wamberal
Phil Kearns (64)
Lindommer,
You might as well save your breath. Club rugby in Sydney has always been about self-interest.
Even back in the days when you had to represent the club for which you were residentially qualified. As a kid growing up in the Eastwood district in the days when we could not win anything, and lost players galore to Gordon and Parramatta -- who were both far more successful, that was just the way it was. It took us just on 50 years to win our first First Grade Premiership, and 14 years to win anything (Thirsty Thirds in 1962).
I don't recall anybody calling for us to get help. And that is the way community sport works. Parramatta used to be bloody strong, when they had a strong rugby community. Penrith had a pretty handy side too at one stage.
(On the residential front, I met a chap in Tonga who had played first grade with Gordon, partnering Trevor Allen in the centres. He told me that he had actually been residentially qualified to play for Eastwood, but had been assisted to get a fake Gordon address).
Not to mention the player payments and other inducements that certain successful clubs were notorious for back in the shamateur days.
Self-interest is the only reliable motivator in amateur sport, and that is what club rugby is, virtually.
I would love to see the Penrith rugby community support their club. Why don't they? That is the question that should be being asked, and answered.
By the way, nobody was more delighted than me when we lost both games against Parramatta this year, even if it meant that we had to face the Corporation at their home ground in the semis.
You might as well save your breath. Club rugby in Sydney has always been about self-interest.
Even back in the days when you had to represent the club for which you were residentially qualified. As a kid growing up in the Eastwood district in the days when we could not win anything, and lost players galore to Gordon and Parramatta -- who were both far more successful, that was just the way it was. It took us just on 50 years to win our first First Grade Premiership, and 14 years to win anything (Thirsty Thirds in 1962).
I don't recall anybody calling for us to get help. And that is the way community sport works. Parramatta used to be bloody strong, when they had a strong rugby community. Penrith had a pretty handy side too at one stage.
(On the residential front, I met a chap in Tonga who had played first grade with Gordon, partnering Trevor Allen in the centres. He told me that he had actually been residentially qualified to play for Eastwood, but had been assisted to get a fake Gordon address).
Not to mention the player payments and other inducements that certain successful clubs were notorious for back in the shamateur days.
Self-interest is the only reliable motivator in amateur sport, and that is what club rugby is, virtually.
I would love to see the Penrith rugby community support their club. Why don't they? That is the question that should be being asked, and answered.
By the way, nobody was more delighted than me when we lost both games against Parramatta this year, even if it meant that we had to face the Corporation at their home ground in the semis.