Aussie Community Rugby
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Local news: for the first time since I joined back in 2019, there are going to be positions contested at the NSW Suburban Rugby AGM!
There's a bit of a kerfuffle going on with 2 clubs who don't want to be relegated to Division 2, and I believe some the nominations for new board members relates closely to these matters.
Finally I'm involved in rugby politics. It'll be the best AGM attendance ever.
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Community Rugby letter that went out this morning.
Good morning,
In March this year Rugby Australia committed to participate in a two-year global law trial, facilitated by World Rugby, which will result in the legal tackle height being reduced from below the line of the shoulders to the sternum at Community level.
Following consultation with our Member Unions as well as coaches, match officials, administrators and medical professionals, the tackle height will be lowered to below the base of the sternum for all competitions below Super Rugby that commence on or after February 10, 2024. This change in law will include all Premier Grades, School Competitions, and Pathway Competitions.
In all stakeholder engagement, key consideration was given to:
- enhancing player safety.
- the experience for the players, including professional players.
- additional challenges that could be encountered by match officials.
- possible changes to tactics and tackle technique currently being coached.
- perception of the game by people not currently involved in rugby.
Changing the legal tackle height to the base of the sternum ensures the tackler's head is lower relative to the ball carrier's body, minimising the risk of head-to-head, and head-to-shoulder contact, and reducing the risk of head injury to both players. Initial trials and research findings over the last six years have indicated that the risk of concussion is 4.2 times higher when a tackler's head is positioned above the sternum of the ball carrier and the safest place to tackle is between the waist and sternum. The global law trial includes major Unions around the world such as England, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales, and early indications are very positive with significant reduction in head impacts and suspected concussion being reported.
As part of the research select competitions around the world are being filmed and then analysed by World Rugby to undertake a comparison between significant head impacts and concussion under the previous law and the variation, as well as tracking the variation year to year. This assessment will review the positioning of tackler and ball carrier, their head proximity, point of contact, tackle type, direction of players, evasion techniques, number of passes preceding tackle etc. Game metric outcomes such as ball in play time, passing rate and offloads will also be captured as part of the trial evaluation.
To support your coaches and match officials with this transition to the new tackle height we have produced a range of resources and training materials. Match officials will be asked to place greater emphasis on the existing law preventing a ball carrier from “dipping” into a tackle and placing themselves, and potentially the defender, in an unsafe position for contact. The new law will not change the ability for an attacking player to "pick-and-go" where the ball carrier typically starts and continues at a low body height. The defender will still be required to avoid contact with the head and neck of the ball carrier as stipulated in the existing World Rugby Head Contact framework.
It is important to note there may be an adjustment period for players and match officials so please be patient through this time. For more information and ongoing updates, please visit our website.
We will continue to ensure that any decisions impacting the game are informed by research and evidence that prioritise player safety and welfare.
Thank you for your involvement in Rugby.
Kind Regards,
Phil Waugh - CEO, Rugby Australia
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@NTA said in Aussie Rugby:
Changing the legal tackle height to the base of the sternum ensures the tackler's head is lower relative to the ball carrier's body, minimising the risk of head-to-head, and head-to-shoulder contact, and reducing the risk of head injury to both players. Initial trials and research findings over the last six years have indicated that the risk of concussion is 4.2 times higher when a tackler's head is positioned above the sternum of the ball carrier and the safest place to tackle is between the waist and sternum.
What's the incidence of concussion? I'm sure if it was greater they'd mention it rather than the likelihood. I'm yet to see clarification around players in possession doubling over into contact.
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Nothing like seeing a player at your club, who has had his share of troubles including some time inside, grow into his responsibilities as a man. Especially when your coach is a solicitor who helped him with some legal problems, as well as employment, supporting his family so he didn't breach parole.
From a guy who was a walking fight nearly every time he went out there, to someone who showed real leadership and tenacity, despite often giving away 30kg+ to everyone on the field.
There is also nothing quite like seeing that faith repaid, with photos of him in our club's shorts, doing preseason with another club just up the road, and linked to another nearby.
"Yeah bro we here for life!"
My arse.
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Side note from local club rugby: our player of the year for 2023 announced today that his visa expires around the same time season 2024 starts.
What the fuck do you want me to do about it? I'm not an immigration lawyer.
Nor is our small, very amateur club, in any position to do anything about sponsorship of that nature.
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@NTA said in Aussie Rugby:
Side note from local club rugby: our player of the year for 2023 announced today that his visa expires around the same time season 2024 starts.
What the fuck do you want me to do about it? I'm not an immigration lawyer.
Nor is our small, very amateur club, in any position to do anything about sponsorship of that nature.
Out of interest is there a precedent here?
Has the ARU, or your club, previously been involved in these at all?
I would assume it would be his employer who has to sort that out, with perhaps your club being a referee / reference if looking to extend etc.
But I have no idea.
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@MajorRage said in Aussie Rugby:
Out of interest is there a precedent here?
Has the ARU, or your club, previously been involved in these at all?
I would assume it would be his employer who has to sort that out, with perhaps your club being a referee / reference if looking to extend etc.
He's working at the moment so I assume either he's hit some limit or other in terms of time with that.
There is a "Sports Visa" option and having read the brief, that is aimed at high-performance athletes and needs signoff from RA. It also has restrictions, one of which is they cannot do any other paid work.
Therefore, even if I found a way to get that done, he has no way to support himself while that happens. Alternatively, he tries to work, gets busted and deported, and the club is dragged into it as his sponsor.
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an interesting development, we have had a HUGE influx of new players, mainly irish expats but several from all over.
Having +70 on a tuesday night in late jan for preseason training is way more than normal. most importantly in some key positions (front row, 9 and 10)
Lots of our old players haven't even come back yet, even talk about fielding a 4th team which im not sure we've done before
not going to help the Rebels but a good sign for the club scene here
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@Kiwiwomble Sydney Irish had a big influx here. Borders now open full time with no likelihood of closing so travel is back.
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Sydney Suburban update:
A few bigger clubs boasting about training numbers (75, 90 etc) while others are being a bit cagey with their social media videos about training nights.
We had mid 20s for the first two weeks then everyone had Valentine's Day 🙄 so that dropped to 12. Expecting it to pick up this week and I've been cold-calling Colts U20 players from the nearest Premier Club to see if they want a game with us 😜
Subbies has kicked off a campaign for Colts U21 and Women's via concerted social media campaign. A fairly simple "find your local club" link. Hopefully it works.
Our usual opponent for the annual preseason charity day has opted out this year ☹️. Not surprising as last year they turned up with about 7 guys, had to borrow from the other club playing our second grade, and got absolutely mullered. They weren't much better the year before.
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@NTA thats shit, im sorry mate, thats the kind of thing that give you faith in the clubs future
we had our first colts team in a long time....but we barely had numbers, think we had to play 12/13 a side a couple of times and there were only 5 teams in Melbourne so not a huge comp
for us, we had one real top colt, good and big enough we played him in the ones a couple of times....but the rebels have taken him and hes just made the Aus U20 squad....so we miss out on the kind of player we could base a team around
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@Kiwiwomble cheers. I've been trying to get Colts running for about 3 years now and this feels like another failure.
Tried contacting Eastwood to get some kind of partnership going, as they're moving into our area once their new ground is built. They were bright and cheerful but haven't been returning calls since the initial engagement - I called their bluff and said I'd happily buy them dinner at our pub to have a chat. fluffybunnies.
I'm finding it hard to push through preseason at the moment. Hopefully the results are better this year*, but I've probably spent 200 hours this off-season trying to get things moving in a positive fashion, and I'm treading water like every other fucking year.
Why bother? "Because I love the game" isn't good enough. We (suburban) have asked NSWRU to step in with Premier Rugby and help align things better. They won't, because they're too afraid to get involved and probably won't be effective anyway. The game doesn't want help. It is fucking Groundhog Day.
*the one benefit of staying in 4th Division is the top 2 clubs have been promoted out so the competition might be a bit more even.
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@NTA i cant hit the upvote on that!
several questions...starting with why message you? can you help of is he just that dedicated to the club he wanted to let you know he wont make training?
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@Kiwiwomble unfortunately I'm seen as the fixer, being Club Secretary.
Trying to get him to send documents (photos), then compiling into a document for our friendly lawyer (coach is also a lawyer) while trying to fucking work and then go to the DIvisional meeting last night across town.
TBH I was seriously thinking about packing it all in on the drive home, and I'm not much different today. So tired.
I have two problems that I need to solve almost in parallel:
- I am a fucking neurotic dickhead for solving problems
- I don't know when to stop and protect myself as a result
Oh and the appeal had to be lodged by midnight....
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im always borderline about throwing it in when just doing actual club stuff like packing up the training ground (driving back at sunset this morning to try and find one of the new guys phone, no luck)...let alone that kind of stuff....but when those beautiful bastards win a game and sing the song i'll be back in
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@Kiwiwomble I also realise I'm like this every March ... then a bunch of players come out of the woodwork and things move ahead.
The rest of the Committee are all busy people. Senior positions in government, or someone who is the only position at their small company. I work from home most days and am good enough to make what I do look hard and time-consuming while being easy and rapid. But that is also a trap...
I'm also sick of being told to "build culture" by the traditional clubs, when they don't understand Western Sydney; a lot of these guys work 6 days a week or more, and just want to play footy. They don't want to help pack up or set up. They don't want to spend 2 hours a year helping run the raffle at the club. They just want to play footy. Full stop.
We tried having events to attract people. Only the Committee showed up with a couple of die hards. The presentation night tickets were $40, and we realised the team manager - who has his own financial and medical issues - was paying for tickets for 4 players and a partner - these are guys who earn good coin as labourers, and must think that their $150 rego is enough to cover bloody everything.
Fuck it. I'm going in circles and just venting for the sake of it.
