The Official Shield Thread.

[Omar Comin']

Think that's fair enough. The shield should only be contested in the regular season. Finals are separate and have enough on the line as it is. It's the same for the Ranfurly Shield.

 

[TOCC]

Can you explain this more? I can't get my head around it. How it would look on a shield? Each team listed down then X axis and years across the Y and then just a little notch gets made when they defend it?

Don't worry Hans. I'm not waiting for forum consensus. Have informed the ARU of our plans and they are having a chat about it. I've told them we are launching our campaign come the end of the week.

Here's an example using the Ranfurly Shield:
TEAM - Year Won - Year Lost - Defends

Just on that, NZRU includes all 'defences' including defences which are lost.. That's probably a better way of doing it as it acknowledges the team which defeated the existing holder.


I'm just not a fan of the team holding it at the end of the season gets engraved, it takes away from challenges earlier in the season and I think the importance of the trophy could be overshadowed as the trophy winner could all come down to the last round before the finals... I feel that's what the finals are for.

Rather having it up for challenge every home match is what makes the Ranfurly Shield so exciting.

 

[RugbyReg]

Thanks mate. Now go charge your phone.

 

[kiap]

Might have to get cracking and make some executive decisions without waiting for universal agreement and endorsement from the Gaggerland proletariat for every little detail.

Correct. Has RugbyReg stepped up to the organising plate, erm ... shield? If so, good. But things need to move quickly as the season kicks off in 8-and-a-bit weeks.

Having said that, and as part of the Gaggerland proletariat, I think winning the challenge trophy is bigger than defending it. Why? Because the Challengers need to beat the owners on their own patch. Defenders get the crowd and the homer refs. This "end of the year" engraving palaver is a nonsense. Someone needs to step in and knock it on the head.

1. There's already an annual trophy for the NRC - the rotary phone one.​

2. Why bother with a challenge trophy if you can win it and not even get recognised on the shield?​

Does anyone remember the umpteen defences of Americas' Cup by the NYYC? It's nice for them and all, but the real news is when the challenger wins it.​

3. If people really want a minor plate at the end of the year then call it the minor premiership. It can be a minor snoozefest for everyone. zzzzzzzzz​

4. On the evidence of the Ranfurly Shield, winning the thing is actually a rarer occurance than merely holding it at the end of the year.​

Their average title defence is just shy of 8 games. Near enough to two seasons of NRC.​

5. It's not as if the defenders would be denied something because their name will already be on there.​

 

[RugbyFuture]

in terms of design for scoey, maybe just finding the biggest and moveable burl slab you can get thats shaped generally shield shaped but has natural edges, then we can carve out a little bit of gripping on the side and put a chunk of silver or glass on it for display of champions and that would be easy for everyone right? We just need to find out how much this all costs.

Otherwise revert to one of my original ideas from earlier in the thread...?

Or even better I can have my rugby mad aunty make a recycled glass plate out of old beer bottles I'm sure.

edit: like this

 

[TOCC]

Yep Kiap, I think thats why the NZRU include all defences regardless of whether you win them or not... That way, if a team successfully challenges for the Ranfurly Shield one week and then lose a defence the next week they still get their name on the shield, it would just read along the lines of:

Waikato 2013 - 2014 5
Otago 2014 - 2014 1


In the above scenario, Waikato lost a defence to Otago, but then the next week Otago lost their only defence.... Thus the '1'

 

[kiap]

Also confirming Melbourne should be the current holders as minor premiers, not Brisbane City.

Yeah, I reckon that's fair enough.

Not so much for being minor premiers, but because they were undefeated in the regular season and thus would have likely collected it along the way.

And at any rate, their first home game is scheduled to be against Brisbane in round 2. So the first defence would be a good match up.

 

[Omar Comin']

Okay, I'm convinced by Kiap's argument.

What do the engravings say on the Ranfurly Shield? I can't see a good close up of it. Whatever they say they're all on the outside of it and the engravings are pretty small. I think the central part of any shield should have some visual design. I don't think you want it to just be a big piece of wood with a title and (eventually) a lot of team names and dates on glass...

 

[kiap]

It looks like they have the year (or years) with the team name underneath, 3 entries per shield medallion. e.g.

1930
Wellington

1931 - 1933
Canterbury

1934
Hawke's Bay
Auckland
​

(I believe they actually replaced all those little shields a few years ago to make more room after a hundred plus years) - Click to zoom

 

[Hugh Jarse]

I'm with Kiap regarding adopting a close copy of the Ranfurly Shield competition rules.

If you beat the holder on their patch, you are the king and get to own the Shield until someone does likewise to you. You get to have that victory recognised on the shield. If you have it at the end of the year, it is yours until the next home game the following season when it is on the line again.

In terms of the design, robustness and simplicity must be key considerations. It is a rugby trophy, and will get dropped, knocked around, have gatorade and other substances spilled on it. It needs to be easily transportable and can not be fragile in any way, shape, or form.

 

[Pfitzy]

Engrave your own little shield, have it installed. That's your pride of place. Next bloke gets to do the same.

No engraving directly on the thing, obviously.

 

[RugbyReg]

Am getting a kiwi rugby journo contact of mine to sus out what's on the RS.

Here's a little story that suggests it's all winners.

http://www.odt.co.nz/sport/rugby/235059/rugby-ranfurly-shield-gets-makeover

 

[RugbyReg]

So in summary:

1) Shield it is, going to the winner of every challenge.
2) A challenge is any home match played by the current holder.
3) The winner of a challenge gets recorded on the shield, via a plaque.
4) Melbourne inaugural holders as entitled by their undefeated 2014 season.

We really need to nail a design. I love the look of a good piece of burley if it can be fashioned into something like a trophy. Will look better than these el cheapos in here (http://www.ozsportstrophies.com.au/uploads/trophies/perpetuals.pdf).

I will follow up a trophy mate and give him a brief. He can be unreliable sometimes though.

 

[kiap]

Engrave your own little shield, have it installed. That's your pride of place. Next bloke gets to do the same.

No engraving directly on the thing, obviously.

Yep. Either engrave your own or have it sent to a designated engraver/s on the way through as it goes to the next holder.

 

[Wilson]

So in summary:

1) Shield it is, going to the winner of every challenge.
2) A challenge is any home match played by the current holder.
3) The winner of a challenge gets recorded on the shield, via a plaque.
4) Melbourne inaugural holders as entitled by their undefeated 2014 season.

We really need to nail a design. I love the look of a good piece of burley if it can be fashioned into something like a trophy. Will look better than these el cheapos in here (http://www.ozsportstrophies.com.au/uploads/trophies/perpetuals.pdf).

I will follow up a trophy mate and give him a brief. He can be unreliable sometimes though.

No challenges during finals, at least I think that's the way the ranfurly shield works.

 

[qwerty51]

No challenges during finals, at least I think that's the way the ranfurly shield works.

Which is why the Spirit aren't the holders

 

[RugbyFuture]

So in summary:

1) Shield it is, going to the winner of every challenge.
2) A challenge is any home match played by the current holder.
3) The winner of a challenge gets recorded on the shield, via a plaque.
4) Melbourne inaugural holders as entitled by their undefeated 2014 season.

We really need to nail a design. I love the look of a good piece of burley if it can be fashioned into something like a trophy. Will look better than these el cheapos in here (http://www.ozsportstrophies.com.au/uploads/trophies/perpetuals.pdf).

I will follow up a trophy mate and give him a brief. He can be unreliable sometimes though.

I reckon keep some of the rough edges on the burl if we can. get the shape in but keep it a bit rustic.

 

[Omar Comin']

so I have a new design idea.

What about a cup based on the classic rugby huddle. Where the men on their knees are in a huddle on a wooden base holding up a wooden bowl or cup. So the cups neck is made up of a team of anonymous rugby guys huddling together.

I think it would embody the spirit of rugby.

You could have an image like this on the centre of a shield too.

 

[rugbysmartarse]

You could have an image like this on the centre of a shield too.

that's a very good idea. RF - are you able to do some vector magic and turn the image into a logo of huddled players? We can have that logo engraved on the silver with the name of the shield (Spirit of Rugby Shield).

 

[Scoey]

in terms of design for scoey, maybe just finding the biggest and moveable burl slab you can get thats shaped generally shield shaped but has natural edges, then we can carve out a little bit of gripping on the side and put a chunk of silver or glass on it for display of champions and that would be easy for everyone right? We just need to find out how much this all costs.

Otherwise revert to one of my original ideas from earlier in the thread.?

Or even better I can have my rugby mad aunty make a recycled glass plate out of old beer bottles I'm sure.

No problems. I haven't heard back from my old man yet so I will chase him up.

For the reasons others have mentioned, I would steer clear of glass too.