Buck Shelford: Return the Shield to the amateurs
Wayne ‘Buck’ Shelford has a plan to rejuvenate the Ranfurly Shield.
It is somewhat radical and it will not find favour with the Otago Razorbacks, who won the venerable Log o’ Wood in audacious style last month in Hamilton.
“I’ve talked to a lot of people about this. I have watched the Ranfurly Shield matches for the last few years and I think it’s lost its lustre under the professional model,” says the former All Blacks captain.
“If you are the holder, great, you can do something with it, but for everyone else, it’s almost a non-entity. Most don’t get an opportunity. They are mostly worried about finding their Mitre 10 Cup Premiership or Championship positions.
“My idea is to take it away from the professionals, or semi-pros, and let the amateurs play for the Ranfurly Shield. That’s every provincial union in New Zealand. So Auckland could play North Harbour with completely amateur teams. The Shield was given to the amateurs (in 1902, though not contested until 1904). It wasn’t given to the pro-amateurs. The pros have got their system and their money, whereas really the amateurs don’t have anything.”
As it stands, there are generally seven Ranfurly Shield challenges per season, five mandatory clashes during the Mitre 10 Cup at the holder’s home venue, and two in July/August against two Heartland Championship provinces, usually the Meads Cup and Lochore Cup champions, Hence, Wanganui has had several recent cracks at the Shield.
The whole course of Shield history could have dramatically shifted had second division Bay of Plenty managed to hold on against a fast-finishing Auckland at Eden Park in 1996. Alas for the Log o’ Wood, Auckland roared home from an 11-29 deficit and Matt Carrington scored and converted for the 30-29 victory, thus breaking Steamers’ hearts. Had they hung on, the Shield might still be played among the Heartland unions to this day.
Shelford envisages an FA Cup-style knockout, starting with all 26 provinces, which is 13 matches. It would be played over five weekends, perhaps part way through the club season in May/June. There would be a bye in the second or third round, which would be “the luck of the draw.” All the Mitre 10 Cup provinces could, in theory, be drawn against each other.
So no province would hold the Shield until it emerged victorious at the end of the five weeks, after the final. There could be scope for midweek or Sunday games, so as not to interfere too heavily with club rugby. Provinces would need to dip into their club and Second XV or Colts stocks, as no contracted player would be eligible.
“I reckon there would be a lot of following for it,” says Shelford.
Shelford never tasted Shield success as a player or coach. He had left Auckland before that union won the Shield in 1985, and his beloved North Harbour finally got its hands on it in 2006, well after his playing and coaching days.
He is frustrated that the bulk of resourcing and media coverage – especially in his wider Auckland region – goes to the elite level. Rugby writers such as Lindsay Knight kept the history of the Shield to the fore until relatively recently.
“Club rugby, for example, is being left out of media coverage. Heartland rugby, nothing up here. There is nothing for the amateurs to read in the paper on a Monday morning anymore, which is sad,” says Shelford. Some pockets of New Zealand media still place importance on club, schools, provincial and Shield rugby – the Otago Daily Times, for instance – but that number is dwindling.
Shelford is right to say the Shield has lost some its lustre. While the players of today still get a kick out of lifting it, it is some 42 years since the inception of the NPC, which gave more meaning to the fixtures list, but also removed the Shield as being the unchallenged focal point of the provincial season.
Here is an alternative solution. Over to the powers-that-be.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
37 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to comments