'Angst, pain and suffering': Penrith boss reacts as club cut from 2022 comp

That is why it is such a mess! However why would the turkeys vote for thanksgiving unless they absolutely have to... the media and rugby public are giving them carte blanche

The SRU & NSWRU have a history of protecting the inner circle of Shute Shield Clubs at the expense of all other rugby clubs and the good of the game. Penrith Rugby Club is just another victim. The rot started with the disbanding of 2nd division and an end to promotion and relegation. Hornsby Rugby Club like Penrith was the victim of myopic administrators and self protecting club presidents. Hornsby Rugby with its own licensed club was an established club that had spent time in 1st and 2nd division. Postioned in the fast growing area of North West Sydney it provided a link to the even faster growing Central Coast. Unfortunately it appears Penrith awaits the same fate. It is disgraceful that no one is held to accountant for these decisions.

That is right Jez. Same as every other club, a whole lot of expenses not covered by a salary cap. Back to the $85k rugby expenses at Ponsonby. All volunteers or are the expenses just paid somewhere else? The key issue here Jez was that a number of Roarers in their bitterness about the "6 clubs" seized on the salary cap as evidence that there was a need to rein in extravagant and unnecessary payments to players, presumably mainly those head hunted from Parramatta and Penrith. My contention is that clubs are largely reliant on sponsorships and membership support to breakeven and do not spend money on player salaries. The cap is to prevent any one club seeking to finance their way to a Premiership at the expense of the competition, which I might add has happened in the Illawarra and Central Coast competitions. It is not in rugby's interests for that to happen. I have made numerous enquiries to try and establish if you are right and I am wrong. If you are right then it has to be the best kept secret in rugby. Pretty remarkable really, when I played every one knew the Randwick players were being paid :laughing: :laughing: An allegation that seems to follow winning teams around.

Agree with that lilzot, but that only supports my arguments. People's angst here is about the "6 clubs" and the SRU. There is some money going into those clubs from all sorts of sponsors, it is what keeps them afloat. However the SRU and the 6 clubs do not have any available resources, financial or otherwise, to start investing in other rugby initiatives. Especially to make up for the fact that RA, and the rest of the Australian rugby community, are not interested in committing any resources either. It is easy to blame the NSWRU because it should be their responsibility. However their structure is not helpful, and even then it comprises of the viable and active union representatives. They would not know where to start to build something like a Western Sydney Districts Rugby Union pretty much from scratch. They also do not really have much money anyway. They can't run professional rugby either so it probably is break even at best in any year. They are reliant on RA funds trickling down, and never has trickle been so well used to describe the funding RA provides downstream to anyone. The last paragraph is why the money stays in pockets. Andrew Forrest can get his nose out of joint and then decide he will build on his own vision, and then fund it. Most other people might be willing to fund a viable RA vision but they don't even have one.

Just a late reply - I never said that shute shield clubs had money, I said the Sydney rugby community had money.

Would think none of those would be governed by the Salary Cap.

Head coach salary (Todd Louden), other coaches, kit, insurance, medical just off the top of my head.

Actually I was rather impressed by the news release. As quoted, it ticks all the boxes for weasel words and apparatchik corporate-speak. It certainly achieved the intended result - by paragraph 3 the intended numbness had already crept over this reader. Don Watson would point to it as a sterling example of the type. As others have pointed out, the problem with this sort of stuff is that the people who write and issue it travel with a certain mindset. Symptom, or cause? Who knows?

Bs, I work in western Sydney and do it often. You’re just talking absolute trash It’s not a judgemental call at all, it’s pretty widespread known fact that what I said is the case. The former Two Blues GM has been on record as saying this and I’ve also spoken to Emus management in the last year professional setting and was told as much straight from them. What evidence do you have to back up your claim as to the location of Emu players? Zero And a pretty egotistical view to think just because YOU don’t think that it’s a inconvenience to travel that for or isn’t a big distance that it’s the same for other people too. Give it a rest yea? It’s like you’re arguing just for the sake of it. You clearly don’t have a horse in this race or care about the code in general

Sure, apprenticeships and government subs are good. Neither of which are related to WSU or Universities in general

The RA Directors are the RA Board.There is a Nominations Committee which until recently was controlled by FOSUFC similar to the previous Directors. Remember M.Hawker, C.Clyne,P.Waugh, J.Sukkar, and you can add in R.Davis from NSW.

It’s all there in the rugby expenses lines. I can’t think what else a salary cap and these expenses would be. Southern call it “Player Costs” and Development https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eae723e551ecf3b8c3cb8a2/t/5fa5f9a53c84443d2d1b6fb8/1604712871244/SDRC+Financial+Report+for+AGM+-+2020+021120+5.30pm.pdf

Who do the RA directors represent? I think they represent the RA Board. They control who comes on the board and are accountable to nobody.

Exactly Jez. The NZ clubs, or at least the entities providing the accounts, clearly do not pay players. Fortunately these clubs must have a lot of volunteer help and I very much doubt that all of the club activities are represented in the financial statements provided. The big clubs have substantial facilities for hire and also for use by the club but there is hardly any revenue or expenses in respect of them. Different country, different laws, different culture. I continue to ask where your proof of player payments is? A salary cap is to be introduced next year of $200,000. That indicates what? That next year they will spend that cap? Which clubs had a surplus of $200,000 this year, or last year, or the year before (pre-COVID). If you think they spend more than that now, then where? It is not illegal to pay players so there is no need to hide it. What enquiries have you made to justify your continuing claims?

Jez is fully on board with all of that. I am fully on board with criticising the decades of neglect of rugby west of Homebush. However the vitriol is being directed at clubs and the body that represents them and organises their competition. It is not their responsibility to develop rugby in other areas. They have neither the funds or the resources to do so. It is just one of the many failings of NSW and RA that nobody will (or can anyway) hold them to account for. Ironically the complaints come down to the failure to identify and develop potential players that could then play SR in other states. We are talking millions of dollars a year to even make something of a presence in the Western Sydney region. It is not just a matter of subsidising the Emus either. Every club out there needs support and they should probably be their own district. Of course there is no money, but RA didn't invest it when they had it either. Apart from calling one of the ARC teams Western Sydney. Your grandson's situation is typical of the situation confronting young players. I can earn nothing playing amateur rugby at the Emus and maybe if RA supports the area we might not be getting flogged in five years time, if I am still playing. I could instead incur the time and expense to travel to and from training at another rugby club where I can play in a team appropriate for my skills, fitness, capability and aspirations. If I am very talented I might reject a contract from Penrith and aim to be a rugby professional in which case there is no choice but to move to a bigger club where I can get the right coaching and good opportunity. That player does not have to be 'head hunted' away from Penrith. Your grandson probably works locally so his choices get narrowed down to playing A grade rugby league. Its a great game to play too, I hope he is enjoying it.

But apprenticeships have a tangible return, no? And govt subsidy.

I did say when at full strength

Whilst there's some debate (so give or take a suburb), Western Sydney traditionally starts at Strathfield, where the inner West ends. Kings is in North Parramatta. Greater West for most people starts West of Blacktown. Penrith is nearly at the foot of the Blue Mountains.

My replies on here seem to keep going missing which is frustrating. Even in different browsers. I'll summarise. While you laugh, I've done this trip more times than I want to think about and counter peak, there's nothing like the traffic you're trying to portray on a normal day, I suspect you don't actually know what you're talking about and were caught out thinking about traffic to Penrith rather than away from it. Either way, as I keep saying, the vast majority of players won't be traveling from the centre of Penrith or west of there (how many emu players do you think live in Panthers or Emu Plains), they are closer to Parramatta (east of Penrith). If you have been here you would know this. It's worse if you play League, you're going with traffic. Also, you're making quite a judgement call on Emus players. Not sure how you can say that, but I actually think for many, it will make little difference getting to Parra. They will want to play, they will make the trip, let me tell you first hand, it's a nothing trip compared to what many from the West do daily. People are thinking like eastern suburbs folks, where if it's not under a few KMs away it's all too hard. So, you can try for your little win and ignore what I'm saying, that's fine. However, it's done. I want to see a strong Western Sydney Two Blues outfit that challenges the existing teams. I hope we will now see that.

Jez & Muglair, I appreciate both of you as valuable Roar contributers, my grand son an apprentice electrician plays A Grade Juniors in the Penrith District Rugby League, for which he gets paid, not huge, but it supplements his apprentice wage. Penrith Emus have been badly neglected by SRU,NSWRU and of course RA.