- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
I thought I’d offer a perspective on sport that is often overlooked. I’d be interested in hearing the same perspective from country Victoria regarding sport in their towns).
I live in country New South Wales and am heavily involved in junior Rugby League.
From my point of view, this the real heartland of Rugby League is country New South Wales. And consequently we are regularly ignored by the powers that be.
Let’s correct a few perceptions, shall we?
1. League is nowhere near dying out here.
Indeed, support for NRL clubs, support for local clubs (my town supports two very prominent first grade League Clubs plus about six junior league clubs) and support for Junior footy is massive and continues to grow.
2. League can exist quite happily alongside Rugby Union.
People out here, don’t give a crap about the rivalry between the codes – we also support two very strong Rugby Union clubs (though not as many junior Rugby clubs).
A lot of people are quite happy to go watch the League on Saturday and the Union on Sunday – indeed some of the players switch codes without garnering any negative attention.
3. AFL does exist in country NSW
AFL is the only local sport which advertises on TV (reflecting perhaps the marketing dollars being pumped into grassroots AFL – something the ARL should be emulating!).
However, the local AFL clubs are very small as compared to League and Union and they struggle to attract junior numbers.
Anecdotally, I have yet to meet anyone who actually watches it on television – even friends of mine, who play for the local AFL clubs still watch the NRL!
4. Kids are happy to play football – any football
A lot of the local kids are happy to code switch, i.e., play league on weekends, union and league for school and if asked they’ll give AFL a go.
They’re all good things if it means the kids are off the streets and out from in front of the television.
5. There is no sense of doom attached to the NRL
If anything, the NRL continues to dominate local sporting media like no other sport.
The sense of doom is I think a media invention – something to sell papers rather than reflecting any form of reality.
6. Soccer, Basketball and Netball are also extremely strong here.
None of which says anything bad about NRL or AFL or Union or anything, it just means people enjoy playing sport!
Lastly, to touch on a point I raised earlier and this would be my one complaint: because we are taken for granted by the ARL there is very little investment in promoting the game out here.
Sure, there are ARL development officers who do the rounds of the schools – but in terms of support or visits from NRL clubs (who are supposedly so heavily involved community work?) there’s absolutely nothing.
We did have a trial match here in February (yes I know it sounds like I am contradicting myself) for the first time in eight years, but even with two NRL clubs in town, there was nothing meaningful offered in terms of supporting or developing local leagues.
And as I said at the start, I would be interested in hearing about the situation in country Victoria – is it truly the one sport State it is made out to be or does it offer the diversity of sport that country NSW does?
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.