Ideas for Australian Rugby Union

[brokendown]

"Best of order, please, best of orde YOU! Stay prone! Do not even look upon me with your naked eye! Now then, where was I? Oh yes. Thank you for electing me to the post of ARU CEO for the day. My name is Dismal Pillock and without further ado, I would like to formally announce my first official policy initiative for the future of Australian Rugby. It involves the incorporation of a"Grass Roots" policy to be symbiotically integrated with a "Scorched Earth" movement.

Obviously, for the thickos here, that means burning Australian Rugby to the ground.

Right down to the roots.

The grass roots.

Righto.

You lot do all the work and I'll supervise from up here.

Pillock is Good, Pillock is Great, etc, etc. Oh, one other thing, do I get a harem?

I'm afraid the ARU can only go as far as giving you the court enuch
such is life

 

[Pfitzy]

I'm afraid the ARU can only go as far as giving you the court enuch
such is life

Or jester:

 

[Aussie D]

Agree with those calling for a return to trying to get kids involved in rugby with the 'I want to be a Wallaby' campaign. I would suggest updating it though by using the song from the Lego Movie - 'Everything is awesome'. The chorus would lend itself well to an ad campaign to joining a rugby team.

 

[Pfitzy]

Couldn't afford the rights.

 

[Omar Comin']

In marketing the game the ARU should focus on rugby's points of difference.

What's different about rugby? Values/culture (particularly things like respect for officials), game for all shapes and sizes, international competition in our main domestic tournament, Olympics, women's team on the world stage, muti-faceted game structure (all the contests within a contest). Celebrate and promote all these things, educate people about the game, don't just try and market the game like every other sport does ('hard hitting action' type stuff...there is no point of difference in that).

The 'brand' of rugby has to do everything it can to end its association as being elitist and snobby, but that doesn't mean having to be like the NRL or AFL. Players being articulate and outspoken is actually a good thing for the game. Pocock's activism, whether you agree with him or not is great because there's no other sportsman like him! Same, on a completely different level, with Nic Cummins. Like Cheika has done with the Wallabies culture, the ARU should embrace all of these different characters. The more interesting characters the better. It stands out in an age of highly media trained, cliched sports people all with the same personality.

Also, I think the key focus on growing the game should be at super rugby level (and to a lesser extent the NRC) rather than through the Wallabies or simply through the grassroots. Call it a 'middle out' strategy. Super rugby could be one of the great globally popular sporting leagues - and the only one which is actually global. We need 6 huge rugby teams in Australia - with the Wallabies being just one of them. I think it's the key to competing with the other codes. The Wallabies can't be everywhere at once.

 

[Pfitzy]

don't just try and market the game like every other sport does ('hard hitting action' type stuff.there is no point of difference in that).

You need SOME of that though.

In the past we've had such utterly rubbish campaigns as "razzle dazzle" and "butterflies" and those were the kind of arty fucking shite you find in a Melburnian Hipster's Wank Bank.

It can't all just be highbrow shit. Look at Cheika - is he a snob? Is he necessarily "point of difference" compared to the average knockabout Aussie bloke in the street?

No, he's got a head like a half-dropped pie, talks like a used car salesman and walks around the joint like a Lebanese brickie. He is someone that "non-rugby" people can look at and see themselves.

The players are also taking up the challenge under his guidance.

Now we just need the officials stop acting like a bunch of pricks.

 

[Omar Comin']

'Razzle dazzle' and 'butterflies' were other examples of what I mean. They could be substituted for any sport. The sports rugby competes with all have skill or action or intensity or 'modern day warriors' or nervousness or something on the line etc.

Not saying you shouldn't include action, but that action should support a message or a story that's actually different to other sports. Doesn't have to be high brow.

 

[p.Tah]

Create a better pathway so the few girls who love the game aren't lost to it

http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/news...588474655?sv=2d5882220287f5a13a412e359568035e

 

[Dave Beat]

Now we just need the officials stop acting like a bunch of pricks.

Yep

Create a better pathway so the few girls who love the game aren't lost to it

http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/news...588474655?sv=2d5882220287f5a13a412e359568035e

Pfitzy that email I sent this morning has this problem solved as well.

 

[teach]

Kids in NZ get Small Blacks tv

http://www.smallblacks.com/small-blacks-tv/#/

Kids programme with AB guests. Skills, drills, training tips, rigged obstacle courses (so the kids always win), highlights of junior games e.g. primary school u12s.
Fun stuff like that. Not just fringe ABs either. Captain McCawsome, Dagg, the Smiths, TKB etc

 

[RugbyFuture]

Create a better pathway so the few girls who love the game aren't lost to it

http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/news...588474655?sv=2d5882220287f5a13a412e359568035e

I remember this same thing happening 10-15 years ago with Hillview rugby and a girl at my primary school called Emma. She had no choice but to give up. Not a new issue but hasn't been dealt with. District clubs need to get involved if they can look past their own politics.

 

[Pfitzy]

I remember this same thing happening 10-15 years ago with Hillview rugby and a girl at my primary school called Emma. She had no choice but to give up. Not a new issue but hasn't been dealt with. District clubs need to get involved if they can look past their own politics.

The problem there is club v school rears its head at some point.

 

[RugbyFuture]

Nah wasn't playing for my school per se, she was at Hillview rugby club which was mostly run out of marist eastwood and St kevins Primary.

 

[Kenny Powers]

You need SOME of that though.

In the past we've had such utterly rubbish campaigns as "razzle dazzle" and "butterflies" and those were the kind of arty fucking shite you find in a Melburnian Hipster's Wank Bank.

Should use the Wallabies newest fan Chuck Norris done right could be very funny and get plenty of free viral marketing.

Also he could be useful in countering the harka needs to teach the players his staring technique

 

[Pfitzy]

Nah wasn't playing for my school per se, she was at Hillview rugby club which was mostly run out of marist eastwood and St kevins Primary.

Missed my point - "District clubs need to get involved". Sure, but when it comes between a kid choosing between his school and club (it doesn't always happen, but it can) the club isn't going to be a pathway like schools are.

Schoolboy rugby provides the quickest way to national age selection, does it not? And kids making state/national squads are going to be top of the tree when it comes to contracts more often than not.

 

[Lindommer]

The single biggest acton the ARU could take is to make the elite pathway for talented young players via the district route rather than the schoolboys one. Please correct me but by my reckoning rugby's the only sport where schools excellence is more important than district juniors.

Yes, I agree a huge change in Oz rugby philosophy, but if we're going to match those black bastards these sort of actions must be considered.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

The single biggest acton the ARU could take is to make the elite pathway for talented young players via the district route rather than the schoolboys one. Please correct me but by my reckoning rugby's the only sport where schools excellence is more important than district juniors.

Yes, I agree a huge change in Oz rugby philosophy, but if we're going to match those black bastards these sort of actions must be considered.

Except to my understanding the school model applies and obviously works in NZ: so its not the school model per se that is broken.
The real problem is getting rugby into the school system with the most students in it - the public system.

 

[Braveheart81]

I don't see how you can turn one of the main two pathways available into a dead end.

Schoolboy rugby will always be a thing in Australia and will always attract a substantial proportion of the best junior players. Deciding that those players no longer are eligible to achieve higher honours would be a terrible mistake.

The ARU needs to make sure pathways to the professional game exist with whatever options junior players take.

Deciding that only players playing club rugby will be selected for higher honours will just lower the pool of talent to select from.

 

[Dave Beat]

Except to my understanding the school model applies and obviously works in NZ: so its not the school model per se that is broken.
The real problem is getting rugby into the school system with the most students in it - the public system.

True, and to my understanding it is only school boy rugby in NZ, club doesnt apply until you leave school.

Rugby is a culture over there, it isn't over here.

 

[rugbyskier]

The single biggest acton the ARU could take is to make the elite pathway for talented young players via the district route rather than the schoolboys one. Please correct me but by my reckoning rugby's the only sport where schools excellence is more important than district juniors.

Interestingly David Campese came into the Wallabies through the district route rather than schoolboys. Queanbeyan High did not have a rugby team and Campo played rugby league for the school. He played grade rugby for the Queanbeyan Whites and it was through that avenue that he came to be selected for the Wallabies a year or two after he finished school.