‘Take the script we’re using and torch it’: Why rugby needs to change

WE all know someone like my mate ‘Frenchie.’

It might even be you.

A guy or girl in their mid to late 30s who got high on the supply of Wallabies magic from 1998 to 2003.

If the Rugby team stumbled, they’d just cheer the Aussie Cricketers.

If Warney and Punter got it wrong, they’d scream for Thorpey and Hackett.

If the swimmers slipped, there was Rafter and Philippoussis to get home.

Through it all though, the Wallabies were top for them.

Frenchie wasn’t a first-grader but he lived the rugby life.

On one bus trip, he and his brother combined to destroy a round of Pub Golf after finishing the front nine, 20-under the card.

Both great union men but, now, nearly lost to the code which gave them so much joy as kids and teenagers.

They’re hanging in … just.

But it’s a weekly battle I fight, mostly via WhatsApp.

Sometimes I break, snap with them and then get back to asking for a reprieve.

Sure, the Wallabies’ loss on Saturday hurt everyone involved in Aussie Rugby.

But the email Frenchie punched through today almost broke me.

See, even though he hasn’t had a whole lot to cheer in recent times, Frenchie organised a Sevens Team off his own bat at the school he teaches.

Thirteen kids put their hands up.

Thirteen teenagers say ‘they’ll have a crack’ and my mate is stoked.

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He tells the organiser who works with one of the biggest provinces in the country, who then comes back and tells Frenchie he can only have 12 that play.

Cut a kid.

No exceptions.

Honestly.

Like I said, Wallabies losses at home to Argentina hurt, but this just kills me.

Where’s the lateral thinking gone in our game?

Where’s the drive for radical change?

Who’s gonna take the script we’re using and torch it?

Why the hell are we turning 13-year-old kids away from our game?

Why limit school Sevens squads to 12?

They’re not trying to win a World Cup or Olympic Medal like Charlotte Caslick or Henry Hutchison.

Just get a footy in their hands, give them the chance to run and let their coach manage his squad.

What about thinking outside the box?

Your school has a few too many, so does the mob at Forrest, you guys could form a Babas team.

Here’s a footy — go sidestep someone.

What about a Plan B?

If you’re so hell-bent on restricting numbers, why not work on another way to keep the kid in the game.

Never say no.

How about: ‘We’ll revisit the squad size for the next tournament, but why don’t you bring up the young bloke and he can tag one of the Aussie Sevens players who’s also there to help. He can spend some time with them and ask how to get better.’

It’s not hard, is it?

Seriously, can we please just take the script and burn it.

There are so many wonderful people in the code and others keen to help, but the framework they have to operate in needs redoing.

We need more ‘Frenchies’ in the game.

I really hope they sort something out because he’s one step away from becoming a career Pub Golfer, and that’s not good for anyone.

I now spend hours on our WhatsApp groups.