G&GR GRASSROOTS RUGBY THINK TANK

[Gagger]

This year the Aussie Super conference dolled out points like it was the Eurovision Song Contest, our under 20's got schooled at the Junior World Cup, the Waratahs management spectacularly imploded and we still have no national third tier competition.

Alarm bells anyone? Perhaps not. Perhaps - like the ARU - you believe that being 2nd in the world rankings with best ever 'participation' numbers everything is fine and dandy.

Either way, it's the perennial issue in Australian rugby - are we doing the best with what we have?
Enter the G&GR THINK TANK.

Over the next week or so - while we have no international rugby and our grass roots competitions are in full flow - Green and Gold Rugby will go beyond the usual howling at the moon. We want to tap our collective functioning braincells to nut out the $64,000 question:

What state is grassroots Aussie rugby in, and how could we make it better?

By 'grassroots', we mean anything below the elite level - so that can be school, club, kiddies or Super Rugby and everything else that isn't the Wallabies.

We'll start off with a few articles on the front page to get the juices flowing and encourage you to wrap your educated thoughts about it all into comment/posts - the best written and most interesting of which we'll elevate into blog posts of their own accredited to you.

In this thread you may want to take pieces of earlier posts in other threads and incorporate them into your arguments - that's OK. But as much as possible leave this thread free of cheap quips and rebuttal - make powerful arguments instead.

Depending how this all works out, you never know what we can put together. There's an ARU governance review that this might fit nicely into....

 

[Ruggo]

Not abandon Rugby's traditional base but broaden the potential for the promotion of the game through our club systems. Try and encourage the local rugby club to build a repore with the local public school. Get kids into rugby at the primary school years and encourage there development through the grades.

I think we have done some great work on this front in the past but would love to see it stepped up more.

 

[rugbyisfun]

The game is an absolute mess at the moment and needs rebuilding from the base back up. Focus on the strongholds. All expansion concepts should be shelved for at least the next few years. Sack the marketing department at the ARU and tip every single dollar into the development office. Any idiot can put together a poster promoting the upcoming test match dates. Empower the local rugby clubs and schools to develop their footprints.

 

[#1 Tah]

Personally, I believe that juniors must play within a certain radius of where they live - it will stop junior clubs like Mosman poaching the representative players.

Where the black hole is occurring is in public and some private schools. The Easts junior rugby club is made up of mostly Scots and Cranbrook boys. But there are many schools in the area where rugby and even compulsory sports dont happen. Considering out performance at the Olympics, the ARU and the AOC could come together and take sports and rugby to public schools and private schools without sports programs. Because once the boys and girls start playing rugby they will fall in love with it.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Is touch, or Oz Tag, Rugby?

The purists may not like this but these games are hugely popular and IMHO are a great intro to rugby, or can readily co-exist alongside the other versions of the game, 15's rugby, 7's rugby, Wheelchair rugby, womens 15's, womens 7's, Gay rugby and Golden Oldie competitions and beach rugby.

Touch and Oz Tag are run forward, pass backward, end zone invasion games played with an oval ball. There is limited/no contact which addresses the concerns that many parents have about the physical side of our game, and should significantly reduce insurance/injury risks for Schools.

Females and males can play the game. It is not seen as an elite game played in upper socio economic enclaves by the leather patches and pearls wearers.

With no lineouts and scrums, and fairly simple rules, it is an easy game to teach the basics to in order to get a game going.

The small numbers in teams, and the limited infrastructure needed to run games make it an ideal game to be played during School sports lessons, and at lunchtimes.

Make it as easy as anything for a female school teacher with no previous rugby background to coach and organise ARU Touch. Growth and expansion within the primary schools will only occur through the Teaching profession which is predominantly female, time poor, and non sports focussed. Get coaching ARU Touch on the curriculum of the various Universities where teachers are taught to teach.

Basic catch and pass, draw and pass, tackler evasion and running line skills are pretty poor at most levels in our game. These skills are fundamental to Oz Tag and Touch.

So what if not all that many players of Touch/Oz Tag transition to the full blooded contact version of the game. It is about the brand awareness of Rugby and participation numbers (in its many forms).

ARU should consider merging with or taking over Touch and Oz Tag in order to bring ALL versions of rugby under its umbrella. If Touch and Oz Tag resist, then ARU should simply roll out its own version of the game in competition to them to assert its rights to these spin off version of our game, and strangle them until they come to the party.

Touch and 7's rugby provide the best platform to grow the game in non-traditional areas and within the public and CCC schools system.

Paralympics and Special Olympics
Are there paralympic versions of rugby apart from Wheelchair version?
If not, then develop them.
How about using the Golden Oldie principles of different coloured shorts to signify different physical handicaps, and what is therefore needed to make a "tackle". Use the grading system from Wheelchair rugby to allow only a maximum number of physical abilities on the field at any one time.

What about vision impared rugby? Develop a version.

Otago University students seem to have cornered the market for Nudie Rugby. Best to leave this one alone. The Darknessers can have the monopoly on that.

Develop a version of Rugby for the Intellectually Challenged (no not rugby League) to be played at "Special Olympics" games.

For every one person "captured" by expanding the game into paralympics, and special needs, the ARU have the the door opened to family and their extended family to become "rugby" converts for the Wallably brand. Further this (cynically and selfishly) opens up new sources of Federal, State and charitable funding, so it should not be too much of a loss leader for ARU.

The payback for ARU is greater brand recognition, and an expansion of the Rugby Family.

 

[I like to watch]

ARU should consider merging with or taking over Touch and Oz Tag in order to bring ALL versions of rugby under its umbrella. If Touch and Oz Tag resist, then ARU should simply roll out its own version of the game in competition to them to assert its rights to these spin off version of our game, and strangle them until they come to the party.

Touch and 7's rugby provide the best platform to grow the game in non-traditional areas and within the public and CCC schools system.

HJ this is proof that you have gone mad.You obviously have no real idea of touch as a sport or an organisation.
Have a look at their website, it is a sport in it's own right,with it's own pathways and development of juniors.You might laugh, but the sport has it's own World Cup.
If you happened to attend either a junior or senior state carnival you would understand this sport is not run out of the back of a canteen in st marys.
I would not be surprised of they employed more development officers than the ARU.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Then let Australian Touch take over the ARU.

 

[barbarian]

The problem with these discussions is it tends to end up with people hurling ideas around with no regard for the financial pressures our game is currently under. "Let's do X!" "Let's develop Y!" are all well and good, but in reality the ARU are working with super-tight margins and can't simply throw money at problems, as they have no money to throw.

I am not saying these ideas should be discouraged though, or it is not a worthy discussion. Far from it. However I think we should be focusing on a few simple reforms to the game at grassroots level, rather than sweeping 'knock it all down and rebuild' stuff.

Lee Grant had a great point when he talked about the coverage (or lack thereof) of the Australian Schools Rugby Championship. Look at the level and quality of coverage G&GR is currently providing for Schoolboy and Club comps, all for no cost at all. Surely the ARU and ASRU could find one or two people to update the website, tweet live scores, write a match report or two and take a couple of snaps! This is stuff that a lot of people are interested in across the country. Our schoolboy competition is one of the great strengths of the game, and we need to harness it.

I have other ideas, which I will post when I have a chance. Hope we can come up with 10 or so tangible ideas we can put to the ARU.
.

 

[Sully]

Guys this is an emotional subject. I would just like to ask all to consider the tone of your replies before posting them. This is too important to turn into a shit fight.

Sent using Tapatalk

 

[Scoey]

For the game to grow, there needs to be interest in it. Not just, "Hey you know that pretty boy on the Suisse adds? Well he plays for the Wallabies", interest. But real, paint your face, don a wig, scream your guts out at the game interest. Perhaps that's an exaggeration - but you get the point.

The people of this fine country are the consumers and Rugby is a product. The problem is that at the moment, the people are ducking down to the shops to pick up their weekly supplies of NRL, AFL and Football. Some consumers with more exotic tastes will take a wander down the American Sports aisle and pick up some NBA or NFL as well, then head to the checkout and then home.
Tucked away in a dark corner in between Netball and the NBL sits Rugby. The few people that have a taste for it, know where to go to get it, but by and large, the majority of the consumers don't know how tasty it is or where to find it.

It's all about product placement. If we want people to start including Rugby in their weekly diet we need to get it in front of their faces - make it accessible at the very least. Hell, someone standing right up the front of the shop handing out free samples to the consumers so they can have a taste would be worth a shot.

When Mum & Dad start spending their Friday nights at home watching the Rugby on free to air, their kids will invariably join in. Their role models may no longer be the Thurston’s or Ablett's but perhaps the Pocock's or Genia's. They will start running around at school at lunch time for more than 6 tackles. The interest will flow to the local Rugby Clubs and then the sky is the limit.

It's a very simplistic view but in the end it all starts with product placement.

 

[Moses]

Would it be possible to film non-televised shute shield matches on the cheap then stream these over the web?

If the authorities were to purchase equipment and pay a producer to run it, they could get film school students involved to gain work experience and cover the matches.

 

[barbarian]

Would it be possible to film non-televised shute shield matches on the cheap then stream these over the web?

If the authorities were to purchase equipment and pay a producer to run it, they could get film school students involved to gain work experience and cover the matches.

They have started doing that on the clubrugby website, only a couple of games a weekend though. Production values very high. Was going to go behind a paywall too before Fairfax stepped in to fund it. Great initiative.
.

 

[p.Tah]

This is a very simple and inexpensive idea and is borrowed from our friends at the AFL. Every team rugby jersey in Australia should have the Australian Rugby logo on it. All Australian Rules club jumpers from Junior upwards have the AFL logo on the chest. In this case the AFL NSW/ACT branch:

It tells the kids who are playing where their potential destination is (i.e. playing in the AFL). It connects their team to the bigger AFL picture. Its outlines the pathway and gives them a sense of belonging. It's a family as such, they then get home and watch the AFL and see what their pathway may lead to. In addition, parents and the players wear their team tracksuit and jumpers after the local game when they go to the shops. It achieves two things:
1. Advertises the AFL
2. Tells people that there is an AFL team in the area that their kids can play for.
I think all clubs jerseys in Australia (and some schools if they’re interested) should have the Australian Rugby Logo on the chest 'pocket']/COLOR]

It's simple, but it links all the rugby players in Australia together and promotes the (dare I say it) rugby brand.

 

[Dave Beat]

"Let's develop Y!" are all well and good, but in reality the ARU are working with super-tight margins and can't simply throw money at problems, as they have no money to throw.

.

Okay not the ARU then, possibly the Waratahs - it is alledged they have surplus cash to throw around - possibly to one club in particular though.

Lets keep throwing poisitive ideas into this thread.

Cheers

 

[Hugh Jarse]

..snip...
I have other ideas, which I will post when I have a chance. Hope we can come up with 10 or so tangible ideas we can put to the ARU.
.

Lots of ideas already on the "Ideas for Australian Rugby" thread.

Time for a revisit.

 

[waratahjesus]

They need to find a marketing strategy that makes rugby accessible and dare I use to word but "cool". If you fix the marketing, you will gain interest which will flow to the grass roots in terms of revenue and participation.

People underestimate what "the footy show" and media coverage of league and AFL does to rugby. Rugby stars are not recognizable, people don't get to know their personalities and kuds have little interest in being like them.

 

[Dave Beat]

SENSATIONAL IDEA - so simple

It's simple, but it links all the rugby players in Australia together and promotes the (dare I say it) rugby brand.

 

[RugbyReg]

we're looking at doing that from a Reds perspective, at least with Jnr clubs next year. Glad to hear its a positive position.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

I like the idea with the ARU brand on the jumpers, but in this day and age, brand advertising costs.

There are many junior clubs that are selling placements on their jumpers and shorts to offset costs of the game. Those clubs that do not "advertise" on their jumpers typically charge very high registration fees, reinforcing the elitist perception of Heavensgame. Those clubs that advertise on jumpers can reduce the participation costs to a minimum and also compete in a market with mungoball which in many places is free or extremely heavily subsidised.

It is widely reported here that AFL are throwing serious $ at junior development, and therefore they possibly can demand junior clubs prominantly display AFL brand on the jumpers. Same (to a lesser degree) with NRL.

Not so with Rugby. Down at the grass roots level that the Jarses operate, we have not seen so much as a brass razoo from ARU*. Every cent has either been fund raised, sponsored, registration fees'd, or obtained by the committee from community handouts from Clubs, charities, and Council.

* We did however do quite well out of the ARU/Telstra 50% ARU funded Telstra branded gear package a while ago, but that opportunity was only around for two years IIRC, and it was a looooong time ago.

What opportunities have clubs got to raise money from advertising/branding on the players strip?

On a rugby jumper there are the following advertising opportunities for use:
Left Brest - Club logo
Right Breast - District Logo (if there is sufficient $ committed to development from the Senior Club), otherwise For Sale
Front of Jumper - For Sale - Normally determined by the Village Club and typically the major sponsor
Left Sleve - For Sale - This could be "sold" to ARU if they can prove the value they give to the club as opposed selling this space to "Bobs plumbing"
Right Sleve - For Sale - This could be "sold" to the Tahs/Reds/Ponys etc if they can prove the value they give to the club as opposed selling this space to "Jims Mowing"
Top Back of Jumper For Sale - Normally determined by the Village Club and typically the a minor sponsor (or team level sponsor)

Now most jumpers are subliminated "plastic" jobs, there isn't much extra cost adding a logo provided the artwork arrives in time.

Pants
Bit more difficult as these are normally still cotton based, and therefore badges either get sewn own, or screen printed (and these fall off/peel off over time), therefore charges for advertising space need to be higher to cover higher costs of brand placement.

However there are three opportunities to brand the pants.
Left Front Leg.
Right Front Leg.
Across the Bum.

Because of the difficulties mentioned above, I have not noticed too many village clubs selling this space on the panties.

I repeat that I really like the idea of universal ARU or S15 franchise branding on all players jumpers, but it comes at a cost and those desiring their brand placement need to "pay the piper" in order to call the tune.

 

[The Red Baron]

Making the grassroots of rugby stronger requires a multi-faceted approach. We need to build juniors, seniors, exposure and the rugby brand. Strong exposure and brand recognition feed the junior ranks, who will (hopefully) then fill out the seniors when they come of age. However, building rugby in Australia is not all that simple. We have a bloated sporting market, all vying for the attention of a population of approximately 22 million. As a sport, rugby needs to move itself into the position where people place emphasis on rugby.

How can rugby change?

Two sports that have experienced success in Australia are Aussie Rules (hereafter referred to as AFL after the Australian Football League) and Rugby League (which I will refer to as the NRL, the current incarnation of rugby league). Examining why and how AFL and NRL worked their way into the public consciousness requires reflection on the past. To copy and paste the current models of both sports would be folly. As the AFL and NRL have built their brand over a period of time, their current sporting and business models are incompatible with the relative position of rugby.

In a weird form of social Darwinism, rugby is essentially locked in time. The AFL and NRL are organic, growing and changing in accordance with social and cultural change. Unfortunately, rugby is yet to fully experience adaptation similar to NRL and AFL. Although Rugby in Australia has been professional since 1996, it has failed to expand the product in a meaningful way. This is no disrespect to the Western Force and Melbourne Rebels. The Force and the Rebels are important additions to the Rugby landscape. The implications of which I hope to discuss later.

Rugby is still a sport that is largely amateur in a market that craves professionalism. Super Rugby is the saving grace. And Super Rugby is part of the salvation. Developing adequate pathways to the pinnacle of provincial rugby requires a development in the grassroots. Some excellent ideas have been floated here. P.Tah has identified the need for the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) logo to be present on uniforms of junior rugby players. This has the advantage of increasing brand awareness. ARU logos on junior uniforms symbolises the potential destination of junior rugby participants. Symbolism is a key tool. However, Rugby must revisit the past to ensure the future.

Rugby League

For those old enough to remember, rugby league in the 1980’s had two (maybe three) matches broadcast each weekend. In addition to this coverage, the ABC would telecast a Saturday afternoon match, then replay that match early on a Sunday morning. As a kid, I would watch the Sunday morning match eagerly if I had missed it the day before.

On the main Sunday broadcast, each time a try was scored the try scorers occupation would be displayed on the screen, along with other stats (age, position and so on). Essentially, even though one of the major reasons the original split of Rugby and Rugby league was money related, Rugby League was in essence amateur. Match payments were not enough to make a living off of the game (although some players did just fine through their club network and match payments).

In the late 1980’s, Rugby League experienced a paradigm shift. The game really started to turn professional. To encapsulate this, administrators built the game, with the aid of an international celebrity (remember the Tina Turner ads? They worked brilliantly). Based on the existing club structure, Rugby League started to harbor thoughts about expansion and full professionalism. By this Time, both Canberra and Brisbane had well established teams. In fact, the teams outside of Sydney dominated the competition.

Why am I focusing on Rugby League you ask? Simply, Rugby League expanded on their existing structure to increase awareness. Branding (as P.Tah has shown) symbolised the potential destination of the juniors. As a young child I wanted nothing more than to play in the NSWRL (as it was then known). I identified with the existing structure, and wanted to play for my team. The similarities of Rugby League in the late 1980’s and Rugby today are not dissimilar. Both Sydney and Brisbane have strong club structures, with distinct followings (Canberra being an honourable mention, Melbourne and Perth will be commented on later). This is the baseline. Juniors playing rugby should be given incentive to play for established teams (which I will not name, as I have no wish to engage in debate over teams that are omitted). Ultimately, they will aim for Super Rugby, the best provincial competition in the world. Without a strong base structure, it is easy for juniors to lose focus.

In due course, I will take this further. I intend to examine the model of the AFL, and how it can be applied to Rugby. I would like to examine how Rugby increases it’s foothold in Australia, from the four perspectives I outlined earlier, being juniors, seniors, exposure and the Rugby brand. Rugby in Australia is at a pivotal point. Much like Rugby League 20-25 years ago, it needs a push to kick start an organic entity. We are the ones that need to push it.

Until my next outburst, feel free to pick holes. As long as we build Rugby in Australia, anything goes.

EDIT: I may not have referred to Rugby League as NRL like intended to at the start of my post. So much for form!