SRU's return sparks hope Sydney will maraud again

Amid all the doom and gloom about the Wallabies comes encouraging news at the grassroots level.

Admittedly the Wallabies are the showpiece of Australian rugby. But the engine room of the game is the Sydney premiership competition, which produces the bulk of Australia's representative players. And for some time that footy factory had degenerated into a hornets' nest, with Sydney premiership clubs bickering with the NSW Rugby Union over the direction of district football.

Hopefully the dissent will cease after the NSWRU this week showed initiative in approving the reaffiliation of the Sydney Rugby Union, allowing it to take over the running of the Shute Shield, grade and colts competitions from next year.

The destiny of the Sydney club competitions is back in the hands of the participants, and that hopefully will have the desired effect of improving harmony, ensuring the Australian Rugby Union funding to the clubs, about $1.3 million per season, is used far more wisely, while providing some zing to the Shute Shield.

Those involved in the interim SRU board, which includes three Sydney club presidents, are saying the right things. They want to improve the exposure of club football, increase sponsorship, have a better relationship with the Brisbane club scene, as well as investigate the viability of an end-of-season Australian club knockout competition.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/un...0704-zvvx.html