Aussie Community Rugby
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thats awesome work @NTA
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I'm mostly peripheral to this
The guy driving it is from one of the Colleges involved and really open to helping the schools work with Junior clubs and clubs like ours to help keep people in the game.No surprise as he teaches at Redfield College, and played until recently for Redfield Old Boys, with whom Renegades enjoiy a fierce local rivalry...
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Premier Rugby here in Sydney is a bit of a multi-tiered calamity, with 4 Grades and 3 Colts (U20) sides per club.... in theory.
In practice it isn't that. Clubs like Western Sydney Two Blues (formerly Parramatta Two Blues) are importing most of their First Grade squad this year it would seem. A shitload of them are Kiwis who are new to Sydney and/or Australia.
Club/provincial names taken from the WSTB Instagram account - there are other clubs listed against their profiles and I have not verified any of these:
Darius Mafileo (Manwatu)
Cody Nordstrom (Waikato)
Mio Fuimaono (Te Awamutu)
Simione Ofa (BOP, Counties, Mako)
Nic Snyman (Counties 7s)
Latrell Smiler-Ah Kiong (Te Awamutu, King Country)
Liam Udy-Johns (Hawkes Bay / Southland)
Meli Sifa (Naki)
Cruise Dunster (King Country/NZ Maori)
Joseph Nansen (Papatoetoe)
Donald Brighouse (NZ U20, Otago/Naki, Moana??) -
Meanwhile here in Subbies land, it promises to be an interesting year. Our Committee determined the best way forward was to charge fees using the registration app (RugbyXplorer) which is going to give a few players food for thought.
The Union decided to take it to a vote at the AGM, and it passed. So now everyone is setting up their RugbyXplorer accounts appropriately.
Some clubs don't want it and will probably set up as $0, which is fine.
Given a few of our players have gotten away with zero/partial fee payments during their time at the club, I think there will be a bit of outcry. We only charge $150 FFS. That's basically $10 a week to cover your shorts, socks, physio, and post-match beers & feed for home games. It is a fucking bargain in anyone's language.
Hopefully it reduces the amount of blow-ins, and therefore the kit we're handing out (charging separately for shorts and socks is an admin hassle we don't need). It might hurt us short-term, but at least we can cover some of the costs we're incurring by running these guys out.
I'm sick of the "we're taking a risk of losing work by playing if we get injured" attitude. Well mate, $150 isn't going to make a significant different if you get injured then, is it?
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@NTA previously they paid (were supposed to paid) directly to the club? yeah, our registration and fees are tied, cant register without paying...cant be added to a team sheet without registering....always makes the first round interesting when it "clicks" for people on sat morning
we've had a change two, 9th team added to the Dewar shield (Kiwi Hawthorn) played before but had dropped down to the premiership for a decade maybe
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@Kiwiwomble said in Aussie Community Rugby:
@NTA previously they paid (were supposed to paid) directly to the club? yeah, our registration and fees are tied, cant register without paying...cant be added to a team sheet without registering....always makes the first round interesting when it "clicks" for people on sat morning
Correct. We could take cash, card, bank transfer.... I even set it up on our fucking Square site despite the ripoff fees.
Speaking of which: 2% on rego payments is a rort. Rugby Australia needs to sort that shit out.
I posted this in our player chat:
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Bro it's Brissy prem grade, they probably get jerked off after the game
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@Bovidae said in Aussie Community Rugby:
As was mentioned in the Exodus thread Travis Church is one of the coaches so has brought over some Te Awamutu Sports players (e.g. Nordstrom, Smiler-Ah Kiong) and others with NZ connections. Quite a few it seems.
Aha. I consider myself informed.
I shudder to think of the money WSTB are spending to try and get First Grade into the finals - not just player fees, but also accommodation etc. They've been running on fumes and big donations the last few years, financially speaking, and their lower grades* and Colts** are getting pumped every week. Last year they won some impressive games playing hard and skilful Pasifika tyle rugby but just weren't fit enough to go against the big boys.
This year maybe it will help them go further in First XV, but I hear a lot of the guys who were shifted down to Seconds got the shits with the imports being valued over club loyalty.
*I think 2nd and 3rd XV won 3 matches between then out of 18 rounds last year. They don't field 4th Grade
**Colts might have had 2 wins in First XV and a draw in 2nd XV. They don't field Colts 3. -
@mariner4life said in Aussie Community Rugby:
Bro it's Brissy prem grade, they probably get jerked off after the game
QPR and QRU are certainly getting a handy out of it - this is one club not mentioned in the list above:
Insurance $57.08
Injury Fund $36.92
QRU $55.00
QPR $33.00That's $182 then the club fees are something like $270 on top.
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the levies going up from even juniors is disgusting.
especially for the effort the QRU put in to community rugby
but hey, the Reds have good players. And i am sure the corporate box at Suncorp is amazing.
And the game wonders why everyone plays league
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A bloke at work is coaching Colts at West Harbour Pirates. They've been Pasifika heavy (like WSTB) in the last couple of decades, and one of the bottom-ranked teams because they can't compete with the East. Their Colts approach has changed with the arrival of a Kiwi bloke this year.
Side note: I had a call with this Kiwi chap to discuss Colts strategies, and he said he doesn't really understand why the Premier comp is 4 Grades + 3 Colts, when back home it is basically As, Bs, 21s and 19s.
Anyway they're bringing in some kids from Country Unions to try and bolster their numbers at West Harbour, and the guy at work said it is making a few of the "established" kids work a fuckload harder.
See these Country kids are coming in from family businesses (farms, industry, etc) to give rugby a crack, and they know they have to give it everything if they want an opportunity at the big time, and simultaneously leaving their family a man short. They didn't have this option before, so they're busting arse.
All the city kids are realising that "just turn up" isn't going to cut it any more if they want to play Grade. Pirates have gone from barely having enough for 3 Colts sides, to training numbers consistently north of 70.
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@NTA said in Aussie Community Rugby:
Premier Rugby here in Sydney is a bit of a multi-tiered calamity, with 4 Grades and 3 Colts (U20) sides per club.... in theory.
In practice it isn't that. Clubs like Western Sydney Two Blues (formerly Parramatta Two Blues) are importing most of their First Grade squad this year it would seem. A shitload of them are Kiwis who are new to Sydney and/or Australia.
Club/provincial names taken from the WSTB Instagram account - there are other clubs listed against their profiles and I have not verified any of these:
Darius Mafileo (Manwatu)
Cody Nordstrom (Waikato)
Mio Fuimaono (Te Awamutu)
Simione Ofa (BOP, Counties, Mako)
Nic Snyman (Counties 7s)
Latrell Smiler-Ah Kiong (Te Awamutu, King Country)
Liam Udy-Johns (Hawkes Bay / Southland)
Meli Sifa (Naki)
Cruise Dunster (King Country/NZ Maori)
Joseph Nansen (Papatoetoe)
Donald Brighouse (NZ U20, Otago/Naki, Moana??)Have read that something like five Southland premier players are following Lachie Albert to Easts.
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@WoodysRFC said in Aussie Community Rugby:
Have read that something like five Southland premier players are following Lachie Albert to Easts.
Jeez they were already pretty strong...
I know there has been a bit of attrition for guys heading to MLR across the clubs, and that several won't have a 4th Grade - and nor should they because that is bullshit.
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Meanwhile at my club, training numbers look healthy for this time of year, with about 40 through the doors in total and close to 30 at each training session. However I don't think I'm going to get there with U21 this year which is a shame as it would help no end to move up a division and get a better quality of opposition.
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@NTA good to hear numbers are looking healthy, make a huge difference, colts are interesting for us too, the director of rugby keeps talking about a colts team but i dont see the players for one
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@Kiwiwomble said in Aussie Community Rugby:
@NTA good to hear numbers are looking healthy, make a huge difference, colts are interesting for us too, the director of rugby keeps talking about a colts team but i dont see the players for one
I know of lower division Subbies clubs here in Sydney where they have enough players for 2 Colts sides. Word of mouth creates feast or famine.
It is U21 for us (not U20) which is a little easier in some ways. At least the 6-8 or so guys I have are all 18-19 so maybe next year?
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@NTA said in Aussie Community Rugby:
Meanwhile here in Subbies land, it promises to be an interesting year. Our Committee determined the best way forward was to charge fees using the registration app (RugbyXplorer) which is going to give a few players food for thought.
Update on this: wildly successful.
Got just over 40 registered - most of whom paid on application* - and 25+ training through the last month, which is basically unheard of.
Lot of new faces at the club this year and TBH less Islander boys than we've had in a very long time. A few went back to a club that is restarting out at Penrith this year, and we wish them the best of luck. 30-40 minutes driving home from training nights in winter can't have been much fun!
Ideally we get to about 50-55 registered which will help cover injuries and other commitments.
*Put a few guys on a payment plan as they're students or just started new jobs.
