ARU abandons junior game in regional NSW

Rickety - just for you - Wallaby towns comes to the Central Coast today! Adam Ashley-Cooper is going to Wyong Public - featuring at an assembly, fielding questions, signing autographs and distributing prize packs including tickets and merchandise. Apparently. Exactly what you asked for...

RK - ring the ARU

Yeah, on about 15 mins notice, just like the 1st fan forum. And it was at Moore park from memory. Try Martin place and you'd be laughing.

RK, I think you and Yikes should catch up for a beer. Disagreements and differing points of view are never resolved via email or online forums. You are restricted to a paragraph at a time and tone cannot be fully conveyed. The written word often inflames the situation and can be taken out of context. You are both very passionate about rugby. It would be great if you saw eye to eye. If you both joined forces it would be a great model of engagement to help rugby. The discontented fan meets the frustrated administrator. Now I’ve said my piece I’m off to sort out Afghanistan.

Actually, they DID indeed hold a free BBQ the week before the Waratahs' semi... your suspicions proved somewhat correct.

"You do irreparable harm to rugby when you sprout rubbish because people believe it and spread it " The NSWRU and ARU are so bad at communications they could hold a free BBQ with wagyu steaks and beer, and no one would turn up because they wouldn't know it was on. JON and co seem to think the rest of us in rugby land are instantly and telepathically informed by the light shining out of their a$$es, and we don't need to be told all the great work they are doing. Hide their light under a bushell? Hell, they put the bushell down the bottom of a well!! If both organisations are doing such a great job, they should shout it from the rooftops. Instead what we do see just reinforces the however illogical and baseless belief that all Fort Fumble has time to do is have coffees with Dingo to negotiate his new contract, or pat themselves on the back they managed to replace Bundy with Castrol and stop the HPU budget collapsing.

I read the other day that all successes are grounded in failure. Looking at the mismanagement of the ARU over the past few years and the very real possibility that the Wallabies won't win the WC, then you would have to think the only way is up in Australian Rugby! Junior and amateur Rugby is the lifeblood of the elite level and the ARU needs to do a lot more in these and regional areas. As an ex West Australian it was interesting to note the amount of SA and NZ Rugby promotional material floating around, car stickers, shirts etc. Apart from a few Force stickers very little Wallaby material. I'm now resident in Tassie which boasts a 9 team senior comp, but no junior infrastructure at all and the local union doesn't have the financial and material wherewithal to establish a junior comp. As the governing body the ARU could do a lot to raise the profile of the game by supporting junior Rugby, raising the media profile of the game (never heard of in Tassie) and allocating more resources to regional areas. It's a great product, but even the greatest products need marketing and support. Sadly I think the self interest of the ARU will override the pressing needs of lower echelons of the game.

There could be a Fans of ARU Policy Day. Plenty would turn up. To tell the ARU that they are not fans. Rugby is broader and more important than the Wallabies, as utterly important as they are. The ARU is just a tool for the development of both the national team AND the national code. If it's not developing both then it's just a tool for the tool's sake.

Yikes came good eventually, RK. I wonder who he is. My former colleague Peter Jenkins, perhaps. When debates reach the level this one has, maybe it's time for us all to come out from behind our pseudonyms. Or would that shut down free debate? I don't have the answer.

cool that the article had two or three banner ads trying to target us Rugby fans for ARU test match tickets. Read it here first. Victoria (yes the whole of Victoria) has one development officer!!!

Mate, it's not condescension, it's frustration. Who was it who said a lie can travel halfway round the world while the truth is putting on its shoes!! On the communication issue - couldn't agree with you more. So on that we can all agree!

Rickety, despite what you think, I am no apologist. There is much more that could be done for the rugby community, and Australian Rugby as a whole (not just ARU or NSW) has failed to prioritise the community game in many ways for many years. But I get frustrated when the source of much of your angst stems from incorrect information - not for the first time. And, quite frankly, it is easy to criticise from the outside. Much harder to try and change things. It's bad enough suffering from the legitimate criticisms (and there are many) of rugby's community programs to bear dealing with the made up ones! I don't have time to give an answer to all your questions to do them justice - we could be here all night. But a couple of points.... On communication - there is regular communication with all the volunteer bodies of junior rugby. With the club presidents, with the zones, with the Unions and schools. There are people who represent these bodies who know the various plans put in place for each region and are involved in the plans' creation. I totally agree with you that communication beyond this level to the rank and file rugby participant, coach and parent is a massive problem. There isn't anyone in rugby who will tell you otherwise. The fact that we are relying on volunteer committees to distribute information is a big factor (people lead very busy lives) and one that various bodies in rugby are trying to circumvent to try and get info out there. On school activities/clinics etc - totally agree more could be done here. In the meantime, have you heard of the Wallabies Towns initiative this year? A whole bunch of Wallaby players went back to schools in their regions and were involved in activities in the school to promote the game. In NSW that included Maitland, Moree, Narromine, Granville, Dural, Warren, Collaroy and Mt Druitt (not exactly the north shore). Some details, videos here: http://www.rugby.com.au/wallabies/FanZone/QantasWallabiesTowns.aspx In addition - there was a special school holiday coaching camp on today actually on the Central Coast in Erina (ironically). I believe Waratah players attended. (It was a paid camp admittedly, but I think that cost covered the backpacks and footballs etc that participants got.)

Absolutely fair point. I do not question Rickety's motives at all and believe he is passionate about the game, as are we all. Lies may be too harsh a term - but I am frustrated by the fact that Rickety has previously spoken on similar issues only to be later corrected. In the time it took him to write his article, he could have picked up the phone, rung ARU reception and gotten through to the person in charge of development who would have happily told him it was all false.

Peter - you are certainly entitled to your opinion. You are not entitled to your own (or Rickety's) facts. What propaganda is there? Am I saying things are rosy? No. I am saying: 1) The points made about the development officer in the Central Coast was false 2) The implication that somehow 1.9 mil just got lost was false That's it, really! Propaganda doesn't enter into it.

Yikes, up front, do you realise how condescending "Somehow, God only knows how, this has filtered through to you in clubland.." reads in plain text?? Thought it was very nice of you to offer to explain the actual situation to Rickety in person though. I truly hope that he takes you up on this, and that both sides see a benefit to such an exercise. And when this happens, I hope Rickety asks one question: "Why haven't we seen anyone then?" Now, please don't take this as an attack. I think it's brilliant that you come onto The Roar like you do and provide clarifications as required. But you should also be taking something away from this. You should not be mumbling up and down the hallways of your offices saying "those clowns on The Roar still don't get it", rather you should panicking up and down the hallways "our message STILL isn't getting through!!" And this is why your comments here today most certainly prove Rickety's point. If he's got the wrong information, you guys there at the ARU and/or NSWRU should be asking why the right information isn't getting through. If Rickety's club was under the impression their DO hadn't been replaced, but that's not the case, then questions should be asked as to whether the CC DO is able to get around to all clubs adequately. Again, I think it's great that you leave comments here like you do, but if you're concerned that YOUR message isn't getting through to US "in clubland", then you can be assured there's just as much concern that OUR message isn't getting through to YOU and those in the ARU/NSWRU corridors of power.

Level playing fields? ....ha ha!! .......I'm from the ACT !!