NSW AAGPS 2019

[RuggerFan1]

and they have won the "triple crown" 1st, 2nd and 3rd's premiership in the same year twice. 1919, 1920

Hopefully the next principal they get is a footy head!

 

[RuggerFan1]

The decision for them to get dropped to 3rd grade is detrimental i think. For SHS it was probably the right thing but from Grammar they need to playing top tier opposition, so they can keep up.

 

[Black & White]

and they have won the "triple crown" 1st, 2nd and 3rd's premiership in the same year twice. 1919, 1920

Hello RuggerFan


Yes, but it would require certain fundamental changes.

First, like most changes it would it would need to start at the top of the school.With a pro Rugby leadership group taking charge in the school. A Dr Latham type person would be needed. As an established academic he would convey that Rugby, academic success and a university education go hand in hand. That Rugby is a top of the town game, where Professionals rub shoulders with each other and have a common and shared background of having played the game together.

Second, They would need to develop a culture, that as a university game Rugby should be the natural game of an academically orientated school such as Grammar.

Third, indoctrinate parents with this mind set, that their son will benefit from playing School Boy Rugby, through social, professional and personal connections. That his opportunity to gain employment in a prestigious company and a subsequent position, will increase.

Fourth,Expand and broaden the enrolments of Sydney Grammar, to include not just the academically inclined, but boys of merit that include sport, the Arts, Drama. Or ideally, a combination of these abilities.

Fifth, Buy that Museum next door and move those Dinosaurs somewhere else. The Physical expansion of Grammar in student numbers will ensure more depth and talent.

Fifth, Reestablish boarding at Grammar, with in-house University level Tutors.Making the boarding House a center of academic excellence. Also, the distraction of travel and its impact on a boys study time is removed.But also stack the boarding house with Rugby players, rowers and other traditional sports players.

Yes, Pie in Sky stuff, but change has to begin somewhere. Unfortunately, I hear that the new Headmaster has said that the modern Sydney Grammar, does not include Rugby as a major sport. That only confirms my belief, that change will not occur at Grammar, until a Pro Rugby leadership group obtains power. We can only live in hope for that day.

 

[SonnyDillWilliams]

Black & white,

Love it ... particularly shifting out the dinosaurs

And if Palmer takes control (or has the balance of power) over the weekend, anything is possible.

Dinosaurs would be send to the Coolum Palmer golf resort

Weigall could be returned to being the Sydney Stadium, hosting everything from heavyweight boxing to rock concerts

Then again the Greens might get control... and the dinosaurs might expand... the hole in bedrock/sandstone theatre could be confiscated

As part of the country wide nationalisation of private schools and their extravagant facilities

And Weigall will be turned into a wind farm.... with a section set aside for refugee processing and assimilation.

The mind boggles ... joker can give some pics

 

[Jim Belshaw]

Doing a Joker, comments here on the future of rugby sometimes remind me of a certain famous historical event summarised as the barbarians at the gate. The strength of a group comes not from the biggest and the best but from the total strength of the group. The best legions aka the biggest and best rugby schools may hold the line for a while but they will finally be overwhelmed when the others aka competitor sports become to powerful. The legions retain their prestige and local power but finally fall with the last redoubt.

 

[Joker]

to begin....

 

[Joker]

 

[SonnyDillWilliams]

Joker, that last pic nailed it.

Weigall's beautiful green turf (carpet like) has been requisitioned ... and sent to Greens HQ in Glebe

meanwhile at Joeys ... they are converting the much loved Chapel, into a Mosque

the rugby boots have been removed from the altar ... which has been unceremoniously tossed out the back, along with all rugby paraphernalia

and the sacred Hunters Hill SJC No 1, has been reconditioned for AFL ... with new goal posts and a new hipsters bar , replacing the old boys bar (Jacks?)

and at Shore the newly finished gym has been named the Bill Shorten HostPlus Leisure Centre ... and keys passed over to North Sydney Selective School's headmistress

 

[Black & White]

to begin..

As usual Joker, the supreme master of comedy on Green & Gold

 

[RuggerFan1]

interesting that View manages to field 2 AFL teams, 8 rugby teams and however many soccer teams.

 

[Joker]

The best legions aka the biggest and best rugby schools may hold the line for a while but they will finally be overwhelmed when the others aka competitor sports become to powerful. View attachment 10687

St Joseph's have put in place for the very first time in over 135 years.....a rugby support group.

For generations the truth that was "rugby" was all that was needed. God in his wisdom had looked down upon the cerise and blue and let his face shine upon them. Then in 1988, a dark shadow emerged. The face of "football" emerged. To begin, the empire was not concerned about such worries, but soon as premierships started to accumulate and pesky mothers had more of a say, the truth started to suffer. Boys turned from the true faith and started to express their athletic prowess in the round ball game. They even started a supporter group and then funds appeared, a world class pitch was built, International coaches appeared, European tours took place and even a new grandstand. To add insult, football premierships were being won while the great rugby drought of 2008 to 2017 continued.

And so it was deemed by the faithful that a rugby support group should be created. The sun started to shine again, the rains fell, the troops came back. The darkness was slowly put back into its place and all was well on the Hill. Premierships started again and once more the Lord God looked down from on high and saw what his creation was doing and was pleased.

 

[Joker]

interesting that View manages to field 2 AFL teams, 8 rugby teams and however many soccer teams.

View is almost 1900 kids

 

[Quick Hands]

sadly, I cant see any real revival happening

hearts and minds are elsewhere . at Sydney "Hothouse" High

As I've noted before, the only way that there is going to be a rugby revival at High is with a change to the enrolment process. At the moment they have no discretion; they must offer places to boys based solely on their score in the Selective Schools Placement Test.

What should happen is that the school should become 50% academically selective and 50% sports high school. That is the only way - but I do applaud anyone making the effort to help the current students improve.

 

[Quick Hands]

Only if RA steps in to overturn a long tradition and imposes a 2-or-3 conference system with promotion and relegation, and throws out traditional GPS, CAS and ISA competitions.
Then Grammar could work their way up, developing and expanding as they go. A lot of internal impetus would be required too.

So, no.

I wish I had your confidence that RA stepping in to anything would make the situation any better. In fact all evidence is to the contrary. While school rugby mightn't be perfect, it's going better than most aspects of Australian rugby. So i'm more than happy for RA to stay well away from school rugby. In fact the very idea that RA would have anything to do with my children's education is a very unsettling thought.

Regarding Grammar in particular, they are the architects of their own demise. Unlike High, Grammar have complete discretion as to who they enrol. Nobody makes them select students on the basis of academics alone. It would be perfectly open to Grammar to make the school 50% academically selective and 50% general enrolment.

So putting them down and letting them "work their way up" isn't going to improve anything. We've already seen that with the departure of Lachlan Fear that things are far from improving, they in fact seem to be getting worse. I was told by a Grammar parent that Fear almost single-handedly drove the programme there over the past few years and that the kids performed significantly better than expected during his tenure.

Grammar could turn it around if they wanted to without any help from any outside force, but they simply choose not to.

 

[Quick Hands]

interesting that View manages to field 2 AFL teams, 8 rugby teams and however many soccer teams.

They are numerically the biggest GPS school by quite a way in the 7-12 years.

 

[Kenny Powers]

I wish I had your confidence that RA stepping in to anything would make the situation any better. In fact all evidence is to the contrary. While school rugby mightn't be perfect, it's going better than most aspects of Australian rugby. So i'm more than happy for RA to stay well away from school rugby. In fact the very idea that RA would have anything to do with my children's education is a very unsettling thought.

Given that Raylene couldn't resolve a minor spat in NZ amateur netball between a coaches husband and a journalist, she would simply not be capable of managing the politics of schoolboy rugby.

Chief executive Raelene Castle said NNZ had tried to broker a truce ahead of the final, without success.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10663679

 

[Quick Hands]

Hopefully the next principal they get is a footy head!

With the exception of Dr Lambert, no GPS school has appointed a footy head as Headmaster recently. If anything the opposite is true.

 

[Wristman]

With the exception of Dr Lambert, no GPS school has appointed a footy head as Headmaster recently. If anything the opposite is true.

Over 10 years under Dr Lambert I have seen a growing passion for rugby.
The number of boys in attendance at away matches to support the team is testament to this.
A large contingent singing loudly in support of the bagpipes at Lane Cove 2 weeks ago for an early season trial match was great to see.
Rugby is alive and well at Scots.
I think you're right Quick Hands, passion for the game at the school has to start at the top.
Genuine passion rarely exists from someone who hasn't played the game themselves.
Away support at Bellevue Hill from the opposition is often disappointing, Joey's aside of course Joker. Nobody can match the genuine passion of the Joeys following!
It was both heart warming and gut wrenching to witness the wild celebrations when Joeys snatched a last gasp victory in 2018.

 

[Black & White]

With the exception of Dr Lambert, no GPS school has appointed a footy head as Headmaster recently. If anything the opposite is true.

Hello QH
Yes, this most evident with the appointments of new Headmasters at Kings and Shore. Here, as discussed previously, Anglican religious fervour seems to be the criteria for selection.

Mr Parker's appointment at Newington was a least based on his excellent record as a Professional Teacher and an Educationalist. Which should be the main focus of selection. I don't know his sporting passions but, but I believe its a requirement for the Newington Head to be dedicated to the schools sports program. On the college's Website, it states very clearly that Sport is a major component of the school's efforts to develop the whole boy.

So he will be bound by tradition, the school's culture and OB as well as Parental support, such as the Newington Rugby Supporters Group, to maintain a certain acceptable sporting standard of Rugby. However, diversity will also feature into it as well. In this regard Soccer and now Australian Rules will draw players away from Rugby. Here, the Newington Head, is not expected to be involved in the micro management of sport within the school.

Hence ,the problem here lies that too many sports can weaken the Rugby culture, as is now happening at Knox. With an enrolment of 350 Boys per year group, they struggle to field only 4 Rugby Teams in the this years U/13s.

One problem with Rugby at Newington, is the high wastage rate or erosion of our teams. QH you might remember that your boys age group started out in the U/13s with 7 teams they now as 15s have only 4. Again, I suspect this has little to do with Newington's Headmaster, but rather a shortage of training grounds. Together, with the absence of a large Boarding House, Newington will continue to be the smallest school in terms of fielding Rugby Teams on any given Saturday.

End result will be that Newington will have at the very least have very competitive A Teams and even in some cases, excellent A Teams, such as our current U/15s.But with regret, little depth beyond current numbers.

 

[runningrugby1]

Similar thing happening at Trinity Grammar - I've heard their boarding house has closed down down and new headmaster (started this year or last I believe) is an anglican minister with not a great deal of fuss on sport. Unfortunately for those boys, I cant see them having a strong rugby program any time soon. Have heard that they are struggling with injuries, tends to happen in some of those CAS schools without much depth. A match up this weekend against the mighty Scots College won't do them any favours!