Roar Pro

JottingsOnRugby.com

Roar Pro
http://JottingsOnRugby.com

12,658 Article Reads
9 Articles Written
83 Comments Written

About

Sean Fagan - writer/author http://JottingsOnRugby.com

Member Since:: February 2012
Based In:: Sydney
Favourite Sports:: Rugby,

Latest Articles

Showing articles 1 - 6 of 9 | More Articles >

When rugby union was king of Newcastle

5 Jun 2012

While tonight is Scotland’s debut Test match in Newcastle, many Scots have played in the city with British Lions teams. However, none rival the heated controversy and after-effect caused by SRU Hall-of-Famer, David Bedell-Sivright. Despite over-stated stories about the scale of Australian rules’ ‘Black Diamond Cup’, rugby union was the dominant football code in Newcastle [...]

The Hunter Valley footballer who revolutionised rugby

1 Jun 2012

Schoolboy William Webb Ellis ran with the football, but it took a young man from the Hunter Valley to show the rugby world how to make spectacular use of it. Over 60 years before a fully representative Wallabies team first met Scotland (1947 at Murrayfield), Singleton-born Charles Gregory Wade was not only wreaking havoc on [...]

To be a footballer and a soldier is the summit of all ambitions

21 Apr 2012

The Waratahs tonight commemorate ANZAC Day and the contribution of New South Wales rugby to war-time service. Why a generation of New South Wales rugby players and officials rushed to serve in WW1 is told through the story of James McManamey. McManamey holds a unique place in history. He was a member of the first [...]

Aussie Rugby California Dreamin'

4 Apr 2012

The ‘First Wallabies’ rugby tour of Britain in 1908/09 is a familiar yarn, but that of 1912’s ‘Kangaroo Waratahs’? A century ago the second Australian team to cross the equator left our shores, off to aid the cause of rugby in the USA. Rugby had been enjoying a rapid rise in support on the west [...]

Rugby Sevens' obscure past and bright future

28 Mar 2012

Rugby Sevens has a surprisingly long presence in our nation – over 120 years. Yet only now are we realising what a valuable asset the Sevens game can be to the growth of rugby in Australia. Rugby played with seven players per team began in 1883 at Melrose RFC’s sporting carnival in the Scottish Borders. [...]

For the love of rugby, not country

21 Mar 2012

It was a topsy-turvy world in the early days of international rugby – aside from form, residency alone mattered. All Blacks turned into Wallabies, Wallabies became British Lions, Sydney schoolboys gained fame under England’s red rose, and Australian rules players from Melbourne turned out for Scotland. Playing rugby for a country other than your own, [...]

JottingsOnRugby.com's Recent Comments

JottingsOnRugby.com has written a total of 83 comments

Is private ownership coming to Aussie rugby?

True sheek. VFL in Melbourne didn't add any teams as the city grew outwards after WW2. Conversely, the NSWRL tried to step in pace with the growth. The VFL didn't add the equivalent of Penrith or Cronulla, and in those areas, as in Melbourne's outer suburbs, people support a traditional inner city club, which is really a brand. The difference with the NSWRU is trying to make a professional competition out of a club district scheme mentality designed to treat everyone equally & to 'work' your allotted district resources. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer, just alternative models. All I'll say is trying turn a suburban club into a strong brand is difficult, especially in RU where the clubs have not had an intended purpose to be a professional sport. Not all AFL clubs in Melbourne are the strength of the other clubs (brands). btw, not a free plug, I don't know the gent, but "London’s Oldest Rugby Clubs" is a terrific book http://www.dicktyson.co.uk/html/oldest_clubs.html

7 Sep 2012

Is private ownership coming to Aussie rugby?

sheek - you raise an interesting point. For mine the problem with rugby at club level in Sydney is that it is always based on a suburban geographic division. The 1900 clubs weren't really clubs at all, but akin to local branches of the Labor party - they just divided the city's rugby resources up on a map into a 'district', and had each district elect a committee to run its area/teams, and to send reps to sit on the city-wide joint board meeting (the MRU). The Sydney system & clubs of the 1890s were in some cases aligned to a particular suburb, but players, fans & financial benefactors could come from anywhere in Sydney. Other clubs, indeed the more successful clubs (hence why the district scheme was pushed!) were Wallaroos, Pirates or Wentworths and others that, like the University, had no residential basis for membership or decision to support or play for them. This was the same in London, and gave us iconic rugby brands such as Wasps, Harlequins, London Irish etc, that are not beholden to a part of London for players or supporters. In fact, London doesn't have a top tier rugby club playing within its civic boundaries at all at the moment. Sure there's nothing stopping someone in Birrong being a Manly Marlins or Randwick fan, member or player, but it really needs to be of the brand, longevity, popular scale of NRL clubs to get away with geographic based suburban clubs (though Cronulla, Penrith, Parramatta and to an extent Manly suffer the same impediment to growth, and the mid 1990s Sydney Bulldogs & Sydney Tigers failed). Still, the A-League & AFL have introduced new teams and followed the geographic divide model, rather than having 2 Sydney wide teams. As far as I can tell, New York's NFL Giants & Jets have nothing to do with suburban identity & alignment. All of which is a long way round to saying if I was to start up a new club rugby competition, when it comes to Sydney, I wouldn't go for suburban divisions but establish Sydney wide clubs, especially if shared/central ground is to be used. Others will argue that Balmain, Randwick, are iconic enough to build upon, and they may be right. University too,as it did in 1900, may again endure into the new.

7 Sep 2012

Reconnecting with grassroots rugby

Thanks for the walk down memory lane Sheek! Being not too many winters behind you much of what you wrote about playing rugby in Sydney in that era resonated. On the wider issue, there was a quote I used last year on The Roar ("Are the Reds a blueprint for the Waratahs?" - for some reason we can't link posts to Roar articles??) from Wally Matthews in 1933, retired Sydney University captain and NSW halfback, manager of the AIF war team in 1918 & the Wallabies in 1933 in Sth Africa (where he made the statement): While many would today surmise “the running game” was adopted to give Australian teams the best chance of winning, coupled with a belief it was a noble and unselfish way to play the amateur game, Matthews explained at the outset of that 1933 visit to South Africa that there was a deeper imperative for the existence of this ethos – rugby in Australia was in competition with other codes, particularly in the Waratahs home city. “We are going to play football in the way we play it in Australia,” said Matthews. “We hope to play the open game which we have to play in Australia to retain support. We have to keep our game spectacular to hold our own against rugby league and Australian rules. Whether we win or lose is not our major consideration. We want to entertain.” Yes it is unfair the Australian Super teams & Wallabies of today have this additional burden, but it is the reality, always has been, and can't be ignored.

4 Sep 2012

More Comments >

Home

About The Roar

Submit an Article

Terms & Conditions

Privacy

Advertise with Us

iPhone

Contact Us

Tipping PRIZES