If Australian rugby wants to thrive in the 'golden decade',
If Australian rugby wants to thrive in the 'golden decade', it needs to ditch the private schoolboy image
ABC Sport
Story By Luke Pentony • 14h ago
Following the All Blacks' 27-7 victory over the Wallabies in the second Bledisloe Cup Test in 2020, retired NRL player Keith Galloway took to Twitter to provide a tongue-in-cheek analysis of the result.
"New Zealand 27 Australian Private School Graduates 7," tweeted Galloway, igniting a sizeable amount of reaction on the social media platform.
While provocative, the comment was not offensive, even if it did upset a large number of Wallabies supporters.
It simply illustrated there is a long-standing perception of Australian rugby union that it is the domain of the private schoolboy.
Galloway and others cannot be blamed if they genuinely feel this way, given the substantial number of Wallabies players and rugby administrators — present and past — who went to private schools.
Among last year's Wallabies squad, almost three-quarters of players who were educated in Australia finished their schooling at private or independent institutions.
Of the 25 players named in the Australian Schools and Under 18s squad last September, only three completed year 12 at public schools.
And three of the five most recent Rugby Australia (RA) chief executives — permanent and interim — attended the prestigious Shore School in Sydney's affluent north, including the recently appointed Phil Waugh.
While former students from the private system dominate the Wallabies, the male underage national teams and RA's head office, it is misleading to suggest rugby has not had a presence in public schools.
This is even outside of those aligned to the respective NSW and Queensland GPS competitions, Sydney Boys High School and Brisbane State High School.
For example, the NSW Combined High Schools Sports Association – commonly referred to as the CHS — has a proud rugby history, highlighted by several players graduating from their ranks to become Wallabies greats.
But in respect to the massive role played by schools in rugby's junior pathways, those that are private — especially all-boys institutions — have been far more prominent, a fact acknowledged by former RA chief executive Bill Pulver in 2016.
"We have a little bit of a history of having come primarily from private schools — white, Anglo-Saxon males," Pulver told the media at the time.
"If we are to truly achieve the growth potential that we have for this game, we must be a game that reflects the society that we live in.
"So public schools are a massive opportunity."
Since Pulver made those comments, RA has taken steps to address this situation via the formulation of a national schools strategy and the establishment of introductory and rugby sevens programs.
Whether enough is being done is open to debate, but the fact remains that Australian rugby is hamstrung by its "old-school tie" image, which is embraced by many involved in the game.
It has led to questions about whether this has held rugby back from appealing to a wider audience amid a congested domestic sporting market.
There is also a significant amount of anecdotal evidence pointing to people feeling discouraged from playing — or even supporting — the code because they consider it elitist.
Another ex-RA boss, John O'Neill, was mindful of rugby's image dilemma when he attempted to broaden its support base in the early 2000s.
"I had a private ambition to make rugby the people's game," O'Neill wrote in his autobiography It's Only a Game.
"I fully understood it was an AB demographic, stepped in images of private schools and leather elbow patches, or at least that remained the perception of many … to penetrate the market further, we need to cast adrift those generalities."
The sense of elitism perpetuated by some has unfairly created the belief that a class division exists between the rival rugby codes, although at times this stuffy attitude has served as a source of amusement.
In 2001, the late Greg Growden wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald about a discussion between two rugby officials, who dismissed a media report that claimed the NRL was interested in signing then-Wallabies outside back Stirling Mortlock.
One official said to the other: "Stirling Mortlock … that's not a rugby league name."
Supporting public schools
The question of where schools are positioned in Australian rugby's ecosystem was touched upon last week with the announcement of Waugh's appointment as the new RA chief executive.
Waugh — a veteran of 79 Tests for the Wallabies — highlighted schools when discussing the need to rebuild the connection between the grassroots and professional levels.
He was backed up by RA chair — and fellow Shore School old boy — Hamish McLennan, who stated improving pathways was part of the governing body's "mission".
Strengthening the standing of public schools can only benefit the Wallabies, whose flagging fortunes during the past two decades indicate rugby's pathways need urgent attention.
Expanding the talent pool is crucial and the plight of Australia's Super Rugby Pacific franchises only accentuates this point.
Improving the player depth in women's rugby is equally important as the Wallaroos — who lost in the quarterfinals at last year's World Cup — cannot afford to fall further off the pace considering some of the international teams they compete against are fully professional.
As the history of female participation in school rugby is not encumbered by tradition in the same way it is among male students, there is somewhat of a blank canvas to grow the game — in particular in 15-a-side (XVs) competitions — through the public stream.
The proof will be in the pudding as to whether RA delivers on its promise to address rugby's grassroots, as resourcing is pivotal to junior pathways and its previous administrations have been accused of prioritising the professional level of the game.
In the case of public schools, government funding only goes so far, and when budgetary constraints exist it is sporting programs that often feel the greatest impact, despite the best intentions of many teachers.
RA does not have control of competitive rugby in schools but there is nothing stopping the organisation — nor the state and territory unions — from providing increased support in much the same way as what the NRL and AFL offer in relation to growing their sports at the junior level.
This is particularly relevant at the moment as RA has been talking a big game about the amount of money it is predicting will pour into rugby in the coming years.
It has improved its footing by recording an $8.2 million surplus in 2022 ahead of what it has described as the "golden decade", with Australia to host the 2025 British and Irish Lions series, the respective 2027 and 2029 men's and women's World Cups, and the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
RA has also been boastful about what it hopes to gain from a potential private equity deal, reportedly worth between $200-250 million.
Meanwhile, RA is gambling on a considerable return on investment from the recruitment of the NRL's Joseph-Aukuso Sua'ali'i on a multi-million-dollar contract from late 2024.
In the wake of Sua'ali'i — a schoolboy rugby star — putting pen to paper last March, McLennan told News Corp: "Joseph will be a sponsor's dream, he'll put bums on seats."
McLennan argues the move will create financial rewards that will have long-term benefits for rugby, however, the size of Sua'ali'i's contract and RA's pursuit of other NRL players has attracted criticism.
Sua'ali'i's Sydney Roosters teammate Brandon Smith was among the sceptics, claiming the money could be better spent on rugby's grassroots.
Smith made a valid point, but McLennan is banking on RA's strategy paying off in conjunction with the windfall it may enjoy from its other potential revenue sources.
If the financial riches materialise, RA is contending it can put greater focus on the grassroots, allowing McLennan to continue his fight with the NRL on another key battleground: recruiting junior talent.
Rugby league overshadows its rival in public schools and this is nowhere more evident than in Queensland.
Among the state education department's programs of sporting excellence that are available in selected schools, rugby league features strongly.
Additionally, the schools receive assistance with these programs through partnerships they form with NRL clubs.
It comes as no surprise that Queensland state schools — Ipswich, Kirwan, Palm Beach Currumbin and Keebra Park — have won the past four NRL Schoolboy Cups.
In last year's 17-player Australian Schoolboys rugby league squad, Queensland provided seven of the 12 that came from public schools.
From the inaugural Australian Schoolgirls side in 2022, nine of the 17 players were selected from Queensland's state system.
With the skill set of rugby league players obviously attractive to RA recruiters, the fact both line-ups were dominated by public school students provides another reminder of where talent can be found on the ground floor.
Public schools' rich history
It is not as though rugby needs to start from scratch when it comes to embracing public schools.
During the 1970s, perhaps the greatest first XV ever assembled at a single school in Australia emerged from the NSW CHS competitions.
Matraville High School (now Matraville Sports High School) produced four Wallabies from its 1976 and 1977 first XVs: the Ella brothers — Mark, Glen and Gary — and Lloyd Walker.
Six of the team would represent Australia at the under-21 level, while packing down at hooker for Matraville was current Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, who played for NSW in the 1980s.
Mark Ella went on to captain the Wallabies and is regarded as one of their all-time greats, despite ending his international career prematurely at age 25.
In 1976, Matraville famously defeated the esteemed St Joseph's College Hunters Hill — who would win the GPS premiership that year — in a trial match.
"The privately educated boys exuded health, wealth, strength and an overpowering confidence," Jones wrote in his autobiography My Life and Rugby.
"They looked like a well-drilled team of all-American jocks who had just stepped out of the gymnasium.
"Our little Matraville runts with the crazy hairstyles, skinny legs and multicoloured socks either pulled up high, in my case, or rolled around the ankles, looked like we were from the wrong side of the tracks."
Under the astute coaching of Geoff Mould, Matraville also won consecutive Waratah Shields, with the finals played in front of crowds comparable in size to those that attended the Sydney first-grade premiership deciders in the same years.
Mould then coached the famous 1977/78 national schoolboys squad — with the Ellas among five Matraville players selected — that swept all before them on the undefeated overseas tour that helped kick-start the revival of Australian rugby in the late 1970s.
More Wallabies were to come out of public schools in the following decades to leave their mark on the international stage.
Any one of these would have commanded a spot in a World XV at some point during their careers:
David Campese (Queanbeyan High School)
Brett Papworth (Epping Boys High School)
Stephen Larkham (Dickson College)
Toutai Kefu (Coorparoo State High School)
George Smith (Cromer High School)
Campese and Papworth were integral members of the Wallabies squad that won the 1986 Bledisloe Cup in New Zealand, playing alongside fellow ex-public school students Mark Hartill (Crows Nest Boys High School), Andrew Leeds (James Ruse Agricultural High School) and Steve Tuynman (Hunters Hill High School).
All five played in the series-clinching 22-9 result in the third Test at Eden Park, which remains the Wallabies' most recent victory over the All Blacks at the venue.
Digging down further in Wallabies history, the talents of Trevor Allan (North Sydney Technical High School), Cyril Burke (Newcastle Boys' High School), Rob Heming (North Sydney Boys High) and John Hipwell (Wallsend High School) were fostered in the public school system.
And dual internationals Ken Kearney (Parramatta High School), Arthur Summons (Homebush Boys High School), Dick Thornett (Randwick Boys High), Phil Hawthorne (Newcastle Boys' High School), Ray Price (Cumberland High School) and Michael O'Connor (Phillip College) — who each starred in rugby union before switching codes — came from outside the walls of private schools.
The intention of this trip back in time is not to provide a nostalgic history lesson, but rather emphasise the enormous role public schools have played in Australian rugby and — with increased support — can do so again in the future.
Lines become blurred
Australian rugby faces another challenge in that it cannot afford to take private schools for granted when it comes to developing players.
Brisbane's Marist College Ashgrove and St Laurence's College are schools with storied rugby histories, having provided an impressive production line of Wallabies and Queensland Reds players, such as John Eales and Dan Crowley.
Yet they now offer both rugby codes to students as part of the eight-school AIC competition.
Six AIC members also competed in last year's Confraternity Carnival, the revered rugby league tournament for Queensland Catholic and independent secondary schools.
Padua College was already a proud rugby league school, with Paul Vautin, Dane Carlaw and David Shillington among its old boys.
But the other AIC schools cannot be blamed for providing rugby league as an option to their students as it is not their responsibility to produce talent for Australian rugby's professional teams.
Queensland's GPS competition — nor its NSW equivalent — have followed the AIC's lead in offering rugby league, but that has not stopped NRL clubs from bolstering their rosters with graduates from these traditional rugby nurseries.
The Roosters have several players who attended GPS (both Queensland and NSW) and CAS schools, with Sua'ali'i (The King's School), Angus Crichton (The Scots College), Billy Smith (The Scots College), Sam Walker (Ipswich Grammar) and Connor Watson (Knox Grammar) on their books.
Meanwhile, South Sydney's Cameron Murray (Newington College), Brisbane's Patrick Carrigan (St Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace) and Newcastle pair Dane Gagai (Brisbane Boys' College) and Kalyn Ponga (Churchie) are some of the others who moved from rugby-playing private schools to the NRL.
It must be noted that most of these players participated in both sports as juniors, and the schools have not hidden the fact they recruit rugby league talent in the pursuit of winning a coveted first XV premiership, which has always been their end goal rather than producing Wallabies.
The offer of scholarships to promising players attending public schools has also been a part of their strategy.
The blurring of lines between the two codes extends to prominent rugby schools establishing relationships with NRL clubs, such as Brisbane's St Joseph's Nudgee College with the Dolphins, and Canberra's St Edmund's College with the Raiders.
Promising signs in Victoria
Increasing rugby's visibility in public schools is crucial to the sport's health and at least this is happening in one of its non-traditional markets, Victoria, although largely through efforts of the local community.
Considerable gains have been made in the sport's growth outside of private schools, which had long been viewed as the cornerstone of the state's grassroots base.
Wallabies Rob Valetini (Westall Secondary College), Pete Samu (Cranbourne Secondary College), Rob Leota (Thornbury High School) and Christian Leali'ifano (Peter Lalor Secondary College) are examples of the talent that has emerged from the government system and junior club competitions.
It would have been gratifying for those who have worked tirelessly to develop the game in an AFL-dominated state to see Valetini, Samu and Leota form the Wallabies' starting back row in last year's Bledisloe Cup Test in Melbourne.
Likewise, the rise of Ashley Marsters (Hallam Secondary College) to Wallaroos representation at the Test level would be satisfying for all who support Victoria's pathways.
Public schools have also been the focus of a partnership forged between not-for-profit organisation Academy Movement and Rugby Victoria.
This has led to the establishment of several government school rugby academy programs in Melbourne, catering for male and female students in some of the city's growth corridors, including Melton and Narre Warren South.
The programs are already bearing fruit, with Fountain Gate Secondary College graduate Leafi Talataina named in the Junior Wallabies squad for the Under 20 World Championships beginning in South Africa later this month.
Prioritising female rugby
Female participation in rugby offers RA its biggest opportunity for growth, with the international appetite for XVs and sevens only set to increase.
To its credit, RA has been proactive in women's sevens, offering full-time contracts with its program.
The move paid off when Australia won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
In XVs rugby, it has been slower off the mark in attempting to make up ground on heavyweights New Zealand and England.
But earlier this year it announced the introduction of 35 part-time contracts — across three tiers — for the Wallaroos, who it wants to be fully professional by 2025.
Players in RA's domestic competition, Super W, will also receive a minimum payment of $4,000 (this figure can be topped up by the five clubs).
McLennan has stated he wants the Wallaroos to win the 2029 World Cup on home soil, but to achieve this ambition there must be an investment in XVs beneath the senior level among schools.
As sevens has been the primary focus in schools, RA will need to act fast on the XVs front if it hopes to compete with rugby league for female players.
The Australian Schoolgirls 13-a-side rugby league squad is now regarded as a key pathway for the NRLW, which is expanding to 10 clubs this season.
The National Schoolgirl Cup (open-age group) was also recently introduced, mirroring the successful schoolboys competition that began in the 1970s.
The rugby codes need to consolidate their standing at the junior level as they are about to face an almighty challenge when Australia and New Zealand co-host the FIFA Women's World Cup across July and August.
With the Matildas — ranked 10th in the world — among the favourites and the tournament set to enjoy massive crowds and widespread media coverage, Football Australia is in an ideal place to attract even more juniors to its already high participation rates.
AFL continues to advance
Australian rules is a threat to rugby that is not going away, even if the AFL considers the NRL to be its main target in the eastern states.
Possessing a significant war chest — boosted by a $4.5 billion TV broadcast deal — the AFL has been aggressive with its plans to make an impact in the expansion markets of NSW and Queensland, especially in terms of schools and junior participation.
Chief executive Gillon McLachlan told the audience at the AFL's season launch in March the league wanted "footballs in every school around Australia", while also predicting the sport would soon be "on the brink of being the biggest code" in Queensland.
AFL Queensland has declared it wants Australian rules to have "the greatest presence in schools across all sports".
At the competitive level, it stages the AFL Queensland Schools Cup across several divisions for boys and girls, with its more than 600 entrants coming from the public and private systems, including traditional rugby union and league strongholds.
AFL NSW/ACT has similar competitions in place.
Just as it does with rugby league, the eight AIC schools in Queensland have been contesting an official Australian rules XVIII competition since 2019, another sign that the other football codes are encroaching on what was traditionally considered rugby territory.
Padua College and Marist Ashgrove even contest the Andrews-Cameron Cup, named in honour of former students and current Brisbane Lions heroes Harris Andrews and Charlie Cameron.
The AFL's push into rugby's heartlands — and the fact it is targeting schools — adds to the challenges RA faces in getting its house in order at the grassroots level.
And if the NRL strengthens its position of power in NSW and Queensland, rugby will fade away as a genuine challenger for talent unless it reinvigorates its junior pathways.
Efforts to peel back the private school image so the sport appeals to a wider audience — both prospective players and spectators — is one way this can be achieved.
