Australian Rugby / RA

[Rebel man]

Same experience here. 10 years in Sydney but found it really hard to engage in SS. Better experience with Subbies. And actually with the NRC for that matter.

Boys club

 

[Italophile]

In today's Guardian online:

‘It’ll take a miracle’: decades of decline leave Australian rugby at dire crossroads | Angus Fontaine

Special report: The ailing sport is searching for a drastic turnaround on and off pitch. What if anything can save it at this point?

www.theguardian.com

 

[Dan54]

that’s the first person I thought of - couldn’t imagine Campo waking up at 3am to start baking bread or doing a garbage run.

Him and John Kirwan was another, JK never finished his buthery apprenticeship, and thenk he actually married the daughter of the club owner where he played in Italy. Murray Mexted always laughed, when he went to France to play as an amateur, he had a job as a truck driver , but the better he played the more money he got paid as a driver, and he quickly realaised the truck didn't have to be driven by him , and he still made a very good living.

 

[SouthernX]

Him and John Kirwan was another, JK never finished his buthery apprenticeship, and thenk he actually married the daughter of the club owner where he played in Italy. Murray Mexted always laughed, when he went to France to play as an amateur, he had a job as a truck driver , but the better he played the more money he got paid as a driver, and he quickly realaised the truck didn't have to be driven by him , and he still made a very good living.

also the ameteur days meant more focus on turning out for your club because everything was earned and not given.

it wasn’t about wallaby top ups… it was about a strong performance for brothers, Randwick etc that got you the representative honours for QLD or NSW then that segwayed into the ultimate YTB trip to Europe with your wallaby teammates to see sights, sink piss and win footy games.

 

[wamberal99]

Eastwood is a great club to support and watch and play for, if you are young enough to be a player.

 

[Pfitzy]

Better experience with Subbies

Which club?

 

[dru]

Which club?

I enjoyed Balmain. (Along with Stars). You'd call Balmain Subbies wouldn't you?

 

[John S]

I enjoyed Balmain. (Along with Stars). You'd call Balmain Subbies wouldn't you?

Well they're definitely not in the SS.

 

[Pfitzy]

I enjoyed Balmain. (Along with Stars). You'd call Balmain Subbies wouldn't you?

They're down to 1 grade these days. But still pushing hard

 

[The Honey Badger]

shute shield is inferior to qpr though.

way more rebels and Drua turning out in qld then the nsw equivalent

Right you are,

Club Championship results for the last 10 years don't quite reflect that. And I would bet good money on Randwick winning the next one.

And for the second bit, So what? that doesn't make it better.

12 highly competitive teams makes a great comp . Not saying Hospital cup is not good, but it is a smaller comp.

2013	Sydney University	43–7	University of Queensland	Sydney Football Stadium	Report[8]
2014	Sydney University	19–14	Easts (Brisbane)	Bottomley Park	Report[9]
2015	Eastwood	21–20	University of Queensland	TG Millner Field	Report[10]
2016	Eastwood	34–17	Souths (Brisbane)	Chipsy Wood Oval	Report[11][12]
2017	Northern Suburbs	27–5	Brothers	Crosby Park	Report[13]
2018	Warringah	41–28	University of Queensland	Pittwater Park	Report[14]
2019	GPS	37–31	Sydney University	Ballymore	Report[15]
2020	Sydney University	28–8	University of Queensland	Sydney University	Report[16]
2021	Easts (Brisbane)	14–13	Gordon	Bottomley Park	Report[17]
2022	---Not contested---
2023	Sydney University	45–19	Wests (Brisbane)	Toowong Memorial Park	[Report][18]

 

[The Honey Badger]

Eastwood is a great club to support and watch and play for, if you are young enough to be a player.

I actually haven't found a bad club - they all have great communities

 

[The Phoenix]

Another savage hit piece by Jessica Halloran in The Australian today (all timed perfectly to have bad rugby news at the same time as the over the top coverage of the NRL Las Vegas Game), but this quote from Phil Waugh is concerning.

"When asked by The Australian on Thursday whether a three-team Super Rugby contingent was an option, Waugh said RA’s priority was to ensure the Australian franchises were “commercially viable”.
“We are doing our due diligence to analyse what the most appropriate number of Australian teams is – which covers both commercial viability and RA’s aspiration to have winning teams in gold,” Waugh said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/rugby-union/seven-rugby-australia-staff-made-redundant-while-brumbies-in-firing-line/news-story/d5b5c6ef082867ec8a3041f462ea1158

 

[Pfitzy]

Why concerning? He's not going to say everything's rosy and we should just go ahead with X teams.

Commercial viability not only stems from the running of the clubs themselves, but what the agreement is for broadcast rights.

Nothing quote.

 

[Rob42]

Another savage hit piece by Jessica Halloran in The Australian today (all timed perfectly to have bad rugby news at the same time as the over the top coverage of the NRL Las Vegas Game), but this quote from Phil Waugh is concerning.

"When asked by The Australian on Thursday whether a three-team Super Rugby contingent was an option, Waugh said RA’s priority was to ensure the Australian franchises were “commercially viable”.
“We are doing our due diligence to analyse what the most appropriate number of Australian teams is – which covers both commercial viability and RA’s aspiration to have winning teams in gold,” Waugh said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/rugby-union/seven-rugby-australia-staff-made-redundant-while-brumbies-in-firing-line/news-story/d5b5c6ef082867ec8a3041f462ea1158

It's clear that Waugh's approach is the polar opposite to McLennan's, so I don't see any issue with him serving up bland quotes for the media. He managed Eddie out the door and brought in Schmidt without getting into media slanging matches. Fine by me.

 

[Jimmy_Crouch]

I was skeptical of Philthy prior to him taking the CEO role (but for all we know he was the best person willing to take the job) but he has made some really smart employment decisions (and ones people cant bag for being jobs for the boys) Women's High-Performance Manager Jaime Fernandez, Wallaroos Coach Jo Yapp, High Performance Director Peter Horne, High Performance Advisor David Nucifora and Wallabies Coach Joe Schmidt.

It is a reasonable start.

 

[young gun]

They're down to 1 grade these days. But still pushing hard

Funny what happens when the money dries up ...

 

[The Honey Badger]

as a passionate rugby fan who lived in Sydney for a decade, I always found the Shute Shield teams difficult to engage with, they have strong loyal supporter bases but they come across as a bit closed off to new fans.

bit like these forums

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

Go to the top 5 news sites for Vegas and there is one article total on all the websites about the nrl which is 5th from the top saying “national rugby league running a free fan day….”
This is going to be a phyric victory - maybe a big crowd but all Aussies in the USA or coming from aus.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Go to the top 5 news sites for Vegas and there is one article total on all the websites about the nrl which is 5th from the top saying “national rugby league running a free fan day….”
This is going to be a phyric victory - maybe a big crowd but all Aussies in the USA or coming from aus.

They've been fairly quiet on the ticket sales news. Which may be telling in itself. It's competing with the LA Sevens for the actual Rugby community in the US. Will be interesting to see the comparison in turn outs. Vancouver is apparently nearly sold out.

 

[SouthernX]

They've been fairly quiet on the ticket sales news. Which may be telling in itself. It's competing with the LA Sevens for the actual Rugby community in the US. Will be interesting to see the comparison in turn outs. Vancouver is apparently nearly sold out.

Latrell Mitchell said on airport interview before bunnys departure they’d sold 30k