Nice to see some talk of a 2nd division. For those that don't know back in the mid 90's club rugby was restructured to roughly resemble Rugby League after having up to 3 divisions of grade rugby on top of subbies, Penrith (about the 17th strongest club) was promoted while stronger clubs like Hornsby, Drummoyne, Uni of NSW and even Liverpool were banished to subbies. Despite the efforts and ambitions of all those involved in these clubs and their desire to promote and foster rugby in their "geniuine" districts the NSWRU with their grand plans rationalised the comp. This was like a death sentence to these clubs and those where rugby was still developing eg Campbelltown, Blacktown etc. The idea was for Penrith and Parramatta to be THE clubs of the west looking after juniors, bringing in all the crowds and sponsors, taking the game to a whole new level in the west of Sydney. Obviously this hasn't happened. Instead we've seen Drummoyne dominate the Kentwell Cup, what should be Sydney Uni's greatest competitor Uni Of NSW languishing in 2nd division subbies having a jolly good time and the still growing districts in the south west and north west playing various grades of subbies rugby with little local profile and even less local respect. Clubs have effectively been told to do away with ambition, send your kids to one of the "powerhouses" if/when they're good enough, plug away year to year providing an institution for blokes to get pissed every weekend, enhancing the image of the whole game in the local community. "The game for private school wankers" doesn't sound very nice but for those in the greater part of Sydney this is the perception and until rugby gets serious about having local clubs playing serious rugby it's sure to remain. Bring back 2nd division!
