I can remember the exact moment that alarm bells began ringing for me in regards to the widening gap between grassroots rugby and the top end of the game.
It was 2013 and the British and Irish Lions were touring. Lions tours for me represent everything great about rugby.
The quality of the footy is high, but it’s the atmosphere surrounding the tour that is what makes it different. There’s something wonderfully old fashioned about taking a team on tour and taking on all comers.
They’re special things, they only tour every four years and they only visit these shores every twelve.
So if you get the chance to go watch them – or better yet play against them – it becomes a cherished rugby memory.
In 2001 the Lions played a tour game against the NSW Country Cockatoos in regional Coffs Harbour. A fairly one-sided affair finished 46-3 in favour of the tourists.
In 2013 the Lions would again face country opposition, in the form of a combined NSW and Queensland Country team in Newcastle. The Country side would be selected from the NSW and Queensland Country sides that had in turn been selected from their own regional Country Championships.
At the time, I remember thinking that it was an absolute masterstroke from the ARU.
Representative football in the country doesn’t attract players the way it used to. This gave country rugby players a reason to commit. There was an end goal of real value in sight. A genuine once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play against the touring Lions.
Instead, the ARU back-flipped on their proposal and named a Combined Country squad that was of ‘country origin’ – meaning that anyone who had lived in the country was eligible to be picked, even if they had long since moved on to the cities to pursue professional rugby careers.
And so the squad was stacked with fringe Super Rugby players and players from the Sydney and Brisbane Premier Rugby competitions. The justification was that the Country side needed to be of a high enough standard to provide a worthwhile exercise for the Lions.
Of the fifteen players who started the match for the Combined Country side, only three were genuine country players not currently plying their trade for Super or Premier Rugby sides.
The Lions ran in ten tries as they strolled to victory 64-0.
How embarrassing, to so publicly slap country rugby in the face and insult the standard of competition in the bush – rightly or wrongly, and then lose by an even greater margin than the amateur Country Cockatoos had in 2001.
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Granted, the game had changed a lot in the 12 years between those matches. The gap between the amateurs and the professionals had grown wider – rugby had only become fully professional six years prior to the 2001 Lions tour.
But picking a team comprised of genuine amateurs from country footy would have done more for the game even if they’d lost 128-0.
It would have given, not only those players, but every member of their home clubs a story to tell for years to come. Every four years they’d be able to recount the time that their player represented their club and country rugby players everywhere against the Lions.
The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that makes all those years of Tuesday and Thursday night training sessions after work worthwhile.
Of the ‘Country’ side that played that day, four players; Phoenix Battye (Force), Angus Roberts (Rebels), Jarrad Buttler (Reds) and Josh Mann-Rea (Brumbies) all got to play against the Lions a second time on that tour for their respective Super Rugby franchises.
The reason I still carry a great deal of angst with me about that game is that it represented everything going wrong with the leadership of the game in this country and the disconnect between the country and the professional game.
Since then it has only deteriorated, and the grassroots have become more and more disenfranchised with the game and its governance.
Club rugby, especially the Shute Shield in Sydney, is currently experiencing somewhat of a resurgence. Crowds are on the up, with more than 7,000 people watching Warringah take on Manly two weeks ago.
That’s not far shy of what the Waratahs were getting through the gates by the end of their season.
But far from being due to the administration of the game, it is almost in spite of it.
Club rugby has found a way to tap into the tribalism that comes – and can only come – from that grassroots connection to a club.
That tribalism and sense of belonging to clubs at the amateur level is a different connection to what fans feel for a professional franchise.
What is the ARU doing to encourage this level of tribalism in fans? (Photo: Paul Barkley/LookPro)
So why is that not embraced more by those running the game? Far from being celebrated, club rugby – especially outside of the major metro regions, is neglected.
If you needed further proof of the short-sighted and top-end focused nature of the ARU’s decision-making process, you need look no further than the current arrangement with David Pocock.
Pocock will reportedly earn in the region of $750,000 this year from the ARU, despite not pulling on a Wallabies or Brumbies jersey this season. That figure is part of a three-year deal understood to be worth upwards of $4 million.
Pocock is an incredible rugby player and by all accounts, a wonderful human being to boot. I don’t begrudge him earning that money if the ARU are willing to pay it.
Their argument will be that one of the most effective marketing tools for the game in this country is to have a winning Wallabies team and Pocock assists them greatly in achieving that goal.
But they’ve taken a massive gamble on a player who has already had two knee reconstructions. What if his knee goes again?
Could that money have been better spent elsewhere? Probably. If not definitely.
Hypothetically speaking, $750,000 could pay for 15 development managers on a $50,000 salary, each tasked with getting into regional schools and clubs, introducing new players to the game and nurturing the existing talent.
To give one example of the current setup, the development manager in charge of growing the game in Northern New South Wales – my region, covers an area from Coffs Harbour to Coolangatta. That’s almost a four-hour trip end-to-end.
Realistically, how effectively can he implement development programs and be seen to be a visual presence in an area that large? As all the while the AFL, rugby league and round ball football strengthen their respective holds in the same regions.
This is not to say that the funding for those potential development manager roles should have come from David Pocock’s money. But it does serve as another example of the ARU having too much focus on the elite end of the game and not having the wisdom to look bigger picture.
Having a winning Wallabies team would be great. But there is no guarantee of long-term sustained success at international level – unless you’re the All Blacks – and so to base your plans for the development of the game around achieving that is flawed.
The term ‘grassroots’ is used often in sports administration discussions, and the analogy is apt. For the long-term health of your lawn, no matter how green and lush it may be right now, is entirely dependent on a healthy root base.
If you neglect to ensure that the roots are nurtured and maintained, the once beautiful lawn will eventually, and inevitably, die off.
Let’s hope those at ARU HQ tasked with reinvigorating the game have a green thumb.
Sterling
Guest
Agreed. I know there are a lot reasons to have comps above club level. My point was that any higher level comp not having the same level of tribalism as a club comp is NOT a reason to scrap it.
Hoy
Roar Guru
ACT Brumbies 1. Ruan Smith 2. Siliva Siliva 3. Scott Sio 4. Leon Power 5. Sam Carter 6. Scott Fardy 7. Colby Fainga’a 8. Peter Kimlin (c) 9. Ian Prior 10. Matt Toomua 11. Clyde Rathbone 12. Andrew Smith 13. Tevita Kuridrani 14. Henry Speight 15. Jesse Mogg Replacements 16. Josh Mann-Rea 17. Jean-Pierre Smith 18. Chris Cocca 19. Etienne Oosthuizen 20. Jordan Smiler 21. Mark Swanepoel 22. Robbie Coleman 23. Zack Holmes Pretty close to full strength there Bakkies.
Hoy
Roar Guru
Better get in quick...
Bakkies
Guest
'then why the hell are any of our state unions or the ARU even attempting to run any other comp above club level at all! ' The level of play is not high enough. 41 (if he is that) year old Radike Samo played for GPS in a club semi after a 8 hour shift concreting, still run over players. That's not what you should be getting at the level that prepares you fully for pro Rugby.
Bakkies
Guest
Depends on the competition agreement at the time in regards to fielding sides. In reality Sanzar knew the Lions schedule a year in advance they should never have put the Force and this year the Blues in that position to rest players for a particular match.
Who
Roar Rookie
Jack! A few points... First off, I for one am very happy it wasn't a straight Country team that played the Lions back in 2013. But only from a perspective of hindsight. In September that year, I was lucky enough to have a chat with Chibba Hanson, who was at my region's local grand final. He was our sole 'Reds' rep. He said that the gap before the engagement was over a metre, and he'd never felt anything like that sort of power before in his life. He did his neck in that game, and they did talk retirement. Thankfully, they changed - and made safer - the scrum engagement sequence after that. But if a seasoned Super campaigner, a then fringe Wallaby, found it wasn't anything like safe, then how would it have been safe for guys who spend the majority of their season playing for the Mudgee Wombats or Gundy Emus to pack against that? You're right - 12 years is a long time, and for safety's sake, with the massive ramping up of power of the athletes due to the greater levels of professionalism and sports sicence in the game, it would have been a mistake to allow genuine amateurs to face the best of Britain. Even NZ didn't do that this time - they sent out guys who had generally made their Super teams (in the BaaBaas game), and they did it against a jet lagged team. If nothing else, it made it safer for their own players. Now, in terms of DO's... Your DO has it easy!!! We regularly lose ours to 4, 5, 6 hour drives. Our competition ranges over 6.5 hours of driving (for seniors, 'only' 3 hours for juniors). There's no question that there is a NEED for more funding for DO's, however, DO's are NOT employed by the ARU. They are employed by the NSWRU/QRU/VRU/WARU/etc. And those regional sub-unions set their agendas - the KPI's the DO's must meet. So, for my region, traditionally, a third of their income had to be covered by Rookies 2 Reds courses (yep, that says which state I'm in). Another third came from Herston. And the other third came from the local Sub-Union. For that, we rarely saw them. THEN... The QRU decided to centralize everything. We had three DO's - a Senior DO, and two Junior DO's. Plus a 'grants manager'. Three DO's - sounds great, right?! Well, we share them with two other regions - regions IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT TO THEIR BASE AT BALLYMORE!!! We had to absolutely badger the QRU to have that changed, so we get one focused on us (because otherwise, our three would all be monopolized by their more local regions). But even so, his availability to us - to our clubs - is severely impacted by the KPI's set by the QRU for their programs. Which have fair objectives, but which rarely dovetail well with our clubs, and rarely see numbers brought across from the programs into the clubs. This is the perfect example of the issues with the Feudal structures which govern the game in Australia. We ALL want the game to grow. But my club? We're below the ARU, the QRU, and then the sub-union (not all of which are solvent - Gold Coast was taken on by the QRU a couple of years ago). In some places, there are further sub-unions between the clubs and the state union. We all want the game to grow, and we all have tactics to see that achieved. But we don't dovetail well. When clubs are really the primary drivers of the game (and, given funding, I don't see we're going to get extra DO's - I'll come to that in a bit), and we can't get clubs to agree on how to recruit, let alone work with sub-unions (I've previously run one of these sub-unions), and we can't get decent communication (which is always a challenge - everyone's a volunteer, we all have families, jobs, bills to pay), then we aren't going to get the results we want - results worthy of the hard work done. The ARU are positing that they're going to spend the 'extra money' they have after they axe a team (a stupid, short term decision if ever there was one) on the 'grass roots'. But there's three questions that must be asked there. Firstly, how long will that extra cash be around? I'd wager it'll be gone from 2021 on... Secondly, what do they define as 'Grass Roots'? Many in Sydney (let's face it, HQ's at St Leonards, most live in the inner suburbs) consider Shute Shield to be the Grass Roots. I don't. I consider it to be well above grass roots. They're doing ok - they've got good gates, they're fine. There are other areas that need more attention. Specifically, areas that provide players upon which the Shute Shield (and the other equivalent competitions in other states) relies. Lastly, what's the ARU's track record..? I'd argue it's one of untrustworthiness from the perspective of the grass roots - the real grass roots, the clubs who never see a pro player drop through. It's not so long ago that clubs paid Sub-Union fees, insurance, and that was it. Then, suddenly, the ARU decided - in January, well after all club levies for the year had been decided by any club with any semblance of organization - to add $67.50/child of new fees (and WAY more for adults) to clubs which saw absolutely no benefit from the existence of the ARU. To the point that there was widespread discussion in Qld of secession. To the extent that Jim Carmichael publicly distributed a private email from someone privately asking valid questions, attempting to publicly shame this highly experienced and long term volunteer, and publicly castigating him and anyone else who might dare suggest that secession be considered! All this happened under Pulver's watch. So Pulver's legacy - and it's not all negative, he's done some good things, and some neutral things (some which could've been good, but he bowed to pressure from Sydney) - includes taking money from our kids to fund the failings of head office. Now, whilst we're talking about Pocock's pay... Pocock's not on $750k for not playing this year. He's on $2.25k over 3 years, with two full Super/Test seasons. It was an attempt to lock him up from going to Europe. Beale was on significantly more than that, and the premiership is much, much tougher on the body than what Pocock's doing. Does it look good? No! But Pocock is far and away our best player. He's arguably the only World XV player we have right now. At 7 (but Cheika doesn't believe in traditional roles, traditional jerseys, defence coaches who know how to structure a successful defence, attack coaches who can create successful 22 exit strategies, I could go on but I'll be kind to him). Meanwhile, we've got Sean McMahon going overseas, unhappy that he's not on a Wallabies top up. We lost our second best traditional openside in Liam Gill, also on low money and out of favour with Cheika. Perhaps there's an issue with pay equality? But reality is that we can't afford to pay those guys more. And so, if we start talking down the salaries of players who are receiving less than they would do in Europe (where they're of no value to us - this isn't Basketball, where having an NBA player gets us publicity - this is Rugby, where having Brock James at the top of the Top 14 for a decade has done nothing for us), we're only going to leave ourselves with no one left to pick for the Wallabies. And you know - as do I - that the game needs every bit of positive publicity it can get. If all the publicity it can get is that our poorly (comparatively, internationally) paid Wallabies have been smashed again by the AB's, or have lost to Scotland (again), then we're not going to survive...
Takeshi Kovacs
Roar Rookie
Yeah, 'Gratz on the trial mate. Whatever happens, enjoy yourself, and grab as much as you can of any free gear they're handing out! Seriously, grab the free stuff! :)
Takeshi Kovacs
Roar Rookie
You're right Crazy. The NRC is a national competition, but Chris thinks that the best way forward is to hold a Sydney-centric competition (with maybe a couple of token Queensland teams) as the answer to a National Club Comp. Chris, in one sentence you have pretty much written off the entire rest of the Australian Rugby community Good work mate. With that sort of clear thinking you should work for the ARU.
Takeshi Kovacs
Roar Rookie
Thanks so much for sharing this. It brings a tear to my eye as well, and I wasn't even there. I'm not jealous though; I'm proud of you and the lads who represented on our behalf. And your wife is a true rugby warriors' bestie forever. You're right about the grassroots level of passion. It IS still there, but we need to be smart about how we utilise it. At the moment, we have too many people whose frustration with Aus rugby is causing them to act in the most bitter and spiteful ways. They are spending way too much time sniping at their fellow soldiers, rather than banding together and challenging the Generals' who are the one's who are truly damaging our great game.
Takeshi Kovacs
Roar Rookie
At what level? Shute Shield? You've got to be kidding! I wish it was true Tony, but having played rugby in Perth while I was posted there, and comparing that experience to playing grade in Sydney? Not even close. If you were talking 2nd or 3rd division Subbies, then maybe........
Takeshi Kovacs
Roar Rookie
Jesus Jock, you were a hard bloke back in the day when you coached me at Easts, but you were always a man of respect. Calling TWAS a dog though, man....you've slipped. Really hard to respect that sort of stuff mate. You can do better.
Takeshi Kovacs
Roar Rookie
Actually, the Cocky's have been giving the NSWSRU team quite a touch over the last few seasons. Regardless, your point is well made.
Takeshi Kovacs
Roar Rookie
The "important" Super rugby match was against the Waratahs, and it was a dead rubber. Neither team could make the finals. There was an absolute uproar over the perception that Michael Foley denied a whole heap of loyal WF players the honour of playing against the BILS, simply so that they'd be fresh for the match against Foley's previous club, the Waratahs. Here's an excerpt from The Standard; "Michael Foley has named a watered-down Force side, with seven uncapped players. Force coach Michael Foley has defended his selections, but the 30,000 strong crowd have a legitimate reason to feel hard-done-by. There are five Force representatives with Test experience - Brett Sheehan, Salesi Ma'afu, Richard Brown, Matt Hodgson and Sam Norton-Knight, but we will not get to see the likes of Sias Ebersohn, Jayden Hayward, Pek Cowan, Heath Tessmann, Sam Wykes and Pat Dellit. Nick Cummins and Ben McCalman are not available due to Wallabies selection, while Hugh McMeniman and Kyle Godwin are out injured. All except Cummins and McCalman will return for the clash against the Tahs at the weekend, despite the fact that neither Australian franchise can make the Super Rugby finals."
Takeshi Kovacs
Roar Rookie
Sounds like a pretty happy place to be. Nobody's holding a gun to anybodies head when it comes to playing rugby. They're not excluded - they're self-selecting based on whatever is best for them. Back in the day, a lot of the most promising players went to League (for the cash?). Others made themselves 'unavailable' for selection because they couldn't afford to take the time off from work/Uni etc. So that would mean that the advent of professionalism has been an absolute boon for the majority of top level rugby players. So what on earth is the point of your post?
Takeshi Kovacs
Roar Rookie
Can you back that statement up? The one about how the ARU, and I'm paraphrasing here, has gotten stuck into supporting NSW, but is ignoring the rest of the country. Can you give me a reference that supports your allegation?
Sterling
Guest
How does a higher honours comp that runs from Sep to Nov suck the life out of the tribalism of any other club comp that runs from March to Sep?
Jock Cornet
Guest
Bs I watched them and they are hopeless.
Jock Cornet
Guest
The NRC sucks the life out of tribali and confuses the supporter or say non supporter even more. We got 5000 to waverley vs Knox game. So rugby support is there just not with the ARU. Kill the ARU and the support will grow. The NRC is supported by Brett and TWAS dog
Jock Cornet
Guest
Clubs don't have the money to travel all over nsw every week. The ARU give them notthing.
Justin Mahon
Guest
Even the A-League clubs are now setting up,academies with juniors down to u8 (playing in State leagues) and are all building/planning their own infrastructure in the form of physical academies,training grounds and social clubs etc... On top of a dozen relatively stable years of the league, the intergenerarional, tribal connections are now being built. It's a long game - but it's worth doing.