Long time listener, first time caller...
I had the honour of commentating the Division Two Grand Finals on Saturday and it was another fantastic day of rugby with an incredible atmosphere at a legendary venue. Congratulations to all the teams, especially those that made the Grand Finals and who became Premiers. I imagine there will be some sore heads from yesterday's Silly Sundays.
Main thing that was great to see was the hundreds and thousands of supporters streaming into Concord Oval - it would be great to see those crowds every weekend, not just GF Day, but still great to see there is a strong grassroot supporter base for club rugby.
Epping Rams have been, for better or worse, the talk of Division Two all season. I understand the frustration many have with not fielding a first grade side and, from what we saw on GF Day, the argument of whether or not they should have fielded "top down" grades will always be contentious.
We have to remember something important - Subbies is playing solely for pride and premierships. We're not playing for million dollar prize pools or better TV rights or anything like that - Epping forfeited an entire grade, as per the Subbies ops manual, all season.
My personal feeling at the start of the season was that, for one matchday, forfeiting top grade was the "right thing" to do, but on a frequent basis it would have been fairer to require them to play "up" a grade. Seeing them win 2/3 premierships they've competed in this season has cemented that feeling for me for the reasons many have raised, but I cannot hold their success against them and I certainly don't think they've "cheated".
The clubs agreed that would be the way forward for the Rams and noone was complaining until they became successful. They've had a tough few years and sacrificed themselves since COVID in many ways but have had a rub of the green this year. Congratulations on completing your redemption arc, I hope you enjoyed yourselves at Somerville afterwards - hopefully you're able to field a full compliment of grades next season.
Newport are probably due for a promotion - they not only dominated the Club Championship and Div Two all season, but they well exceeded the likes of Petersham and St Pat's. All 3 are probably unlucky that Div One has shrunk to 8 clubs - Petersham will be disappointed with their first grade struggles and Pats will rue missing out on Finals based off of results, while the Breakers secured their minor premiership as quickly as possible. Clearly, the drop down is much harder than the jump up - Lindfield have showed that, after an adjustment period, you can adapt to tougher competition, but going down makes player retention and morale a struggle.
I make no apologies for being a partisan of Briars - I've volunteered for the club since 2015 as their ground announcer and commentated their games since 2021. I've seen the lows of the club having started in Division Four through to the highs of this season and our Major Semi win. I was actually more emotional after our loss in the McLean GF in 2019 than I was on Saturday - to make the big dance and fall a kick short of Newport in "their" competition is, in my opinion, a raging success. Seeing an influx of new players, after the initial struggles, has been encouraging too, regardless of some of the as-yet unfounded chatter regarding the team's "legitimacy".
The biggest concern I had from this season was the disjointed nature of each competition. Having the Stockdale as the only fully representative competition is a worry - No Epping in 1s, no Epping or Hills in Colts, no Beecroft in 3s and 4s. Colts is seriously worrying, given how many younger players are jumping to league. I do wonder just how sustainable a 5 grades + Colts comp in Div One AND a 4 grades + Colts Div Two structure is going forward, especially with Div Two clubs "expected" to field as many senior grades as the SRU.
All in all, there is still a strong base of dedicated rugby players and supporters in Sydney which is encouraging. For what it's worth, I am a lifelong NRL supporter and it was the 2014 Rabbitohs premiership that inspired me to "give back" to a local club - the camaraderie, sportsmanship and pride is what has kept me in rugby and makes me prefer it to the toxicity often found in all levels of league.
We must be careful about how we speak about and treat clubs in this amateur competition - this entire union is based on the work of volunteers, players, committee members and everyone else who makes matches happen. If we lose them, we lose the game and that is something we cannot afford. Debate is perfectly fine and clubs should be held accountable for their actions, but until there is evidence I'd urge everyone to presume innocence for the good of the union as a whole.