Roar Guru
Joined May 2007
478k
Views
148
Published
10.3k
Comments
A former rugby lock, cricket no.11 bat and no.10 bowler, and surfboat rower. A fan of the major team sports in Australia.
Published
Comments
There are two damning statistics about the Wallabies and Australian rugby. The first is that the Wallabies have not beaten the All Blacks in Auckland since 1986. That’s 32 years, and counting.
I’m one of those silly blokes who loves racing for the aesthetics – what I want most of all is watching champion horses with champion jockeys race against each other in championship races over varying distances and race conditions.
Last weekend I finally got around to clearing my study of unwanted books, magazines not revisited in many years and reams of scrap paper with double-up scribblings.
Former boss of Australian rugby John O’Neill’s abrasive style is both grating and polarising, but there’s no doubting his success rate.
The Australian sporting landscape is becoming incredibly crowded, especially with national women’s comps starting in most of the major sports.
Ric Charlesworth is a man with plenty of experience inside and outside the sporting arena.
Last Thursday past at The Roar Xmas drinks I was thrilled and honoured to be chatting with legendary septuagenarians David Lord, Spiro Zavos and Kersi Meher-Homji. Also present was The Roar rising star writer Geoff Parkes.
The Wallabies played their first-ever Test way back in 1899, and in the years leading up to the start of World War I, they appeared in just 24 matches.
Ben Ryan, the English coach of the Fijian rugby sevens gold medal winning team at the Rio Olympics, caused quite a stir recently with his caustic observations of how the Pacific Islands were being effectively ‘stripped’ by the major rugby union powers.
When Cate Campbell imploded in the women’s 100m freestyle final – the most certain of our certain gold medallists – I was as stunned as anyone.
Are our Aussie swimmers, the Dolphins, mentally soft?
I’m trying to track down some history of the Rugby World Cup, specifically player of the tournament and player of the final.
Purely by accident, I have discovered that right now, there have been a combined 150 players who have captained the rugby union Wallabies and rugby league Kangaroos.
We are presently watching the greatest batting talent in Australian cricket history.
Victor Trumper is one of the most revered cricketers in Australian sporting history.
Fellow Roarer Frank O’Keefe has just completed presenting his best 60 all-time Australian cricketers in five batches of 12. I have been inspired to do a similar exercise, but slightly differently.
There was a wonderful article in Thursday’s The Australian by Bret Harris, titled ‘All Black giant who shook the world’.
Apparently the VRC intend to commemorate the 50th anniversary of trainer Bart Cummings winning his first Melbourne Cup with Light Fingers back in 1965.
So Aussie rugby fans, here’s a moral dilemma: World Rugby (former IRB) tells us that referee Craig Joubert erred in awarding the Wallabies a 78th minute penalty goal against Scotland.
Trainer Bart Cummings stands over the history of the Melbourne Cup, like the colossus phenomenon that he is.
AndyS,
The world is full of delicious ironies.
Let’s say you had a merged 20 club national comp today.
Waratahs would get a gig as one of say 10 Sydney clubs.
Reds & Rebels would each get a gig as second club in each of Brisbane & Melbourne.
Force & Falcons might prevail as only clubs in Perth & Adelaide.
The one unknown is whether the Brumbies would punt the Raiders from Canberra. Or one of them relocate. Brumbies certainly have the better (more Aussie) nickname.
So, at best, 6 rugby union clubs out of 20 clubs total. At, worst 5 or maybe fewer.
Why rugby is moving towards league
Red Rob,
We can’t imagine how sport is going to change, & whether for the better or worse.
I would say worse only because I knew sport as being entirely different when I was young. Not necessarily better, but I was comfortable with the way it was.
I don’t understand many of the changes today. E-sports, which I don’t know much about, is now a big deal apparently.
Why rugby is moving towards league
Soapit,
Things will change in ways we can’t imagine.
Who would have believed just 20 years ago the biggest money pulling competition in Australian cricket (BBL) would be basically about….. nothing!
Why rugby is moving towards league
Just as an addendum,
Anyone who thinks sport has any remaining independence is seriously deluded.
Once a sport becomes professional & is dependent, make that slave-dependent, to revenue streams, it is a business like any other business.
The idea that we could escape the weekly grind by following our favourite sporting teams on the weekend, is lost.
Business now owns us 24/7. Even our leisure time now belongs to business. They tell us what to watch, when to watch it, how to watch it, why to watch it.
Why rugby is moving towards league
The NRL may have no choice if rugby league worldwide agrees to merge with rugby union.
In any case, as I’ve pointed out, the merge will almost probably be driven by commercial interests.
You know, those people on corporations & governing bodies who you are always defending.
They will be the “pushers”.
Why rugby is moving towards league
JOX,
I’m just expressing an opinion, I’m not a sage.
I’m just saying commercial interests will eventually force a merger. What kind of rugby we end up with I can only guess at.
Why rugby is moving towards league
Cookie,
It was a throwaway line mostly, but who knows.
I think commercial pressures will bring the codes together. Money almost always wins, due to human greed, much to my eternal disgust.
Why rugby is moving towards league
Nick,
I think eventually union & league will merge. It might be a coming together of laws/rules or simply demanded by commercial interests. There are still a few minor yet significant decisions to be made.
Like, does the game stop when a player is tackled & whether you keep the extra two forwards? The pace of the modern game may suggest we go to the play the ball rule (even if it only provides momentary relief), but still have line outs & semi genuine scrums.
The only modern rugby I enjoy is played by Kiwi sides. Overall, I believe league has become a more consistent, better spectacle, despite the accusation of 5 tackles then kick, or rugby lite.
Why rugby is moving towards league
Adam,
Perhaps you didn’t notice that I wasn’t talking about a national comp, but two separate state comps.
It’s not the same thing.
Joey and Freddie are right: There are too many teams in Sydney
Thanks Max,
And all the same to you!
Joey and Freddie are right: There are too many teams in Sydney
BigDaddy,
They’ve also got the Bridge hotel (app. where the leagues club used to be), which is one of the few remaining pubs for rollicking live bands in Sydney.
Joey and Freddie are right: There are too many teams in Sydney
Or simply add another regional team & make it an 18 team comp.
Forget about Adelaide & Perth for the moment.
Joey and Freddie are right: There are too many teams in Sydney
Damn it, I forgot Melbourne Storm.
Maybe Melbourne can fit into the NSW comp in place of one of the country teams.
Don’t care about NZ, they can have their own comp.
Joey and Freddie are right: There are too many teams in Sydney
I say stuff the NRL! In fact, let’s go fully retro.
Let’s go back to separate NSW & Queensland comps, with both operating under the same salary caps. Maybe you could argue Sydney gets a bit more for being a bit bigger, but not much more.
Also keep the state of origin so players aren’t inhibited about playing in Queensland, even though they qualify for NSW.
NSW state comp (including ACT):
Balmain Tigers
Canberra Raiders
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Central Coast Jets (or Bluebags)
Central North (NSW) Bulls
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
East Sydney Roosters
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Newcastle Knights
North Sydney Bears
Parramatta Eels
Penrith Panthers
Riverina-Bidgee (NSW) Rams
St. George-Illawarra Dragons
South Sydney Rabbitohs
West Sydney Tigers
Queensland comp:
Brisbane Brothers
Central Queensland Capras
Darling Downs Clydesdales
East Brisbane Tigers
FNQ (Cairns) Pride
Fortitude Valley Diehards
Gold Coast Titans
Ipswich Jets
Logan-Kingston Scorpions
North Brisbane Devils
North Queensland Cowboys
Redcliffe Dolphins
South Brisbane Magpies
West Brisbane Panthers
Wynnum-Manly Seagulls
16 teams in each comp, 10 metro & 6 regional. Also have a super-grand final between the respective NSW & Qld premiers.
Done!
Joey and Freddie are right: There are too many teams in Sydney
Chris,
It’s true Sheffield Shield struggles for interest.
But is it any wonder when the leading players are rarely seen? What’s the point of a premier domestic comp when so few of the top 20-25 players are missing most games?
if you want to destroy a domestic comp, this is precisely how you do it, by removing the cream of its players.
Imagine for a nano-second, if the AFL, to prove my argument, removed the top 50 players from the Premiership Cup for the entire season. It would still go okay, but nowhere near as successfully without its best 50 players.
It wasn’t that many years ago the marketeers were apparently sprouting, & perhaps the administrators hoping, that Sheffield Shield would be dead by 2018, & test players could successfully use BBL as a preparation stage for test cricket.
Nah!
What genuine cricket fans have always known, those not caught up in hype, that test cricket & Sheffield Shield go hand in hand. Even the Indians, who liked abandoning test cricket a decade ago with their obsession firstly with 50 overs cricket, then T20, now realise the importance of the Ranji Trophy to their test cricketers.
My point has always been this, & I use these figures purely for the sake of the argument.
Instead of CA seeking 100% revenue & perhaps 60% welfare/wellbeing from its illogical domestic structure, why not aim for 90% revenue & 90% welfare/wellbeing.
It’s what’s known as an old fashioned win-win scenario. Give up a little in one direction to win more in another direction.
Structurally, it means accepting the SS must be run concurrently with test cricket, wherever you wish to place it in the season. BBL then gets its own slot, either prime time, or somewhere else less optimal prime time.
But running test cricket & BBL both concurrently in prime time, will eventually seriously impact on the quality of test cricket, & perhaps also do BBL no favours either in the long run.
Yes, the BBL is slightly long. But does it matter?
Nick,
Great stuff & I hope later I can further read other responses.
I always thought if I were a high level coach, or even a schoolboy coach, I wouldn’t be smart enough to think of complicated long-term strategies & game-day tactics.
I would concentrate on just two fundamental things:
1. Excellent overall basic skills & techniques honed through constant repetition.
2. Situation awareness development allowing players to see & grasp opportunities as the occur in the moment.
You might say this is the “Kiwi way”, & on the evidence of the past decade, it works much more often than not.
There is a lot to be said of the ‘KISS’ methodology.
Sliding doors: Wallaby lessons from the 2001 Lions tour
So David,
If BBL form is not proving the silver bullet in providing test cricket with the appropriate form of test players, why do we persist with this scheduling (it’s a rhetorical question; answer is money, money, money).
And whoever were the geniuses who supposed that BBL form would suffice for test cricket preparation?????
Humanity really is incredibly stupid…..
Yes, the BBL is slightly long. But does it matter?
Obviously, it’s not long if you’re looking for a babysitter, or are incapable of entertaining yourself…..
Yes, the BBL is slightly long. But does it matter?
Chris,
This is why it’s important to have integrity in your life. Someone will always criticise you for something you do. But if you do it for the right moral reasons, then criticism is immaterial.
CA is putting “profits before people”. So naturally they’re going to attract criticism, & it’s difficult to defend their position, because while it’s a ‘profit maximum’ position, it’s not a ‘welfare maximum’ position.
There are much more people in cricket to consider than just the 250-odd professional cricketers in Australia, & the God-knows-how-many suits at HQ.
BBL triple treat has to be the future of scheduling
Sorry Josh,
This is a rubbish suggestion. Apart from money, why?
Very rarely does the winner come outside the top 4. How’s top 10 going to make it better than top 8 except fill the AFL coffers, which are already overflowing.
This is such a millennium idea, give everyone a prize. I know, let’s have an 18 team finals play-off. Everybody gets to win something….. like just showing up in the first finals week…..
The AFL is ready for a ten-team finals series
AndyS – please be my guest.
Alignment and centralisation: Sounds great, but will it work for Wallabies?
Christo,
“BBL will always be in January to coincide with school holidays”.
No, incorrect. Apart from death & taxes, everything else is subject to change.
BBL didn’t exist in 2010. Boxing Day tests weren’t regular until 1980, with the exception of 1989.
Sooner than you or I think, CA must address its lopsided domestic scheduling. Too many key figures in cricket are questioning why it is the way it is.
CA might have to face a situation that what is “maximum revenue” is not “maximum benefit” for long-term well-being of Australian cricket.
Already it is becoming clear that the ridiculous notion that BBL would work as a form guide for test selection is being disproven. Test cricket needs Sheffield Shield.
Also, the boast by marketeers in 2015 that Sheffield Shield would be dead by 2018 hasn’t happened. Test cricket needs Sheffield Shield.
India have realised the same thing. As valuable a money spinner as IPL is, they need the Ranji Trophy to continue producing quality test players.
As this fact dawns on more & more people, things will need to change.
So nothing is forever, everything is subject to change. Some times, or many times, unfortunately so.
BBL triple treat has to be the future of scheduling
Soapit – If I understood what you just said I might respond!!!
Why rugby is moving towards league