Australian Rugby / RA

[wamberal]

Mate, honestly, I could not give a rats arse about all this nepotism/geographical influence stuff. Have there been better candidates for all those positions who lived at Penrith and went to a state high school, or something similar? Do you have any proof?


Were you overlooked? The only person that I know who has held an exalted position in the rugby hierarchy went to Taren Point High. And he put in a helluva lot of personal time, unpaid of course.


People who can afford to do that usually do live in affluent suburbs, it kind of goes with high incomes. My pal had a high income, he was in executive search incidentally, an international firm of head-hunters. He would have had a lot to do with some of these appointments, and I would trust his integrity, knowledge of the game, and sheer love of rugby ahead of just about anybody. And he was most definitely not a snob, or a lover of private school types.

Oh, and he did play a number of Tests for the Wobblies.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

you Don’t think the nepotism deters outsiders from joining in?

 

[Gnostic]

Go suck a sav, mate. All I did was quote from an article in The Newcastle Herald. And cut out the personal insults, my bitter little friend.





I have been thinking for myself all my life, and follow nobody blindly. On the other hand, there are quite a few around here who blindly blame RA for everything that is wrong with the game, because all the Board members live at Mosman, and went to private schools. Something like that.





Blind as bats.

Quite like the old battered Sav. Haven't had one in years. Might have to go try one see if they are as good as I remember.​

​

Is Don is Good.​

As for blind - you have been posting the same tired song for years despite all evidence to the contrary.

As for integrity, Clyne and JON are both from banking backgrounds at the top of said tree (or deep in said trough would be more apt), then there is Hawker - former head of NRMA and others all have serious questions of integrity hanging over them for various things, so to trust them is to be wilfully blind.

As for being educated and "successful" in your reply to IS (ie. gaining lots of cash, getting selected in the Wallabies or whatever other qualifier you wish) means jack shit when it comes to integrity - I have personally had dealings with two Premiers, an Australian Foreign Minister and a Deputy Premier who I wouldn't trust to tell me if it was raining because ethics and integrity were issues that they had never concerned themselves with, only the chasing of status, "respect", success and of course the rewards. Achieving positions in Corporate Australia has little to do with actual ability and everything to do with knowing the right people, as has been shown in the Banking Royal Commission.

I couldn't really give a shit that they all live in Mosman, but the fact that they are all associated is a serious concern.

Bitter about this - no that's laughable, I freely admit that I am a bitter and twisted individual, but not through anything that did not directly impact me and my family irrevocably and deeply. The final point is, it was not an insult - simply a proven observation IMO from your posts.

 

[Gnostic]

Mate, honestly, I could not give a rats arse about all this nepotism/geographical influence stuff. Have there been better candidates for all those positions who lived at Penrith and went to a state high school, or something similar? Do you have any proof?





Were you overlooked? The only person that I know who has held an exalted position in the rugby hierarchy went to Taren Point High. And he put in a helluva lot of personal time, unpaid of course.





People who can afford to do that usually do live in affluent suburbs, it kind of goes with high incomes. My pal had a high income, he was in executive search incidentally, an international firm of head-hunters. He would have had a lot to do with some of these appointments, and I would trust his integrity, knowledge of the game, and sheer love of rugby ahead of just about anybody. And he was most definitely not a snob, or a lover of private school types.



Oh, and he did play a number of Tests for the Wobblies.

And there you go. What a load of Shit. Tell that to every coach and member of every club in the country that does all the back end work to keep it going. I think you'll find the game exists on the sweat and toil of thousands of people who give up their time all unpaid and given basic demographics the likelihood that even a half of them has a disposable income above the median is pretty low.

 

[Joe King]

Hey, could anyone help me? I'm looking for a thread/discussion on the core values or culture of the Wallabies or Australian rugby in general. Has there ever been a plan to articulate/establish this?

When I google 'Australian rugby culture and values' I don't get much.

When I google 'New Zealand rugby culture and values' I get some very clear information.

 

[dru]

Hey, could anyone help me? I'm looking for a thread/discussion on the core values or culture of the Wallabies or Australian rugby in general. Has there ever been a plan to articulate/establish this?

When I google 'Australian rugby culture and values' I don't get much.

When I google 'New Zealand rugby culture and values' I get some very clear information.

Culture would be best ascertained by the behaviours and actions from those at the top leading the organisation. You would only need to look over the last 12 months to understand exactly the culture of the RA. Part of the issue is that in spite periodic statements of comfort, the RA give little obvious leadership to "Australian rugby in general".

I've got no doubt they have a formal policy somewhere fwiw.

 

[wamberal]

Or just use google and a bit of commonsense.

Try Rugby Australia Strategic Plan. Or Rugby Australia Code of Conduct.

 

[dru]

As I said, in this case a piece of paper does not trump behaviours and actions.

 

[Dan54]

And there you go. What a load of Shit. Tell that to every coach and member of every club in the country that does all the back end work to keep it going. I think you'll find the game exists on the sweat and toil of thousands of people who give up their time all unpaid and given basic demographics the likelihood that even a half of them has a disposable income above the median is pretty low.

To be fair Gnostic I think Wamb was meaning the ones that are actually qualified to run the financial and business side of big clubs. I have been involved in rugby in coaching, managing, committees and general dogs body both here and NZ from schoolboy to senior to provincial board level, for about 30 odd years , but I can assure you, I am and have never been qualified to run or help run the game in the business sense. An awful lot of what goes on in running a RU and the highest level really requires people with successful business abilities. And it's not just here in Aus, have a look at the NZRU, or SARU, their boards are generally made up of successful (and usually affluent because of it) businessmen, and if they are former players seems to help. I know it seems like nepotism, but there are very few people that are good enough to lead their countries in Rugby tests that don't have the ability to be very good in other chosen fields!

 

[Gnostic]

And that is also my points as previously made, the people running the game in Australia are not "successful" business people, Clyne and JON for example were bankers, and as the Royal Commission has shown they are successful through unethical and often criminal behaviour. Small wonder when they actually need to operate in a real business environment where they are not actively protected

and financially supported​

by Government they fail. As for 90% of the others nepotism and selections to suit political and power dynamics from the small pond of ex-players and old boys is not a recipe for success, when those people do not have real demonstrated success elsewhere, show me where Gregan, Robinson, Eales (the ex-players) have board experience and successful business careers to qualify them for the positions if they applied under a level playing field that is true selection by merit. The list goes on.

 

[Dan54]

And that is also my points as previously made, the people running the game in Australia are not "successful" business people, Clyne and JON for example were bankers, and as the Royal Commission has shown they are successful through unethical and often criminal behaviour. Small wonder when they actually need to operate in a real business environment where they are not actively protected
and financially supported
by Government they fail. As for 90% of the others nepotism and selections to suit political and power dynamics from the small pond of ex-players and old boys is not a recipe for success, when those people do not have real demonstrated success elsewhere, show me where Gregan, Robinson, Eales (the ex-players) have board experience and successful business careers to qualify them for the positions if they applied under a level playing field that is true selection by merit. The list goes on.

To be fair Gnostic, I don't know who is on the ARU (didn't know Gregan was) but NZRU seems to go alright, they tend to have a mixture of businessmen and former players running the board. Not sure about ARU but NZ board President and CEO aren't actually part of the board and can't actually vote . The board I think is comprised mainly of people nominated and voted for by the ubions, and I would of thought ARU would be similar?

 

[Strewthcobber]

To be fair Gnostic, I don't know who is on the ARU (didn't know Gregan was) but NZRU seems to go alright, they tend to have a mixture of businessmen and former players running the board. Not sure about ARU but NZ board President and CEO aren't actually part of the board and can't actually vote . The board I think is comprised mainly of people nominated and voted for by the ubions, and I would of thought ARU would be similar?

Since the Arbib review Dan the nominations for the board have been handled by an "independent" panel, which are then voted on by the voting members of RA (States, super teams, players etc). All board members are meant to be independent as well.

Ceo is on the board, the only executive, but president is not.

This setup is as much to align the sport with the recommendations of the Australian sports commision as anything else and ensures the sport gets as much Olympic/government funding as possible

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[Braveheart81]

Iain Payten has left the Daily Telegraph to become editor-in-chief of Rugby.com.au


Good hire as they continue to ramp up the amount of content they create.

 

[wamberal]

Iain Payten has left the Daily Telegraph to become editor-in-chief of Rugby.com.au


Good hire as they continue to ramp up the amount of content they create.

So RA does something good for a change. Silence.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

So RA does something good for a change. Silence.

What were you hoping for? A ticker tape parade. It's a good hire and hopefully we'll see it help push the platform further in its development. But it really doesn't change the status quo.

 

[Strewthcobber]

So RA does something good for a change. Silence.

Agree. They should hire some kind of media person to publicise these sort of moves

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[Braveheart81]

So RA does something good for a change. Silence.

This is just a trolling comment. You want someone to say it's a bad thing so you can argue with them.

 

[Aurelius]

This is just a trolling comment. You want someone to say it's a bad
thing so you can argue with them.

I'm reading it as a tacit admission on his part that RA is generally hopeless.

 

[Beer Baron]

It is all consistent with the general media/commentary ethos that bad news is 10x more interesting than good news

 

[wamberal]

This is just a trolling comment. You want someone to say it's a bad thing so you can argue with them.

I would disagree with you, but that would prove your point. I was being sarcastic. I do get a bit tired of post after post blaming RA for everything except climate change.