Some mornings, when I was a lot younger, I really didn’t feel up to slogging it out at work. The thought of politics and the stupidity of some tasks would irritate me.
My immediate supervisor knew less about the job than we did, yet he took every opportunity to yell at all of us when something wasn’t right in his worldview.
Our department head was a crusty old codger, who seemed to take delight in keeping us back after hours to complete some task he felt urgent right then that day after we’d earned our time off.
Big projects were met with scepticism, resignation or disinterest. We knew who the ‘favourites’ were and it would yet again be a thankless task with the hierarchy taking the credit for all of our work.
The only thing keeping us sane was our mateship and the bond between us at the coalface.
It got to the point where just driving in to work became a constant battle between just walking away or leaving with a better career lined up.
So, every one of us eventually left the government job and went out into the world of self-employment.
For me, it was time to go out and be judged on my own efforts, succeed or fail financially, gain or lose a career.
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Some years ago, I watched Matt Giteau in action at a home game for the Force in Western Australia.
It was so obvious that he was going through the motions, doing the minimum needed and it struck me then and there that he looked like the game that day was, for him, just a job.
He looked disinterested, didn’t appear to want to engage with anyone other than his mates and couldn’t get out of there quick enough.
It made me wonder, why don’t our players bust a gut and be willing to die for the jersey?
Why do they just lope up and down the field when a kick is up, why do they seagull at a ruck or make a half-hearted attempt at a tackle?
(Photo by James Worsfold/Getty Images)
Is it because, in our professional, structured, centralized, comp with contracting, high performance blah blah blah, it is just a job?
If you look at the Wallabies, you can see the ‘I’ve done my bit and I’m off’ after 30 minutes mentality.
It’s a reluctance to slug it out. A reluctance to do more than asked. It’s a case of no one willing to step up and rally the troops.
It looks in so many metrics that the age of professionalism has been a disaster for Australian rugby.
Our players, whilst talented, have never quite been galvanised enough, never actually more interested in the jersey than the contract.
Why is it ok to just jog down the field when a kick is up when you are representing your country?
Why is it ok to watch an opposition player take a kickoff all the way back with interest and barely a hand is laid on them when you are playing for your country – is that also just a job?
Is it just another project before the annual holidays?
It would sure explain some of the after-game joking about and laughter amongst players after a bad loss.
So what to do?
I’m lucky enough to regularly holiday around the world now and watch sports in many countries. I watch soccer and rugby in the UK, college football and NFL in the US and cricket in the West Indies.
It does give you perspective seeing how other sports work outside of our Australian island.
The crowds and the tribalism and being part of over 100,000 people at a college football game and the singing at Twickenham for international rugby.
It’s something that we only see here on that scale on ‘that one day in September’.
Passion, tribalism and absolutely mad support for their team. So here’s my take on what Rugby Australia needs to do – and, yes, it’s been said before.
Blow up Super Rugby – completely. Because the players look for all the world like it’s a job.
Start again. Look at how the structures around the world in other sports succeed.
Realise that you lost the imagination of the public, for all but diehards, with names like the Waratahs, the Queensland Reds and the Western Force.
Fold the Super Rugby clubs into a state academy and make them only administrators of 3-4 teams in each state.
You’re almost there now with the Waratahs.
Replace Super Rugby with, for example, Manly, Eastwood, Subiaco, Nedlands, Brothers, Wests in the often-requested national club competition. But bring in all the first-grade clubs around the country.
Bring the tribalism into that comp with a relegation system so any club in the entire country can rise or fall just like football (soccer).
Instant galvanization in club land. Instant connection with the wider public, and all a ready-made asset being completely ignored, could just be the saviour of Rugby in Australia.
Encourage tribalism. It works!
In the US they have over 100,000 people turn up the night before the game to practice cheering and have huge tailgating parties on the grounds and in the car park (it’s epic fun). So don’t say it’s not possible.
Let the top clubs play internationally and expose our players to harder competition as much as possible, just like rugby in Europe.
Enter the top two teams in the overseas comps. Those comps can be short like a Champions Cup and eventually, just like the South Africans have proven, those clubs may be strong enough to join other international comps.
Encourage private ownership or find a way to allow donors to invest in their local clubs. Welcome the Andrew Forrests.
Just last year a US college football coach’s contract was paid out early to the tune of US$75million, all donated by passionate supporters – just to get the job done.
(Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
Pour the RA money into the previous existing Super Rugby clubs to implement the central programmes state by state.
That’s their job – and their only job. They are merely an extension of RA (laughable at the moment I know).
Sell the broadcast rights to the club comp, then the international comp, then the Wallabies.
Send our best and brightest coaches to the AIS, to begin with and then second them on paid positions around the world.
How can a coach learn by being in charge of an overseas club and then coming back having been sacked, straight into a local club?
Send our coaches overseas as assistants; defensive/offensive coordinators or assistants with clubs all over the world with RA sponsorship.
Importantly, allow players to play overseas. Welcome it, and encourage it. They will bring home new ideas and methods.
I applaud players who take the leap and go overseas and strike out on their own for new experiences.
They stand on their own efforts and succeed or fail in their own career. Reward them for it. Let them know they are being watched and they will be selected for the Wallabies on merit.
Is it any wonder the Wallabies are where they are now when our players have to decide whether to leave ‘government’ employment and strike out on their own, or stay in the job, play the game and work up through the ranks to get a plum contract? It’s madness.
We are protecting a comp that is failing rugby in Australia, all the while watching the success South Africa is reaping by allowing overseas players.
With only ONE caveat. If they are called up for their country in a genuine Test then they play. Just like overseas.
Select the best Australians anywhere for our national team, and do as the Lions and recently announced South Africans/All Blacks do, play on a tour where you are together long enough to be a team, long enough to build the focus, long enough to galvanize the supporters.
Build that IP in the players who will become tomorrow’s coaches. It’s a pyramid.
With the players who are good enough to be tested internationally at the club level rising through a clear pathway to the Wallabies regardless of whether they go off and play overseas, and success will surely come.
Maybe, just maybe we will be able to create a model in this professional era that doesn’t just feel just like a job for our players.