Shute Shield 2019

[The_Brown_Hornet]

How did Manly lose that game? They had the Rats on toast at half time I thought.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Did you notice the word "comparatively"? Let's see how many the Tahs draw tonight. 8000 might look pretty good. And which crowd will enjoy the experience more do you reckon?


It beats me why the SS does not rate better. Maybe good old parochialism.

The Tahs have drawn larger crowds than today's game all season.

 

[Quick Hands]

How did Manly lose that game? They had the Rats on toast at half time I thought.

They only played for 40 minutes. All credit to Warringah they dominated possession in the second half. Intercept try just after half time was the turning point. Should have been a Manly try, but the last pass was poor and the Warringah kid ran 95 metres to score.

Warringah seemed to lift after the try and we just couldn’t get any decent possession after that.

Great game but if you lose from 22-3 up at half time you have nobody to blame but yourself.

It’s a very even competition and I just love the way the competition is panning out this year

 

[Quick Hands]

The Tahs have drawn larger crowds than today's game all season.

Well, firstly you’re working on the assumption that the crowds posted by the Waratahs are accurate and you’re also assuming that the numerous TBA crowds that the Waratahs post are over 8000. Doubtful in at least one case.

Secondly, the Waratahs have a support base covering a whole state of 7 million people with home games in a city of 4-5 million. Manly and Warringah draw from a population of not much over 200 thousand

 

[I like to watch]

And your ignoring the passion in the joint.

I literally couldn’t speak on the phone mid game cos it was too noisy.

At the Tahs games most of the chat is about the crosswords they are doing,to keep them occupied during the game.

 

[formerflanker]

Bugger.
All 3 of "my" teams went down today - Manly, Shore, and the 'Tahs. Even the grandson's soccer team lost (not that anyone counts the goals of course )
And Tony Abbott lost last weekend! (that's meant to be levity in case you're wondering)

Any teams you want to lose? Happy to switch my bad luck allegiances for a fee.

 

[Quick Hands]

And your ignoring the passion in the joint.

I literally couldn’t speak on the phone mid game cos it was too noisy.

At the Tahs games most of the chat is about the crosswords they are doing,to keep them occupied during the game.

Brumbies drew 6,311 on Friday night.

Waratahs yet to post crowd for last night. That’s code for under 10,000

 

[wamberal]

Talking about the Grand Final venue being at Parramatta, just for fun I checked out the time it takes to drive from Newport to Parramatta. 48 minutes. From Newport to Moore Park. 46 minutes. From Newport to Concord. 45 minutes.

 

[I like to watch]

Talking about the Grand Final venue being at Parramatta, just for fun I checked out the time it takes to drive from Newport to Parramatta. 48 minutes. From Newport to Moore Park. 46 minutes. From Newport to Concord. 45 minutes.

We going to play the GF at 11pm?
Newport to North Ryde can often be >90 minutes
Newport to Warringah mall can take more than 45 minutes

 

[Quick Hands]

Talking about the Grand Final venue being at Parramatta, just for fun I checked out the time it takes to drive from Newport to Parramatta. 48 minutes. From Newport to Moore Park. 46 minutes. From Newport to Concord. 45 minutes.

I’m not particularly concerned about the GF being at Parramatta but I question whether playing in a 30,000 seat stadium is a wise move

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

And your ignoring the passion in the joint.

I literally couldn’t speak on the phone mid game cos it was too noisy.

At the Tahs games most of the chat is about the crosswords they are doing,to keep them occupied during the game.

I'm not actually. The Battle of the Beaches is by far the loudest, most rowdy of the games played in season. Both games. But crowds like yesterday happen twice a year (not including the GF) between just these two clubs. Don't get me wrong here. I have been watching the Shute Shield religiously for 21 years and there's nothing I'd enjoy more than seeing the kinds of crowds yesterday repeated across many games in the season but to suggest that one crowd, which has been happening for some time now, represents a fundamental shift is just false. More importantly, it distracts from what needs to happen at that level to build other clubs crowds to a point where crowds over 5k are the norm in the competition.

 

[I like to watch]

You can look at it through the prism, that this derby is an isolated event, thus there is fuck all interest in the SS generally.

Or you can look at it through the prism, that in this pissy little comp,where a former CEO, declared giving them any money would be pissing it up against a wall.

in a mid season game, when they can outdraw the professional side of the state, then there is something deeply flawed in the structure of the game.

There are several Tah players that earn more than the entire revenue of these clubs.
Most Waratahs players earn more than total player payments for each club.

I went to my last Tahs game last year, on the way home we unanimously decided it wasn’t worth the effort to get there anymore.
We’d be better off watching it at the local, eating better food, drinking better beer.
Haven’t even done that this year.

Houston, we have a problem.

 

[the coach]

How did Manly lose that game? They had the Rats on toast at half time I thought.

Manly only scored 3 points in the second half and 5 (?) in the second half last week.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

You can look at it through the prism, that this derby is an isolated event, thus there is fuck all interest in the SS generally.

Or you can look at it through the prism, that in this pissy little comp,where a former CEO, declared giving them any money would be pissing it up against a wall.

in a mid season game, when they can outdraw the professional side of the state, then there is something deeply flawed in the structure of the game.

There are several Tah players that earn more than the entire revenue of these clubs.
Most Waratahs players earn more than total player payments for each club.

I went to my last Tahs game last year, on the way home we unanimously decided it wasn’t worth the effort to get there anymore.
We’d be better off watching it at the local, eating better food, drinking better beer.
Haven’t even done that this year.

Houston, we have a problem.

Not suggesting either of the above. What I'm saying is that you cannot make the assessment that club Rugby has the ascendancy over the professional game after a single crowd of 8k. Remember in the same region of the city the Tahs drew over 17k at the beginning of the season and would likely be drawing reasonable crowds still if they chose to play all their home games at Brookvale.

There is a false sense of wider interest (and no Wambers it's not parochialism) projected by some thanks to literally three good crowds a season. The average crowds and TV viewership reflect a different narrative. Not a 'pissy little comp' but not the robust, bustling competition they will have you believe. Now, I'm not suggesting that the Shute Shield clubs couldn't evolve into the latter where crowds above 5k are the norm but it will require a solid plan and hard work to achieve. Pretending that it's already there and everything is fine and dandy pretty much ensures that it never will get to that point.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

For the record the Tahs got 13,885 last night.

 

[Quick Hands]

Not suggesting either of the above. What I'm saying is that you cannot make the assessment that club Rugby has the ascendancy over the professional game after a single crowd of 8k. Remember in the same region of the city the Tahs drew over 17k at the beginning of the season and would likely be drawing reasonable crowds still if they chose to play all their home games at Brookvale.

There is a false sense of wider interest (and no Wambers it's not parochialism) projected by some thanks to literally three good crowds a season. The average crowds and TV viewership reflect a different narrative. Not a 'pissy little comp' but not the robust, bustling competition they will have you believe. Now, I'm not suggesting that the Shute Shield clubs couldn't evolve into the latter where crowds above 5k are the norm but it will require a solid plan and hard work to achieve. Pretending that it's already there and everything is fine and dandy pretty much ensures that it never will get to that point.

You’re still missing the point. You’re trying to compare a professional outfit representing a state of 7 million people playing home games in a city of over 4 million with a city based amateur club competition with two teams drawing from 200 thousand people.

Very quick mental arithmetic on my part suggests that per capita the club game is looking much more popular. Even the other club games which draw 2 thousand compare favourably with the Waratahs. That’s before we even get to the Brumbies drawing 6 thousand the other night.

 

[Quick Hands]

Manly only scored 3 points in the second half and 5 (?) in the second half last week.

A worrying statistic

 

[wamberal]

Still cannot believe that Rats clawed their way to a win.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

You’re still missing the point. You’re trying to compare a professional outfit representing a state of 7 million people playing home games in a city of over 4 million with a city based amateur club competition with two teams drawing from 200 thousand people.

Very quick mental arithmetic on my part suggests that per capita the club game is looking much more popular. Even the other club games which draw 2 thousand compare favourably with the Waratahs. That’s before we even get to the Brumbies drawing 6 thousand the other night.

In the same region of the city that saw over 17k for the one game the Tahs held there earlier in the year. But if you want to believe the Shute Shield is perfect then fine.

 

[I like to watch]

In the same region of the city that saw over 17k for the one game the Tahs held there earlier in the year. But if you want to believe the Shute Shield is perfect then fine.

If the Tahs can’t attract 4 or 5 times what a local amateur team can attract, then they have massive problems.

But kudos to the Tahs for attracting enough through the gate to pay one of their lower/mid tier players wage for the season......

As an aside,if the local grassroots wasn’t so strong, the gate would have been half what they drew for this game.