Gentlemen,
It is my intention to now provide you with my (long winded) solution to help bring a cessation to the hostilities in this room ... lmao ... jeez you go away for a week and the bedlem breaks out! Here goes!
Approximately 5 or 6 years ago I was attending a school football game between two school teams, it was a game I dubbed ‘The Battle of the West’. It was between Granville Boys HS v. Westfield Sports HS. At the time I think GBHS had one player in the Australian School’s team and Westfield had 3-4 players (correct me if I wrong here gentlemen). Notwithstanding the bone crunching spectacle I seen that day (in fact the physicality of the match put the fear of God into me), what was important for the current topic here was the man I got to speak with. It was definitely one of the Ella brothers (but not Mark). Given that he was thin I have always assumed it was Gary i spoke with. As it stood I was never going to ask if he was Gary. Heaven forbid, I was talking to Australian rugby royalty and I was not going to offend the man with my ignorance (I will presume that all know of Gary Ella).
In the 5-10 minute conversation I had with Gary I asked for his thoughts on Australian rugby, in particular how could Australia avoid the peaks and troughs that teams like NZ and SA are generally able to avoid? According to Gary Australian rugby, unlike NZ and SA, lacked the necessary depth. He then pointed to the game we were watching and said we need to give these boys a fairer go! When he elaborated on his statement he said that most of the boys we were watching needed sustained and regular exposure to stronger competition. In other words schools such as the ones mentioned above needed to play against rugby specialist schools such as those in the GPS and CAS associations on a regular basis. In fact this is what occurs in New Zealand!
To exemplify what I am saying please read the following extract pertaining the ‘POWERHOUSE’ Auckland province. From my understanding it was written in 2007 by John Mackenzie who was commissioned by the English RFU to assess the Australian and New Zealand systems for schoolboy rugby talent identification. The article is titled, ‘Talent Identification in Australia and New Zealand and a Potential Way Forward for Schools’ Rugby Here’. the extract states:
“In the Auckland region of New Zealand the top twelve schools play each other in the A Grade, with twenty four teams involved in the B Grade in a further two pools of twelve teams. There is promotion and relegation at the end of each season, with a mix of State and Independent schools in each league. At the start of the season each school is asked to nominate its top five players to a central database that is co-ordinated by the schools’ development department at Auckland Rugby. After each league fixture the coaches nominate players from the opposition schools who stood out in their fixtures; their names are added to the database. When it comes to the time for selecting Regional sides to play in the Auckland Championships, the coaches effectively decide how many players in each position they want for their squad and then take the ranking players from the database. There are no trials or development days to influence the list of players, as the selected players are taken directly from the information submitted by the respected coaches on a weekly basis. The squads that are finalised play in the Auckland Provincial Championships, with the potential to be selected to represent Auckland in the National Championships Festival against Canterbury, Wellington, etc, from which the All Blacks U18s are selected. This process, again, does not clash with school fixtures in any way, taking place during the half-term holidays.”
What are your thoughts gentlemen? When responding please bear in mind that the above article has neglected to mention that club teams are also included in the abovementioned competitions. Ultimately I find it very intriguing (and enticing) that club and school teams could play in the same competition; playing each other week in, week out; better still having one peak body overseeing the selection of a representative team.
As it stands Auckland provincial rugby is very strong, moreover Sydney is becoming strikingly similar to Auckland (the actual city) with its large and growing Polynesian communities in south-western and western Sydney. In Auckland the same communities are largely in south Auckland (especially in Manukau).
Regards,
Newbie.
