Watching some of the sport on TV this last weekend, there is no doubt about it – the entertainment available on our screens is incredible.
But I ventured along to a grassroots rugby union game last Saturday played in Auckland at the North Shore Rugby Club.
It was their senior team grand final up against the Takapuna club – both traditional old rugby clubs in Auckland with each having produced a number of All Blacks over the years.
I am a rugby league man through and through and always have been, and although most New Zealanders have rugby union bred into them, I am not one of them.
And the entertainment, skill and competitiveness of the Warriors is convincing many traditional ra- ra’s to jump the fence and follow the 13-man code.
But what both codes, and for that matter all sports, rely on at that grass roots level are volunteers. That is what I admired at the game I was watching. There was quite a big crowd there at the North Shore suburban ground, maybe 2000 people, but the whole day was run by volunteers.
It reminded me of my recent visit to the Wynnum Wolves Football club, one of the best-run local soccer clubs in Queensland, or indeed Australia.
At the heart of these suburban clubs are the volunteers who are there through rain, hail and shine.
They just want to help to provide a good safe environment where our kids –for that matter, not only kids – can come along and enjoy their particular sport.
The NRL dominates the headlines in Brisbane and deservedly so, but look carefully at all the junior clubs dotted throughout the community and you can see the pulse of all sport beating as strong as it ever has.
