Where to for Super Rugby?

[KOB1987]

^^^This is a far more logical way to structure the game IMO.

However, NSW players that are within the Brumbies' boundaries are ineligible for selection for NSW Country, one of the last remaining true representative sides..

 

[Slim 293]

However, NSW players that are within the Brumbies' boundaries are ineligible for selection for NSW Country, one of the last remaining true representative sides..

'NSW Country' should probably change their name as they really only represent the north eastern part of the state.........

 

[Quick Hands]

However, NSW players that are within the Brumbies' boundaries are ineligible for selection for NSW Country, one of the last remaining true representative sides..

Do NSW Country play any games these days? The City v Country fixture disappeared years ago, NSW Country schools played their last game in 2016 before disbanding, there's no touring teams to play Country any more either.

 

[Quick Hands]

'NSW Country' should probably change their name as they really only represent the north eastern part of the state...

Essentially, there is no NSW Country these days.

 

[KOB1987]

Do NSW Country play any games these days? The City v Country fixture disappeared years ago, NSW Country schools played their last game in 2016 before disbanding, there's no touring teams to play Country any more either.

Seniors fixtures for this year:

4 June - NSW Suburban - Camden
17 June - Brumbies Provincial - Tuggeranong
1 July - QLD Country Heelers - Newcastle (Southern Beaches)

And they did play the Lions 4 years ago.

 

[Highlander35]

Was it not Combined Country that played the BILs?

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[KOB1987]

'NSW Country' should probably change their name as they really only represent the north eastern part of the state...

My understanding is that players from the southern NSW zones were filthy that their affiliation with the Brumbies meant they couldn't be selected for NSW country. The 'Brumbies Provinical' side that they can get picked in instead is a token gesture.

 

[KOB1987]

Was it not Combined Country that played the BILs?

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actually I think you are right. But still, they had to be selected in it.

 

[KOB1987]

Essentially, there is no NSW Country these days.

Tell the players that. The side has always been predominantly Newcastle, Illawarra and Central Coast, and still is. There's always a few from the other zones, Wagga was the most regular supplier from the Southern zones, it hasn't really impacted the relevance of the team much that they can't be picked.

 

[chibimatty]

With the shift in the global season, Super Rugby should finish towards the end of June meaning non-walllabies return to club rugby a month earlier then usual. I wonder if there is time to include some form of Club Championship in the window between this and the NRC.

I'm not particularly a massive fan of Super Rugby players returning to club rugby just for the run home to the finals, it tends to shift the balance of power quite a bit. So the regular season could finish around the same time as Super Rugby finishes, and then a club championship with QPR/SS teams wiuld commence, with all the returning Super Rugby players.

I wonder if you could include the NRC teams from Perth, Melbourne and Canberra in this competition? Expand it out a bit longer?

 

[Quick Hands]

Seniors fixtures for this year:

4 June - NSW Suburban - Camden
17 June - Brumbies Provincial - Tuggeranong
1 July - QLD Country Heelers - Newcastle (Southern Beaches)

And they did play the Lions 4 years ago.

Well, the Lions will come around every 12 years, so they could certainly pick a special NSW country based team for that tour if they wanted to.

I think that the above 3 fixtures could still be played without having a special NSW Country RU in place.

Surely it can't be that complicated to pick any rugby player who doesn't live/play in either Sydney or Canberra in a "Country" team. I don't really think it would offend anyone if such a team were picked. ANyone who was offended should probably find another sport.

Does it really need a separate rugby bureaucracy to work this out?

 

[Quick Hands]

Tell the players that. The side has always been predominantly Newcastle, Illawarra and Central Coast, and still is. There's always a few from the other zones, Wagga was the most regular supplier from the Southern zones, it hasn't really impacted the relevance of the team much that they can't be picked.

You've already acknowledged that the southern part of the state isn't even eligible for the team. Perhaps I don't need to tell them as they already know?

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Maybe Japan should have 5 teams in the comp

 

[Quick Hands]

I wonder if you could include the NRC teams from Perth, Melbourne and Canberra in this competition? Expand it out a bit longer?

The NRC is actually the perfect vehicle for a national competition. It essentially is the 5 existing super teams, with a second team in Qld, Sydney divided into 2 parts and those parts of regional NSW not affiliated with the Brumbies are with the Cockatoos.

The framework is already there. It shouldn't be particularly difficult to base a replacement for super rugby on this model.

 

[Quick Hands]

Maybe Japan should have 5 teams in the comp

Then we could pull all of our teams out and go it alone.

Win/Win

 

[Quick Hands]

There's much in what you say ILTW.

I'm sure most of the ARU board members, when hand-wringing over a good red, conceive of the 'challenges we have at the ARU' as largely a consequence of outside factors 'over which we have no control' such 'the intense competitive strength of NRL and AFL, and now the incursions from soccer'.

As I've long said, the institutional cultures and MOs of Australian rugby create practices and attitudes at elite levels whereby no one truly is accountable, sees themselves as such, or takes responsibility in a genuine manner.

Leadership deficiencies are typically explained and excused away, and everything is forgiven without personal consequence.

Whenever I think of the ARU board and its culture and practice, my mind always turns to the politburo of the People's Democratic Republic of Korea (aka North Korea).

The analogy is fascinating. As the latest ballistic missile crashes and burns into the Sea of Japan minutes after launch, I picture the politburo in Pyongyang sitting in a room, all nodding agreement, noone daring to put a dissenting view lest they be purged. All talking up their own stellar performance and all agreeing that any and all problems are beyond their control and the result of "outside influences".

In Australian rugby, as the game crashes and burns in the Australian sporting landscape, those charged with its care sit in a board room, nodding in agreeance, no dissenting view permitted lest they be purged from the Sydney corporate scene. Everyone talking up their performance and attributing any and all problems to "outside influences".

 

[KOB1987]

Well, the Lions will come around every 12 years, so they could certainly pick a special NSW country based team for that tour if they wanted to.

I think that the above 3 fixtures could still be played without having a special NSW Country RU in place.

Surely it can't be that complicated to pick any rugby player who doesn't live/play in either Sydney or Canberra in a "Country" team. I don't really think it would offend anyone if such a team were picked. ANyone who was offended should probably find another sport.

Does it really need a separate rugby bureaucracy to work this out?

Ok so if there isn't a 'separate rugby bureaucracy' overseeing country rugby to select the team then who is going to select it? And what are they going to base the selections on?

It's more than picking the team. You are sounding very city-centric, maybe you should run for a position on the ARU board, you'd fit right in.

In the absence of NSW Country RU who do you propose to give a fuck enough to run the code in the regions? The SRU sure as fuck aren't going to do it. Now that you mention it maybe we should get rid of them too? Don't worry, no-one gets paid out here, everyone does it for the love of the game, so it's not going to erode the coffers too much. OK there's no doubt some minuscule funding from the NSWRU but the board is basically a collection of the zone presidents giving up their own time.

 

[KOB1987]

You've already acknowledged that the southern part of the state isn't even eligible for the team. Perhaps I don't need to tell them as they already know?

 

[chibimatty]

4/5 company teams from Japan, 6/7 regional/provincial/club teams from Australia, 1 franchise from Hong Kong. One league premiership in a three-hour timezone, based in medium to large cities. Legal third party payments, player sponsorship deals, freedom of player movement, etc...

SA and NZ can stay in Super Rugby.

 

[Quick Hands]

Ok so if there isn't a 'separate rugby bureaucracy' overseeing country rugby to select the team then who is going to select it? And what are they going to base the selections on?

It's more than picking the team. You are sounding very city-centric, maybe you should run for a position on the ARU board, you'd fit right in.

In the absence of NSW Country RU who do you propose to give a fuck enough to run the code in the regions? The SRU sure as fuck aren't going to do it. Now that you mention it maybe we should get rid of them too? Don't worry, no-one gets paid out here, everyone does it for the love of the game, so it's not going to erode the coffers too much. OK there's no doubt some minuscule funding from the NSWRU but the board is basically a collection of the zone presidents giving up their own time.

The regions run it themselves and affiliate directly to the ARU. Do we really multiple layers of bureaucracy to achieve a relatively simple task?

Can't regions simply supply a selector to pick the team? Is a whole level of administration really necessary.

This actually returns power to the regions and is the exact opposite of being "city centric". The regions would have exactly the same status as the Sydney RU (which is just another region).