Driving back to Tamworth after taking my three sons and their mates from our local junior rugby club to the Bledisloe Cup had me reflecting on what rugby and our rugby community have become.
A sister in law of mine – I have few – once told me that when you give your kids the things you didn’t have as child, be careful, as you might not give them what you did have.
While you think about that one, I will offer the following observations and more importantly some possible solutions.
The glaring issues with rugby at the moment are actually not external, they are all about us, the rugby community and what we have become in the professional era. That’s right, pull up a chair.
The real issues are not our coaches, our players or our administration. I put it to you that it is our lack of connection with the teams, our need for spiritual home, and a need to embrace the complexity and intrigue of our game.
There are three things we used to have that I’m not sure we still do.
Firstly – do we know the team, the folklore, the history? Schools and club rugby have a loyalty, in spades, in good times and bad. They simply know and appreciate their team, it’s history and folklore.
When the team loses the supporters feel their pain, not call them heartless, overpaid, lazy or poorly coached.
Similarly, there is a knowledge of the history, the personalities, the heroes and the villains in the opposing tribe. This could start with a free-to-air presence.
Secondly – Atmosphere. A full house beats a royal flush…. 42,000 to watch the English in 2016 or the Irish this year in Allianz beats 66,000 at ANZ Stadium every day of the week.
Their original monikers say it all. One is the Sydney Football Stadium and the other is simply the Olympic Stadium.
The solution? If we are to build a new, extravagant ground it must be at Moore Park. ANZ Stadium is the centre of Sydney but all roads lead to the city centre, and that’s where the fans want to go.
We don’t want to truck them in and out like cattle but if we do then we need to make sure it’s is close to a watering hole!
A sacred site would bring out the best in us and our team. Think of the spiritual homes in our game such as Murrayfield, Cardiff Arms Park, the old Carisbrook, Twickenham. Or think SCG, the MCG and Suncorp.
Have we ever spoken about ANZ Stadium in these reverent tones? Make sure the new digs have a decent nickname – the House of Pain or the Cake Tin, the Home of Rugby, the G.
(Photo: Tim Anger)
Finally – students of the game. In a game of rugby, we are looking at a masterpiece, a work of art – the game they play in heaven, no less.
Rugby’s strength is its Chess-like complexity. Our commentators and writers sometimes focus on simplifying rugby for a wider audience, but we need to increase the awareness of its many layers.
Rod Kafer and The Roar’s Nicholas Bishop take us into this world, unapologetically and in an informative, intriguing way.
When the All Blacks gave our young blokes a lesson in line outs in Bledisloe I, it was in fact a thing of beauty and intrigue.
All that aside, in a crowded market we need a point of difference. Starting by not calling it a market! That point of difference is the comradery.
In rugby you can walk into a rugby club or pub anywhere in the word and be greeted as family. That is our point of difference.
My boys’ highlight for the Bledisloe? It was post-match, long after the Wallabies has left the field. All Blacks reserves including TJ Perenara remained to do a warm down.
The banter went like this:
All Blacks fan: “Hey TJ, my main man. Well done bro.” he waves then turns to our 3 boys in their Wallabies gear.
TJ: “Hey boys! Give me five.”
My boys: “Sure TJ.”
All Blacks fan: “TJ, but they’re Aussies.”
TJ: “It’s all good bro. We’re all playing the same game. In rugby we are all one family, hey boys?”
TJ gets it.
That comradery is our point of difference as a sport. For my boys that was the highlight.
So, in these times of great innovations like fancy stadiums, spidercam and live pause let’s not forget what made the game great in the first place.
They are talking about this new innovation for the second Bledisloe whereby both teams will share a beer after the game.
If this hasn’t been happening in the professional era, then that, right there, is where we have lost our way.
Wallabies to fix the set piece and give tonight’s Test an almighty shake. You heard it here first.
Scotty
Guest
could not agree more Banjo! The Wallabies, whoever is selected, could also learn from the All Blacks about connecting with their fans. Instead of hiding in the sheds and ducking away from cameras, they should get out and mix with their supporters post game on the field regardless of the result. That would allow our Aussie kids leave the ground talking about their encounter with a Wallaby and not an All Black!!!!
Banjo Kelly
Roar Rookie
Junior rugby, like all kids sports, is run by the parents when it is all said and done. If your kids are into something, or would like to be, you have to get and run it. Whatever your postcode.
JRC
Guest
Let's make club and school rugby great again - forget the National Championship (or whatever) which is just another level between club and Super rugby, for which we don't have the numbers and nobody really knows (or cares) about except the players' families. Of course, very few 'free to air' games are a significant problem.
JRC
Guest
Yes, in full agreement. Rugby is the ultimate team game, it is one of camaraderie, it is complex. This is what makes the game great and we shouldn't change it for those who don't understand it but educate those who don't understand it so they do. It's a game where a penalty is given for good work, positive play & applied pressure forcing a mistake, not one where a penalty is given for foul play (as in rugby league). Foul play in rugby union is given a yellow (or red) card, not so in league where a player is lucky (or unlucky) to receive a '10 min sin bin'.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Chris, I really agree with the thrust of your comments. Using facts and analysis, the reason why rugby lost the loyalty of a whole generation of Western Sydney boys was simply because it never had it. Rugby has never been the predominant code across Sydney, the the ties that most of these boys that grew up in Western Sydney have to the game is merely through their parents. For all the talk about how we've missed out on all these islander boys in Western Sydney. Look back at past RWC squads. In 1995 we had Daniel Manu but i'm not sure he spent any formative years in Western Sydney. In 1999 we had no islander origin players from Western Sydney. In 2003 we had none unless Turinui was from the west originally. In 2007 we had Wycliff Palu. In 2011 we had Wycliff, Tatafu Polata-Nau and Selasi Ma'afu. In 2015 we had Wycliff, Tatafu, Israel Folau and Will Skelton. In the current squad we have Folau, Fainga'a, Tolu Latu, Brendan Paenga-Amosa, Tatafu, Allan Ala'alatoa, Scott Sio, Lukhan Tui and Israel Folau. If anything we are getting more and more of these players filtering through the age group rep levels and professional system.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Actually it was the player's that were first with their snouts in the trough. At least other than the broadcasters. The first people to benefit, other than the broadcasters, were the players.
Banjo Kelly
Roar Rookie
Perhaps. Plenty of improvements have been made to the good ol’ days. I once watched the Waratahs play the Reds in front of 5000 at Concord, circa 1988. That wasn’t the formula either...
ChrisB
Guest
"In rugby you can walk into a rugby club or pub anywhere in the word and be greeted as family. That is our point of difference." What a load of garbage. How do you know this does not happen in other sports? How do you definitively know it happens in Rugby (always??)? I'm sorry, you can't tell me that fans/players of cricket, baseball, team handball, hockey, lacrosse, Aussie Rules, Hurling, whatever sport you care to name, don't share some sort of similar camaraderie I would suggest Rugby's problems should be looked at in the cold light of day using fact and analysis, not resorting to BS myths and chimaeras about 'spiritual homes' and supposed superior ethos to other sports A starting point might be to explain why Rugby lost the loyalty of a whole generation of western Sydney islander boys if it's camaraderie was so all-inclusive and wonderful
sheek
Guest
Banjo, I have lost that connection with the Wallabies, the provincial teams & the game. I hate the corporatisation of rugby, absolutely hate it. I understand professionalism & the need for revenue, I get that. But I disagree it should be at the expense of grassroots values. When professionalism first came in 1995-96 the suits warned of the game losing its ethos. Yet guess who were the first with their snouts in the trough? Yep, the suits. Ethos? What ethos! Your sister-in-law is a very wise woman. Very prescient observation by her. You see it in a family where the father & mother have come from dirt poor to filthy rich. They then give their kids everything, who then have no understanding of the value of working hard for something.
JeffRo
Roar Pro
Another bit of wise advice I once heard-"it's easy to look to the past thinking they had it sorted, and it's whats happening now that is ruining it. But they had their own, doubts, troubles and problem as well. And they also looked to the past with envy.....
Melburnian
Roar Pro
An interesting read with some thought provoking ideas here. Thank you for sharing this.
Canetragic
Guest
Your sister in law is a wise woman. And your point about the soul of the game is so true, and we'll done TJ Perenara for playing that out so well for your boys. It's heartening when you see professional sports players do that, part of their core job in my opinion.
elvis
Guest
lol I missed that "or". I don't often make comprehension errors, but when I do I make sure I comment so everyone knows I'm an idiot. I wonder what the fun police would make of me loading up garbage bags full of cans at the bottom of XXXX hill when I was a kid. I thought it endlessly amusing to walk the whole way without actually touching the ground for crushed beer cans.
Banjo Kelly
Guest
No I was actually listing it with other great venues for sport outside of rugby (MCG, SCG..) but we could look to Ballymore's hill for inspiration where those guys with the mini kegs strapped to their backs used to come around selling beer. Ballymore certainly mastered the old school art of the crowd handing around after the match. We were part of a well-intentioned junior rugby clubs initiative called the More March before Bledisloe I. Bit of a trade-off though, having to spend an hour waiting in the Athletics track grandstand next door before-hand and missing the Wallaroos test match in the process. At Ballymore the kids used to just run on the field after the match and play touch footy until it was time to head home. All stuff the fun police have long since banned.
elvis
Guest
Great piece. But by Suncorp... did you mean Ballymore? :-)