Waratah Shield/Cup 2015

[Hugh Jarse]

Waratah Shield - More forfeits than games. Not good. Wake up ARU, NSW RU, ACT RU and all their associates.

There is a problem. It needs fixing, and soon.

 

[Informed]

Wow - the day I see Marist forfeiting 2 let alone 1 rugby matches (and the waratah shield to boot) , man whats happening in ACT rugby - Ihad read about the perils but didnt realise it was this bad.

Difficult year for Marist college rugby with 60 odd players down from normal and struggling to field 3 senior sides. AFL and League take it's toll on a school that does not make it compulsory to play sport if league is chosen.
Certainly a year to rebuild with good junior sides coming through.

 

[Runner]

How manty school in the ACT competition in which Marist play? Would joining one of the other associations help?

 

[Informed]

How manty school in the ACT competition in which Marist play? Would joining one of the other associations help?

Club and schools play in a combined competition. I'm told joining another association has been previously discussed many times but nothing has eventuated. IMO it (the ACT comp) rivals the ISA competition (in terms of standard) with St Edmunds capable of footing it with the stronger sides. Unfortunately this year Marist just not there. Only one player picked in ACT schools train on squad of 30 odd. Normally Marist would have a handful in the final schools side.

 

[Keiran]

Difficult year for Marist college rugby with 60 odd players down from normal and struggling to field 3 senior sides. AFL and League take it's toll on a school that does not make it compulsory to play sport if league is chosen.
Certainly a year to rebuild with good junior sides coming through.

Rebuilding at Marist with good junior sides coming through? They only have one under 16 side so the rebuilding is going to take several years. Marist haven't really been close to the side they were in many years. It's now SEC and daylight second. Removing the rule where kids at SEC and Marist cannot play rugby for their chosen club would benefit the competition. I see so many kids who once they go to Marist leaving rugby and taking up other sports and are lost to the code.

 

[Quick Hands]

Waratah Shield - More forfeits than games. Not good. Wake up ARU, NSW RU, ACT RU and all their associates.

There is a problem. It needs fixing, and soon.

Alas, I think the problem went past fixable stage 10-15 years ago. All that is left is a salvage operation and then a long, long rebuild.

 

[exISA]

10 - 15 years ago? Man makes me sound old!

wow - really sounds dire straights if only one team in *any* age group at Marist. back in my time there I think we went down to 4th sometimes 5th 15s - sad state of affairs really . At least at my old ISA school, they had an excuse when they stopped having boarders in the school. Marist can't rest on such an excuse . What is the problem? Why are playing numbers down so much ?

 

[Quick Hands]

^^^^Although I was talking about the Waratah Shield in general rather than the situation at Marist (of which I have little knowledge other than what has been posted here)

 

[angrydog]

Marist 1st XV forfeiting! What a disgrace. Who ever is in charge there needs to be sacked. A once proud winner of several Waratah Shields reduced to this embarrassing level, I feel sorry for the boys who must be devastated. I don't know what exactly is going on down there but this seems incredible, how could standards fall so low? One u16 team? This is total bullshit and someone or some group of people there have undone decades of good work that went into building Marist Rugby into the force it was in the early and mid 90's. RIP Marist rugby.

 

[Pfitzy]

Maybe they're doing things like, I dunno, school? After all, funding and enrolments are based on academic results, not rugby trophies

 

[angrydog]

Maybe they're doing things like, I dunno, school? After all, funding and enrolments are based on academic results, not rugby trophies

Pfitzy, I'm not sure if your realised you were on a rugby forum or not, but you are. I have no concerns about their academic performance, that has never been too much of an issue. If I was paying my 10k or so a year to send my kids there and they got picked in the 1st XV I would want to be sure that the school, and specifically the rugby club were doing their best to ensure that when fixtures are scheduled, particularly against quality Sydney opposition that the 1st XV could not only manage to get out there and play but be very competitive also. From a school that has previously won this tournament several times, is that unrealistic? On the face of it things are not travelling well down there. Are you involved, can you offer some insight as to why the 1st XV are forfeiting?

 

[Pfitzy]

Nup. Never played rugby at school; I went to a public school where league (which i also didn't play) was the only game (I think we once played a U16 XV against Inverell and none of guys understood what was happening).

Haven't got the foggiest why this forfeit happened, but I'm quite sure the other parents (or at least, those who could give a shit) are correspondingly livid.

However, I was more addressing your point about the decline over years I.e. school had other priorities and maybe just didn't have the motivation to continue an extensive rugby program. The reasons can be many I suppose: changing demographics, loss of key volunteers, changing academic priorities etc

My suggestion is, if you're so upset, you offer to help out.

And with that, Pfitzy realised he never should have touched these school threads, and promised never to do so again.

 

[angrydog]

Nup. Never played rugby at school; I went to a public school where league (which i also didn't play) was the only game (I think we once played a U16 XV against Inverell and none of guys understood what was happening).

Haven't got the foggiest why this forfeit happened, but I'm quite sure the other parents (or at least, those who could give a shit) are correspondingly livid.

However, I was more addressing your point about the decline over years I.e. school had other priorities and maybe just didn't have the motivation to continue an extensive rugby program. The reasons can be many I suppose: changing demographics, loss of key volunteers, changing academic priorities etc

My suggestion is, if you're so upset, you offer to help out.

And with that, Pfitzy realised he never should have touched these school threads, and promised never to do so again.

I've done my share of helping out years ago, that's what make me so annoyed. Thanks for your limited input pfitzy.

 

[Quick Hands]

As soon as a school makes Saturday sport voluntary, the numbers will drop away signficiantly. I suspect the situation at Marist is a reflection of that single decision. Same thing happened at Chevalier a few years back IIRC.

 

[exISA]

No - reason why Chev's quality dropped off was a direct correlation to when they ceased boarding. The last year they had boarders - co-incidently , I believe they actually won the ISA Div 1 comp . Fittingly, it was actually the year 7 group that was around when I was in year 12.

My first year of boarding at Chev (yr 10) there was around 200+ boarders (years before that numbered more) and it was compulsory to play *a* sport within the school or be involved in an extra curricular activity - as a result most of us chose Rugby. The year before I started I think they had solid 4 XV's with the odd 5th XV suiting up . By my last year we had 3 XV's and scrapped together a 4th XV I think for two games. The next year after I left, they had only two teams and 120 boarders.

From my insiders I still know there (teachers who are still around from my time) say that last year they were able to scrape together a 2nd XV for some matches which is a positive sign .

Regarding academic priorties - I dont think thats a valid reason as academic priorities *should* be the focus . That doesnt mean that a school such as Marist that is steeped in Rugby tradition should have such a massive decline. Daramalan can attribute them moving to Co-education throughout the whole school , thus cutting off the number of boys in the school from previous (my vintage was around the time Aaron Hardcastle/Caputo et al were running around which was their strongest years . )

 

[Quick Hands]

No - reason why Chev's quality dropped off was a direct correlation to when they ceased boarding. The last year they had boarders - co-incidently , I believe they actually won the ISA Div 1 comp . Fittingly, it was actually the year 7 group that was around when I was in year 12.

My first year of boarding at Chev (yr 10) there was around 200+ boarders (years before that numbered more) and it was compulsory to play *a* sport within the school or be involved in an extra curricular activity - as a result most of us chose Rugby. The year before I started I think they had solid 4 XV's with the odd 5th XV suiting up . By my last year we had 3 XV's and scrapped together a 4th XV I think for two games. The next year after I left, they had only two teams and 120 boarders.

From my insiders I still know there (teachers who are still around from my time) say that last year they were able to scrape together a 2nd XV for some matches which is a positive sign .

Regarding academic priorties - I dont think thats a valid reason as academic priorities *should* be the focus . That doesnt mean that a school such as Marist that is steeped in Rugby tradition should have such a massive decline. Daramalan can attribute them moving to Co-education throughout the whole school , thus cutting off the number of boys in the school from previous (my vintage was around the time Aaron Hardcastle/Caputo et al were running around which was their strongest years . )

Which I understand is no longer the case.

Note that Daramalan were beaten by more than 50 points in their last Waratah Shield match and they also forfeited their match against St Augustine's in 2014.

 

[exISA]

Which I understand is no longer the case.

Note that Daramalan were beaten by more than 50 points in their last Waratah Shield match and they also forfeited their match against St Augustine's in 2014.

Yep I know . Ive seen their results over the last few years.

 

[Runner]

Hills Sports High Vs Oakhill in the Waratah Shield Tuesday 1pm at Hills

Any score available or was their another forfeit?

 

[torps77]

Any score available or was their another forfeit?

Hills 26 defeated Oakhill 22

 

[Deerhunter007]

I gather Oakhill played their second or third XV?? Resting their stars for a big weekend Im guessing??