Where to for Western Sydney Rugby?

A picture paints a thousand words. Currently we are at round seven of a thirteen round Shute Shield competition. There’s a clear and disturbing pattern if you look at the competition tables. All of the clubs currently based in Western Sydney are languishing under the red line.

In terms of rugby in Western Sydney here as some facts and misconceptions...

Yes, Western Sydney is a large geographical area but contrary to popular opinion (within the rugby community) the region by comparison actually has a small and shrinking rugby playing population. The largest rugby playing populations are located in the more affluent areas and coincidentally private school laden North Shore and Eastern Suburb regions.

Western Sydney is the most multi-cultural and culturally diverse region in Australia, meaning many of the community have not had any form of exposure to rugby or any upbringing around the game.

By comparison there are Socio-Economic and Social Differences, from income to transport to education and vocation to family structures and values.

By way of Rugby terms, a key example are the colts programs across Western Sydney, generalising (and speaking from current experience at the Two Blues) the majority of colts not just at our club but across Western Sydney based clubs do not possess years of junior rugby experience and coaching, unlike their counterparts at other clubs in rugby heartlands. They are often new to the game starting at the colts level and often facing up to opponents who have in many cases multiple years of both junior rugby experience and coaching at club and representative level and also in many cases extensive private school rugby tutelage as opposed to the mainstream non rugby Government school upbringings of the majority in the West. The assumption and expectation is that your colts will become your next generation first grade players. Proudly, our current first grade captain is one of a last generation of players who has come from junior rugby (Hawkesbury Valley JRC), through our colts program to now leading first grade not just as a player but captain. We also this year have 2 colts players elevated to 2nd grade giving them valuable experience, however the depth is diminishing.

From personal experience having grown up through the Manly Rugby pathways starting the game at age 7, I gained eleven (11) years of junior rugby experience and coaching, plus various representative level experiences and coaching programs having represented Manly representative teams right through from u10s to u17s, Northern Zone (u15s), Sydney (u16s) and NSW (u17s) before even reaching the Manly colts program.

So to put the above in to perspective a team that can run out a colts squad with its players (in many instances) having over a decade of rugby experience (or even 3-5 years experience) and coaching will always have an advantage over a team of enthusiastic players who are new to the game and literally packing into their first, third or fifth game of rugby scrums, learning line out strategies and lifting techniques, running lines and the intricacy of rucks and mauls and the often complex "laws" of the game and their interpretations, which are hard enough to navigate for even international players let alone beginners.

By sentiment everyone wants the "West" to be "competitive" but in reality I have to ask who really wants to or is willing to actually DO something or anything about it to help?.

Who actually will and wants to LISTEN TO UNDERSTAND the differences the region faces to other rugby regions, one size simply doesn't fit all, our needs, our differences are different to those of other Sydney locations and different again to country zones also doing it tough.

Who really wants to see a truly competitive competition? where week in week out every game is a competitive battle as opposed to the elite few effectively playing marbles amongst themselves and overall competition actually being diminished. We need more competition not less, as that will assist in driving the game as people want to see contests that are edge of your seat, could go either way, best team winning on the day type games and competitions not assumed forgone conclusions where people tune out with a lack of interest. We need stakeholders to assist in lifting up the weaker counterparts to build up the competition to build up the game so its not counter-balanced to the elite few where empires are the aim and monopoly becomes the game and benchmark of success, otherwise we all will end up losing out eventually.

So how do we make change?

There are now no official Rugby Development Officers in Western Sydney.

Rugby offers significant benefits from physical activity, life lessons in team work, communication, discipline, resilience to building life long friendships (i'm still great friends with players I first met when I started when I was 7 years old some were team mates some fierce rivals).

We need people on the ground bringing the game to the junior and youth population in Western Sydney, boys and girls, giving them a fun, positive and engaging experience so that they can be introduced to the game, see the game and have the opportunity to enjoy the game via introductory programs to enable them to fall in love with the game. We need people on the ground who understand the region, the differences, the people, the community, currently there is no one.

We need to take the lead in bridging the gap and replacing the Rugby Development Officers lost to the region, we can not wait for support, we have to seek support, we need to stand up and seek to DO and make things happen through action and activation by putting people back on the ground to showcase our game to the kids and youth of Western Sydney, but to do so takes resources.

We need you! We need those of you who care about the game, we need those who you want to provide opportunity to the community particularly the youth of Western Sydney to be part of a club, a team and a sport, where they are active and contributing to the community over running the streets or staying inside inactive and developing anti-social behaviours to kill time, we need those of you in the Rugby and Corporate worlds with a vested interest in the game and seeing people develop and thrive within a game, the game needs your support more than ever.

We have created the Eric Tweedale Campaign named and endorsed by oldest living Wallaby, Two Blues Club Patron, former club president and the man integral to the initial development of the Two Blues juniors Eric Tweedale.

This campaign is seeking support to raise funds via the Australian Sports Foundation to allow us to put a Rugby Development Officer back on the ground in Western Sydney, to put the game back in front of the eyes of junior and youth boys and girls from schools to junior clubs, in an effort to recommence growing the game from the grassroots base to build a sustainable model and program that will see the grassroots nurtured and mature through to eventually to seeing the game in Western Sydney revived across all levels. Junior Rugby and Senior Rugby need each other, they nurture each other and both reflect each other, Rugby in Western Sydney will only ever be as good as the generations coming through via junior rugby and we need to act now to water the roots of the seedling to grow a healthy and strong tree into maturity.

Should you be interested in supporting the Eric Tweedale Campaign you can view the program here via the Australian Sports Foundation or you are welcome to reach out to me privately for further information: https://asf.org.au/projects/western-sydney-two-blues/western-sydney-rugby-development-officers-eric-tweedale-campaign-1/