who has already had two knee reconstructions. What if his knee goes again?
Could that money have been better spent elsewhere? Probably. If not definitely.
Hypothetically speaking, $750,000 could pay for 15 development managers on a $50,000 salary, each tasked with getting into regional schools and clubs, introducing new players to the game and nurturing the existing talent.
To give one example of the current setup, the development manager in charge of growing the game in Northern New South Wales – my region, covers an area from Coffs Harbour to Coolangatta. That’s almost a four-hour trip end-to-end.
Realistically, how effectively can he implement development programs and be seen to be a visual presence in an area that large? As all the while the AFL, rugby league and round ball football strengthen their respective holds in the same regions.
This is not to say that the funding for those potential development manager roles should have come from David Pocock’s money. But it does serve as another example of the ARU having too much focus on the elite end of the game and not having the wisdom to look bigger picture.
Having a winning Wallabies team would be great. But there is no guarantee of long-term sustained success at international level – unless you’re the All Blacks – and so to base your plans for the development of the game around achieving that is flawed.
The term ‘grassroots’ is used often in sports administration discussions, and the analogy is apt. For the long-term health of your lawn, no matter how green and lush it may be right now, is entirely dependent on a healthy root base.
If you neglect to ensure that the roots are nurtured and maintained, the once beautiful lawn will eventually, and inevitably, die off.
Let’s hope those at ARU HQ tasked with reinvigorating the game have a green thumb.