Repression of rugby league : Information to share and discussion.

[Coastbloke]

There are far greater issues at play in the Newcastle District competition than what day they play on.

Not wrong there. Was told there would be a revamp of the comp by a bloke who had ties to Lakes but turned out to be BS..

 

[Stallion]

Seriously? More people work on Saturdays than on Sundays. What's Monday to Friday got to do with it?

We don't play on Mondays. Work and footy don't clash on Mondays. Work and footy do clash on Saturdays. The best night of the week is subjective. What about the poor footy players who think Friday night is the best night of the week?

Not getting it right champ. Like most people I work Monday through to Fridays. Most local footballers do the same. It's a minority that still work.on weekends. If the majority are playing football on weekends and one code plays on the Saturday , it's reasonable to think that it's more socially and recovery wise acceptable to.play on Saturday . Sunday is a poor man's 2nd choice for playing football in a local sense.A rugby league player gets belted on game day. Sunday is a great and needed way to recover from Saturdays physical.contact. If you think the players recover better on a workday Monday than a free Sunday you are not looking at this realistically.

 

[Perth Red]

You have an excellently brought up point Pommy! Wishful thinking!? Being positive!? But yes I note a lack of drive and proactivenessee from within rugby-league administrations. Very frustrating at times.

With the nrl pumping an extra $15million a year into grassroots you’d hope we would see some new initiatives and growth in programs happening?

 

[Stallion]

With the nrl pumping an extra $15million a year into grassroots you’d hope we would see some new initiatives and growth in programs happening?

Certainly hope so. It's as if they(development people ) have been sitting on their hands for twenty years! Likewise some other aspects of rugby league to boot!

 

[Perth Red]

Certainly hope so. It's as if they(development people ) have been sitting on their hands for twenty years! Likewise some other aspects of rugby league to boot!

Maybe in nsw but in other parts of the country they seem to be doing great work. That’s certainly our experience in the West. When ever we get a new bit of funding I am seeing it lead to new jnr clubs starting up. The latest being a push Into the great southern region of WA with a new Albany jnr club starting up following a new development officer position being appointed for that region last year.

https://gsweekender.com.au/albany-wa-rugby-league-junior-sea-dragon/

It seem strange with all the development money nsw gets alongside all the pokie league clubs that jnr RL wouldn’t be flourishing? There must be many millions a year going into it?

 

[madunit]

Maybe in nsw but in other parts of the country they seem to be doing great work. That’s certainly our experience in the West. When ever we get a new bit of funding I am seeing it lead to new jnr clubs starting up. The latest being a push Into the great southern region of WA with a new Albany jnr club starting up following a new development officer position being appointed for that region last year.

https://gsweekender.com.au/albany-wa-rugby-league-junior-sea-dragon/

It seem strange with all the development money nsw gets alongside all the pokie league clubs that jnr RL wouldn’t be flourishing? There must be many millions a year going into it?

How much of that money filters to clubs in NSW is the bigger question. Some clubs in the Group 9 region are struggling, while Tumbarumba, a club that's had 4-5 grades for near on a century has left Group 9 because of a lack of numbers and finances and is now in some local league which is a big step down from where they were.

 

[Stallion]

How much of that money filters to clubs in NSW is the bigger question. Some clubs in the Group 9 region are struggling, while Tumbarumba, a club that's had 4-5 grades for near on a century has left Group 9 because of a lack of numbers and finances and is now in some local league which is a big step down from where they were.

Exactly . The funds have not been flowing down to the development level. It's been extremely dissappointing. Poor local administrative decisions have their role and ofcourse funding. You get that combination together, a competition goes to its knees. Mind you the local Newcastle district competition received a new surge of funding whilst aligning itself with NSW rugby league(2018) and its still on its knees. Whereas the Lower Hunter competition( formerly Newcastle Suburban 2nd division) alligned itself with the COUNTRY Rugby league and has (to my eye)a proactive administration and is flourishing. (world's largest domestic rugby league competition-2018 ).

 

[madunit]

I thought the Country Rugby League got dissolved 1-2 years ago.

 

[Stallion]

I thought the Country Rugby League got dissolved 1-2 years ago.

All the Lower Hunter sides are wearing CRL badges?

 

[madunit]

All the Lower Hunter sides are wearing CRL badges?

Yeah my bad, it still exists.

 

[Stallion]

Yeah my bad, it still exists.

Interestingly these two league's were linked some 4 or 5 years ago. Back then a split happened due to the district competition deciding to determine game days of the lower tier competitions. For instance if a District club played on a Saturday all affiliate clubs would have to play on the Sunday. This was like waving a red flag to a bull. Since then the LHRL alligned with CRL and having gone low 30s in team numbers at that testing time, it has now reached 55 teams and growing to 60 teams for next season. Meanwhile the District competition has been having issues with fielding teams (especially under19s in the inner city clubs) but has been unexpectedly bolstered by ladies leaguetag . The leaguetag was piloted by the LHRL 4 years ago and the District competition followed the LHRL lead. Newcastle was the last region/comp in NSW to take up leaguetag. It's flourishing all over the state nowadays. And ladies rugby league has been another positive spin off from leaguetag. Interesting times. There exists an agreement of understanding to get back together again over the next two years. I might add the LHRL are very wary of this "agreement " So it's a tenuous arrangement at best. One league is failing and the other is booming. Very intriguing times.

 

[Perth Red]

So where’s the money going? 2017 nrl spent $67 million on grass roots, at least 50% of that would have been in nsw.

 

[Stallion]

So where’s the money going? 2017 nrl spent $65million on grass roots, at least 50% of that would have been in nsw.

From what I've been told that rugby league is to make its mark from now on. Atm it's not the case. I've seen progress with league tag and women's rugby league but that's it in the Newcastle area.

 

[Springs09]

So where’s the money going? 2017 nrl spent $67 million on grass roots, at least 50% of that would have been in nsw.

We started a new competition last year, the only money we received was a reimbursement of refereeing costs. I'd also say that the NRL development officers (there are 2 in Griffith, for example) come under that grass roots money.

How much of that money filters to clubs in NSW is the bigger question. Some clubs in the Group 9 region are struggling, while Tumbarumba, a club that's had 4-5 grades for near on a century has left Group 9 because of a lack of numbers and finances and is now in some local league which is a big step down from where they were.

Small towns like Tumbarumba really can't afford to compete in semi-pro competitions like Group 9. The Murray Cup is where they belong. There is too much money involved in the big CRL group comps. Country clubs don't need to be paying $20-40,000 to a coach, they need local players playing for a fun time on the weekends. The 2 Griffith clubs have f**k-all support and the Griffith Waratahs won both first and reserve grade Group 20 last year and had 7 senior players turn up to their Presentation Night. People don't turn up to watch imports from NZ, Sydney and Brisbane and imports don't give a shit about the town. Local kids give the game up after U18s since they can't get a spot if not before that cause it's too much effort in the age of smartphones and netflix. People don't want to volunteer anymore, its impossible to get new referees and so on.

Money from the NRL isn't going to help that much as most of the costs are player payments, which are part of the problem. Unless we get to the point where voluntary positions such as strappers, trainers, canteen, gatekeepers, club admin, junior players/coaches etc need to be paid to actually get people to do them, then we are in trouble.

 

[madunit]

We started a new competition last year, the only money we received was a reimbursement of refereeing costs. I'd also say that the NRL development officers (there are 2 in Griffith, for example) come under that grass roots money.



Small towns like Tumbarumba really can't afford to compete in semi-pro competitions like Group 9. The Murray Cup is where they belong. There is too much money involved in the big CRL group comps. Country clubs don't need to be paying $20-40,000 to a coach, they need local players playing for a fun time on the weekends. The 2 Griffith clubs have f**k-all support and the Griffith Waratahs won both first and reserve grade Group 20 last year and had 7 senior players turn up to their Presentation Night. People don't turn up to watch imports from NZ, Sydney and Brisbane and imports don't give a shit about the town. Local kids give the game up after U18s since they can't get a spot if not before that cause it's too much effort in the age of smartphones and netflix. People don't want to volunteer anymore, its impossible to get new referees and so on.

Money from the NRL isn't going to help that much as most of the costs are player payments, which are part of the problem. Unless we get to the point where voluntary positions such as strappers, trainers, canteen, gatekeepers, club admin, junior players/coaches etc need to be paid to actually get people to do them, then we are in trouble.

Tumbarumba had the finances I have been told (yet to see evidence). They didn't have the player numbers.

Players have stopped playing RL. Group 9 requires clubs to field at least 3 grades, Firsts, Reserves and a junior (18's, 16's or 14's). They barely had enough for reserves and no hope of a juniors side.

Meanwhile, in the last 20 years, Tumbarumba has an AFL team ....

Money is an issue, but it's not the sole issue obviously. The investment the NSWRL/ARL made in Country footy steadied during the Super League war and the tap never really got turned back on again.

 

[madunit]

So where’s the money going? 2017 nrl spent $67 million on grass roots, at least 50% of that would have been in nsw.

It's a good question and it does not appear to be detailed anywhere online

 

[Stallion]

Certainly hope rugby league don't have the same people counting the crowd figures as was seen for the recent union Sydney sevens tournament! At no stage was that ground even half full! Yet the crowd for Saturday was deemed to be just under 18000? It was nowhere near this figure! Massive amounts of seats were clearly vacant on both ends from corner to corner. The tv cameras continually shot views of Fijian fans in one block of the stadium. (but could not avoid the massive shot of empty seats when panning around the ground)Absolutely no way that ground was near full capacity given the capacity is about 22000. If that's not misleading positive spin for a clearly unpopular event I don't know what is!

 

[Stavros]

Certainly hope rugby league don't have the same people counting the crowd figures as was seen for the recent union Sydney sevens tournament! At no stage was that ground even half full! Yet the crowd for Saturday was deemed to be just under 18000? It was nowhere near this figure! Massive amounts of seats were clearly vacant on both ends from corner to corner. The tv cameras continually shot views of Fijian fans on one block of the stadium. (but could not avoid the massive shot of empty seats when panning around the ground)Absolutely no way that ground was near full capacity given the capacity is about 22000. If that's not misleading positive spin for a clearly unpopular event I don't know what is!

Unpopular? It's in the Olympics..

 

[Stallion]

Unpopular? It's in the Olympics..

? Olympic status doesn't mean its popular. Other sports that dont draw consistently big crowds are in the Olympics as well! For example badminton, field hockey etc)Did you scan the stadium for occupied seats! It was clearly not the sellout as predicted and falsely described as such leading into the tournament. As for your union comment about the Olympics :" Friends in high places can do wonders for a crap sport!" You may work out one day that rugby league has not got the contacts or influence like union has in high society and government circles worldwide . This believe it or not, makes a difference. Granted poor rugby league endeavour is another reason for the lack of rugby league presence but the "friends in high places" is very significant. This may not have dawned on you but it's reality!

 

[Stavros]

? Olympic status doesn't mean its popular. Other sports that dont draw consistently big crowds are in the Olympics as well! For example badminton, field hockey etc)Did you scan the stadium for occupied seats! It was clearly not the sellout as predicted and falsely described as such leading into the tournament. As for your union comment about the Olympics :" Friends in high places can do wonders for a crap sport!" You may work out one day that rugby league has not got the contacts or influence like union has in high society and government circles worldwide . This believe it or not, makes a difference. Granted poor rugby league endeavour is another reason for the lack of rugby league presence but the "friends in high places" is very significant. This may not have dawned on you but it's reality!

Hahaha oh friends in high places is why Rugby Union is in the Olympics.
You have conspiracy theories for everything as to why Rugby League isn't popular. If it's not AFLs fault its Rugby Unions fault..
When will you wake up Stallion?