Aussie Community Rugby
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Division 3 in Sydney Subbies this year has 7 clubs fielding 2 Grade + Colts U21.
One of the clubs yanked 2nd Grade pretty early on.
This week there are 3 First Grade games happening, ZERO 2nd Grade games, and 2 Colts matches.
That's four forfeits of a possible 9 matches.
Two of the clubs forfeiting are St Ignatius Old Boys (2nd Grade and U21) and Knox Old Boys (2nd Grade) - private schools with rugby programs. Doesn't appear to be much in the way of connection between school and club these days. Barely worth the name.
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@NTA said in Aussie Rugby:
I'm wondering why the fuck I bother? I love the game but feel like it is unhealthy for me at this point to continue trying to help.
On Saturday our division had a wet weather week we didn't need to use, so with the day off and Mrs TA having a girl's weekend, I ended up at a division 1 club for a look.
Their chairman - also on the union board with me - mentioned they didn't have a ref for 5th grade. I happened to have my gear on the car so decided to have a run.
Really enjoyed it. Players had fun - a mix of old boys and young guys who don't train.
That was a good Rugby day to balance out the shit.
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the boys snuck home last week, were 5th going into the final game.
we were playing second on the table Unicorns and the 4th placed footscray team were playing the 7th placed Melbourne uni
we needed two upsets to make finals
we came out firing and dominated Unicorns...one down
Uni....snuck over the line with a try and a penalty in the final 5 mins!
our quarter final opponent?....unicorns, bring it on
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We snuck into 6th spot with a 28-30 loss on the weekend to just shift ahead of the guys in 7th.
Soured a little by one of our blokes blowing up deluxe at the ref, and a post-match citing by the other club of one of our guys who has the cleanest record I've seen for an openside flanker. I don't see any form of contact during the period alleged, but off to Judiciary we go again.
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good luck
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@NTA said in Aussie Rugby:
We snuck into 6th spot with a 28-30 loss on the weekend to just shift ahead of the guys in 7th.
Soured a little by one of our blokes blowing up deluxe at the ref, and a post-match citing by the other club of one of our guys who has the cleanest record I've seen for an openside flanker. I don't see any form of contact during the period alleged, but off to Judiciary we go again.
Hope it goes ok at Judiciary mate. And keep up the great work you doing!
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and we go again next week!
5 point win over the private school boys on their ground tastes so sweet. they were hot on attack about 15m out, attacking lineout but right in front of our supporters...as a former hooker i don't envy thier hooker having to make that throw....he didn't actually get it wrong but our lock gets up and pinches it...then they dive over the subsequent ruck and we get the pen....and thats full time...beautiful
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a small insight into rugby in Vic
below is a snip of the 8 Dewar Shield teams in melbourne (yellow pins).....historically the final is held at one of the clubs, not necessarily one in the final as not all can host a full day with several finals across different grades but Harlequins, Box hill and last year Endeavour have all hosted, they have good club rooms
rumour the final will be held at the new Vic Rugby Training facility at La Trobe uni (Red Pin)...bloody miles! from any of the clubs that might make it and their fans
Hell, Endeavour might be further away but theyre just off a freeway and have loads of people help out around the club making a great environment
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lost our prelim final....ahead at 80mins and then the ref decides who should win and proceeded to penilise us 6-7 times in a row including 2 yellows...marched them to our 5m where they were able to tap and drive over (kicker was spent so thats all they had left)....so pissed off, i got told off for saying the ref was a cheat in the club group chat (spur of the moment frustration), apparently the ref is a partner if one of our club members...just a shit afternoon in the end....we'd also made plans to go out and so had to leave right at full time so felt as if i was abandoning the team...wife told me i had to shake it off and not bore the aussies were were going to dinner with rugby talk
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@NTA yeah, it had been close and we'd only got back in front with 5 to go...it was just the ref suddenly started see loads of things she hasn't bothered with earlier...and then getting called out and ya feel embarrassed for an outburst when was already feeling shit...oh well, 3's still have a final next week
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Qld Suburban is basically dead. A few clubs hanging on, playing Friday nights against each other or Premier Club 6th grades.
That said, the Premier scene there always appeared much larger than Subbies e.g. 5 men's grades + a couple of colts in Prem versus 1 or 2 grades
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@NTA said in Aussie Rugby:
Qld Suburban is basically dead. A few clubs hanging on, playing Friday nights against each other or Premier Club 6th grades.
That said, the Premier scene there always appeared much larger than Subbies e.g. 5 men's grades + a couple of colts in Prem versus 1 or 2 grades
Yeah the premier comp has a very good geographical spread (or at least had before the city grew like weed since the early 2000s) and made subbies a bit shit. I played a season for QUT, which didn't make much sense because Norths was across the road. Same with Kenmore vs Wests. But as far as I can see there is almost zero presence in new developments towards Ipswich and the west which are dominated by league.
When my boys were playing from about 2014-2019, club union seemed very strong up to about U13s, but the GPS strangulation meant that many kids then played for their schools and those without scholarships or loaded parents were left out. Stoopid situation.
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@Rancid-Schnitzel same down here - junior clubs things are generally ok until about U15s and then schools fuck it up.
Connection to seniors is generally lost unless you're good enough to play Prem Colts. Most kids don't even know there is a Subbies club in the neighbourhood, and there are nearly 50 Subbies clubs across Sydney compared to 10 Prem clubs.
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If they go back to three teams, will rugby die in Perth and Melbourne? How many homegrown players have those regions produced? I understand that a lot of expats play in Perth and the Melbourne club scene has a high percentage of Polynesian players.
Could an improved NRC based more on club lines help build the base of the pyramid and be played at the same time as Super? What would a rugby version of the league system look like?
Their is a two tiered club system isn't there? Those Shute shield teams are like pro clubs aren't they? More players in a club in Sydney than premier players in Southland, NZ?
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@mikedogz said in Aussie Rugby:
If they go back to three teams, will rugby die in Perth and Melbourne?
It wont die, the Dewar Shield has been around for over 114 years, yes there are alot of expat (NZ, PI and Irish) knocking around the club scene in melbourne but there always has been, we currently have very little connection with the rebels, mainly our coaches coaching the various age grade teams
the interesting and damning thing for me...there is currently a state rep team tour going on (we have three guys in the squad)
These have nothing to do with the super teams....not a complicated structure at all!
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Would a ten team Aussie only comp be a better TV product for Aussie TV audiences? The top two/four could play qualify for a separate international comp. It seems weird that Sydney/NSW has one pro rugby team when other sports have 2 or 3 and the NRL has 9 in Sydney alone.
