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The plight of Parramatta “Two Blues” Rugby club is a clear indicator that rugby in Sydney’s West is in a precarious state. The ARU, NSWRU, and Sydney Rugby clubs are working together in an attempt to keep Parramatta in this year’s Shute Shield.
However, they need to do more to save rugby in Sydney’s west.
They need to do two things:
1) Create a Western Sydney Rugby Union region
2) Create a true National Club Championship in the Heineken Cup-style format
Western Sydney Rugby Union region:
Sydney rugby needs to be divided into two precincts. A North-East Region that includes: Warringah, Manly, Gordon, Norths, Randwick, Easts and Sydney University. A West-South Region that includes: Southern Districts, Eastwood, West Harbour, Parramatta, Penrith and a new team in Campbelltown.
All clubs would act as feeder clubs for the Waratahs.
However, the West-South Region would be set up, so that in time, it could become a Western Sydney Super Rugby franchise in the future.
The West-South region clubs would then separate from the Waratahs and fall under this new franchise.
This ‘franchise’ should be set up now.
The Western Sydney Rugby Union (WSRU) becomes the ‘governing’ body for this region and reports into the NSWRU. The WSRU governing body takes on all the administration duties of the West-South clubs freeing up those volunteers to focus on player recruitment and coaching.
A WSRU director of coaching, who is of Super Rugby standard, is appointed to mentor the coaches in the West-South region.
Shute Shield:
All teams in the North-East and the West-South regions compete in the Shute Shield. However, the competition is reduced to 15 week season where each team play each other once with a semi final/grand final series.
Australian Club Rugby Championship:
Directly following the Shute Shield, the two highest placed teams from the North-East and the two highest placed teams from the West-South (as determined by the Shute Shield minor premiership) enter into a newly formed Heineken Cup type tournament called the Australian Club Rugby Championship (ACRC).
They compete in an 11 week competition that includes a semi/grand finals series against the top clubs from the other states: 3 from Brisbane, 1 from the ACT, 1 from Melbourne and 1 from Perth.
The Melbourne and Perth clubs team may initially lurk at the bottom of the table, but as long as those Super Franchises in those States support the local club scene, those teams will improve in time.
Back in NSW, the teams in the West-South region not involved in the ACRC compete amongst themselves for a Western Sydney trophy (home and away with finals), whilst those left in the North-East Region compete for the Eastern Sydney trophy. This ensures that one Western Sydney team will always earn some silverware.
The ‘non-playing ACRC’ clubs in the other states could compete for similar trophies
I believe this concept is sound, but where does the financing come from?
That’s for the National and States Unions to work out!
It is imperative they do because:
• It saves rugby in the West of Sydney
• It provides us with a national competition
• Most importantly is preserves Australia’s Rugby roots (club rugby) whilst developing depth for the State and National teams
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.