I’m very sad about the passing of David Lord. I got to know him reasonably well away from The Roar. Sadly, in his later years he became very suspicious of people in general, & extremely private.
For example, whenever I arranged a coffee or lunch with him, he insisted on finding his own way to & from the venue. He never recovered from losing his son. And I also think the breakup of his marriage cut deeply.
His achievements are truly extraordinary. Let’s see below:
1. 1st grade cricketer & captain of Mosman cricket club.
2. TV/radio match caller, commentator & reviewer for rugby, league, cricket & Olympics.
3. Edited Australian rugby yearbook for many years.
4. Started his own cricket & rugby mags in the 70s & 80s respectively.
5. He claims he was the first to introduce sports advertising on TV (mid-70s), with TNT on rugby match day balls.
6. He also claims to be the first player agent in Oz. At one time he had in his stable – Jeff Thomson & Alvin Kallicharran (both cricket), Steve Holland (swimming) & Wayne Grady (golf), among others. Because Thomson & Kallicharran were signed by him to a Brisbane radio station (4IP), they were excluded from appearing in WSC.
7. Kerry packer thought saw much of him, he gave him the full inside scoop on WSC for 1977. But Ch7 refused to promote a comp on a rival station (ch9). This led to a massive falling out between Lord & Packer, which was not of Lord’s doing.
8. In 1983, he had the signatures of 208 player from 8 countries for a pro rugby competition, plus 8 coaches. This quick-tracked the beginning of the RWC. He has never, as far as I know, divulged the names of those 208 players from Australia, NZ, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France & Fiji.
I have to be brutally honest & say David was too good for The Roar, too many contributors of whom didn’t show him the necessary respect his mightily extraordinary achievements deserved.
God bless you, David. I trust the afterlife is as good for you as we all imagine it to be.

Kingplaymaker,

That’s not entirely true that British rugby is obsessed with 10-man rugby. In the 70s, it was almost the reverse. The the 70s, being in Britain was the place to watch rugby, with guys like Edwards, Bennett, Davies, Gibson, Duckham, Irvine & the two Williams all playing exhilarating rugby.

While mid-70s in Oz, a lack of exciting backs saw us play a more conservative brand, as did NZ & SA.

However, for the advice & education of the author & everyone else, see footage of “the try of the century”, Gareth Edwards scoring early for the Barbarians against the All Blacks in January 1973.

Today that try would never have been scored, because today’s referee, or the TMO, would have found several head high tackles & line ball forward passes & called back play.

How much potentially great rugby today is being ruined by the officials? We can only guess. This is not new. What do want from our sport? Players exhibiting their skills or officials demonstrating their consummate knowledge of the laws?

I’ve never known a sport so prone to self-annihilation like rugby. I call it self-suicide. This has baffled me for decades. It goes to the very heart of the beginning of the sport – as a game developed for gentlemen by the autocracy.

I remember seething with frustration back in 1984 at the SCG when the Irish referee totally ruined a Bledisloe Cup clash between two exciting teams by blowing about 35 penalties. The game was a see-sawing thriller won by the All Blacks 25-24, but otherwise ruined by the ref’s whistle.

Fast forward 40 years & some things don’t change!

Biscuits,

Ahh, the cheap shot merchant returns…

Ben Pobjie,

I’m not a fan of giving the public a vote, it simply is bad policy. 100 different folk will have 100 different views, 1000 different folk will have 1000 different views, & so on. Completely unworkable.
It’s instructive that when Rod MacQueen convened a forum to select the ACT’s mascot/emblem, he put an asterisk beside Brumbies, among the 100-odd suggestions, because he knew from experience that a committee was likely to come up with a dud choice.
His guidance worked, & Brumbies was duly chosen. A great choice & great perception!
After all, it is said a committee designed a camel. But give the public a say, & they might design a camel-dugong, if such a thing is possible.
The long honoured tradition is to select representatives who we hope will make the best considered decisions on our behalf.
It’s a flawed concept but better than the alternatives. Just like democracy, as flawed as it is, is better than the alternatives.

Jameswm,
The move away from rugby to soccer especially & Aussie rules is real in GPS & CAS schools.
The Scots sports master told me going into 2023 there would be almost equal football teams as rugby teams, previously unheard of. Sydney High & Sydney Grammar are no longer rugby powerhouses.
In CAS, my old 1st XV coach tells me while Waverley is still strong in the age groups, going down to Ds, most other CAS schools fall off after the Bs. Our strongest opponents Barker & Knox (sorry, not Cranbrook!) are struggling due to changing demographics in their suburbs, more Asian influence who eschew rugby.
So yes, rugby is already under severe attack in the major private schools.

CPM,
The interesting thing, following on from a recent comment by me to piru, is that perhaps very few people have any idea how to solve the myriad problems of Oz pro rugby.
That said, a couple of octogenarians might have as good an idea as any. At least they have a huge reservoir of experience & knowledge to guide them, more experience & knowledge by dint of age than the rest of us.

Piru,
You can extend your last argument to super rugby. The world that existed say, from 1996 to 2005, when there were only 3 Aussie super rugby teams, is very different to today.
Super rugby has gone from a treasured comp to a laughing stock. What changed? A lot of things. For one, SR tried to become too big too quickly without ever addressing its domestic imprint, especially in Oz.
But the world itself is very different, with very different attitudes. When I look back to 1996-2005, I simply can’t compare it as being anything like today. And going back further when I was last a teenager, 1975 is unrecognisable to today.
Some things work magnificently for their time, but don’t endure. As they saying goes, the past is a different country.
As for now & the future of Oz pro rugby? I have no idea! Sadly more still, there’s hardly anyone who has any idea…

Waterboy,

We need to be careful we don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Roff, Herbert & Waugh are very good men individually, as far as I know, as well as outstanding ex-Wallabies.
We know they have their heart in the right place, even if they have little idea of how to progress forward.
Tulloch, via SOARR, has highlighted the problems, which most of can do blindfolded, but as others have pointed out, apart from changing the current board & voting system, haven’t as yet indicated how they will solve all the myriad problems.

Just some background for those who don’t know, Russ Tulloch was a member of the 1966/67 Wallabies touring side to UK, Ireland & France. In fact, the last Wallabies to tour all 3, or 5 countries, at the same time.
From 1971 onwards, the Wallabies toured France separately.
Tulloch was a flanker but uncapped. One of his partners on SOARR, & also a team-mate in 1966/67, is Dick Marks, a centre who played 17 tests for the Wallabies.
From their bios, Tulloch & Marks are both 82. It’s kinda both inspiring & sad that octogenarians are trying to save Australian rugby.
In 1973, when the Wallabies hit absolute rock-bottom losing to Tonga at home, a thorough investigation was held, & from that a national coaching directorship was established.
Marks held this position from 1974 to 1996 when he was punted by then golden boy John O’Neill who knew everything there was to know about anything.
Marks’ direction as national coaching director led to the greatest period of sustained success by the Wallabies, including Bledisloe Cup victories in 1979/80, 86, 92, 98-02, the grand slam of 1984 & world cup wins in 1991 & 99, as well as a final in 2003.
Players who appeared in this golden 25 year run from 1979-2003 all came up through the Marks era of national coaching direction.
So these guys know what they’re talking about. But whether they’ve left their run too late is another matter.
I wish SOARR luck, but I think Oz pro rugby is stuffed, dying & just waiting to draw its last breath.
All the things mentioned by Tulloch are true, & it’s extraordinary it was allowed to fall so far into this parlous state.
RA has no money to develop or hold talent, no money for pathways, no money fullstop. I just see no way out. Goodnight!
Oh, you can still enjoy your district rugby, your subbies rugby, your country rugby, your schoolboys rugby, for the moment anyway…..

Nothing good can come from asking TV moguls what kind of sporting comp you want. Talk about shirking responsibility.
I re-read, or I should say, fully read Rod MacQueen’s excellent biography the weekend before last.
There were lots of wonderful practical, common sense truisms. One that stands out in the wake of Phil Waugh’s comment about waiting for broadcasters to tell them what kind of comp they wanted, is the following.
When looking for a nickname for the new ACT franchise in 1996, MacQueen remarked how relying on committees to make a decision too often led to the wrong conclusion. As the saying goes, a camel was formed by a committee!
MacQueen remarked there were over 100 different suggestions for the province’s new nickname. Rather than let the unwieldy committee make the decision, there were I think over 20 representative stakeholders from various businesses & organisations in the ACT, after considerable thought MacQueen decided it was necessary to “guide” the committee.
So he put as asterisk beside Brumbies, as the preferred choice, & so it became.
RA & NZR should tell the broadcasters what they want then let the broadcasters see what they can provide in return. Ultimately, broadcasters, as with sponsors, will come & go, but the governing body will always be left in charge of the sport, or holding what’s left of it.
Give up that control & you will get a dog’s breakfast.

It was written 17 years ago, but time to mention the missing winger, accidentally omitted – Dally Messenger.

A fascinating article. The 80s was indeed the era of great fast bowlers – Lillee, Willis, Thomson, Roberts, Hadlee, Garner, Imran Khan, Holding, Botham, Marshall, Kapil Dev, Walsh, Ambrose, Wasim Akram – some of the afore named even better in the 70s & others into the 90s.
It was a fractured time for Oz cricket 1977-88, busted firstly by WSC then the Rebel tour of SA. The potential for many great Baggy Greens teams railroaded by defections, suspensions, enmity, suspicion, rifts & uncertainty.
Greg Chappell completely lost it over the under-arm incident, no excuse for him whatsoever. I’ve tried to provide some background about a WSC LOI when Wayne Daniel (Windies) hit a winning six off the last ball of the match (Pascoe I think was the bowler).
But as the author says, the chances of McKechnie hitting a six was about 0.1%.
The 80s was a good time for the Windies & rising teams from India, Pakistan & NZ. But a struggle for traditional powers Australia & England, while South Africa was sidelined because of apartheid.

KiwHaydn,
I responded as a courtesy to Peter Darrow, who alerts me whenever he posts on The Roar. I’m happy to converse with those who respect me in return.
If you have the attention span of a gnat, that’s your problem. Besides, I don’t give a stuff what anyone else who is disrespectful thinks! Have a nice day…..

Harry Jones,

I’ve never understood this east vs west divide in Sydney. For a long time they used to have a North Harbour vs South Harbour game, which makes more sense to me.

Both Port (Sydney harbour) Jackson & the Parramatta river provide a natural geographical divide between the north & west of Sydney & the south & east.

But of course, this discussion is about much more than this. Personally I think Oz pro rugby is dying, soon to be deceased.

The Wallabies may very soon be moth-balled, their return to international competition delayed for many decades, perhaps permanently.

On another note, rugby league is remarkable for its ability to re-invent itself.

The change from unlimited tackle to 4 then 6 tackles, changed the game enormously, especially from structural & tactical perspectives, without losing the essence of the game – players from one side barging into the players from the other side, & throwing the ball around to find gaps in the defence.

Today, that’s still the essence, but the game is different again. You have things like ‘6 (tackles) again’ & short line kick-outs, while removing the corner flag as an “out” now sees the most specular tries being scored by wingers planting the ball in the in-goal while airborne & contorted.

Rugby league has a way to re-invent itself in a manner rugby union can’t, or won’t. In fact, rugby’s governing body seems to be intent on destroying the game so they can then go & ruin some other sport or organisation!

Peter Darrow,

I find myself agreeing with almost everything you say. Ben Pobjie asks what the essence of rugby is. I’m not sure I know anymore. I think I used to, but not anymore.

Partly by way of explanation, for most of the first decade of the 2000s, I would host a Friday night SR opening round BBQ for about a dozen of my friends. Concentrating on the two opening matches (the first in NZ, followed by the second in Oz) was difficult as ‘mine host’.

But the key ingredient was the camaraderie between family & friends from some different backgrounds. Indeed, two relatives were able to combine & find excellent employment for one of them from one of these early season functions.

Not all of the 12 invitees were diehards. My sister’s partner was a hardcore Aussie Rules fan, but he knew enough about rugby to appreciate its intrinsic value. But the social camaraderie was the glue.

By 2011 I was losing interest, along with most of my cohort despite the Reds winning SR that year. The Wallabies’ results were frustratingly inconsistent & entitled, hair-brained, error-ridden players like Cooper, Beale & O’Connor were spoiling the enjoyment.

Head coach Robbie Deans, for all his undoubted talent, was struggling to control the hotheads who thought their personal ‘brand’ was more important than the team brand.

This was the same Wallabies that during the amateur era lost over a dozen test players in two world wars, many others who received high bravery awards & were leaders in their professional fields, especially medicine.

Just one example was the great doctor Mark Loane, Wallaby from 1973-82, arguably (although no contest in my humble opinion) our best-ever number 8, or eightman. Long after he had been described as a runaway train with the ball tucked under his arm in attack, or a wrecking ball in defence, he would annually go to the NT out into the bush, & on his own time & money, fix the eyes of Indigenous folk in his capacity as an ophthalmologist.

Another was Dr John Bromley, Wallaby centre from 1949-52, who treated wounded Aussie & NZ soldiers in Vietnam in the mid to late 60s, operating on a base that could come under attack at any time from enemy forces, & did so on a couple of occasions.

When the game turned professional, the suits warned about preserving the ethos (ie, the characteristic spirit of a culture) of rugby. But it was the suits themselves who rushed as quickly as they could to the money trough.

So much for ethos when the supposed guardians were so quick to abandon it.

Today living in the Randwick District I frequently drive along Brook St where the Randwick rugby club once existed, opposite Coogee oval. The Pegasus symbol (flying horse) still adorns the side of the building, but the club premises was lost more than a dozen years ago.

I have friends who were close to the club when it was lost, & it is still too painful for them to expose all the reasons why. Front & centre was a poor management that was too loose with operating costs, & a club legend was front & centre here.

Then the board decided to rebuild & redevelop, a good idea in principle, trusting funds to someone who eventually walked away with lots of money, ripping the heart out of the club. Or so it seems that’s how it happened. A lot of mystery remains.

Randwick rugby club is a metaphor for the disaster Australian rugby finds itself in. How did the most successful & most visible rugby club in Oz go broke?

Similarly, how did a country that has won two world cups & appeared in another two finals, drop their standards so low so quickly?

Plenty of people have tried to answer this second question, but the answers are frustratingly elusive. This is one situation where the disaster has many fathers, but they’re denying responsibility, instead trying to lay the blame on someone else.

Fixing a problem begins with taking ownership of the failures. But so far, no-one wants to accept responsibility, so finding the solutions may never happen.

I’ve been saying perhaps for too long, Oz pro rugby is dying. It’s merely a question of when it will snuff its last breath. You will still have your district rugby, subbies & regional rugby, & schoolboys rugby for a while longer.

But Oz pro rugby is on its last legs. Of course, I would love to be proven wrong, but in this case, I doubt it.

Buscuit man,
Nowhere did I say this board should stay. I just don’t know enough about them all to give a qualified opinion. But I do we can’t continue like this, which I think I articulated well.
The reason we have representatives to pursue our interests is because if you asked 100K registered rugby players for their opinion, you might get 100K different opinions, such is humanity!

I find this very intriguing.
Geoff Stooke & Dick Marks especially, are very good men. As is Russ Tulloch as I remember, who had some sensible things to say in the past about the poor direction of Australian rugby.
The RA board for anyone enquiring, is: Phil Waugh, Dan Herbert, Joe Roff, Pip Marlowe, Jane Wilson, Karen Penrose, Brett Godfrey & Matt Hanning. I only know of the ex-Wallabies to any appreciable degree, & they seem decent enough men.
What many of us can agree on is that Oz rugby cannot continue as it is. Some kind of different direction, a reset, is required. Oz rugby cannot continue the way it is.
Imagine an unconscious person being given continuous electric shocks via a defibrillator.
Oz rugby is the patient that is currently unconscious but so far, every shock tried has failed to bring him back to life. Something different is required before it is too late.

Peter darrow,

I meant to add that Connor was a Queenslander, & part of the reason why he went to NZ in 1960 was because he had heard Catchpole, Sydney’s darling, would soon be preferred to him. In 1961, Connor was only 26 & Catchpole 22.

Peter Darrow,

Another great article. Not only was Connor named in the 1999 Queensland team of the century, he was named captain. Despite the presence of the likes of Eales, Loane, A.Shaw & Lynagh.

And his NSW counterpart was Ken Catchpole, the man who succeeded him. In an article a long time ago on The Roar, Spiro Zavos, the Kiwi turned Aussie, couldn’t split Catchpole & Connor, preferring to leave it to others to decide.

I got the impression, reading between Zavos’ silence not to choose, that deep down he preferred Connor, but thought it would be sacrilegious to say so. In any case, I now think it is a mute point, because I believe George Gregan to be our best scrum half ever.

Re-reading the history of the Wallabies leaves me sad on many fronts. Not least selection-wise. It has often been said that a key quality of a coach is that he must also be a good selector.

MacQueen excelled both as coach & selector. Dwyer was initially poor in selection but he quickly learnt in both selection & coaching at international level. Alan Jones wasn’t an outstanding coach but he was pre-eminent as a selector, picking the right players almost consistently.

But the selection caper runs deeper, with a horrible historical bias by NSW towards Qld that not only prevented many outstanding Qld players more opportunity at the highest level but also prevented the Wallabies from being a better team.

Thanks for this article.

Pneuma – says he who has achieved NOTHING…

Brett Allan,

There’s a difference between earning a honest living that doesn’t require screwing other people & those who make a fortune by screwing as many other people as possible.
As Mahatma Gandhi said long ago, “the world has enough resources for everyone’s need, never enough for everyone’s greed”.

Tufanooo,

Pull yourself out of your ignorance & check my profile. I was contributing articles to The Roar when you were in nappies.

Your ignorance of my achievements is YOUR problem.

Tony – Vive la difference!

Dionysus,
The warring clubs will only fall in line with PVL while he makes them bucketloads of money. None of them care about the ethics of how they get this money, as long as they get it.
Philistines all. Money & materialism are the only things they worship.