@NTA
"Which appeals to the dim old farts who mutter into their beer ..."
Do you have any time for “good rugby men” who work endlessly to organise their clubs; allocate jobs to office holders and rouseabouts; collect registration fees and insurance dues from players who avoid paying because they're always broke; arrange jerseys and food and water and sideline medicos and referees; take the field unfit when the thirds are short because the tight head slept in; go to work to babysit keen youngsters and bludgers with rights; look after their young family; commence a season colliding with an extraordinary external crisis and suddenly get crook and hospitalised with a dicky heart when they really don't have time for that; who then must find their way back to health while planning a solution for long term club survival?
Or is that a phenomenon which simply did not occur before the turn of the century?
"the right school" - life at Summer Heights High at the hands of that horrid Chris Lilley must have been quite awful. I trust you lose that chip on your shoulder before the time comes when you are summarily dismissed as "dim" and "old" and irrelevant, you'll have your time cut out controlling your temper on that alone.
I do recall our lot discussing schools when we were young fathers. We must have had the time to do that last century because putting 120 or 140 young fellas on the paddock each weekend just happened without us having to make any effort at all. I read that on the Fern somewhere.
It mostly involved a well lubricated spirited argument between us Irish Catholics whether our sons were better off going to the Marist Brothers at Joeys, De La Salle Brothers at Oakhill or the Christian Brothers at Riverview. Yes, evil Christians all – the horror. The other half of the school families were long term local Lebanese and they couldn’t believe how us madmen could argue that issue year after year. They led such generous families, who were proud to lay claim to rugby in large part because of Nick Shehadie.
Always someone would try to drag John Cootes into the brawl, because he knew a bit about that sort of thing, but he’d just sit and smile and sneak another durry off me while his wife wasn’t watching. Neither Cootes nor Ballesty nor Mathers complained about the demands of the further work they had to do for the game in retirement.
Brett Papworth? A brace of knowledgeable business savvy members say you are wrong squared but this is the internet so no-one will know that.
His fellow board members include Ian Williams (a Qantas Winning Wallaby) who was next after Campese to head overseas for a handsome fee, in Japan. We were not happy. He re-emerged years later as the forward scout for the first of the big law practices entering Japan – made a fortune as senior partner. He’s an old fuddy duddy in his mid-50s now, fluent in their language, with a reputation for excellence in the serious end of the law business. His standing with Japanese fans is so good that the organisers insisted he return to feature in their World Cup promotional campaigns. He is quite lucid, doesn’t “mutter”. What would Williams and Papworth know?
The Club owns its own ground in an Eastwood-Epping back street, surrounded by houses – TG Milner Field - training grounds, a lawn bowling club and a swathe of off street parking. Milner houses a fabulous club which fed and watered us during our best years – all afternoon a la carte lunches ending at kick out o'clock. Then along came FBT, RBT and the pokies and complaints from the surrounding houses. That was followed by fundamental demographic change, sudden and rapid. The area changed from what the real estate agents used refer to as “Vatican circle” (surrounding a leading parish church and school) to a Korean enclave and then Chinese.
Eastwood’s junior clubs halved in less than 20 years. Brett’s junior club, for which he has toiled throughout his adult life, died in 2017, as did ours. Matt Burke’s St Gerard Majella has gone. There are now seven junior clubs from Ryde to Dural, 30 odd kilometres – we had a dozen all but in sight of each other! Eastwood Rugby must relocate 30 kilometres north west to the epicentre of a rugby friendly population. They will sell Milner for $30 million odd to finance that, it is taking time because they take that responsibility seriously. How would you manage all those things differently?
Your remarks about his financial mis-management are disingenuous, mere embroidery, without anything of substance to support them. Easy innit?
Let me know of your experience in dealing with paradigm shift in a community sporting environment. What has Papworth’s Board done so badly, that you would not have done?
On Kearns – I made no comment on that.
I will note he had his Arts-Economics degree before his first Wallaby jersey. In that he is disciplined like Snaky Smith, Brendan Cannon, Farr-Jones, Brett Robinson, Doug Howlett, Ewen Mackenzie, Marty Roebuck and Jannie du Plessis. He has operated successfully in the finance industry since rugby retirement; been financially successful in his private investment activities; and a community fun run he initiated 20 years ago has raised $30 million for medical equipment in childrens hospitals. Kearns came up with that idea while he was waiting in outpatients with his son and spotted a need. He makes no comment about that in rugby media presumably because they are not a profitable target.
He plays a role in television commentary which meets broadcast objectives perfectly well, amusing himself at the vitriol from the easily fooled. Greg Martin is the same - he has been on a ratings winning breakfast radio crew in Brisbane for years and knows what works.
In what characteristic does Phil Kearns not meet your standards?
He’d be mad to take the role I say, it is a poisoned chalice. Australian rugby’s next victim will be Dave Rennie, then they will go after the new ARU CEO.
