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Thread: ARU Responds to luminaries letter with stakeholders summit

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    Rookie WF2404's Avatar
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    ARU Responds to luminaries letter with stakeholders summit

    Just wondering if the Western Force fans will get any input into this summit?

    The Australian
    12:00AM October 19, 2016
    Wayne Smith

    The Australian Rugby Union has agreed to stage a summit of major stakeholders to review its strategic approach in response to a critical letter signed by dozens of the game’s luminaries.

    Ironically, the letter — intended for ARU chairman Cameron Clyne and members of his board — has not yet been formally lodged but the ARU was made aware on Monday that it was being circulated among rugby greats seeking their support.
    So far, former Wallabies coaches Bob Dwyer and Alan Jones have signed it, so too Nick Farr-Jones, Simon Poidevin, Peter Grigg, Anthony Herbert, Mark McBain, Barry Honan, John Ballesty, Peter Falk, Brett Papworth and at least two dozen other former Wallabies.

    “We would like you to consider very carefully what we have to say,” the letter states.
    “There are grave concerns with the rugby community that the continuing failure of the Australian Rugby Union to acknowledge and support the grassroots of the game will accelerate an already alarming decline in both participation and support of the game in Australia.”

    The ARU has established that Papworth, an outspoken critic of the current administration, was the author of the letter but the former Wallabies centre insisted last night that it was not his letter alone but a collaborative effort.
    “It was written by a number of us,” Papworth said. “My letter was much more aggressive than that but some calmer heads have prevailed.”

    But while the language might be more temperate and restrained, the thrust of the letter is still confronting. Papworth and ARU chief executive Bill Pulver have already traded words publicly about the ARU’s effective abandonment of club rugby but Papworth insisted that the letter was voicing concerns that went way beyond Sydney’s Shute Shield or Brisbane’s Premier Rugby.

    “It isn’t just club rugby,” Papworth said. “It’s investment at any level. I don’t care if it isn’t club rugby. It doesn’t affect us if they continue to give us nothing.
    “We will still be putting corner flags out at TG Millner (Field) or wherever. It’s about the fact that across rugby nations and against other codes, we invest nothing. And they have no long-term vision and we’re under the hammer … the game is dying and blind Freddy can see it.”

    Central to the letter is a table purportedly showing how much — or how little — the ARU spends on community rugby compared with other rugby countries, the NRL and the AFL.
    “Not only does the ARU have the lowest percentage contribution compared to other national unions and domestic codes, it also provides the lowest total contribution compared to its peers, even Scotland.

    “Our deep concern is the total imbalance between what is spent at the top of the game, both on players and administration, versus what is allocated to the grassroots. This is unsustainable and a total disgrace.”

    But Pulver told The Australian last night that the figure cited in the letter, $2.4 million out of an overall budget of $85m — a 3 per cent fraction of the ARU’s budget compared with, say, England’s 15 per cent, £32m out of £208m — was wildly inaccurate.

    “It says we spent $2.4m on club and community rugby … in fact, we spent $9.2m and that’s before the contributions of each of the state unions,” Pulver said.

    “The biggest challenge we’ve got is around Super Rugby and I promise you we are working very hard with the respective CEOs to find ways of bringing that back under control and use those incremental funds to go into the community game.
    In short, we’d be delighted to have this summit meeting, if that’s what they’re calling for.
    “Because it will be a wonderful opportunity to put the facts on to the table instead of … the entire construct of the letter is built around that figure of $2.4m and it’s nonsense. So let’s put the facts on the table,” said Pulver. “I’ll be the first person in the room.”

    Yet, whatever the rights or wrongs of the stated figure, there is no doubt that the letter has touched a raw nerve in the Australian rugby community at a time when support for the game is visibly draining away.
    At every level, rugby is struggling. The Wallabies might have placed second in the Rugby Championship, but they have lost six Tests out of nine this season.

    The ARU also must shortly make a decision on whether to cut its five Super Rugby teams back to four — with the Western Force looking especially vulnerable — as the body that runs southern hemisphere rugby, SANZAAR, recognises that Super Rugby has become unwieldy.

    And all the while, the traditional strength of the game, club rugby, is being left to fend largely for itself.

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spor...e46f5cb63a5d14

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    Champion MI5_Dog's Avatar
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    Brett Papworth, the mouth piece of the Old Boys Club and their anti Australian Rugby stance.
    The idea that rugby in Australia is failing after the latest NRC season is a crock of shite.

    When he says 'community rugby' he really means the Shute Shield.

    I think Mr Papworth is being disingenuous in his comments.
    First you can't compare Australia's sporting environment to others around the world. We have the most diverse sporting environment in the world with a lot of sports competing for the same market. The fact that NRL and AFL are also the biggest players in that market should also be noted.
    In Scotland for example (the articles example) they have very few sports competing. Soccer and Rugby being the two main winter sports. In Australia it's NRL, AFL, Soccer, Union (and if you look at kids there's also a few others such as field hockey).
    Second, the other minor sports in Australia, and lets face it, Union is a minor sport in Australia, in general don't get money from the sports governing body. They're lucky if they get a development officer.
    Union will not stop being a minor sport in Australia if the Wallabies and Super Rugby do not grab the attention of the kids. And that won't happen unless they start winning.
    Throw as much money as you like at the 'grass roots' it won't do bugger all.
    And last of all the last time the ARU threw a lot of money at NSW rugby it was 'pissed up against a wall'.

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    Legend Contributor Alison's Avatar
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    From where I sit, the NRC is surely infinitely better placed to grow the game than the Shute Shield could ever be as it's a national competition.

    As indicated above, this 'broadside' is all about keeping NSW at the centre of rugby in Aust. Am I right in saying that most of the signatories mentioned in the article are all former NSW players or products of the NSW system?

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    Proudly Western Australian; Proudly supporting Western Australian rugby

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    Veteran beige's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WF2404 View Post
    Bob Dwyer and Alan Jones have signed it
    That kind of cancels out, doesn't it?

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    Immortal Contributor jono's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by beige View Post
    That kind of cancels out, doesn't it?
    Yeah I stopped reading after I saw those names...

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    Immortal Contributor shasta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jono View Post
    Yeah I stopped reading after I saw those names...
    Maybe. I have a lot of respect for Bob Dwyer and none at all for Alan Jones. But he and Papworth are on the radio every week spouting their message and a hell of a lot of people take what they say as fact.
    Let's face it, there is a lot wrong with funding of grass roots. But I think some of those luminaries are just very dirty that their clubs don't get to run the ARU as they like these days.
    I just hope the board has their ducks in a row and can win the argument among the more reasonable luminaries. I know they don't take all Papworth's ranting as fact. More "pissing it up the wall" childishness from Pulver won't cut it.

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    Veteran beige's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by shasta View Post
    I have a lot of respect for Bob Dwyer and none at all for Alan Jones.
    That's what I was getting at - one cancels out the other.

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    Article in the SMH, Dwyer 'quote[ 'We are the heart of Australian rugby. Without Sydney premier rugby, the game in Australia would not exist, full stop.] unquote

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    Wests Scarborough 1st Grade juggernaut has played finals rugby each and every year since its inception and continues this remarkable feat yet again this season and unbelievably it's still rolling on and as an added little circle jerk for the masses Wests actually hold the record for the current longest unbroken finals record.

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    Legend Contributor brokendown gunfighter's Avatar
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    (Previously WFDS) WFDom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by westies man View Post
    Without Sydney premier rugby, the game in Australia would not exist
    And that right there ladies and gentlemen, is the problem!

    This is the only rugby country in the world where this would be said.

    Dwyer you are a fu@kin tool!

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    Great game, Fucken battled right through to the 80!

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    Veteran valzc's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by westies man View Post
    Article in the SMH, Dwyer 'quote[ 'We are the heart of Australian rugby. Without Sydney premier rugby, the game in Australia would not exist, full stop.] unquote
    Frikken eejit! Unquote

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    Immortal Contributor shasta's Avatar
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    More of the Shite Shield whinge from Simon Poidevin. Seems to confirm what I've been thinking. If, as he claims, the Shite Shield "was the best we've seen in 20 years" then give 'em a pat on the back fort a job well done and tell them to keep up the good work. Pulver could also then ask how much of that improvement could be due to the player development afforded by the NRC.

    http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/un...19-gs5wp1.html

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    Immortal GIGS20's Avatar
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    If the Shire Shield was "the best we've seen for 20 years" and they are "the greatest nursery of rugby talent in Australia" why is the current team "the worst Wallabies team ever".

    It can't be Michael Cheika's fault, he's from randwick.

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    C'mon the

  14. #14
    Immortal Contributor shasta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GIGS20 View Post

    It can't be Michael Cheika's fault, he's from randwick.
    Did anyone else see him on 360? The f@ckwit Martin asked him if it pissed him off to see his old team mate get one up on him in the England Series. Not impressed with the question at all. I thought Cheika was gonna take a bite out of his water glass.

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    Champion Tazzmania's Avatar
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    For me the most interesting aspect is that these luminaries base what they want on their experience twenty odd years ago, please wake up and smell the roses, the rugby landscape has changed drastically since then and is no longer even comparable.

    Reminds of the Rip Van Winkle tale.....

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    Simon Cron: “People talk about winning and losing all the time and they are critical, but there’s a process to get into and it’s the ability to stay present, do your job and execute skills under pressure.”

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