Sydney Subbies 2025

[Subbies Footy Enthusiast]

Does anyone have any insights about how various clubs across divisions 2-5 are travelling? It seems that a stable division 2 is going to be hard to achieve at this stage - with only Forest, St Pats, Petersham, Briars and UNSW with 4 Grades and a Colts (5 clubs in total). All other potential clubs to make up this division either don’t have a Colts team or a maximum of 2-3 Grade teams. No easy answers…

 

[Pfitzy]

No easy answers…

Always! I think the only guarantee at this point is a stable First Div and after that

I see a few clubs have started up with Info Nights and the odd bit of casual training, which is always a bit hit n miss with formal touch footy and other sports on. I'm waiting on a few guys are in league rep contention for the Colts process.

Never really know until February which way the cards will fall, and has been that way for a decade I should have learned by now not to stress about it

 

[Footyhead67]

Interesting to see the lower divisions colts make up. From Div 3 I assume there's Knox, LCOI, HV, Beecroft, Oysters (Easts?) and I've heard Barker will probably have a colts. Then from what I've seen Penrith, Hornsby, Renegades (nice work Pfitzy), Balmain are attempting to have a colts this year. With the Radford teams from last year Wakehurst, Mac Uni, Chatswood and Brothers all probably making a return. Throw in a few Div 1 II colts teams as well if they're not required in Div 2.

 

[Pfitzy]

Renegades (nice work Pfitzy)

Fat lady ain't singing yet. I've been trying for the last 3 years!

 

[Crashy]

Looks like Briars are competing in the Singapore 7s. When / why did Briars start their impressive men's and women's 7s programs?

 

[Pfitzy]

Looks like Briars are competing in the Singapore 7s. When / why did Briars start their impressive men's and women's 7s programs?

They've been touring a women's side for a few years now (Dubai, Borneo etc).

Not 100% sure about men's.

Guess it's an incentive? Certainly not something every club could offer

 

[Here To Do]

Looks like Briars are competing in the Singapore 7s. When / why did Briars start their impressive men's and women's 7s programs?

They've been touring a women's side for a few years now (Dubai, Borneo etc).

Not 100% sure about men's.

Guess it's an incentive? Certainly not something every club could offer

We've been running both since around 2018 - the women's have been a lot more organised but that's mainly due to COVID harpooning seasons 2020 and 2021.

The men's side is driven by a lot of the younger players and especially the Pasifika group - it's a chance to travel and represent the club and have fun doing it with your mates.

A lot more clubs have begun doing similar - this year I've been booked nearly every other Saturday for extracurricular rugby since the end of D1 Subbies. Pasifika XVs, women's 7s and even junior 7s. Any rugby is better than no rugby, 7s, Xs or XVs.

 

[Crashy]

thats awesome - all feeds into the wider club. Div 1 awaits perhaps?

 

[Here To Do]

thats awesome - all feeds into the wider club. Div 1 awaits perhaps?

That's the hope. Where we are is a massive football/soccer area and league is probably the #2 winter sport - AFL has become more of a thing too because the Giants are nearby. We have to stand out somehow and that's probably the big thing that clubs are struggling with.

For those who don't know the topography of the area, Concord is sandwiched between Drummoyne, West Harbour, St. Patrick's, Petersham and Two Blues. We are on the lowest rung of that group, which isn't as bad as it was when we were in Div Four, but still has us in a pretty saturated market along with Pats and Shammies.

It's a massive credit to the committee that players are wanting to come play for us - it's been years of hard work to get players to come down instead of jumping to Wests or Pats, now we have players wanting to come to us because they feel they can develop and improve with us.

 

[Here To Do]

Subbies' 2024 annual report has been uploaded here: https://rugby.net.au/news/2024-AGM-x-15820.html

Had the privelege of attending the Subbies AGM last night - I'm not certain but assume there are confidentiality requirements around proceedings (at least until Subbies announce them) so I will not share details other than to say I was saddened to hear @Pfitzy had not stood for re-election as Div Four's delegate and wanted to thank him for his service, a message which was shared by a healthy contingent who attended last night - Tom Chancellor from Chatswood will fill the role as per the AGM article above.

Broadly, let me state that having, for the first time, seen the Subbies administration first-hand, our game is in good hands, who all care about the sport and the union itself. It is often thankless and the whole organisation should be commended for their work - especially those who already give their time and effort to a club and then also to the entire association as representatives and ordinary members.

I look forward to next season and hopefully to a Briars clean sweep of whatever Division we land in!

 

[Pfitzy]

I was saddened to hear @Pfitzy had not stood for re-election as Div Four's delegate and wanted to thank him for his service, a message which was shared by a healthy contingent who attended last night - Tom Chancellor from Chatswood will fill the role as per the AGM article above.

Cheers. I joined the Board in mid-2019 after a vacancy, representing Div 5/6 at the time, and mostly DIv 4 since. It simply became time to step back and find time to refresh. While the duties of a Board member are hardly equivalent to a day job, it is another thing I need to juggle mentally in parallel to running the club (and my life in general).

Tom's a top bloke and will do a great job.

 

[Pfitzy]

Broadly, let me state that having, for the first time, seen the Subbies administration first-hand, our game is in good hands, who all care about the sport and the union itself. It is often thankless and the whole organisation should be commended for their work - especially those who already give their time and effort to a club and then also to the entire association as representatives and ordinary members.

Truer words were never written. Before joining the Board I had a limited impression of what it entailed and how each of its members are driven to help make things better. I wanted to make things better, and hope I did my part.

To see the potshots made by a few seagulls on here, without the guts to stand up and say who they are or represent, amuses and angers me in equal measure. Those who run second accounts to back themselves up, or create a strawman for themselves, are about as useful to the game as tapeworms.

 

[KentwellCup>ShuteShield]

cheers your service pftizy, people like who are the reason rugby still runs in this country and the love of the game people like you have, are the reson why rugby is such a great sport.

 

[Heavyd]

St Pats Div 2 club of the year….

 

[Here To Do]

St Pats Div 2 club of the year….

If I'm not mistaken that's decided by a vote of all clubs - I don't have a vote myself but have heard it discussed previously at the end of seasons.

 

[Northies]

St Pats Div 2 club of the year….

Despite your protests that Div 2 was beneath you less than 12 months ago, we've in fact decided that you are indeed the best example of a Div 2 club there is...

 

[Pfitzy]

If I'm not mistaken that's decided by a vote of all clubs - I don't have a vote myself but have heard it discussed previously at the end of seasons.

Opposition clubs have input via questions about their home ground and how they host or guest. Obviously onfield success also has a part to play.

 

[DaSchmooze]

Despite your protests that Div 2 was beneath you less than 12 months ago, we've in fact decided that you are indeed the best example of a Div 2 club there is...

Gee - I wonder how they assessed that they had a right to protest their demotion? Finishing 6th in the Club Champs perhaps?

 

[Northies]

Gee - I wonder how they assessed that they had a right to protest their demotion? Finishing 6th in the Club Champs perhaps?

Or finishing 5th in Barraclough this year...

 

[Here To Do]

Gee - I wonder how they assessed that they had a right to protest their demotion? Finishing 6th in the Club Champs perhaps?

I think that's the sore point for a lot of people - if it's supposed to be based solely on on-field performance, then it completely stands to reason that Mosman and Petersham, as the 2 lowest sides, should have been relegated (to fill out Div Two to 8 teams).

But, this is what the Ops Manual says:

At the end of the current season:

C.1 The club finishing last in the Division One club championship will automatically be assessed for regrading to Division Two. The winner of the Division Two Club Championship will be assessed for regrading to Division One.

C.6 The Board reserves the right to assess any clubs in any division for regrading into a higher or lower division.

I think Petersham, by their own account, would say 2023 was an annus horribilis - without extenuating or mitigating circumstances, their heads were going to be on the block regardless of the teams above them.

Mosman's saving grace was probably having the Judd minor premiership and (losing) teams in the 4ths and 5ths Grand Final. Same for Forest who took out the Barbour - Mosman had a 4th placed finish in Whiddon but other than that, neither club had any other finals teams.

St. Patrick's, you could argue, got short-changed as Colts Minor Premiers but they also had a 5th-place best finish in any senior grade (2nd XV), Kentwell and Whiddon spoons and 2nd-last place in Judd. Forest were Burke spooners but you could argue that St. Pat's had the benefit of higher club championship multipliers for Colts that placed them a lot higher than either Mosman or Forest, who were not good but did have better placings on average.

The next team you'd have had to look at from that list would've be Blue Mountains who won their maiden Kentwell - they were safe regardless (especially with Subbies having very few clubs west of even Briars). St. Pat's drew the short straw and Subbies will feel vindicated, right or wrong, seeing their 1s miss the Finals - their 2nd place in CC probably sends the message that they're in the right division for now.

I don't think anyone would argue that Newport trading with Forest for next year (as per the "Clubs" pages on the website) is a bad call - top of D2 goes up and bottom of D1 goes down - but there will always be winners and losers with pro-reg. Had St. Pats and Petersham gone 1-2 in the D2 CC this season and Lindfield finished dead last way behind, it would have been unequivocally wrong, but that is not what happened.