Enemy?

Especially as they were playing against Yeastern Suburbs.

Ad-O yep I agree – almost zero chance of Australia ever hosting the WC. Just wondering whether there was ever any official consideration of that requirement.

Was consideration of FIFA World Cup stadium requirements part of the redevelopment of Homebush? The final needs to be played in an 80000 seat stadium.

Warren spent two years travelling to towns covering the rugby
[cough cough] Oh no he didn’t. He covered the rugby league.
I congratulate Ray Warren on his induction to the Hall of Fame but I can’t stand him as a commentator. I also dislike his frequent petulance about rugby. He doesn’t have to like rugby, he doesn’t even have to mention it, but the repetitive “that other game” nonsense is childish.

Hi Purdo, that was the 3rd and deciding test. The 2nd test stands out in my mind and I’ve been debating whether or not to mention it…… not wanting to speak ill of the man.

James Small was sent off by referee Mr Ed Morrison for dissent in the 2nd test at Ballymore. I think he was the first Springbok in history to be sent off.

Having said that, I thought James Small was a marvellous player, very combative and tough. Vale.

I’m not sure I have a solution, but here are a few points in no particular order:

* Successful comps of any sport are the ones that sustain a season. I’m sure someone can think of an exception to that, but consider the EPL, or the NRL, the AFL, the NBA … each is a season long competition of the same clubs/teams/franchises.

* Jumping from SR to club to Int window back to club then to NRC destroys any sort of connectivity to the season. It’s the first week in July and we’re 2 days from the end of the season for SR. There’s still 3 months of rugby season left! I’ve been going to TG Milner to watch the Woods play in club footy, and I feel like I can support club (and junior club and junior reps) rugby as well as SR. But it starts turning to a mush once the relatively meaningless NRC teams kick off again. One starts to lose any kind of tribalism if there isn’t ONE TEAM to support season long.

* The Shute Shield clubs will white-ant any attempt to reduce their status to the equivalent of the top div of subbies. I’m not sure why this is still a problem. The notion that Sydney and Brisbane clubs are the sole source of world beating Wallabies might have been valid in 1991, but for heaven’s sake it’s 2019. The world has changed. We don’t wander down to Coogee Oval or Chatswood on any random Saturday, entry fee $5 and a pie and a beer to watch a paddock full of current Wallabies play any more.

* If a season long national club competition becomes the way forward then ‘hooray’, let’s all get behind that. But I doubt it will. There isn’t sufficient money from probable broadcast rights to make such a comp fully professional – so which clubs miss out? Which clubs become the ‘also rans’ and go back to Div 1 subbies?

* Made up teams with lurid bizarre jerseys and meaningless nicknames just won’t cut it. We’ve seen what a problem it’s been for almost a quarter of a century to get people who aren’t ‘rusted on’ to figure out who the Stormers or the Sharks are. I’m still not sure who the ‘Rays’ are or were after a life of following and playing rugby and being a club committee member.

As I said, no specific ‘fix’ here but some random thoughts. I think in essence what it means is having one competition for the entire length of the season with the best players. Meaningful teams with either a history or a for new clubs / teams a valid reason for existing. Plain jerseys, nicknames that grow organically from club / team supporters.

Hi Mick, we had a tour of Eden Park in 2016 with their official historian (I was a parent on an U10/U11 club rugby tour). Had a close up look at the no 2 ground and the drop in pitches and associated machinery. Very interesting.

I take your point about the usage rates.

Eden Park has a drop in pitch, unsure about The Caketin in Wellington, but it doesn’t look like a pitch square during rugby season.

We have to be careful in concluding that concussions and major injuries are the primary risk factor. The NFL is trying to do this and finding itself in increasingly dangerous territory.

There is strong belief that whilst multiple concussions don’t help, it’s actually the thousands of micro collisions over the course of a player’s career that could be the cause.

A big worry all the same. And I agree with the contributors that highlight the differences between rugby league and rugby union now – having become used to rugby’s strict policing of it I am still shocked each time I watch a league match: “that’s high, penalty … that’s high, yellow card … that’s high, etc etc etc” but still it continues.

Christo maybe there’s something in that. But there have been other Swans who have had good profiles – Paul Kelly was well known when he was at his best. Plenty of the great 2005 GF team had good name recognition. Just seems to be a lot of apathy in Sydney regarding GWS.

Another factor that might be hindering GWS’s growth is the demographics of areas like Blacktown. Lots of South Asians, lots of Philippinos, lots of Polynesians. English is only spoken in approx 50% of households, something like that.

I hope this doesn’t degenerate into a “my dad is tougher than your dad” code war argument.

The Swans have had a generation to settle into Sydney and even Sydneysiders who aren’t Aussie Rules fans tend to feel warmly towards the Swans. This includes the areas such as the Hills District which the AFL appeared to think would be a lock in for new Giants support. It just hasn’t happened. It appears the fans who would attend AFL matches from places like the Hills are already Swans fans.

The lack of love for Homebush is real. That could be a factor, but I wouldn’t over-state its effect.

Lack of star power? Possibly – I suspect the casual fan might have heard of Shane Mumford (due to his Sydney years) but nobody else really cuts through.

I’d love to read more about this, find out what the tea lady at AFL House has overheard in the corridors … my gut feeling is the Swans have a stranglehold on existing Australian Rules fans. It’s possible there just aren’t sufficient additional Sydneysiders who have enough interest in Aussie Rules to overcome the suspicion that the GWS is a contrived team rather than something organic and genuine.

This fan will stop going unless the stadium authorities turn down the PA volume and the constant meaningless announcements. I don’t care how good Bankwest is (and it is – it’s great) but the game day experience is made diabolical. I prefer sitting behind the posts at Shark Park, frankly, or on the verandah at TG Milner. There I can actually hear the game and get some real atmosphere.

Let’s assume his interest in playing for the All Blacks is genuine. His statement from last year was pretty emphatic and clear. So Cheik trying to lure him the Wallabies is fanciful.

If he is still viewing a move to NZ rugby seriously, the NRL and the Knights and Phil Gould et al can huff and puff and throw contract upgrades etc at him, or they can play the long game. It’s a gamble. His Knights contract takes him to the end of 2021.

Consider this alternative course of action:
If he’s given a release at the end of next year, that gives him the remainder of 2020 paying a few ITM Cup games for (insert team here), 2021 and 2022 cementing his spot at (insert Super Rugby team here), end of year AB tour in October-November 2022 and RWC in France in 2023.

The window for a return to the NRL closes at the end of 2023. He’d be 25 years old.

Or, and this of course is the more likely course of action, the NRL digs in and all the usual voices lambast rugby and indignantly blow hard about loyalty and an extra 1/2mill a year is found for him … then he goes anyway.

For once I’d like the NRL to see things with a bit of clarity, and stop the “that other game” garbage. If they play it smart they can portray themselves as the good guys, and have a World Cup All Blacks hero switching back to rugby league to great fanfare with another 6 years of productive playing ahead of him.

Long anecdote, (sorry) but a really important moment in my youngest boy’s life story.
The Timmypig family were awaiting takeoff to Auckland from Sydney last July. A few Brums had been milling around the departure lounge, I assumed they were there to travel over to NZ to bolster the squad ahead of the Chiefs match in Hamilton. The big name players already in NZ I assumed.
Then they started getting on the aircraft. I was in the middle seat, my son at the window. As the flight filled up the seat next to me was still empty. “Hey mate” I said to my son “wouldn’t it be cool if Poey sat next to us?” …. sure enough, in the aisle seat, Mr David Pocock joins us. Very nice bloke, took a real interest in my son’s rugby, where we were going this trip, discussed his neck (you’ll remember mid-last year his neck was being targeted match after match).
We let him be during the flight, he had his research and match prep to do, and rest to get. He wished us well for our trip and even retrieved our carry on from the overhead for us.
I’m not usually given to being star struck but was very impressed with the bloke. My 12 year old son was stoked.
PS my older boy and my wife sat with Tom Banks. I think Mrs Timmypig developed a bit of a crush…..

Jack all kids registered at an SJRU club have a free season pass. Many of the kids at the rugby-playing schools also play club rugby. Both my kids used their season pass to get in.

10k was an outright lie, the 7890 figure quoted by Bamboo in another post seems more like it.

Hello Geoff

Thanks for your article, well crafted as ever. You’re right on the money regarding the loss of the link between the elite and grassroots. But this was evident from day 1, despite Mr O’Neill’s assurances during ‘The War’ in 95-96. The SMH published a letter in 1996 from an appalled rugby fan (in fact it was me) that pointed out the grotesque leap in the newly professional game’s way of presenting the sport. There was an almost quaint old-fashioned conservatism (not meant in a politic sense) to the game that was common from 3rd Div subbies all the way to Test matches. The jerseys were plain, the field plain, the national anthem was played by a brass band and the crowd sang along, the PA announcements were sparse and at a reasonable volume, the players even stayed on the field at half time. Contrast that to what’s presented now, garish ludicrous jerseys, constant aural bombardment from the clown controlling the PA system, constant advertisements , deafening ‘rev up’ music, smoke and fireworks, meaningless team nicknames imposed by marketing geniuses, etc etc.

Plainly going back to pretending it’s the 1950s isn’t going to work and I doubt anyone really wants that. And I’m not arguing in favour of looking just at how test or SR matches are presented, the style etc. But just to point out that failing to take people along was there from the start of open professionalism. And now that Australian sides at the elite level appear unable to play decent happy joy-filled winning rugby, at least most of the time, it becomes easier to turn off the marketing bloodbath and have a better time at a local club game that has a history, has players a little more connected to the district, and isn’t an affront to the senses.

I spent the weekend at junior rugby, Friday night rep trials, Saturday ditto, Sunday at club games, ran the line for my youngest’s match, more rep trials on Sunday. I saw more happy, enjoyable rugby played by 12 and 15 year old kids than I did on Saturday night at the marvellous new stadium.

Not sure where I’m going with this, but I think there’s more to that disconnect than just how awful the new jerseys are, or whether the teams run off the field at half time. Will ponder some more and maybe contribute a more positive ‘way forward’ post later.

Cheers

Took the family to the Sharks-Eels game weekend before last (Sharks fans) from our home in Sydney’s north west. It’s a fairly quick drive from the Hills to the Olympic Stadium. We paid for a family ticket to sit in crap seats that felt about 70m from the dead ball line. Due to timing we had dinner at the game. $60. Parking $25. Talked the kids out of any merchandise and Mrs Timmypig & I didn’t have any wine or beer.

Spent a lot more than we’d have spent driving all the way to Shark Park and paid all the tolls. The supposed 11 thousand and something at that game would have been a healthy crowd at Shark Park (or another small suburban stadium). We’d have been about 10m from the dead ball line. The bloke sitting a few seats from us at Olympic Stadium was watching the game through binos for heaven’s sake!

If the future of NRL club games is playing in an empty, grossly overpriced, soulless Olympic Stadium then I wonder if there’s any future for club games other than as content for devices.

Looking forward to the new Parra stadium, but demanding people from The Shire or the Northern Beaches or the ‘Riff or Campbelltown to drive at least an hour EACH WAY for every club game they go to is beyond daft.

Fair points, agreed.
If it starts at junior football the coaching has to be more sophisticated than just “hoof it down field”. An anecdote, for what it’s worth: all the dads who used to either coach or help coach my kids’ teams at the U7-U10 level (apart from a dad I won’t name who was a Socceroo & recently retired A-League player) had mostly only played football as juniors. All had done the junior coaching clinics recommended (or required) by the local association. Did we instill that sort of discipline and attention to the intense development of techniques? Nope – we were just dads who wanted to help out and see the kids have fun.
Maybe there’s the problem: for all its massive junior base, the vast majority of football playing kids’ initial 6-7 years of coaching is by well-meaning dads like me whose first love is probably some other sport.

Redondo I can see where you’re coming from but it’s inaccurate to suggest other sports have little or no emphasis on mastery of technical skills.

I’m no authority on rugby league or Aussie rules, but as one who coaches rugby union I assure you the game has many highly technical skills that take years of dedicated effort to master.

Rodger it appears notionally to have been deemed a Tigers ‘home game’. Weird. But weird is the nature of pro sport in Australia I guess.

Ignore all that …. that NRL game is three weeks before … Sorry.

20 July is smack bang in the middle of the NRL season and the Tigers are playing the Chooks the night before ….. I fear for the state of the pitch for the Leeds game.

plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose