Tradition Makes Perth A Super Venue Of The Future

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday July 21, 1998

SPIRO ZAVOS

IT'S hell out there for the rugby reporter. On Thursday we made the arduous flight from Sydney to Perth, a tough journey that explains why Kim Beazley (a former second-rower in his younger days) deserves his frequent flier points.

Anyway, despite a migraine I went along with John Blondin, of Australian Rugby Review, and Tom Bowman for a tour of Perth. At Fremantle we had a cup of coffee at an open-air cafe. A woman approached Bowman and told him the Wallabies had to stop putting "poor little George Gregan in between those two monsters" during the singing of the national anthem.

Bowman identified himself as one of the monsters. The woman then gave him advice on how to cope with dirty play. He told her the game was so fast teams don't have time to king-hit their opponents.

"You must be a New Zealander," I said to her.

"What makes you thunk thet," she replied.

The next day I was wandering down an inner city mall when a courier on a bike stopped, looked at me hard, and said: "You're Spiro Zavos."

He told me he was mad on rugby, had finished a commerce degree, read the Herald in the library to catch up with all the rugby news and was a centre for the Associates club.

As it happened, I and a couple of other rugby reporters were speakers at a pre-Test lunch at the Associates club. When we arrived, a rousing game between the West Australian under-13s and an under-13s side from Pretoria was in progress. The South Africans won, mainly through the exceptional running of an outside centre.

We were told by officials of the club that they owned their club rooms, that the club fielded teams from first grade through to youngsters and last season had won five of the seven senior grades.

As we were leaving we met the Chief Justice of Western Australia, David Malcolm. He told me he had captained Western Australia against the Springboks in 1965.

The point about all this anecdotage is that Perth has a strong rugby base and history. There are 10 first-grade clubs and a grade competition that goes down to the fifths, colts and schoolboys. Over 8,000 players are registered with the WA Rugby Union.

In the program published for the Test, the rugby historian Jack Pollard documented that rugby was played in Perth in 1868, two years before it was played in New Zealand. Rugby clubs were formed in the 1880s, with the WA Rugby Union formed in 1893. In 1907 a strong NSW side visited the west to play trials for the 1908 Wallabies.

But, aside from the private schools, rugby was displaced as the winter sport for schools by Australian rules. And now Perth is an Australian rules town - but with a flourishing rugby sub-culture.

Phil Harry, the president of the ARU, promised his audience at a pre-Test lunch that Perth would have a Test at least every second year. But this is the least the ARU can do to develop Western Australia into the fourth force (NSW, ACT and Queensland being the big three) of Australian rugby.

Administrators are still tantalised by the prospect of somehow entrenching rugby into the huge Victorian market. But given the protectionist tendencies of the Melbourne media, politicians and population such a vision must be an illusory quest.

Melbourne should have an annual Test but the ARU's development money must go to Perth. For there is a real chance of Perth becoming an AFL and rugby city, for Perth is rugby's uncut diamond.

When, ultimately, the New Zealanders agree to Australia having a fourth Super 12 team, Perth is where that team must be based.

Like Melbourne, Perth should have a Test a year. Although there was some criticism of the quality of Saturday's Test, it was obvious from the crowd reaction when the Wallabies won a vital lineout or were on attack, that the spectators enjoyed the experience of international sport.

Perhaps the South African Super 12 teams could hold a pre-season tournament in Perth. The Under-21s tournament, which will become a major rugby event within the next five years, could be staged there, too.