Do Australian rugby fans really deserve any better?

Yesterday, 18th August, is the anniversary of the battle of Long Tan, when about 110 Australian infantry soldiers of D Company, 6RAR, accompanied by three New Zealand Artillery observers, held off an estimated between 2000-2500 Viet Cong Guerillas and North Vietnamese soldiers in a rubber plantation near the village of Long Tan in 1966.

18 brave soldiers were killed, 13 from 11 Platoon in the first 10 minutes, which took the initial onslaught of the brutal fighting. About another 30 soldiers were wounded. Nearly half the company were registered as casualties.

It took almost 45 years for the Australian Federal Government to recognise the same Unit Citation for Gallantry (UCG) that was awarded to D company by both the US and South Vietnamese governments.

Meanwhile, those gallant men still await clarification of two Military Crosses (MC) and eight Mentioned in Dispatches (MID) to be recognised, 47 years later and still waiting!

Today, I also read that a Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA) spokesman told a partially paralysed Australian veteran who had a tour of Iraq, that he should “buy a goat” when he requested for financial assistance in mowing his property lawn.

Whoever the cretin was that made that insensitive, ignorant comment, should be sent to the frontline themselves. Then let’s see how they like it!

We’re happy for our servicemen – soldiers, sailors and airmen – to go overseas to defend our freedom, and even be maimed or die for the privilege, but we give them scant regard when they return home.

We get ripped off by oil companies, insurance companies, food companies, governments at every level, you name it. Our farmers are being driven off the land.

We could be a great country, but we’ve become ultra-greedy, self-centered and short-sighted. Shallow.

The servicemen in both the world wars, as well as the Korean and Vietnamese wars, fought to ensure that Australians would continue to enjoy such things as liberty and freedom of speech. Today’s youth think that democracy is overrated.

Ask the North Koreans, Iranians or Zimbabweans if they would like to trade places? Then find how wonderful life is with your neck pinned under a jackboot.

For me, when I follow sport, I look beyond the mere playing field. I want to believe that our sporting teams reflect the values of the society they live in, for all the right reasons.

Perhaps, in this second decade of the 2000s, our declining rugby union team, cricket team, Olympics team, etc, reflect a declining moral society that is turning to crap.

The Wallabies have a new coach, but their first outing under his tenure was ultimately underwhelming. I have already argued, quite quickly, that there are things to like about this new regime.

But I also wonder if we deserve better? That is, do we really deserve any better?

Do you notice how seamlessly the All Blacks have moved from Graham Henry to Steve Hansen?

Yes, it hasn’t always been so, but the Kiwis have got it right in the professional era. Just as they have got it mostly right for the past 100 or more years.

Each coach might have his idiosyncrasies but the overall pattern remains the same. Every youngster aspiring to be an All Black understands the values associated with the history and tradition of the jersey, as well as the basic skills necessary to achieve their ambition.

Not so Australian rugby. Bob Templeton, Dave Brockhoff, Daryl Haberecht, Bob Dwyer, Alan Jones, Greg Smith, Rod MacQueen, Eddie Jones, John Connolly, Robbie Deans and now Ewen McKenzie have all sought to influence the fate of the Wallabies, in often wildly divergent ways.

Some for the better, some for the worse.

A recent generation of wannabe Wallabies, have demonstrated scant regard for the jersey and the history and tradition associated with that jersey.

Others not born here, but arrived at various early ages, have failed to embrace the culture and history of the country. They are sporting mercenaries for hire, seeking fame and fortune. It is difficult to know if they are willing to spill blood to the same extent as some of those from previous eras.

As a young boy first exposed to rugby in the late 60s, there were some significant problems.

A lack of total player participants, a lack of quality players, a lack of genuine rugby fans, a lack of sponsorship, a lack of exposure through media outlets, a lack of revenue streams because of all the points preceding.

Today, despite obvious advancements in the game, we have failed to make inroads on the other three football codes, which have also increased their exposure, but more spectacularly than rugby union.

I believe going forward, the youth of the future will be playing much more Australian football and association football, and much less rugby league and rugby union.

Genuine rugby fans desperately want a successful national team. But achieving that will be nigh impossible while the administrators fail to develop the game below the Wallabies.

The problems of the late 1960s continue to exist in the 2010s – a lack of player participants, a lack of playing depth, a lack of genuine fans, a lack of sponsors, a lack of exposure through media outlets and consequently, a lack of revenue streams.

There is still no national comp, for example. Yet, during a dark period of the game from 1968-77, there indeed was a national comp. It was called the Wallaby Trophy.

Add to the woes mentioned above, we have also deserted our clever, innovative rugby thinking.

As a young guy following the Wallabies in 1980, we marvelled at the exquisite skills of the midfield magicians Mark Ella, Mike Hawker and Michael O’Connor.

We mocked the All Blacks backline that was unable by comparison to generate any inroads despite enjoying two-thirds possession. Guess who the joke is on in 2013?

The French were so impressed and inspired by the deeds of Ella-Hawker-O’Connor that they named several of their moves “Wallaby one, two, three”, etc in honour of the Australian back play of the early 1980s.

From being a smart, innovative, reasonably successful rugby nation, we have regressed again back to mediocrity.

I want our Wallabies, baggy greens, Olympians, etc, to be great again. but then when I look at some aspects of our society, I sincerely wonder if we deserve any better.