Elite players vital if revamp is to work, says clubs' rep
Elite players vital if revamp is to work, says clubs' rep
December 29, 2007
Any review of club rugby will only carry weight if next year's tournaments succeed in getting representative players into club games when they are not on state or national duty.
Only then, says the clubs' representative on the NSW Rugby board, Alan Williamson, can changes to a club competition, such as the Shute Shield - which will return to a 22-round home-and-away plus finals series next year - be properly assessed.
His comments come as a crucial review into grassroots rugby in the state gathers pace. Its findings will help decide the nature of club rugby from 2009.
Williamson yesterday confirmed to the Herald that in light of the Australian Rugby Championship's termination, the Sydney competition next year would reclaim its full mid-March to late-September calendar.
The clubs, Williamson said, had also requested a reassurance from NSW Rugby that players not selected in a Waratahs 22-man squad would continue to be allowed to train and play for their clubs if and when they missed selection.
NSW coach Ewen McKenzie provided it, saying: "We've had that philosophy for three years. I've always believed each level must support the level below to provide breeding grounds for the next bunch of players."
The big question, though, is whether the Wallabies will also make non-selected or fringe players available once the Super 14 ends in late May instead of cocooning them in their big 35-man squad.
The aim of having representative players appear on suburban grounds is to boost club rugby while sharpening their competitive edge with more games.
Williamson believes too many elite players in Australia have been warehoused and, as a result, have missed out on a vital rounds of week-in, week-out rugby, which has inevitably left them unprepared for must-win moments.
And in time, he said, Australia's playing stocks would be better prepared for the crunch games, such as Australia's World Cup quarter-final against England at Marseilles in October, when the Wallabies were beaten.
"We don't play enough cut-throat rugby … sudden-death," (I would think every Test you play is "sudden death"?) said Williamson, who believes the Wallabies might not have lost had they been permitted to play more than the maximum of 30 games permitted by the Rugby Union Players' Association.
"People say they were out-muscled, that they weren't brave," he said. "I don't accept that. We have as much ability as anyone. But unless we do play more, no one has a chance. We'll see in 2011 [World Cup] another Marseilles."
He says there is more benefit for players in returning to their clubs from Super 14 or the Wallabies than vital match hardness.
"It also gives them a chance to remember where they came from (...and that helps win Tests...how???) and also to see and play with some of the 2000 [other club players in NSW], who can only wish that they could reach the levels that they do," he said.
Williams, who chaired an evaluation panel into Sydney club rugby that recommended the 12-team competition that comes into effect next year, believes that having elite players return to clubland is a two-way gain.
The clubs in NSW and Queensland, Williamson said, needed their stars to help draw crowds and lure sponsorship.
No doubt the chance to see the likes of George Smith (Manly), Dan Vickerman (Sydney University), Matt Dunning (Eastwood), Adam Freier (Randwick), Kurtley Beale (Norths), Lote Tuqiri (West Harbour) or even new recruit and former Parramatta Eel Timana Tahu (West Harbour) at a club game would set turnstiles spinning.
With the future of club rugby in the air pending next year's review, all clubs know they are fighting for survival.
The ARU has already said its funding for NSW and Queensland club rugby - about $2 million - will end after next year and that the clubs in both states are "on notice" to provide a plan of viability for the future.
Another, all-encompassing review of the game will be undertaken by the ARU early next year. But it is likely that premiership rugby in NSW and Queensland will be run under a different structure.
"They [the clubs] know things are going to change," ARU deputy chief executive Matt Carroll said. "That it is not going back to the way things were."
Many clubs were cash strapped before the now axed ARC sunk under the weight of its $4.7 million loss this year. But the clubs' financial pinch worsened when their season was halved by the ARC taking over as the third tier of competition.
It has been estimated that that extra loss suffered by those Sydney clubs could amount to $1.5 million. But the return to a home-and-away season in NSW next year will still challenge a number of the 12 Sydney clubs.
Some, such as Penrith, will struggle to field the required four grade and three colts teams which will all be needed if rugby is to develop its 16-18 age group players and not lose them to AFL, rugby league or football.
"Will 22 games test them? Yes it will. But I know they have been working their butts off to be competitive," said Williamson of Penrith, who, with Southern Districts, survived a reported cull from the competition last year.
A number of proposals for a new structure of Sydney club rugby for 2009 have already been suggested. Included are proposals for 10- and eight-team competitions, one of 16 teams split into two pools, or a two-division series allowing for promotion and relegation.
But it early days. As Williamson said: "We won't know what is best until every opportunity is made to assess a full competition. For that, we need the players."
I think those last four words is what this article is all about, "we need the players".
The NSW Clubs couldn't care less about what's best for Rugby development, the Wallabies, "another Marseilles", other States or even the Waratahs.
The bottom line is they need the marquee players to keep them relevant.
So here, have a heap of words to try and justify that position...
If a National Comp is established, the ARU isn't going to sit back and watch the elite Club Comps wither, as that is the breeding ground for such a National Comp.
More exposure for the Code means more potential sponsors at the lower levels.
The power of the East Coast Clubs (and particularly the Sydney ones) really concerns me for the long term sustainability of the Code in Australia.
