The Corruption of Rugby
The Australian Rugby Union is run by a bunch of old school ties with no talent and they know it - this article in the Sydney Morning Herald sheds some light; Blazer brigade in need of reform. So, a bunch of old gents control the sport like a feifdom and fight over who get to be the next chairman, but stuff the most successful regions of the game (i.e. the ACT)! It is incredible stuff.
Some might remember the kerfuffle about player payments and endorsements and the like during the run up to last Rugby World Cup (which BTW was founded 1987 unlike the league world cup founded in the 1950s)? The nasty old-school-tie and blazer-brigade run administration doesn't care about the players. People were writing of this like it was news! That's including crikey!, but I think that material was mostly written by Stephen Mayne who, being a Victorian AFL bloke, can be excused not knowing the history involved. So here we are, 110 years after the Northern Union was formed in the George Hotel, Huddersfield over the issue of "broken time", and the Rugby Union is mistreating its players over pay and conditions. Who would have thought?!
Outside Centre (a crikey! writer) recently also wrote about the way that the Australian Rugby Union always seeks to promote it's own moribund code via reference to other football codes - usually Rugby League (the true Rugby, despite Murdoch ownership).
Personally I think that Rugby League should reclaim the simple title "Rugby". I use it whenever I can - if people want an explanation as to why I think Easts or whoever are a "rugby" side then I simply reply - "proper rugby mate, professional rugby, not that amateur stuff."
Oh, and BTW for soccer types, the myth about how Rugby was invented is just a propaganda exercise by the Union people to stop League from claiming that Rugby is in fact an ancient game and no one group can control it, Association Football (soccer) was in fact invented out of the ancient game of Rugby.
But Rugby Union died in 1907 when Dally Messenger signed up for Easts. and I can't believe they think that watching it's reanimated corpse kick penalty goals and slowly amble down to line outs is some sort of sporting contest. Tossers.