Response to the Rogues Rant

The Rogue received an email from Ken Phillis up the Northern Beaches way this week. Ken wanted to comment on the last Rant in regard to the IDRU Amateur status, as below:

Dear Rogue,

I am writing this as a rugby fan not as a representative of the Shamrocks Rugby Club. The introduction of Amateur status in the Illawarra next year has been well received at our Club.

I personally disagree with your comment of Clubs paying Marquee players as not all Clubs can afford to pay players. As you stated already some Clubs are trying to entice players to other Clubs with cash inducements. This would again favour the strong rich Clubs and the minor Clubs would lose the star Juniors they have developed in their Club. This has happened to our Club.

We have always relied on developing talent through our Juniors; consequently we are a strong Club. If we brought in a couple of Marquee players from  Sydney or overseas and paid them, what would that say to players like Rhys Peters, Izaak Lunney, Rory Davis, Tristram Storm etc who have come through our Junior ranks and play for nothing.

Our Club relies on getting finance from a few sponsors, our main income is from our successful canteen. We are totally responsible for our ground and Clubhouse and this costs us a lot of money each year.

Recently we spent money on fencing our entire ground and currently we are replacing the field lighting with the latest technology. Our aim is to provide good facilities and amenities for our players and members for years to come.