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Shute Shield 2017

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Quick Hands

Quick Hands

David Wilson (68)
paul martin said:
I can't help feeling something is fundamentally wrong about all this. An old dude gives a club acres of land for the express purpose of playing rugby on it and somehow it ends up getting sold off. Just doesn't seem right to me.
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They'll still be using the gift to play rugby on, just in another place. Doing nothing could well mean that they'll go broke, the place will be sold from under them and rugby ends up with nothing. One assumes that the gentleman who provided the gift wanted the game of rugby to prosper and particularly in the Eastwood area. Maybe he might think it's a good idea?
 
wamberal

wamberal

Phil Kearns (64)
paul martin said:
I can't help feeling something is fundamentally wrong about all this. An old dude gives a club acres of land for the express purpose of playing rugby on it and somehow it ends up getting sold off. Just doesn't seem right to me.
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Then again, it's not your land. It might just be that, had he known how the future was going to pan out, he would be happy. All he wanted to do was what was best for Eastwood Rugby.



His spiritual successors in the form of the current membership believe that we are doing what is best for Eastwood Rugby.


Where's the problem?


A bit of historical background. Eastwood entered the Shute Shield competition in 1949, and the club trained and played at Eastwood Oval, which was, and probably still is, a little suburban cricket ground, basically, with zero amenities, a small playing area, and a big slope at one end.


And the club struggled for success, one or two wins a year was about it. I do not know exactly when the Colonel made his wonderful offer, but I do know that land was out in the backblocks, basically market gardens, and a big poultry farm across the road.


A lot of the labour and money needed to turn this farm land into a rugby ground was voluntary.


I am actually old enough to have played on the first Saturday that Shute Shield rugby was played at the ground in the very early sixties. Eastwood against Parramatta. And I did my share of work, even as a kid, to make the ground viable. It was okay for the times, but I really doubt that the generous Colonel would have had the slightest clue that, one day, that whole area would be prime residential land, worth a heap of money. Or that rugby would be professional, with Shute Shield relegated to fourth tier status.


Or that we would finally win a First Grade premiership, a mere 50 years after entering the competition.

He loved Eastwood rugby, that much is certain. I am sure he would have wanted what was best for the game and the club, almost 70 years on from when he made his offer. That is a very long time, and that is what we are trying to do.
 
HJ Nelson

HJ Nelson

Trevor Allan (34)
Staff member
Photos from the 2 Australian Club Championship games yesterday

UQ v Sydney Uni - Flickr or Facebook

Brothers v Northern Suburbs - Flickr or Facebook

Plus a couple of 'club legends'

32958453612_ca1470fa3b_c_d.jpg


32988661891_aafd36a360_c_d.jpg
 
I like to watch

I like to watch

David Codey (61)
Quick Hands said:
They'll still be using the gift to play rugby on, just in another place. Doing nothing could well mean that they'll go broke, the place will be sold from under them and rugby ends up with nothing. One assumes that the gentleman who provided the gift wanted the game of rugby to prosper and particularly in the Eastwood area. Maybe he might think it's a good idea?
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I have zero knowledge of the financing over there.
But I assume that the settlers intention in establishing a stand alone trust, and not directly gifting the land to the club, was to insulate the asset from possible trading risks of the Rugby club.

I would be surprised if the trust provided any guarantees, or security for the clubs loans.
If the intention is to sell the land, and divert some of the funds to clear the Rugby clubs trading debts, then I believe that's not in the spirit of the original gift.

If the relocation is to purely provide better facilities for the club/community then it makes sense.
 
Quick Hands

Quick Hands

David Wilson (68)
I like to watch said:
I have zero knowledge of the financing over there.
But I assume that the settlers intention in establishing a stand alone trust, and not directly gifting the land to the club, was to insulate the asset from possible trading risks of the Rugby club.

I would be surprised if the trust provided any guarantees, or security for the clubs loans.
If the intention is to sell the land, and divert some of the funds to clear the Rugby clubs trading debts, then I believe that's not in the spirit of the original gift.

If the relocation is to purely provide better facilities for the club/community then it makes sense.
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I wasn't talking about loans. My understanding is that the club cannot maintain the facility on an ongoing basis. Unlike other places where councils provide facilities and maintenance, Eastwood as the effective owners have to fund it all. If they can't fund the facility, then there will be no rugby club to play there.

If by "the rugby club" you mean the licenced section, that became part of North Ryde RSL a decade ago, so Eastwood have no exposure to trading debts.

If the original gift was for the benefit of rugby in the region, I can't see how the club folding would be in the spirit of the gift.
 
wamberal

wamberal

Phil Kearns (64)
And for the life of me, I cannot see the point of debating it back and forth. No doubt whatever is done will have been rigorously tested aganst the legalities. This is a big project. The risk is on the purchaser, I would have thought. And I would assume that the purchaser is smart enough to look after their own self-interest.


Just give us the money, please.
 
Inside Shoulder

Inside Shoulder

Nathan Sharpe (72)
Quick Hands said:
If the original gift was for the benefit of rugby in the region, I can't see how the club folding would be in the spirit of the gift.
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There will be a trust and they can get judicial advice if the objects of the trust can no longer be met - the trust deed may well have triggering clauses.
On a less contentious but related note Woollahra "Oval"
IMG_0224.JPG
 
WorkingClassRugger

WorkingClassRugger

David Codey (61)
p.Tah said:
Can't be worse than what was there before. Carparks are softer than the pitch :)
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Lol. New guys used to complain about landing on the Cricket pitches at certain grounds when they started playing Colts. Usually right up until we played Easts at Wollahra. That's when they'd get over them. Only place as hard from my experience was Campbelltown Showground No.2.
 
the coach

the coach

Bob Davidson (42)
Inside Shoulder said:
There will be a trust and they can get judicial advice if the objects of the trust can no longer be met - the trust deed may well have triggering clauses.
On a less contentious but related note Woollahra "Oval"View attachment 8950
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Hope they've put some seating in at Woollahra to replace the stuff they picked up cheap from some primary school. Hard to watch 4 grades with your knees up under your chin.
 
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