By Tallon Smith – Opinion

In recent years the Group 20 competition has become very sick. Once a thriving league where all nine clubs had two senior men’s grades, plus Ladies League Tag, Under 18s and Under 16s, the competition has become less and less competitive over recent seasons.

Many people have been stumped on how to fix the competition, and the blame has been shifted around as to who is at fault for its demise, with one such party being the re-formed group 17 competition, the ProTen Community Cup (who have just as much right to exist in their district, as they did for over 50 years from 1955-2006).

But it is time we put these differences behind us, because we all want the same thing, a strong bush footy competition, and the only way this can be achieved is unity.

To fix the issues within the competition, in this article I propose three key solutions, aimed at rebuilding the struggling Reserve Grade, Under 18 and Under 16 competitions, and to get crowds back to the footy.

Yes, some may be controversial, but I believe we must try something now or we may not have a competition in years to come.

Without further ado, here they are.

Player Drain and Match Clashes: Separating Group 20 Reserves and the ProTen Cup

Okay, this is one of my more crazy ideas, but it is crazy enough that it will work. And it has merit. Hear me out!

ProTen and Group 20 Reserve Grade essentially compete for the same players. Both competitions’ core demographic is the same; 18-21 year olds too young for First Grade football, and over 30s moving out of First Grade sides.

My solution to solve this player drain: don’t play them at the same time!

“But how?” you might be asking.

Well, for this to work, and for Group 20 to have any chance of retaining their Reserve Grade long-term, the Reserves competition needs to be run as a half-year competition, after ProTen finishes.

All other Grades (Firsts, League Tag, 18s and 16s) remain untouched.

This is the system used in Group 14/Castlereagh, and has enabled clubs like Gilgandra, Gulgong and Coonabarabran to resurrect their Reserves teams after many years with just a single Open Men’s grade.

Given that Group 20 Reserves only features 10 games in 2023, and assuming the Waratahs successfully return in 2024, the proposed new format competition will feature eight games, just two less than this year and without the byes. 

This could work by moving the nine week ProTen competition to kick off immediately after their knockout, whilst moving the whole Group 20 season back one week, to finish the week before the October Long Weekend (NRL Grand Final Weekend), rather than two weeks before.

All in all, this concept should allow ProTen players who formerly played Group 20 Reserve Grade to play in the Group 17 competition before joining their Group 20 Reserves side for the second half of the year.

This would mean that the ProTen clubs, that through their own rightful existence, may have taken players from a Group 20 club’s Reserves side, will no longer impact upon Group 20s clubs, and hopefully players will return.

Obvious examples of this include the return of Narrandera players to recreate Yanco-Wamoon’s reserves side, and Griffith-based Goolgowi, Barellan and Rankins Springs players to re-form Waratahs reserves.

The only club without Reserves that may still struggle due to their isolation in the South West corner of the competition is Hay, but the lure of a condensed season, with no byes and eight straight games, may even see them coax a few players back from Rules and Union to reform their seconds side.

A recent survey conducted by Battlers For Bush Footy of Group 20 Club Presidents found that 7 of the 9 supported this broader idea in some form.

Below is a look at how the concept could have worked with this year’s calendar (simulated as if the Waratahs were competing in Group 20, as it is extremely likely they will be in 2024).

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How this could have worked in 2023:

April 22: ProTen knockout & Group 20 Round 1

April 29/30: ProTen Round 1 

May 6

May 13

May 20

May 27

June 3

June Long Weekend – Break

June 17

June 24

July 1/2: Proten Grand Final & Group 20 Reserves Kick off

July 9

July 16

July 23

July 30

August 6

August 13

August 20

August 27

September 3: Group 20 Finals begin

September 10

September 17

September 24: Group 20 Grand Final

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The only issue is that the crossover point happens after the June 30 registration and clearance cutoff, on the weekend of July 1/2.

There are two possible solutions to this:

1. Dual Registration: players are registered to both the ProTen club and Group 20 club. This option has the added benefit of providing a registered and available player pool to Group 20 in the first half of the year as well, effectively allowing the centrally-registered ProTen player pool to act as Reserve competition for all Group 20 clubs in case of an injury crisis.
2. An exception to the June 30 rule to allow a window for players to be cleared from their ProTen club to their Group 20 Reserves team.

Overall, in this concept, both ProTen and Group 20 Reserves can continue to co-exist without interference with each other, and rugby league should prosper once more.

The Pathway Grades: How to save Under 16s and Under 18s

Okay, you can’t blame this one on ProTen. The fact that Group 20 only has four Under 16s teams and three Under 18s teams stems from the overarching problem; the competition is no longer popular in the district.

And I am entitled to speak on this one, because I am a part of the youth age bracket, and understand our current cultural forces at play.

As little as five years ago, almost every club had five grades, with smaller teams occasionally missing a year of Under 18s or 16s due to not having enough local kids born in that age group. But overall, clubs more often than not had sides in both age groups.

This is most certainly not the case any more, and it comes down to three factors, each involving other sporting codes.

1. Many kids have shifted to playing soccer, which is unusually strong in the region due to the Italian-Australian influence in Griffith
2. Australian rules via the Griffith Swans and other clubs has surpassed local rugby league in public interest and attendances
3. Rugby union and the Griffith Blacks have made a concerted effort to steal rugby league juniors

I can hear some of you currently screaming, “phones, what about phones” and that “kids are less active these days,” but the fact of the matter is there has been a greater loss to other, competing sports than anything else.

Yet again, the root problem is a lack of promotion. 

The loss of kids to soccer is not to do with them switching codes, but rather players dropping rugby league from their schedule. Many juniors who used to play both now only play soccer, because the local rivalries in that sport are huge (e.g. Yoogali v Hanwood), and they play against their mates. More local teams means more local derbies, growth precipitates growth.

The Griffith Swans run TV advertisements every week detailing where they are playing, and their crowds have skyrocketed as a result. If kids grow up going to Rules games, they are more likely to play that sport, that is obvious. Auskick has also taken off in the Riverina, growing the Victorian code, and in turn stripping rugby league of potential juniors. They also heavily distribute merchandise to broaden the appeal of their club brand, and have great social media channels.

The Griffith Blacks have done two things to promote their game within the city; mass production of merchandise to ensure maximum exposure of their brand, and the hosting of a Super Rugby trial match between the Waratahs and Brumbies, arguably Australia’s greatest domestic rugby union rivalry. Both of these strategies have seen their junior numbers skyrocket.

So how do we compete and win back the mind of the youth:

1. Mass-produce local club merchandise and keep the prices low (e.g. beanies)
2. Promote games on TV, radio and social media
3. Attempt to lure an NRL Pre-Season match to the region

Another thing that needs to happen to reverse this trend is the appointment of paid administrators to work with club volunteers to administer the game, like the model that many country Aussie Rules competitions operate with. The club presidents would still form the Group board, but the Chair of the board would be a paid and appointed administrator from the NSWRL, with the responsibility of ensuring the success of the Group, with a focus on the pathway grades.

This could be done by way of social media engagement and promotion of matches, organising events such as a Magic Round each season, and crucially, maintaining a level playing field between the sides. Their performance would be subject to appraisals from club officials within the Group, and they would be directly overseen by the NSWRL, acting as a link between the Area Manager and Group 20. The working title for this concept could be ‘Group Manager’.

Overall, the fact of the matter is Group 20 needs to promote itself to the younger generations, to ensure its long-term survival and return it to being the pinnacle of local sport as it once was.

Promotion

This one is simple…promote the games more! Nobody outside rugby league diehards know when Group 20 matches are on anymore due to the lack of promotion in mainstream media (i.e. places other than playrugbyleague.com and the Group 20 Facebook page), and low crowds over the past few years have really begun to reflect this.

Group 20 needs to properly engage in both traditional and modern media to promote the sport.

Radio advertisements are far cheaper and just as effective as television commercials at promoting the game. Radio ads aired on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays on local stations Hit 99.7, Triple M and 2MIA would be ideal in promoting upcoming games to the people of the district, as these three stations combined cover the entire competition area.

Another cost-effective and local method of advertising is in newspapers. This is something that the Hay Magpies do very well in The Riverine Grazier. By increasing the amount of ads in papers such as the Grazier, The Area News, and The Irrigator, the Group can effectively and visually promote upcoming games to the older demographic, something that is vital for keeping ‘Old Boys’ involved in the game.

The other major non-traditional area in which Group 20 need to engage is social media. Whether by way of a volunteer office-bearer, the above concept of a ‘Group Manager’ or a specialist Social Media Manager as Group 9 have done, this is the key to engaging with the next generation of players, spectators, referees and officials.

Social media is where the youth are, and the youth are the future. Double the Facebook posts for the broader demographic, and create engaging and colourful Instagram content for 16-35 year olds. This is the way of the 21st century, and is something I have really focused upon in my content creation with Battlers For Bush Footy.

Overall, the implementation of these strategies should see Group 20 become a far more recognised and followed competition, as it once was, resulting in increased crowds, public interest and player numbers.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the implementation of these strategies is designed to save Group 20 from either collapsing into a second division competition, or even merging with Group 9.

By modifying the Reserve Grade draw to line up with player availability, giving attention to the struggling Under 18 and Under 16 competitions, and promoting the game to get crowds back to the footy, Group 20 can get itself out of its current slump and return to being one of the best bush footy comps in the state as it once was.

I’m sure some people don’t agree with these ideas, but rest assured every one of my thoughts comes from my care for the competition and the game of rugby league.

I just hope we do something before it’s too late.

Cover Photo: Yanco-Wamoon face West Wyalong in Group 20 League Tag earlier this season.