Rugby Australia have a lot to answer for, it’s difficult to explain how the board could make so many mistakes so consistently and for such a long time. Frankly, It’s an impressive achievement to get so much success and fuck it off so completely in such a short time. But the money should be on the fact that the game is run almost exclusively by a shadow cabal of Ex-Players. It’s a commonly accepted fact that former players have too much say in the running of Rugby Australia, a business. If you’ve spent your prime years trucking nut and taking blows to the head then I’d say you are unqualified to speak on important strategic matters regarding operations of any institution. This is likely what led to the halting of funds trickling down to the junior clubs. Long lunches at Mr Wongs and parties of people sniffing their own farts and getting high on memories of times gone by have polluted the soul of our game.

No money to the locals means no advertising to the community and very few additions of fresh faced kids to the ranks. Alternatively, look at the NRL and AFL. Both spend time and money on recruiting youngsters to the game. Programs like Auskick have been a massive success and have caught kids like my 10 year old cousin who despite living in Sydney is a massive Richmond fan, damn turncoat. That’s how you generate future generations of quality, you need numbers coming in at the junior level.

I could speak on the prevalence of Rugby at private schools throughout the country and how they’ve been a bastion of the Rugby tragic. But don’t be fooled my friends. The accessibility of private schooling to the people is extremely limited, and if you think parents are sending their kids to private school with hopes of representing their country in rugby you are sorely mistaken. They’re sending them there to represent your kids in court and secure a section 10.