After 15 rounds of the Shute Shield, arguably the best club rugby competition in Australia, and after the performances of most Australian Super Rugby teams, it’s not far from the best rugby being played in Australia right now (including the Wallabies Test match against Samoa).
Eastwood sit on top of the ladder unbeaten.
15 wins from 15 games, an amazing achievement given the quality on display week in and week out across the Shute shield.
Yet, still no coverage from the Australian rugby media, still no real coverage from the Australian or New South Wales Rugby Unions.
Understandably this is a World Cup year, and a year when an Australian Super Rugby team won the Super Rugby tournament, so the club scene may be a little neglected.
But a perfect 15 from 15 and still no coverage, now that’s a joke! I can’t help but wonder if it was Randwick or Sydney Uni that had gone 15 from 15 if there would be some more coverage.
Not even the glamour sides of Randwick’s past packed with Wallaby greats have ever achieved this. No one has achieved this in Sydney Club Rugby. You don’t have to be an Eastwood Rugby fan to appreciate this performance. 15 out of 15 is an outstanding achievement anyway you look at it.
If the rugby media in Australia can’t be bothered with reporting on club rugby in its current state with an unbeaten team, and the high quality on display across the board, then rugby in Australia is in for a tough time.
It’s a simple equation, respect the grass roots and Australian rugby will prosper. Continue to neglect it, and it will shrink and die. Allowing the club scene to die will have a roll on effect in the years to come with less players taking up the game, which ultimately will affect the top levels of the game in Australia.
So to Eastwood Rugby, congratulations, you get 15 out of 15 for your performance so far. Australian rugby media, you get four out of 15 (one point for each article you have written about club rugby this year).
The exception to the rule is the ABC who continues to do a great job in covering club rugby in Australia. Hats off to the team at the ABC.
levelheaded
Guest
Big rumour circulating this morning around Moore Park, which CRC, or dare we say Journalist is seeking a job at Tahland - perhaps the indiviuals front is just a hidden agenda for his jersey tugging ways.............................could be big news!
Pablo
Guest
Someone must be listening!!?? Even the local rag, The Northern District Times, which usually relegates coverage of Eastwood games to the inside the back page, featured the Woods on the FRONT PAGE this week, as well as the back page. However the good work was undone, when on about the fourth last page, a number of photos, which included local clubs Eastwood and Beecroft, was headed 'Epping'. Much the same as the last week's Sunday Tele referring to Eastwood as Easts. I suppose its getting a little better than the report in the Sun Herald about 8 or 10 years ago, that said (words to the effect of) "...and at Coogee Oval, Randwick beat Eastwood, Eastwood 29, Randwick 15..." There is the oft quoted line that is usually used in relation to the Welsh, but sometimes i wonder if it does'nt also apply to, say Uni & Randwick, ... you may score more points than them, but you can never nbeat them.
Chronicle
Roar Rookie
The standard of play in the Shute Shield is worthy of more coverage and reporting than it is is currently being given by the "established" rugby media. The lack of coverage by SMH remains a mystery whilst the ABC who do such a wonderful job with their saturday afternooon match coverage then neglect to even comment or replay in their news coverage. I am at a loss why such a high level competition is not winning wider coverage but when it is ignored by its "own" it is understandable that other media outlets do not pick it up. I have been suprised to see reports of the Shute Shield and schools rugby in the Daily Telegrapgh once the domain of the NRL but this makes the lack of discussion in the traditional sources all the more puzzling. It is too much to hope that a program called The Rugby Club would actually cover club rugby rather than throwing up inane offerings such as piggies and princesses.
GrecoRoman
Roar Guru
The point is he writes all that garbage because he's never played the game and seems more interested on what goes on off the field than on it. Soon as he turns his attention to on field analysis, it's just cringe-worthy. Spiro is a fan of Growden's for whatever reason, but thankfully he hasn't invited him to produce stuff for this site as far as I'm aware.
Horatio
Guest
GR Have any of Growdens nameless hearsay rumours ever turned out to be true???
RickG
Guest
Fair enough. I am a bit gullible
Yikes
Guest
Agreed - although the Shute Shield is available on ABC iView across Australia, not just NSW.
Yikes
Guest
SRU "run" the comp, but they haven't found any sponsorship so they can't do anything, like employ anyone, such as a person to do media. So they made an agreement with the Waratahs to continue having the Waratahs' media person (there is only one) also do the Sydney Rugby press match previews and results.
Yikes
Guest
I'm afraid, yes, you are the only one who thought this! Everyone else just thought it was now the inmates running the asylum...
vaguely
Roar Pro
The media in this country is terrible, people don't care and lap it up, NOTW style. Why should sports coverage be any different from the rest of the drivel we are fed?
vaguely
Roar Pro
This comment has more to do with Super Rugby than the semi-pro Shute Shield. Have you seen the condition of some of the grounds they play on? Hardly high tech, and some of the players are hardly fine tuned athletes. And the fact that it's shown on the non-commercial ABC, not Pay-TV makes your argument very weak.
Coxinator
Guest
Well done Eastwood. Last I saw something of note they were 8 and zip. Mind you there was zilch coverage when Brothers knocked off Uni last year to win the Australian Club cup/trophy/plate/ashtray. Brissie comp is given even less TV up there.
Shitkicker
Guest
"The exception to the rule is the ABC who continues to do a great job in covering club rugby in Australia. Hats off to the team at the ABC." NSW*
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
Actually it starts at 6 Bells in the Afternoon Watch but who is counting. Aye Skipper.
GrecoRoman
Roar Guru
Agree with everything you point out in relation to media coverage. Basically, it can be summed up as 'you get what you pay for'. As for Growden, he's just a lazy hack who is the 'go to' guy when it comes to spreading poison publicly between the various NSWRU/ARU factions.
GrecoRoman
Roar Guru
The smaller regionals probably have the luxury of not having the sorts of commercial pressures that exist in the big cities.
Horatio
Guest
The medias coverage of Super Rugby was poor last year so suddenly the RU spends money on advertising the game in the SMH and Age (because of the rebels) and presto the coverage in the fairafx papers improves. The AFL engineers the TV rights to favour News Ltds Foxtel (9 games on pay)and spends money on promoting GWS in News Ltd's community suburban papers and AFL coverage in the tele and Courier Mail suddnely improves. The SMH after bagging the NRL/News Ltd link for months after the Storm salary cap scandal suddenly is full of NRL ads and now unsurprisingly the NRL shenanigans are not highlighted, the NRL coverage improves with zero empahasis on dodgy refereeing decisions that decide games and previous critics like Richard Hinds write mildly pleasant articles about NRL. The power of the advertising dollar which unfortunately the SRU hasnt got. Why do you think sourpuss AFL raised Growden writes RU for the SMH - to stir up trouble and be a contrarian to attract some RU advertising $$$
bennoes
Guest
that's all good for coverage (games, footy shows, etc.) but when the news doesn't report news from a variety of sports then they are not effective in doing their job. You watch regional news and they know how to cover sport! local sport AS WELL AS the national sports and major international sport.
GrecoRoman
Roar Guru
NRL/AFL have built solid commercial relationships with commercial media organisations (TV, print, radio, etc.). They have a vested interest to ensure their sport gets coverage irrespective as to the community engagement to that sport. It's just business. Yet as I said in another post, you could argue that Rugby gets far too much coverage considering it's the 4th football code in terms of popularity and doesn't have the participation numbers of other sports that get far less coverage. In terms of media representation, Rugby is well supported media-wise and other sports with a larger participation base would love to get the sort of coverage Rugby receives.
bennoes
Guest
this situation isn't isolated to sydney club rugby. If it isn't NRL or AFL the media don't care. Sports coverage in Australia is crap! Very crap! None of the tv networks broadcast the top shelf sport on HD (except one and SBS), papers are written by women's weekly journalist. I don't buy a paper and rarely look at SMH.com as it is full of crap adverts and gossip. So it is not surprising there is no coverage of sports like club rugby. Maybe a sex/drug scandal might get a start... seems to work for the NRL and AFL