NSW Rugby 'revolution'

[Red Runner]

Anyone have insight on this and what it actually looks like?

New South Wales Rugby is hatching a radical plan to launch an American-style conference system to help revitalise the game at community and grassroots level.
If the proposals are approved, long-standing competitions, from Shute Shield to Subbies to bush footy and even juniors, could be restructured from top to bottom, adding more local derbies and the chance for more teams to advance to inter-district end of season playoffs.

While the conference system hasn’t taken root in Australia, it has been a phenomenal success in the US because it plays to the best traditions of local rivalries while also giving every team a shot at premierships through the addition of wildcards.

“It’s never been done before, there’s just no conference system in Australia across the whole demographic,” said Peter Murphy, the new progressive CEO of NSW Rugby.

“It is just a different way of looking at things. People often forget that New South Wales is the biggest union in the southern hemisphere in player size and competition size.”

The proposal to create a new conference system is part of a much bigger planned overhaul of rugby in the state after Rugby Australia took over the running of the Waratahs and the professional game in 2024 and left NSW Rugby to run the amateur side.

Bush rugby in NSW might be in for a major overhaul.
With Australia set to host the Rugby World Cup in 2027, NSW Rugby officials are expecting a surge in player numbers from 2028 onwards so want to make changes now to get the code in better shape for when that happens.

“We’ve got to dream big and we’ve got to think big,” Murphy told Rugby Confidential.

“And we’ve got to think differently because trying to build a union that’s fit for purpose in the future is better than staying still and stagnant, which is where we are at the moment.”

 

[Wilson]

Sounds promising, but also very pie in the sky while Shute Shield/SRU is it's own entity. They don't exactly have a history of playing well with others.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Like a lot of things in Rugby we HATE the idea of change to old ways but go look around and see things aren't what they potentially could be and changes may be the best thing for the system.

I won't fault anyone for trying to push things forward.

Smaller example but some people still haven't come to grips with Rugby moving on from ASRU being the premier underage body. We don't need layer on layer. Same people who hate the change probably also hate our layers of bureaucracy in government but don't see Rugby is trying to streamline itself.

 

[Braveheart81]

Smaller example but some people still haven't come to grips with Rugby moving on from ASRU being the premier underage body. We don't need layer on layer. Same people who hate the change probably also hate our layers of bureaucracy in government but don't see Rugby is trying to streamline itself.

The challenge will always be around shifting control of the overall structure and strategy to a higher level (Rugby Australia) while maintaining the volunteers on the ground who allow things to run at a community level.

Unsurprisingly, people volunteering their time want control over what they're doing.

We have to keep the volunteers. That part is non-negotiable.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

@Pfitzy is the resident Lord of these things. Interested on your thoughts mate?

I think at the Premier Grade level these Clubs want to act like pro orgs then lets give them a structure to see if they can improve.

 

[Crashy]

I'm highly suss of Shute Shield clubs motivations in being involved here. year on year they provide less local talent into the system - any money they get seems to just get spent on players no matter where they come from.

 

[Pfitzy]

@Pfitzy is the resident Lord of these things. Interested on your thoughts mate?

I'd like to see details, first and foremost...

 

[Pfitzy]

I think at the Premier Grade level these Clubs want to act like pro orgs then lets give them a structure to see if they can improve.

Exactly.

Hive off the top 28 Senior players from the best clubs in Shute Shield - that's the National Club Competition along with Canberra and Brisbane.
Take the next 25 Colts to player Premier Colts in each city as their active reserve.

The rest are basically "Premier Division Subbies" and should play as such. Promotion and Relegation options TBC

 

[Rob42]

I've always thought the conference system like US college football could work well in schools rugby, where the old boys are just as resistant to any change. Teams can still play a full schedule in their traditional comp (GPS, CAS, etc) and crown a premier there, but also line up a schedule outside of that comp to demonstrate their overall strength, then have a committee that selects the top 4/6/8 nationally for a play-off. It would avoid the GPS/CAS schools from playing half their seasons as "trials", and give the opportunity for a strong school outside the traditional comps to claim a title.

 

[KOB1987]

It wouldn't surprise me if the people behind this are the same ones who approached all the country clubs/zones about a 'country super league' quite a few years ago. The concept was to have 8 'big' teams which were semi pro play each other every Saturday/Sunday, but the clubs that play in the same zones still run their own comps and feed into these 8 teams, and play curtain raisers etc. The 'Big 8' were, I think, Newcastle, Wollongong, Orange, Bathurst, Dubbo, Tamworth, Armidale & Coffs Harbour (those tied in with the Brumbies weren't included). I was involved at club level and didn't mind the idea but I think Covid totally killed it.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

It wouldn't surprise me if the people behind this are the same ones who approached all the country clubs/zones about a 'country super league' quite a few years ago. The concept was to have 8 'big' teams which were semi pro play each other every Saturday/Sunday, but the clubs that play in the same zones still run their own comps and feed into these 8 teams, and play curtain raisers etc. The 'Big 8' were, I think, Newcastle, Wollongong, Orange, Bathurst, Dubbo, Tamworth, Armidale & Coffs Harbour (those tied in with the Brumbies weren't included). I was involved at club level and didn't mind the idea but I think Covid totally killed it.

That's interesting. Any idea how they envisioned that working out? That's quite a spread of locations.

 

[KOB1987]

That's interesting. Any idea how they envisioned that working out? That's quite a spread of locations.

From memory it was 2 conferences - Newcastle, Tamworth, Armidale, Coffs in one, and Wollongong, Bathurst, Orange, Dubbo in the other. A home and away round i.e. 6 games and the winner of each conference play for the title. And I think the games were fortnightly, not weekly.