ARU moves to kill off club player payments: A 3rd tier, club rugby and the $60k persuader

[Knuckles]

Poor old Bill the Dill. He's trying to make a name for himself following on from Lord JON but alas, he just keeps coming up short..............pun intended.

Fancy leaking this to the media prior to his scheduled meeting with SRU on Wednesday. Why would he do that? Is he going to huff and puff in that meeting and say despite the $90 million profit made from the Lions tour that they are unable to support the grass roots?

Will he say the $2million he has put aside for website development will be made available for grass roots if they cut players? I think not.

There used to be a time in this country (showing my age here) where the ARU actually supported the grass roots. Sadly those days are gone. The elitism created by making superstars out of 14 and 15 year olds in the ARU funded NTS, JGS, JGC (whatever it's now called) and GPS rugby comps over the past decade is actually bearing fruit now by the unparalled success of our Super Rugby and National teams. I mean, we so desperately unlucky in Brisbane last Saturday. If only kick off hadn't occurred!


The NRL, AFL and FA actually look at how they can support their grass roots, not constantly ignore or get in the way of their development and look at ways to shaft them.

Wonder what my old sparring partner BellyTwoBlues thinks of all of this.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Poor old Bill the Dill. He's trying to make a name for himself following on from Lord JON but alas, he just keeps coming up short......pun intended.

Fancy leaking this to the media prior to his scheduled meeting with SRU on Wednesday. Why would he do that? Is he going to huff and puff in that meeting and say despite the $90 million profit made from the Lions tour that they are unable to support the grass roots?

Will he say the $2million he has put aside for website development will be made available for grass roots if they cut players? I think not.

There used to be a time in this country (showing my age here) where the ARU actually supported the grass roots. Sadly those days are gone. The elitism created by making superstars out of 14 and 15 year olds in the ARU funded NTS, JGS, JGC (whatever it's now called) and GPS rugby comps over the past decade is actually bearing fruit now by the unparalled success of our Super Rugby and National teams. I mean, we so desperately unlucky in Brisbane last Saturday. If only kick off hadn't occurred!


The NRL, AFL and FA actually look at how they can support their grass roots, not constantly ignore or get in the way of their development and look at ways to shaft them.

Wonder what my old sparring partner BellyTwoBlues thinks of all of this.

Really? That much for website development. Stuff that. Redirect those funds back into junior club rugby. Imagine how many new junior clubs you could get up and running with that sort of money, or how many new schoolkids you could introduce to the game. Hell, if you looked to invest not even 10% of that out my way and you could get 5 or 6 more clubs up and running in relatively quickly in a region with roughly 400,000 people (and growing rapidly) and only two clubs.

 

[Shiggins]

That's how interpreted it.

I think this is great. It's what Perth needs. It will attacked more kids to the game and make guys see a real path to the team.

 

[BellyTwoBlues]

Poor old Bill the Dill. He's trying to make a name for himself following on from Lord JON but alas, he just keeps coming up short......pun intended.

Fancy leaking this to the media prior to his scheduled meeting with SRU on Wednesday. Why would he do that? Is he going to huff and puff in that meeting and say despite the $90 million profit made from the Lions tour that they are unable to support the grass roots?

Will he say the $2million he has put aside for website development will be made available for grass roots if they cut players? I think not.

There used to be a time in this country (showing my age here) where the ARU actually supported the grass roots. Sadly those days are gone. The elitism created by making superstars out of 14 and 15 year olds in the ARU funded NTS, JGS, JGC (whatever it's now called) and GPS rugby comps over the past decade is actually bearing fruit now by the unparalled success of our Super Rugby and National teams. I mean, we so desperately unlucky in Brisbane last Saturday. If only kick off hadn't occurred!


The NRL, AFL and FA actually look at how they can support their grass roots, not constantly ignore or get in the way of their development and look at ways to shaft them.

Wonder what my old sparring partner BellyTwoBlues thinks of all of this.

I'm back. I swore to myself I'd never log back onto this site, but here I am.

Sorry Knuckles I won't make comment on this. I've already upset NSWRU this morning. Once a day is enough.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

I think this is great. It's what Perth needs. It will attacked more kids to the game and make guys see a real path to the team.

I don't think its a bad idea. We need to develop the club competitions outside of Sydney and Brisbane more in order to reduce the burden on both to continually provide the bulk of the talent to Super Rugby. Sure, it may hurt the two traditionally strong competitions but it will also create opportunity for younger blokes looking for their shot.

Having 5 club comps producing talent for all 5 Super Rugby franchises you create more depth and competition for position. That cannot be a bad thing.

 

[wamberal]

Is he going to huff and puff in that meeting and say despite the $90 million profit made from the Lions tour that they are unable to support the grass roots?

Will he say the $2million he has put aside for website development will be made available for grass roots if they cut players? I think not.

Did they really make $90 million profit? I thought it was more like $30 mill. Anyway, we have to remember that this is a windfall. It might be replicated in 12 years time, or it might not. Most of whatever windfall profits the ARU gets its hands on should be carefully invested, and only the income from those investments used for the daily running of the code.

As for the $2 million, if we are investing in the future, that is fine by me. The opposition codes are preparing themselves for the future, and a lot of the future has to do with pay-for-view. The AFL allegedly employs 40 journalists, producing content. The NRL is moving in that direction too.


We had better be ready to slip into some of the cracks they leave, and exploit them for the good of our code. This is one of Pulver's strengths, I believe.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

The AFL allegedly employs 40 journalists, producing content. The NRL is moving in that direction too.

And you can see it in their website - which I just visited for the first time: I will have to wash my hands now.
The problem is the long dry spells where (subject to the antics of the 3 muskateers) there is nothing to report at a Wallaby level.
More evidence in support of complete central control of rugby?

 

[Hugh Jarse]

I'm back. I swore to myself I'd never log back onto this site, but here I am.

Sorry Knuckles I won't make comment on this. I've already upset NSWRU this morning. Once a day is enough.

BellyTwoBlues, it is good to have you back.

Your contributions are very welcome. By and large, we are a nice bunch if you just ignore the trolls. It is not compulsory to respond to, or even read, posts from some Gaggerlanders that subscribe to the Flat Earth Society newsletter and are members of the Greater Sydney Tin Foil Hat Designers Association.

Gaggerland is a good vehicle to supplement the usual official communications means, and a good way to engage with the grass roots. Just look at how the Galloping Greens, MMM, and Mighty Two Blues threads have prospered.

Many of us in Gaggerland support what you are trying to achieve.

 

[BellyTwoBlues]

BellyTwoBlues, it is good to have you back.

Your contributions are very welcome. By and large, we are a nice bunch if you just ignore the trolls. It is not compulsory to respond to, or even read, posts from some Gaggerlanders that subscribe to the Flat Earth Society newsletter and are members of the Greater Sydney Tin Foil Hat Designers Association.

Gaggerland is a good vehicle to supplement the usual official communications means, and a good way to engage with the grass roots. Just look at how the Galloping Greens, MMM, and Mighty Two Blues threads have prospered.

Many of us in Gaggerland support what you are trying to achieve.

Thanks Hugh Jarse . I just look at things with the view that if I have the time to spend engaging in this website then I'm probably not spending my time effectively enough working on the job at hand.

We've got some interesting developments occurring over the off season, so stay tuned

 

[BellyTwoBlues]

And you can see it in their website - which I just visited for the first time: I will have to wash my hands now.
The problem is the long dry spells where (subject to the antics of the 3 muskateers) there is nothing to report at a Wallaby level.
More evidence in support of complete central control of rugby?

The issue though Inside Shoulder is that last year (or maybe the year before) the ARU engaged the recently retired Senator Mark Arbib and Peter Cosgrove to conduct a review of how the game is run in the country. It was suggested at the time that copying the NZ model where absolutely everything is determined and run by NZRU be copied here. The review paper said words to the effect of, we concede the NZRU model is the best model to move forward however we suggest it wouldn't work in Australia. Locally run and locally determined administation (the status quo) should be retained.

Not an exact quote but you get my drift.

So from all the hours and no doubt, cash spent in conducting the review, the recommendation was to keep things as they are.

Brilliant!

NSWRU and ARU are close to going broke, or are atleast, in the middle of a MASSIVE financial struggle, the Aus U20's couldn't win a fart at a baked bean eating contest, the Wallabies are an embarrassment, the Aussie 7s can only win tournaments the other nations don't take seriously (Tokyo last year) and the ITM Cup on Fox rates higher than half the Super Rugby games and they say to keep it going..........

It beggars belief.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

It beggars belief.

I had blotted all that out.

 

[Braveheart81]

And you can see it in their website - which I just visited for the first time: I will have to wash my hands now.
The problem is the long dry spells where (subject to the antics of the 3 muskateers) there is nothing to report at a Wallaby level.
More evidence in support of complete central control of rugby?

The AFL's website is actually a really interesting case study in how the AFL has taken a massive amount of market share away from traditional news sources.

They basically made a decision that if they brought a lot of their reporting in house that they would be able to provide the exclusive stories first and also have more inside information but in order to make it work they had to report on every issue including the negative ones.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

The AFL's website is actually a really interesting case study in how the AFL has taken a massive amount of market share away from traditional news sources.

They basically made a decision that if they brought a lot of their reporting in house that they would be able to provide the exclusive stories first and also have more inside information but in order to make it work they had to report on every issue including the negative ones.

Well it looks pretty good - saves you having to scrounge around the SMH or Roar to find out what's going on (assuming that GGR hasnt enlightened you)..

 

[RoffsChoice]

I know that Vikings has such a dominance in the ACT JID cup because of their ability to get players a job and pay them well for playing, so the best go to them and stay there, even if it means dropping from 1st to 2nd.

Does the ARU even give JID teams anything other than the paperwork for players to fill in?

 

[BeastieBoy]

So the clubs cant make player payment but sydney uni virtually can with their scholarships and add-ons valued at probably 65k each and Building company employment. I think they have 30 odd on scholarships. This is moving in the wrong direction. Sydney uni will win all grades and colts for the next 20 years. We need to joint venture the clubs for a top grade and colts competition all year round, change some rules, reduce the number of scrums etc.Thats the only way we will get money into clubs to grow the juniors. If they don't change the rules in whatever competition, it will not work as not enough people will watch it and you wont get sponsorship and the media dollar. Be a viable addition to those who want to watch more rugby. Get a star player from overseas in each team if necessary. I take the point that someone else made, that if you exclude the super 15 and academy players from club there is a disconnect to all the teams under them. Then how can the Tahs and Wallabies be a representative team that connects and identifies with the players under them and vice versa?


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/aru-moves-to-kill-off--club-player-payments-20130909-2tgca.html#ixzz2eZkGzr8D

 

[BeastieBoy]

Some may say we don't make the rules. Well we can and we have to to get the media dollars into the clubs. We need to make the game more enterprising. There have been times in our history where we have had different rules. There have been times when we had initiative and brought new ideas to the table. Well lets do that and bring the punters to our game and give these journos something to write about. We need to have the belief that this comp can attract media support with some work. Relying on ARU handouts have a history of running out quick.

 

[Slim 293]

The AFL's website is actually a really interesting case study in how the AFL has taken a massive amount of market share away from traditional news sources.

They basically made a decision that if they brought a lot of their reporting in house that they would be able to provide the exclusive stories first and also have more inside information but in order to make it work they had to report on every issue including the negative ones.

It also won't be long until they're producing their own broadcasts and simply selling the content off to the networks to be put to air, like the V8s already do........

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Anyone know anything from the meeting between the ARU and the Sydney club presidents yesterday?

 

[Snort]

And so the obsession with the "third tier" strikes again.

When will they learn? Remember the Ricoh Cup? Or the Australian Rugby Championships, full of made-up teams no-one cared about (was it the West Sydney Rams? No-one knows. No-one cares)?

The difficulty with the third tier is that it's totally artificial. Right or wrong, the Rugby supporter base is club-based. Look, I'm going to be overseas on Saturday, but you can bet I'll be checking my phone every few minutes to get Grand Final updates. But I wouldn't cross the road to watch the South Sydney Shireboys play the Perth Quokkas.

So, where are the players for this competition going to come from? Mostly, they will be the Super Rugby leftovers after the international season starts. So, how exactly will we improve the standard of Austraian Rugby by having the same bunch of players ending their Super seasons and then facing each other again in a less intense, less serious competition?

Yes, I know, they do that now - they go back to Shute Shield, or wherever. But that's important. Because there they carry out a really important function. Look, let's say you're a young back playing for Southern District (by way of example - I don't have any specific guy in mind). And you do well in the juniors, and you're a star in Colts, so you go into First Grade never having played against anyone older than you. And then you hit a Sydney University team full of Super 15 backs. I suspect you learn a thing or two that afternoon. And when you get ready to press for a Super Rugby contract, you have a better idea of what's required, because you've seen it at first hand. That's why it's a good thing tha these guys go back to their clubs - they strengthen the base of the game.

Now, the ARU proposal does the opposite - it turns the Shute Shield into the Kentwell Cup. And the problem with that is that, over time, clubs will wither and die. Why put all that effort into developing young players just so they can turn 21 and never see you again?

Australian Rugby has three tiers: international, provincial and club. Instead of futzing around looking for another tier that no-one wants, the better option would be to devote resources to club Rugby to make it better and stronger.

Have you watched the ITM Cup on TV this season? The standard isn't frighteningly good. Eastwood would come close to winning it, I'd reckon. Shute Shield could be a fantastic competition if it had just a few more competitive clubs. Now, addressing that issue would be an ARL initiative I'd support.

Oh, and by the way, if you're not convinced, have a look at cricket. Thirty years ago, Test players turned out in about one third of the Grade games. What that meant was that you didn't progress to the next level until you'd done well against the Waughs or made runs against Geoff Lawson or Mike Whitney. It was a great system for developing young talent. Now the average age of most First Grade sides is about 22, and they never see a Test player until they play a Test match, when they freeze like rabbits in the headlights. It has been a disaster for cricket, removing representative players almost entirely from the base of the pyramid - not a model for Rugby to emulate.

 

[Dave Beat]

The issue though Inside Shoulder is that last year (or maybe the year before) the ARU engaged the recently retired Senator Mark Arbib and Peter Cosgrove to conduct a review of how the game is run in the country. It was suggested at the time that copying the NZ model where absolutely everything is determined and run by NZRU be copied here. The review paper said words to the effect of, we concede the NZRU model is the best model to move forward however we suggest it wouldn't work in Australia. Locally run and locally determined administation (the status quo) should be retained.

Not an exact quote but you get my drift.

So from all the hours and no doubt, cash spent in conducting the review, the recommendation was to keep things as they are.

Brilliant!

NSWRU and ARU are close to going broke, or are atleast, in the middle of a MASSIVE financial struggle, the Aus U20's couldn't win a fart at a baked bean eating contest, the Wallabies are an embarrassment, the Aussie 7s can only win tournaments the other nations don't take seriously (Tokyo last year) and the ITM Cup on Fox rates higher than half the Super Rugby games and they say to keep it going....

It beggars belief.

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