Last night I attended the first Waratahs Fan Forum. While some have interpreted it as a desperate, shallow and even vain attempt to bolster the falling crowds, I see it as a very good sign for the organisation.
From the Chairman, Ed Zemancheff down, the Tahs are a new organisation. New board, new CEO and new management opportunities.
New does not mean inexperienced or not suitably qualified. Often it is a chance to handpick the best team.
They are all successful people in their own right. They have their own ideas. Equally, they are self confident enough to realise that they need to hear and others in the organisation need to hear the message from the fans.
Board, management, coaches and couple of players that attended showed that they can listen to the fans. Now, ALL the players need to do the same. Management by example!
Last night was the expected mixture of fan opinions on everything from the amount of kicking to ticket prices to lack of atmosphere to lack of fan days. All valid, all annoying and all needing to be said.
However, for me, there is one fundamental issue that can solve all of these things. The Waratahs don’t believe!
Deep down, in those most intense moments, they don’t believe and as Phil Waugh said, “Our skill execution lets us down”
It is clear that the skill execution has failed many times this year. But the answer is not just more practice of the skill. The players and the coaches, but more the players, need to make sure that the belief is there that they can execute that skill when the pressure is on.
The Waratahs strength is also their weakness. They are under intense scrutiny. They see it as a goldfish bowl rather than a wonderful stage on which to perform.
Today is a new day. The challenge starts today. The carrot is that they can create history for themselves and their teammates. The stick is that players who don’t show the belief will be departed very quickly and be replaced with players who do believe.
The new management team will benefit from the new two year player contracts and the centralising of the academies. The Wallabies are further ahead in the cultural change. Hopefully, the centralising will produce more complete players.
Luckily, the Waratahs have the Lions at home this weekend. They are the best opposition for a team seeking to build belief. The brief is to dominate the Lions in every department and score an emphatic win. Baby steps.
In the next five games, the Waratahs need to show that they believe. This takes courage and inner strength. It takes passion. The great Wallaby fullback Terry Curley spoke passionately about this last night.
What is belief? The Waratahs players should know. They are constituted from players who have experienced or observed it in action. Randwick, in days gone by, won more Shute Shields than anyone else with it. Joeys won more GPS premierships than the other schools combined with it.
Sydney University has been the dominant force in Sydney club rugby, from 1st grade to third grade colts for almost a decade. And Ed Zemancheff, playing flanker for Sydney Boys High, beat Joeys in 1972 and 1973!
When you run onto the field, you know that you are going to win and that you are going to play great rugby. Invariably it happens!
I wish the Waratahs the best of luck and hope that they can achieve their ultimate goal this year: winning the Super Rugby championship in 2011.
Damo
Guest
Yes Katipo, part of the problem is that the money involved now means that the rugby product needs to be packaged with other things. Or does it? Personally I think fireworks are a waste of money. I would rather see a couple of curtain raiser games before the big one. Possibles vs probables from the tahs academy would be a great game to watch before the big one. Or a Shute Shield game. Even a schoolboys game would be good to watch too. Imagine the buzz amongst schoolkids if a game before the Tahs was on their itinerary. Good marketing to schools. Kids in new rugby territories could be encouraged by the exposure. There is a captive audience waiting for a Super Rugby game. And there would be willing participation from young players if they had access to that audience. And if the big game had little to offer by way of entertainment there may be a game with younger players showing marginal fans what possibilties rugby offers.
Damo
Guest
Or maybe there is not enough intelligent sowing of seeds of encouragement
Katipo
Guest
I n thinking that rugby is in the entertainment industry that has caused done if the problems. Marketing geniuses have tried to deliver entertainment to rugby followers: rock music at games, no curtain raisers, $10k per match spent on fireworks etc. When what we want is more rugby! In my opinion rugby is not in the entertainment industry. Rugby is in the professional sports industry but it needs to provide a product which is consumed as entertainment by spectators. It's a subtle difference but sn important one.
bennalong
Guest
LAS WELL DONE! All is forgiven prodigal one. But there is someone high up who is the primary source of this lack of belief. Some who uses ridicule or harsh personal criticism. Perhaps someone who sows doubt in the forewards about their backs, or about Hickey's game plan for the backs. Someone who takes away certainty This is a team of talented individuals so the seeds of doubt are being sown. Find the source and the team will prosper
Stellenbosched
Guest
I suspect that I am way too old-fashioned. For me sport is still a distraction from the normal hurly-burly of life. Yes I know there is now a lot of money at stake, but I do not want to start talking about my team as a brand (many AB supporters use this word). I prefer to keep it simple. And I do miss the days when you would bump into a Springbok player on the Monday at work, keeping his feet on the ground. Nowadays that link between player and fan has gone, to be replaced by meaningless words at the post-match interview before the players retreat back into their secluded life. And I won't even start talking about those vultures, players agents.
Damo
Guest
Regarding King's 'pretender' line - who are the pretenders? The players, the coach, the admin, the executive, the board, the fans? All of these are intimately connected. Which one is pretending more than the rest?
Damo
Guest
Lets break it down - what makes up a team? Interupt as you see fit Players Coaches and trainers Fans Admin Executive Venue Market catchment area ( for players and fans) Style of play Cash flow Culture (and relationship between executive to players to fans) Structure Roarers please comment on which factor(s) is most important and why? It seems to me that many Roarers , not all, are focusing on the symptoms of the problem like the style of play or the players or the coaching, instead of looking at underlying structural imbalances that are handicapping the team even before the whistle blows .
Damo
Guest
Stellenbosched , no it might not be 'fair' to change things to suit Australian conditions - but it is absolutely necessary.
Stellenbosched
Guest
Hi LAS, Be careful when writing the Lions off as you do. The Brumbies also thought they were taking baby steps against the Lions last week! As a South African I don't understand why the Tahs are singled out every year for their style of rugby. Yes we all would prefer to see sparkling running rugby, but that is not the only aspect to rugby. I would take a 3-0 win rather than a 33-30 loss every time, bearing in mind that the score does not always reflect what transpired on the field. I know the Australian rugby union has to fight for attention with other codes, and therefore winning 'pretty' is almost more important than the win itself. However, rugby is played and enjoyed in various ways worldwide, and I don't think it is fair to try and change the union rules to suit Australia's domestic issues.
sheek
Guest
Mike G, It amazes me nevertheless that there are people still stuck in the old amateur days thinking that a 3-0 win is better than a 30-33 defeat. I'm not saying every match should be 30-33, nor you can't have a very occasional 3-0 result (heaven forbid!). But far too many rugby folk in key positions - players & coaches - still don't get it. Rugby, being a professional sport, is part of the entertainment industry. This shouldn't come as a shock revelation to anyone.....
Worlds Biggest
Guest
When they get the right Coach ( McKenzie 2004 - 2008 ) they are contenders so how about bringing in a quality Coach !
Mike G
Guest
"My applauds to the guy who said rugby was now an entertainment industry, & it was up to the Waratahs to play an attractive brand of rugby to bring fans to the game. Or words to that effect" I thought Links piece in yesterdays RH was a not so subtle (& given the fan forum that night, a well timed), dig at the NSWRU on this exact point
bigbaz
Guest
How about Lote !
kovana
Guest
The Tahs should sign Up some PI Players! Like Lolo Lui and Uale Mai!
IronAwe
Guest
The crowd should have started booing when he brought out the statistics. haha
Damo
Guest
Good news LAS. I hope you are right. I don't think Tahs will get the necessary cultural change without massive venue and catchment change. If the postage stamp is too small to dance on, we need a bigger stamp.
bigbaz
Guest
Surely Tahs fans could see,when you decide to build your backline around a no 10 like BB youre gunna get what youve got. Best way to stop the kick is to hope Kevin Sheedy reconizes the possiblitys with BB and pinches him to GWS.Then the Tahs can try to find a Ranwick no 10 and we can all move on.
Who Needs Melon
Guest
LAS, Not to blow too much wind up your pipe but both in the article itself (which you have obviously whipped up fairly quickly!) and in this response to your own article you display the amazing encyclopedic knowledge you have of the game. Thank you for being a regular contributor to this site and thank you for fronting up to the Waratahs on behalf of us fans. On the forum itself, I must say it's sounding like there was a lot of talking AT the Waratahs representatives. I'm interested in the questions we posed to the Waratahs and their responses to them. For instance Bay35Pablo posed some questions he thought should be asked on this site earlier in the week. Can you shed any more light on this?
sheek
Guest
Leftie, In my previous reply, in my opening sentence, I said "I was concerned this would be a touchy-feely engagement that left the tough questions unanswered". I was obviously thinking ahead to my next thought. I meant "UNASKED". Obviously, the questions WERE asked. We just have to wait & see now if those tough questions asked will be answered (by deeds on & off the field).....
sheek
Guest
Leftie, I was concerned this would be a touchy-feely engagement that left the tough questions unanswered. Fortunately I was wrong. It appears the fans who attended didn't hold back on their thoughts & feelings. Of course, it's one thing for the Waratahs to do this, it's another thing altogether as to what they do, if anything, with the info gleaned. Managements seek feedback from staff on regular occasions with statement & reply type of questionnaires - "do you strongly agree, agree, neither agree or disagree, disagree, strongly disagree, etc. Of course, if they don't like the answers they receive, these surveys seem to quietly disappear off the earth! So we'll just have to see what the Waratahs do with the feedback they received from fans. My applauds to the guy who said rugby was now an entertainment industry, & it was up to the Waratahs to play an attractive brand of rugby to bring fans to the game. Or words to that effect. I concur. If the players enjoy playing the game, & fans enjoy watching the game, then rugby will grow, because young kids will think to themselves, "I want to be a part of this, it looks like fun".