Grade rugby is touted as the breeding ground for Australian talent, but it’s not. It’s the graveyard.
It’s been well documented that top-flight rugby in this country has no backside. Crowd numbers for first grade games dwell in the hundreds and sponsorship is limited to local RSLs on the players’ jerseys.
The obvious culprit for the lack of interest in first grade is the talent pool, or lack of it. In his recent article on The Roar, Clyde Rathbone wrote the gap between Bledisloe Cup and first grade was so great they may as well be playing different sports.
And let’s face it, Daniel Halangahu was the biggest drawcard in a competition that’s about as interesting as the Toyota Cup; and that is to say that it’s not interesting.
Yet it’s worth noting the Toyota Cup managed a viewership of 94,000 people for the Tigers vs Panthers U20s. Go figure.
Of course in meeting this problem head on, the collective genius of the ARU contrived the Australian Rugby Championship; an experiment that was doomed to fail and did so in year one.
If you put a frock on a cat it’s still a cat, and the ARC was merely first grade rugby with a bigger marketing department. They didn’t have enough good players to compete with our expectations of viewable rugby. Super Rugby and international rugby are both spectacles which (generally) meet our expectations, and we pay to watch it. No one will pay to see 30 guys play a little better than you’d be able to.
The first thing a builder is taught is to make sure there’s a good foundation before the slab is poured, and the ARU’s attempt at slapping a third tier into place like papier-mâché was an exercise in ignoring this rule.
Of greater concern, in 2008 the AIS and ARU abandoned the AIS Rugby Program and replaced it with the Australian National Sevens Program. The reasoning was Sevens Rugby presented a supposed opportunity to expand the talent pool, as if getting Fijians to play for your sevens team is going to strengthen the 15 man code. According to the AIS: “Head Coach Michael O’Connor is excited by the new direction for talent identification and development in rugby”.
And there goes the arse, again.
There is, of course, a solution to all of this. And it’s not in convincing people that 7’s rugby is great.
Firstly the ARU needs to stop trying to build off something that doesn’t exist; grade rugby is a distraction. You can’t copy what’s worked in NZ and SA because the Australian market is very different.
The silver bullet staring the ARU in the face is to get young league players absorbed into the private school system.
The heart and soul of rugby in this country is the school system, and more specifically the private school system, where the real business of rugby development is made and broken.
There’s more than enough talent in Australia to compete with NZ and SA, and they’re all playing league.
To get league players into union is a fairly straight-forward leveraging of the private education’s lure.
There needs to be a structured partnership between private schools, with the ARU as the managing body in aggressively pursuing young league prodigies. You can’t invent talent but you can steal it, and once you have it you can build on it.
The schools want this as success drives student registrations (rugby success = range rovers through the door). The ARU wants it as it provides them with access to contracting young talent – by far the best time to secure them – and develops the playing stock at the true grassroots level.
Of course the biggest competitive advantage that rugby has over league is generally considered as the international game, but that’s a mile off for a 13 year old Kurtley Beale. The true core advantage rugby has over league is the lure of a private education, and this is territory league can never move into.
The ARU could provide top-ups to private schools for scholarships. There’s plenty of scope for it. The failed ARC cost the ARU $4.7m in year one – that’s 235 league scholarships at $20,000 each, every year. And these grant could come with contra-deals that require the schools provide ARU-approved state of the art training, playing and medical facilities (most injuries in an adult rugby player’s career are an exacerbation of an unmanaged injury from their school years).
The ARU could own the contracts with the upstarts, trading them with the Super rugby franchises when they’re ready for the big time; the return of these investments can be poured back into their elite programmes.
Of course, an expanded player base demands a better intra-school competition, and the current CAS, GPS comps in Sydney and equivalents around the country are severely lacking. Only 7 competition games in a season is remarkably insufficient, and you don’t get better without playing the best; that’s the whole point of a third tier.
The best of the private schools in Sydney should be playing each other regularly, not just their historical opponents, and also playing the best from QLD, the ACT, and VIC (it’s said there’s a solid school comp in Melbourne, although you wouldn’t know it).
Do this right, and ten years from now you’ll have a school system to rival the US college system. Any American will tell you their college system is the pinnacle for both Basketball and Football.
And for every Kurtley Beale at Joeys there’s six Robbie Farrahs at Patrician Brothers’ College in Blacktown.
Tom
Guest
The second tier of rugby behind the super rugby should be teams from Australia playing in the NPC (National Provincial Championships) in New Zealand. The same way we have Netball, Soccer (sorry football), Basketball and Rugby League teams in our domestic competitions Australia should be looking to enter teams into the NPC. The same way Netball, Soccer (sorry football), Basketball and Rugby League domestic competitions are not strong enough in New Zealand to have a strong vibrant professional competition then Australian Rugby Union should be lobbying for inclusion in the New Zealand very successful competition. With Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne all having flights to New Zealand then this to me would be a perfect solution. The Wallaby Coach would at the end of the super rugby season take out the players he requires for the Test season and then the four east coast franchises (they are not clubs) could then have their players play in the New Zealand domestic competition that is already covered by Television and is more than likely looking for expansion and growth for viewers.
SkinnyKid
Guest
I love how the kids call them “imports” ....like a kid who is there because of his skills somehow is less part of his school than I dunno, a kid who was simply born into a family that can afford the fees.
Happy Hooker
Guest
Geez Johnno. $10K back then. I'm guessing from your post English was optional then.
Gravity basher
Guest
Quite a way to close out this forum!
Happy Hooker
Guest
Yes ... and how did Knox fare this season?
Pillock
Roar Rookie
Exactly the thinking of vast majority of parents, Privte schools are not there to unearth potential wallabies, the fact that thye do is a benefical by product. The fact is that schools have a very different agenda from the ARU and are wholely independent. The ARU would be better off concentrating their efforts in club land where they can at least get some traction and use a "carrott and stick" approach to inflence outcomes.
Happy Hooker
Guest
"... get young league players involved in the private school system." That's already happened. Its called the Newington first XV.
Leo
Guest
I'm not sure where your coming from MAJB but rugby in South Africa is now spread across all class. The Southern Kings who will be playing super rugby next year have more black players than rugby league players in NZ, France and PNG. There are more rugby players and rugby clubs in Northern England than rugby league. FIFA can target the South Pacific all they want but rugby been the national sport in most South Pacific nations it will be rugby league that will be wipe out with not international, olympics presents. In NZ school rugby is strong where rugby league can't even get a foothold and even gets beaten by new sports like underwater hockey and larcrosse and had to resort to the blaming games like it always does.
Ross
Guest
Good League juniors already get given scholarships to Sydney GPS schools. Beale is the most high profile recent example. There are others. Some of the schools refuse sports scholarships on principle while others openly chase "imports" as the kids call them, with Kings, Newington & Scots among them. These schools are a good breeding ground because they provide structure and profile to the developing boys. They have good gyms and training facilities. They generally have good coaches for the A team in each age group and they have trained medical staff and provide strength and conditioning and nutrition advice to the best athletes, not just Rugby players. The answer is not private school rugby paying for talented junior league players to spend 2, 4 or 6 years playing schoolboy Rugby. NRL scouts are at all the schoolboy rep games. NRL teams are providing payments to talented youth who play League or Rugby from public and private schools so that those players start with that NRL club upon completion of school. A dad told me on the sidelines of a game this winter that there is year 8 boy, at a certain GPS school who is there on a scholarship, who has signed with and started taking money from an NRL club. I'm not a fan of that situation, but it is that child's family that is accepting these advances and steering that boy in a direction. I think the answer is for a third tier adult competition. Currently there are five professional Rugby teams in Australia. That means 150 contracted professionals. Each of them has another five or so fringe squad members plus the ARU academy and the Sevens program. That is 150 professionals plus approx. another 100 semi professionals. Are they playing enough footy? The ARC proved that this group could be put to work and play more footy. Sydney and Brisbane first grade footy simply isn't what is was prior to professionalism in 1995. I'm so sick and tired of columns (and former Wallabies) yearning for the good old days. It is irrelevant. Money talks. What is relevant is what competitions can you afford to run and how many players do you need coming through? Our young men have choices. They can switch to NRL if they can't wait for a Super Rugby contract. Look at Jared Warrea Hargreaves (sp?). He played Shute Shield as a young blind side flanker for Norths in 2007 and played ARC and then with no Super Rugby contract went to the Sea Eagles in NRL, then Roosters and plays for NZ in League. Others routinely disappear from Shute Shield to Japan or France or ITM Cup or NRL, just listen to the ABC commentators while you watch Shute Shield and you hear about someone leaving to a better paid Rugby gig almost every week. So, if we want and would benefit from a third tier, then the ARU has to determine that. I guess that would be part of the high performance role that Nucifora does. Once decided, it needs to be funded and the ARU has to get out and design it and pitch it to TV. It unfortunately can't be a community effort from boards like this. We'll just end up with some modified club rugby program. TV needs to be brought in and IMHO it needs a free to air option other than the ABC. The goal should be to keep the talents our schools already produce (a) playing Rugby and (b) living in Australia until their early twenties. This will allow the Super Rugby teams to pick and choose more competitive squads based on who is doing what and who has matured and developed. My structure to achieve this is pretty simple. Grade rugby needs to start whenever they like, but finish when Super Rugby finishes. The new third tier comp needs to run in parallel to The Rugby Championship. It should be ten teams and each of the five Super Rugby teams should run two teams in the new competition. They would provide the coaches, facilities and strength and conditioning coaches and the front office staff to manage and market these teams. This also gives them direct interaction with non contracted players who are developing and provide competition for their rosters. For all I care, the ARU could fund it by scrapping the current academies and putting that money into the third tier comp. The academy players should be instructed to play grade rugby then in this comp. Having grade rugby start earlier would keep academy players match fit in case they get a Super Rugby call up. Having the non Wallaby Super Rugby players in this new comp with the academy players and best of grade rugby players would provide development for future Super Rugby players and Wallabies. It will also provide match fitness opportunities for Wallabies returning from injury during The Rugby Championship. It will also put Rugby on free to air TV to help grow its popularity, and with links between all ten teams and Super Rugby teams, it provides marketing for the next seasons Super Rugby. This structure would develop the best 19, 20, & 21 year olds and keep them in some money with a clear pathway which should delay them moving to NRL, France and Japan long enough to put more pressure on our Super Rugby squads (which will make them better) and improve our Wallabies.
peeeko
Roar Guru
Why do the schools need to merge? Maybe you ask them? The GPS is over 100 years old sporting association for many sports and will not break from traditions to become rugby academies. You would find many parents take their kids elsewhere if there becomes too much emphasis on rugby
Rob9
Guest
Hi johnno, Again I can only comment on the schoolboy situation in QLD but GPS effectively represents the cream of the rugby school crop with the 9 schools that form the competition. There are strong schools like Marist Ashgrove and St Lawrences that don't take part in the GPS competition but there aren't many schools in Queensland (if any) that could knock one of these 9 GPS schools off. Having said that, I would like to see GPS open it's doors to more schools to encourage them to build strong rugby programs that match the 9 members. Downlands should be officially recognized and schools like Sunshine Coast Grammar and JPC should be included so the Sunshine Coast and Logan City are represented at this level. There's also a number of Brisbane and Gold Coast schools that could build a strong case for inclusion too. As for the 5 tier pyramid that you've outlined there, I believe it only needs to be 4 tiered. If we can get our second tier right then there's no functional benefits to having an NPC/Currie Cup style national 3rd tier. This type of third tier also involves a significant investment with very little opportunity to generate income. Creating a significant stream of revenue can be done with an effectively structured 2nd tier though.
Johnno
Guest
ROB 9 I agree , it's a pity these school divisions don't merge and get more competitive, NZ ex players have come over and watched school boy rugby here and say the divisions are no where near as hard or competitive. GPS is formed on outdated models eg like sydney high , and sydney grammar can still be part of the division a joke . GPS/CAS/ISA need to merge. The top down model ROB 9 how it should be in a perfect World -Test Footy- AB's,boks,wallabies - Club rugby Super rugby/french rugby etc -3RD TIER -currie cup,ITM CUP, ARC -Under 20's national youth comp full time pro -1ST 15 schoolboy divisions based on schools ability not on old models. -And stuff like rookie rugby - under 16 etc And that is the pyramid in 5 minutes ROB 9.
Rob9
Guest
I haven't been exposed to the GPS system in Sydney but I think you'll find the Brisbane GPS system already operates quite similarly to what you've described above. The majority of the 9 schools scout and recruit from league, interstate and the pacific. Some take it more serious than others but it's nothing new. Furthermore, the resources at these schools rival most professional sporting clubs. From the facilities to the coaches, attending and playing for one of these schools provides young players with the perfect platform to launch their rugby career from. However building this up to rival the college system in the US is dreaming. Economies of scale. I think what would really add some value to the ARU's development pathway is a local SR under 20/21's competition to provide that stepping stone from school to pro rugby.
Phil Bird
Roar Guru
Agreed and, I don't think that's going to change, which is why I think schools is our only out. I've copied some v interesting comments in the closing of the speech: "But Rugby League is in a much stronger position than Rugby Union, which I believe – in Australia at least – faces far greater problems in the future. Rugby Union has even fewer juniors than Rugby League and its nursery is heavily limited to Sydney private boy’s schools. It has no national competition. Australian teams compete in the Super Rugby competition with teams with names like Stormers, Sharks, Blues, Reds, Hurricanes and Force. Many sports fans don’t know what country some of these teams are from. Critically, Rugby Union has no free to air television coverage and is unlikely to attract it in the foreseeable future. But worst of all Rugby Union fans aren’t as excited about their game. Three years ago the ARU commissioned research into what it called the Brand Health Index of rugby union which found support and passion for the game was waning among its followers. And Rugby Union can be tedious, even at the International level where it should be the most scintillating. In the recent series between Wales and the Australian Wallabies more than 60% of the points scored in the three matches came from 23 successful penalty kicks, rather than from attractive rugby. Periodically we read speculation that at some time in the future rugby league and rugby union should merge their two games in to one. Wishful thinking. It could never happen. There would not be enough in it for Rugby League – and besides, the cultural chasm is too great. It would be like expecting the merger between North Sydney Bears and Many to work Rugby League is unlikely ever to be a global sport, and it is unlikely to become a genuinely national mainstream sport in Australia as AFL has done. But if it continues to evolve as an attractive and entertaining spectacle as it has done to date, it should be safe – because enough people feel it is ‘the greatest game of all’."
Phil Bird
Roar Guru
Cheers valleys Very interesting point you raise about qld rugby. I used to play at sunnybank from U8's to U15s and in one year we had 13 kiwis in our team. Which is of course why we did pretty well!
Philip
Guest
That's a fairly neat summary of the dirty reds! They started shelling out more money for their ring-ins... Not sure what their end goal is... Grade? I think it's still a way off. Great club though, brilliant group of blokes
Slackly
Guest
Oh dear we have hurt some feelings have we? It is a grehow's ingestion and how about the stack of state high schools who play great rugby and the CHS is just as good as the CAS and GPS.. So we have three outstanding groups of players who are 18 years old. If a high school doesn't matter which one it is private or public, plays rugby then they should receive the support of the ARU in the form of coaching and funding. It would be the best investment rugby could make
AndyS
Guest
The structure is there, but is more accurately expressed as private school>Sydney club rugby>Super Rugby>Wallabies. There will always be exceptions, but we will be permanently hamstrung until we address the exclusionary nature of the first two steps.
heart of sydney
Guest
David Hill delivered the Tom Brock Lecture the other day. The focus of the speech is Rugby League and its chances of survival but there is food for thought there for all other codes - particularly Rugby Union Football. http://sportsbusinessinsider.com.au/news/category/financial-and-governance/david-hill-rugby-leagues-fight-for-survival-as-pokie-politics-and-parental-angst-take-toll/ As for pumping up (I almost wrote pimping) RU in private schools one issue is that one reason parents send their kids to such schools is that they won't have to mix with bogan rowdies - so "character", family background and perhaps even religion would come into the mix when the scholarships (which would have to be greater than $20k per annum) were handed out. I have always been puzzled as to why we don't have a collegiate sporting culture here in Australia. I suppose the reason is that we don't have the population density and the tendency is to have only large non-residential campuses and almost nil small but well endowed ones. Plus people don't really identify with their university or tertiary institution. I was there at the founding of the University Cup (now the Tertiary Students comp) (bejebus that's 40+ years ago) and although it succeeded in its primary aim of getting RL accepted into (for which read subsidised by) NSW university sports unions it is more social than serious these days.
Who Needs Melon
Roar Guru
Matt Williams eh? Hmm... What were we talking about? Oh, that's right - good coaches...