Saturday Morning Musings - introspection flowing from schools and Rugby

This morning's muse has been sidetracked by schools and rugby..

My old school TAS (The Armidale School) has decided to go co-educational.There have been girls in the primary section for some time. As an old boy, I was invited to comment prior to the decision. I decided not to. There was nothing useful that I could say. Personally, I would have preferred the school to remain single sex, partly for sentiment, more for reasons that were irrelevant to the primary question.

Thinking of the school as a business entity, I could see the reasons that were driving the decision. My concern lay in the way that it might affect Armidale's two remaining girls boarding schools in an increasingly localised education market place. We have already lost one girl's, one boy's, boarding school.How do you say this makes perfect sense from a business perspective, but I don't want you to do it because of its potential adverse effects on NEGS and PLC? How do you say that I hold that view even though it may add to your problems in developing TAS?

 The draw for the NSW GPS (Greater Public Schools) rugby competition has been released. TAS Firsts are playing in the thirds competition. It is very hard now for the school to compete at the first level because of differences in the number of boys playing at TAS as compared to the Sydney schools. The Thirds competition is a new competition to ensure inclusion of the minnows (Sydney Boys High, Sydney Grammar and TAS) in the competition.

I have attended most games for the last two years and wrote last year's competition report for the Green & Gold Rugby Forum. TAS won the inaugural competition, were equal first last year and should be competitive this year on pre-season form. My feeling is that the school will win, although this is the first time I have said so in public.

I have just entered the match dates in my forward plan. However, I find my enthusiasm down. I have written before about the strangeness I feel on attending matches. It's good sport, I get excited because I do support my old school, but I now have no direct connection.

I think that sport is a shared thing. This is a shot from the last Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. Helen (eldest daughter) with Rugby friend. Helen paid so that we could go to watch at least one match together.

Wandering round the sidelines at the GPS matches, I see no-one I know Living in Sydney and with the passage of time, I am too far removed now to know people. Unless I know people or have adopted performance mode, I am also naturally shy. People don't always realise that, for I have learned to perform when I have to.

I exchange some remarks on the sideline, but basically spend the hours alone. Then I come home and try to write up the results. At that point, I get some interaction.

This post has become a little more introspective than I had intended when I started writing. This weekend I need to work out just how I am getting to Europe, again to see some Rugby World Cup games with Helen. The trip itself is another present, but there are all sorts of consequential and cash issues to be resolved. Still, I am looking forward to it.

        
         

A day at the Scots’ Rugby Sevens

I spent most of Saturday watching the Scots School Boys Invitation Rugby Sevens competition.   It was quite fun. This shot shows the Armidale School (TAS) in attack against Canberra Grammar.

Rugby sevens is a spin-off from the main fifteen a side game. While still part of rugby, rugby sevens has a become a game in its own right with greater international penetration than the main game because its rules make it easier for smaller rugby nations to participate successfully. Reflecting this greater mass reach, the game is a Commonwealth and now Olympic Games sport.

While played on a full size rugby field, each side has seven instead of the usual fifteen players. This requires a modified game.  For example, because there are only three forwards as compared to eight in the main game, scrums, rucks and mauls are necessarily simplified.

For non-rugby players, when a player is tackled carrying the ball, you need a process for releasing the ball to one side or the other. In League, this is the play the ball, in Union a ruck. 

This photo shows a ruck in the Canberra Grammar vs  TAS game. The player who has been tackled, the TAS number 4, has placed the ball on the TAS side. He is allowed to do this, but he cannot protect the ball beyond that without incurring a penalty. The forwards have formed a protective shield to allow them to get the ball back to the backs.

I often write about the importance of, and impact of, rules. Rules and the breaking of rules determines how activities flow and form specific cultures. My frequent concern lies in the in the way that over-prescription of rules, regulations and penalties can affect what we do in often very perverse ways.

In rugby sevens, the smaller number of players on a full size field makes for a very fast game. The rules are designed to support this.

A smaller number of players playing a big game across a large area makes for exhaustion. To accommodate this, games are broken into two short halves. seven minutes with a one minute half time break. The final’s time is increased to ten minute, with a two minutes break. At Scots with school boys playing, the games had six minute halves, increased to seven for the finals.

A tournament in which a side came to play for just twelve minutes and then got knocked out would, from a player perspective, be a very dull game. Even with pools before quarter or semi finals allowing more games, it would still be dull for the losers. To accommodate this, many sevens tournaments have a competition for a cup, a plate, a bowl, and a shield. As a team is knocked out, they can continue playing for a trophy at a specific level. This allows many teams of different standards to avoid leaving empty handed. TAS won the bowl this year.

One of the reasons why sevens is so entertaining beyond the speed and spectator elements is that the action is continuous. As one game finishes, the teams for the next are ready to run onto the field. The Scots’ program had five ten minute breaks when nothing was happening, but beyond that action was continuous from 9am to about 5pm.

This allows a largish number of teams to participate. At Scots, there were twelve teams from four countries and four Australian states/territories participating. Because each team played a number of times, you got to know each team just a little adding to the interest.

In all, it was a fun if very tiring day.

Saturday at the football - and TAS wins the NSW GPS thirds

A hot day yesterday in Sydney for the football and election. I wandered off to see TAS (The Armidale School) play Newington in the last game of the NSW GPS (Greater Public Schools) thirds competition. The game was held at Newington which was celebrating its 150th anniversary. It was a pleasant crowd sitting on the banks overlooking the main oval.

I wandered around in the bright sun eating a sausage and onion roll watching the various games. Eldest had promised to come with me to this last TAS game of the season, but had to pull out at the last moment because she was unwell. 

In the first part of the Thirds game, the TA First Fifteen was clearly better than Newington Thirds, although Newington were holding them. The following photo show's TAS's first try. I fear that this round my photos were not as good as usual, but you will get the picture'    Walking away from the game along the raised mound beside the field I saws a great celebration in the distance. This photo, not mine, captures it. The boys had just learned that in another game Saint Ignatius had defeated St Joseph's and that, consequently, they had won the first GPS third division competition. This was TAS's first win since they entered the GPS in 1897. For much of that time. It's just been too hard for an Armidale team to play in remote Sydney.     

I still had to vote, so I left the gathering. It's been a fun year. 

A morning at the rugby - TAS v Scots

it's been a gorgeous weekend here in Sydney. Yesterday I went to see TAS play Scots in the NSW GPS (Greater Public Schools) thirds competition. TAS,The Armidale School, has been a GPS member since 1897. The school's smaller size and non-metro location (TAS is the only NSW GPS school outside Sydney) makes participation in Sydney based GPS events difficult.  However, this year TAS firsts have been playing in the newly created GPS Thirds, while other TAS teams have been making the trek as well.

It's a big effort. With the exception of Sydney Boys High and Sydney Grammar who come to Armidale on an annual basis, the other Sydney schools play  in Armidale every second year. By contrast, the TAS teams play in Sydney on average every second week. There are fifteen players in a Rugby team plus reserves. Twelve TAS teams played against Scots Saturday. That's 180 boys plus reserves, coaches etc. Every Friday when there is a Sydney game, the boys join the buses that pull up at the front of the school for the seven hour trip to Sydney. Every Saturday after the games. they join the buses for the seven hour trip back. It's a huge effort.

Why bother? Well, it's partly tradition. But it's also the only way that the boys can get top level competition. TAS is the Australian Institute of Sport Rugby focus for Northern NSW. It draws a thousand plus boys to its local Rugby carnivals. But while still weak by Sydney standards, it is just too strong for the local competition.    

Yesterday TAS won against Scots 31-22, the competition leaders. With results in other other games. TAS moved to second place, Scots to third. This is one shot I took of the game. It shows TAS defending.

I suspect that at my age one could argue against my interest in schoolboy football. But I do enjoy it. 

I get depressed, mind you, at just how much better the boys are as compared to my period. I do wonder how I might have gone with today's training skills? I also get depressed at the way that professionalism and sports scholarships have entered the game. It doesn't seem right. In the end, this should be kids enjoying themselves.

Still, it was a nice afternoon. Next week is the last game in this year's comp with TAS playing Newington. Eldest daughter has promise to come with me. That will be fun its own right.

Reflections on the death of Peter Brownie

Tomorrow is Peter Brownie's funeral in Newcastle, Sadly, I will not be able to attend; it's just too difficult getting there.

From time to time on this blog I have written of the importance of good teachers, of teachers who have an undying influence and who remain etched in our memories. I am sure that if I asked you, you would remember a teacher or two who had a major impact on your development. Peter was one such teacher.

Peter came to TAS (The Armidale School) in 1952, staying there until 1969 when he left to become Head of Wolaroi College, Orange. Peter was active in all parts of school life from theatre performance to coaching the school First Fifteen in Rugby. The following photo shows Peter in pretty characteristic pose during a 1962 First Fifteen match.  

In Rugby, I watched Peter from afar. I was a long standing (several years) member of the Seconds as a front rower, second rower, lock and break-away; the last was my favourite position. Peter did try me at one training as hooker, but it wasn't a success. He wanted me for my comparative size and speed, but I really had no idea and kept pulling the props down.   

My increasing contact with Peter came via the academic sphere. I was a bookish child, an omnivorous reader, but also one whose school results were poor. There were reasons for that, but the end result was that I got five Bs in the Intermediate Certificate, then just four Bs including geography in the School Certificate the following year. Not deterred, Peter asked me to do geography honours and enrolled me the small geography honours class. Then he did something far more cunning, although I only came to realise this later.  

The honours course focused on Asian geography. He gave me books to read. Not school geography texts, but the leading scholarly publications on Asian geography. Have a look at this, you might find it interesting. I didn't have to write essays or anything like that. He would just ask me later what I thought. He asked me to help form a school geography society. He told me that I should use diagrams to explain relationships, to write to the diagram. Those are my words now, I am sure that he put them more simply.

The Trial Leaving Certificate came some eight months into this process. My B in the School Certificate was replaced by a high level A. I have been waiting for this moment, he wrote in my report. A few months later I scored first Class Honours. I can't remember where I came, whether it was ninth or eleventh in NSW.

My parents felt that at sixteen I was too young to go to University even though I had a Commonwealth Scholarship. I was to repeat the Leaving. Peter, knowing me rather well, said you are going to be bored. Why don't you pick up economics and economics honours? You should be able to complete the two year course in twelve months. I did, and again gained first Class honours. I didn't do quite as well, coming in somewhere around thirty second in the state.

I lost contact with with him after that. I had gone to Canberra, while he left TAS in 1969. We finally met again in 2006 at Alex Buzo's funeral. We talked. Peter said that when he first came to TAS the salary was low, but the head (Gordon Fisher) told him that his sons would be able to attend the school for free. Several daughters later, Peter appeared in a review wearing a tap, explaining that despite all his efforts he still had no-one to put him put it it on!I also learned for the first time that when Peter began teaching economics he knew nothing about the subject and in fact relied on Dad who was Professor of Economics at New England for subject knowledge to keep him just in front of his students.

We did exchange a few emails after the funeral, but I was tied up with family matters and things drifted. Now, of course, it's too late. I regret that. But I can at least record my admiration and affection for a man who did so much for me.  

Old boys, young boys & a bright, sunny day - TAS OBU weekend September 2012

I drove to Armidale Friday for an Old Boys' reunion at TAS (The Armidale School). I took my camera and took a lot of photos; a few were okay, although I had difficulty balancing light on a very bright day. This is a photo from the rugby. Downlands College from Toowoomba (red stripe) were visiting as part of the weekend. 

As you might expect, I cam back with many possible stories, some of which I may even write up! This next photo taken in Big School is a shot of my group.  People had travelled from Hong Kong, Canada and the US for the reunion, as well as from different parts of Australia. Few people who go to school or university in Armidale stay there. Their subsequent journeys are part of the changing fabric of life in Australia and well beyond.

I suppose that it's inevitable now, but in both Armidale itself and among the TAS group I learned of deaths that I had not known. Australian writer Gwen Kelly, Jim Burling, Rennie Barnes. That added to my sense of refection; I will record some of that too.

All of us were struck by the changes in the school, changes that also reflect the changes in Australian society. The last photo is of the TAS Stage Band. The school has a very strong theatre tradition.

We sat in the sun, drank beer and talked, listening to the music and the more distant sounds of the cheers and war cries from the nearby sporting fields. I was glad I had come, even though getting away had been a bit of a battle. 

An afternoon at the Rugby - TAS vs Kings

Saturday, my old school (The Armidale School aka TAS) was playing The Kings School in the NSW GPS rugby competition. I had decided not to go, just too lazy, but then found that I was going a bit stir crazy alone in the house, so finally jumped into the car and headed out mid morning.

I quickly regretted my decision. Kings is near Parramatta not far from where I presently work, but I go there each day by public transport. Now as I crawled down Parramatta Road through heavy traffic towards the freeway I became quite annoyed. I thought I had allowed plenty of time, but time just passed and passed. Then it took me a while to find the school. I hadn't actually been there before, so I was working from my bump of direction.

Finally, finding the school I parked and walked down the hill towards the rugby grounds. Dear it's a big place.  This is the private school par excellence that the public school lobby loves to hate. Mind you, when I was playing rugby at TAS we weren't too keen on it either. Both Anglican schools attracting boys from the same demographic, TAS boys tended to regard Kings as a bit snooty!

Now here I need to pause and introduce you to the first of a few arcane facts. GPS stands for Greater Public Schools. Now these schools aren't public schools at all, but private schools that adopted the GPS title back in the 1890s in the same way that the more prominent English private schools had been called public schools.

And rugby? This is a game played with fifteen players aside that, in some ways, resembles legalised mayhem. I must say that it's a game I greatly enjoyed playing. Within the GPS, the rugby competition attracts a thoroughly devout following, but there has been an emerging problem that I will become clear in a moment.

As I arrived, Sydney Boys High Firsts were playing Kings Thirds. Sydney Boys High is on the right defending their line at the end of the match. Now there is both the the problem and the immediate solution. 

As the GPS competition became more professional, a huge gap opened up between the top and bottom schools.

Sydney Boys High and Sydney Grammar are both schools that attract academically inclined kids. Both attract a significant proportion of smaller boned Asian ancestry students. As a consequence, the student pool available for rugby declined just as the other Sydney GP schools were becoming increasingly professional in their coaching approach. This led to a huge gap between High and to a somewhat lesser extent Grammar and the other Sydney schools. The competition became quite unbalanced.

TAS, a much smaller school, is a rugby school. But it faced a different problem. The official title of the rugby competition is the NSW GPS rugby competition.  Don't let that fool you. Everybody calls it the Sydney GPS rugby competition, and it is. TAS is the only country GPS school. With the exception of a brief period in the late 1960s, TAS could only play social matches against the other GPS. Then, when TAS did play for a brief period, it was effectively forced out because it introduced a bye into the competition. Further, while TAS normally lost, it did sometimes win, introducing a a new random element.

The growing imbalance in the competition finally created a new opportunity for TAS, the creation of what was effectively a multi-school participation. 

This photo shows the TAS first fifteen running onto the field to play Kings. Note the High Firsts cheering them onto the ground. After a trial cooperative arrangement last year, and some very careful negotiation, a new official arrangement was created that appeared in Saturday's program as Kings vs Grammar/Armidale/High.

The High First Fifteen has dropped back to the GPS Third competition, now an official competition for the first time. There High is competitive, although they lost the match to the Kings Thirds 42-3. That was a little misleading. The game was far closer than that. So High boys who want to play competition Rugby still can, but without the complications involved in competing at the highest level against far bigger boys.

Initially, Grammar was going to drop out of the First Grade competition. However, the boys who had been playing together for some time wanted to continue in the first grade. In a way, this was a brave decision; TAS Firsts beat Grammar 68-12 in a pre trial match. Still, I can understand the boys' 'position. The Grammar decision opened the way for TAS Firsts to officially enter the GPS competition in the Second Grade competition.   

There was little commentary In the pre-match discussion about the TAS team beyond noting that they were expected to be competitive. And they were.

TAS Firsts lost their first match to Newington 47-7, won their second against Riverview 19-17 and were then narrowly defeated by Shore 13-7. Now came their biggest test so far playing the competition leaders.

  The game opened disastrously for TAS The big, fast, players on the Kings back line ran straight through the TAS defence to score two quick tries. My heart sank. Parents, kids and old boys all went silent. It looked as though a whitewash was coming. Then TAS attacked, spending long periods camped on the Kings line. Only desperate defence by Kings held TAS out. Half time score Kings 14, TAS nil.

The second half opened as the first had begun, with a quick Kings try. Kings 19, TAS nil. For a period Kings kept attacking. It took some quite outstanding TAS defence to keep them out. By now I was running up and down the sideline mixing yells with photos! 

TAS kept attacking. In this photo, TAS are in the dark blue and white. Slowly, the momentum started to swing back in TAS's favour. Rewards started coming in the form of a TAS try. TAS continued the attack, with Kings defending. A second try came. Kings 19, TAS 12.

By now TAS supporters had begun to hope for victory as the TAS attack continued. It wasn't to be. TAS simply ran out of time.

It really had been a good match, one of the best I have watched.

In the following game an injury plagued Grammar Firsts were defeated by Kings 100-0. This lead to some subsequent discussion about the possibility of TAS replacing Grammar in the First Division competition.

I'm not sure about that, at least not as an automatic thing. My feeling is that the competition might be better off with Grammar, High and TAS moving up and down depending on the relative strength of the teams at the time.

Without the participation of the Grammar/TAS/High collective, the GPS comp is effectively reduced to two games and a bye. That's not really a comp. With the collective, you do get a more effective competition. However, for the moment I think that there are real advantages in the three schools maintaining the combined arrangement.

And, on a final point, how are TAS Seconds going? I was never quite good enough to make the TAS Firsts, but was good enough to spend over three years in the Seconds. Well, for the record:

• TAS 2nds vs Newington 4ths 27-8 win
• TAS 2nds vs Riverview 5ths 22-5 win
• TAS 2nds vs Kings 5ths 20-8 win.

It seems to me that the 2nds are playing well below their proper level. But that's another story.  

Dreams past: Collective Wisdom, education & the NBN

This post today is a personal historical piece, However, it is also one that has a certain relevance today in the context of the NBN and other discussions on the application of new technology in education.

The following photo dates from February 1996. The scene is the Armidale Town Hall. The event, a Collective Wisdom Project Demonstration. This was the last major thing I did in Armidale before joining the family in Sydney. The photo shows kids and teachers, set against the backdrop of old and new technology. The bearded chap in the background is Martin Levins, head of IT at The Armidale School. He was the brains behind the exercise. Further comments follow the photo.

Background

In the middle of 1987 I left the Commonwealth Public Service to establish with my wife a new information, training and consulting business in Armidale servicing the electronics, aerospace and information industries. I had been arguing that Australia had a future in these new industry areas, so was putting my personal money where my policy mouth had been.

I met Martin Levins soon after my arrival in Armidale. He was then head of IT at TAS and was driving the school in the direction of new technology. Under Martin's influence, TAS was a very early adapter of new communications and computing technology.

One of the things that we were trying to do was to grow the Armidale base in the new technologies, drawing from University of New England staff and graduates. This meant a big education role, for we had to train our people and popularise the opportunities. As part of this, Aymever combined with Martin and his then business partner Tom Pollock in 1987 to mount in a local pub the first ever display in Armidale of multimedia, the English Doomsday project, itself one of the first global demonstrations of the potential applications that we now take for granted.

Aymever grew rapidly. By the end of 1989, we had seventeen staff, a monthly fees base of over $80,000, clearing $8,000 after operating and start up expenses. We were then hit by the pilots' strike (we had to travel all the time to get business) and by the sharp downturn of 1990. While the Australian economy itself actually bottomed in mid 1991, the business services marketplace collapsed much earlier. Over the first months of 1990, national fees dropped by a third. Our own fees fell from $80,000 in December 1989 to a bottom of $29,000 in March 1990. We bled money, loosing $190,000 over calendar 1990.

We clawed our way back. By mid 1991, revenues had reached record levels, but we were now carrying heavy debts. We then hit a very large bad debt that forced retrenchment and finally led to us appointing administrators in 1994. Even though we had work in place and good prospects of further work, the administrators closed the business a week after appointment.

I mention this history for several reasons. It sets a context for what follows. Further, the rise and then fall of Armidale's nascent high technology and associated services sectors is of itself indicative of a broader Australian collapse. by the end of 1989 there were more than a dozen Armidale start-ups employing several hundred people. All this vanished over the next few years.

Genesis of the Collective Wisdom Project

As a strong exponent of the new computing and communications technologies, Martin developed the idea of a communications network linking Armidale schools - private and public - that would assist sharing of resources and promote new approaches to learning. He had already tried many of the ideas at TAS and had been helping train people in other schools and especially Drummond Memorial Primary School. He began negotiations with Telstra on one side, the University of New England on the other, for UNE had its own ideas and was also negotiating with Telstra.

The next photo is another shot from the Collective Wisdom Project Demonstration contrasting the old and the new.

For my part, I had reestablished as an independent consultant still trying to follow the same dream. As part of this, I was project managing the bid for funding for an Armidale based cooperative multimedia centre under the Commonwealth Government's Multimedia Program.

This was proving a frustrating experience. Beyond a small grant given to all the NSW contenders, we could get no State Government support. UNE who should have played a lead role was in a state of turmoil that came very close to forcing the university's closure. Martin himself was experiencing similar problems in gaining UNE support. The University wanted to do its own thing, but just couldn't deliver anything.

In frustration and knowing that in the absence of something radical we were doomed by metro myopia and the NSW disease, I decided to take the New England CMC concept alive to try to provide proof of concept. However, we needed something dramatic to show that what we had was not just hot air. For that reason, Paul Holland (my then industry analyst) and I joined with Martin to try to support the creation of the Collective Wisdom network.

The Collective Wisdom Demonstration Project 

It was clear to all of us that we needed something to showcase just what was possible. Locally, we needed full involvement of the schools and university. More broadly, I wanted something that might break through indifference in Sydney and Canberra, that we could invite people too and gather support.

In retrospect, the demonstration project we came up with was remarkably ambitious. Remember, this is 1995. It involved:

• An exhibition in the town hall in which hundreds of primary and secondary school kids would combine to create web pages from material sent in via phone from groups at their schools
• To attract interest from locals, an exhibition of education past to contrast
• With the whole thing watched live from a NSW Government Centre in Sydney.

The next photo shows some of the participating kids, these ones from the New England Girls School.

We had very limited resources to do all this.

Telstra was one sponsor, and undertook the required network connections. Because of its own problems, UNE could not help in any real way. Paul and I effectively worked full time on the project for several months, while TAS provided considerable support. This included making the IT lab available for training purposes,  kids were trained at night in the week before to ensure that they had the required skills, as well as the supply of kit.  

The next photo shows some of the TAS boys at work on the day.

The demonstration was a considerable success, although we hit very real technical problems.

One that we did not make public at the time is that Telstra could not get the dial-up network to actually work. Instead of doing it all on-line, we actually had to courier material from the schools to the town hall! 

The Aftermath

Before outlining the results of all this, another photo, this time of the PLC girls at work.

In a way, the results for all this effort were not good.

We did not get Commonwealth CMC funding. Attempts to create cooperation among Armidale schools foundered on a simple practical reality that, with UNE cutbacks and the consequent decline in Armidale's population, all the schools were competing for a diminished student base. Without a strong support base and some cash, the establishment of a network at that time was just too hard.

At a purely personal level it cost me an arm and a leg, for I went well beyond the point that could be justified by any personally rational payback. And yet, and even though it all appears as a few words on my current CV under community, I cannot regret it.

You see, we actually showed what might be possible with the proper application of technology. Fifteen years later as the NBN is discussed in abstract, as a set of theoretical possibilities, I remember the Armidale Town Hall on that day in 1996.   

School sport, carbon taxes & the internet

This morning just an update on past posts.

TAS 2011 Rugby Union Games has attracted a steady stream of hits. I have therefore updated the posts to include what results I have, results kindly provided by a commenter. I emailed Donna at the school to see if I could get official results. She has kindly agreed to put them up on Facebook.  I will provide details here once they are up.

TAS doesn't just play Rugby, by the way.

This photo from SBS commentator Craig Foster's Facebook page has the following comment: 

Coaching at TAS, The Armidale School, last Friday. Fantastic afternoon spent with 1st XI team plus a few younger talents. Good boys, very eager to learn, picked up principles very quickly. Coach Richard Newton is promoting football at the school and doing a great job with the kids. Junior and senior school now growing strongly in football numbers. Wonderful to see. Fozz

My post on Sport shooting in schools beat the ABC's NSW Stateline program by twenty four hours! The story is now on-line. It shows the NEGS and TAS shooting teams that I was talking about shooting at the GPS competition at Hornsby. The heads of both schools were interviewed, as was a Greens MP. I have updated the original post to include the Stateline link.

Both the TAS Rugby and Sport Shooting posts are interesting from a traffic viewpoint.  Both and especially the Rugby post are special interest posts. They don't attract big traffic as compared to some of the broader posts, but they do attract enough traffic to be clearly visible in the stats. Some of the most active responses I get come from these types of posts.

In a passing comment on the sport shooting post, KVD wrote:

I used to go with my older brother; shoot to eat sort of stuff. Best fun ever round Lithgow, in all weathers, with a dog and nobody else around. He shot, and we all ate - at least three main meals a week were so provided.

In terms of self sufficiency I've always thought that the inventor of cling wrap has a lot to answer for. I say this after a four day period last week when my valley was without power.

I understood the first paragraph, but found the second a bit obscure, so I sought clarification. KVD responded: 

Sorry about 'cling wrap' reference. Should have been 'Glad Wrap'.

Family shorthand term for the point at which we stopped either growing our own or purchasing same direct from grower (complete with dirt attached) to simply lining up in the local store to buy stuff - all of which seemed to be wrapped in Glad Wrap.

This got me thinking, for that's not a bad description of a fundamental social change. It made me search the internet to try to discover the history of Glad Wrap. I can feel another post coming on!

In another post, New England unis & the university games, I mentioned that eldest had played for UNSW in the mixed netball in the Eastern University Games held in Canberra. That's actually a sign of Australia's size, for UNE played in the Northern Games held in Armidale.

This is a photo of the UNSW team. I leave it to you to spot Helen. Oddly, perhaps not given the small world factor, the team includes the son of old friends of ours. Neither he nor Helen realised the connection!

The remarkable success of Cadel Evans in the Tour de France means that every part of Australia with even some remote connection wants to claim ownership. We are no different! The Armidale Express records that Cadel went to Newling Public School and then Duval High. Helen was quite chuffed to learn that she had gone to the same primary school! 

I have now written a number of posts on Australia's carbon tax debate. In A final word on the carbon tax debate, I provided some gratuitous advice to Julia Gillard on the approach she might follow. It seems to me that, with invaluable assistance from Messrs Abbott and Turnbull, the debate has actually gone along the lines I suggested! For the first time in a long while, the public opinion polls show a pick up in support for the Government.

Over twelve months ago I suggested that the economic hype about Australian economic growth was just that, hype. I won't bore you with the posts, but my conclusions weren't based on detailed analysis of the data. Rather, they were based on an assessment of what might go wrong, along with doubts about analysis based on general statistics that ignored (or seemed to ignore) the actual structure of the Australian economy. Now the economic commentators are coming around to the view I put forward.

I was right when I put forward a contrarian view during the global financial crisis, so that's two ticks. Does this mean that I know what will happen now? No, because the position is so clouded that I do not have a formed view. Indeed, I find it all very confusing. I simply don't know enough about the imbalances in the global economy that underlay current developments. I really hate not knowing things.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why discussions on Greece mix together issues over the fate of the euro with the possible flow on effects of Greek default. Of course there are links, but they are very different issues. The world won't end if Greece or, for that matter the US defaults. But that's another story.

Issues associated with structural change on the internet are much on my mind at present.

Over the last month, or so I have written a number of posts continuing my analysis of the internet. As always, my interest has been driven by my own concerns; both The joy of history in an internet world and Academic journals, the shuttle & the internet reflected my history interests.

During the week, I received my first invitation to join someone's network on Google+. I ignored it!

I have a part completed post trying to pull together some of the analysis I have done on the changing internet. Again, I am just seeking to understand. I really do think that some of the present analysis is wrong-headed.

Google+ will carve out a niche, perhaps a very big one, and will certainly affect Facebook. But so what? Is this really important, a quantum social or technological change? To my mind, it's just another change at the margin.

Enough, I think. I have other things to do! 

TAS 2011 Rugby Union Games

A few days ago I received a message from Rob Busby as Chair of the Sydney Branch of the TAS (The Armidale School) Old Boys Union. This said in part:

This Saturday twelve TAS (The Armidale School) rugby teams will be in Sydney to play Newington College at Stanmore. Junior teams will play from 10 am, followed by the Second XV at 1 pm, and the Firsts at 3.15 pm, on the Johnson Oval.

After the matches all OBs are invited to gather at the Nag's Head Hotel, 162 St John's Road Glebe, from 4.30 pm. Finger Food - $10 at the door'

I hope to go, but the email also caused me to cast my mind back.

For the benefit of overseas readers, TAS has long been a member of the NSW GPS or Greater Public Schools. When I played rugby at TAS we used to play against all the Sydney GPS schools, although distance precluded participation in the formal competition. Then, right at the end of my period at school, TAS sought and gained formal participation in the rugby competition, so brother David actually played in the formal GPS competition.

TAS was a much smaller school, so had difficulty in competing. However, TAS's presence introduced a random element in the competition because no one could be absolutely sure of the outcome of particular games. There were also complaints about the travel to Armidale and the hard nature of the TAS fields. In the end, GPS politics saw the exit of TAS stage left from the competition.

In the years that followed, the once automatic games against the Sydney GPS schools diminished, with TAS rugby going in new directions. There were also many more sports at the school, so the number of boys playing rugby declined.

The world changes.

Rugby itself changed, with a greater emphasis on size and speed. Coaching even at school level became more professional. As size and speed became more important, the ethnic mix of players became a factor. You can see this if you look at  the growing role of big boned Pacific Islanders in international rugby.

In Sydney, the growing presence of students of Asian ancestry at Sydney High and to a lesser extent Sydney Grammar started creating problems on the sporting field. Sydney High started losing matches very heavily, the Sydney GPS competition became unbalanced.

Meantime, a revolution had been brewing in the quiet New England countryside. To those that have shall be given. Armidale's plethora of sporting fields attracted rugby camps and competitions. TAS itself started a primary school rugby carnival that grew and grew. TAS boys now received a higher degree of professional coaching and were able to play competitive rugby from primary school up in a way simply not available in my day.

TAS teams started playing more GPS football, although I found it odd given my background that they played lower level Sydney teams. Back in 2007 A Very Sporting Day - interesting but also odd records my reaction on this point. I thought that TAS Seconds (my old team) playing Shore Fourths was a tad unbalanced.

There have  been close relations between Sydney High and TAS for many years. A few weeks ago, no less than 200 Sydney High boys visited TAS for the annual sporting competition between the two schools. I suspect that these visits are quite important beyond the sporting field because they bring Sydney High boys into contact with a somewhat different world.

Now the relationship has brought TAS back into the GPS rugby competition in a way I don't fully understand beyond the fact that TAS is, in some complicated way, taking SBH's place at the top level, with the SBH home games now being played at TAS.

How will TAS go? Blowed if I know in this new world. I do know that the TAS XV beat Sydney High 81-0 and then beat Sydney Grammar the following week 45-26. Sydney High, by the way, beat TAS in the soccer and basketball. This offset TAS wins in the rugby, tennis and shooting.

I know that most of my readers are not interested in the arcane details of GPS sport, but for those that are the TAS rugby program this year after Saturday is:

• 23 Jul: King's at TAS
• 24 Jul: Sir Thomas Rich's School (UK) at TAS
• 30 Jul: Shore at Shore
• 1 Aug: Royal Grammar School at (UK) at TAS
• 6 Aug: St Joseph's at TAS
• 13 Aug: Scots at Scots
• 20 Aug: St Ignatius at TAS
• 26 Aug: Farrer at TAS

Maybe it's a sign of my increasing nostalgia as I grow older, but I really am looking forward to seeing some of these matches.

When I was in my final years at TAS, our then head was trying to stamp out the traditional school haka. Now I am trying to find the words again!

Postscript

One of my commenters provided the following results. It's complicated because you have to find out both levels played as well as results. I emailed the school asking them to publish the official results in some way. There is a fair bit of interest just measured by the number of visits to this post. 

• Newington. TAS Firsts vs Newington Thirds. TAS won 24-20. TAS played well with six players out with rep commitments. TAS Seconds played Newington Fourths. TAS won. Score unknown
• Kings. TAS Firsts played King's Seconds. TAS lost 19-12, apparently bombing a few tries that could have won them the game. TAS Seconds played Newington Fourths, played well and won. Score not known.

For the next round in Armidale against St Josephs, the TAS Rugby Club advises:  

Dear Friends of Rugby

On Saturday 6 August TAS is delighted to be hosting St Joseph’s College, Hunters Hill (Joeys) in a full range of fixtures supporting our involvement with the 2011 GPS rugby season.

The opportunity to host visiting schools has meant that we have been able to join together as a community to renew acquaintances, enjoy the a day of rugby and give valued support to our rugby players.

This will again apply when St Joseph’s visit TAS and a great day of hard-fought rugby is on the cards.

From 1:30pm onwards the TAS Rugby Club invites you, and all interested members of the school community from TAS, Joey’s and beyond, to come together to relive past exploits, from both on and off the rugby field, and to make new friends from the wider schools’ community.

“Back to Backfield’ will be held at the Hoskins Centre at TAS from 1:30pm to 5pm. Drinks and light snacks will be provided with a cash bar for any alcoholic drinks.

Please mark Saturday 6 August in your diary and be sure to spread the word to anyone who may be interested to attend. An invitation with these details is attached for your convenience.

We look forward to seeing you on the sidelines at any time during the season but especially joining with us as we go ‘Back to Backfield’ on 6 August.

Warm regards

TAS Rugby Club

I will add any further updates as I get them.

Postscript two

The School is now posting results on the web site.

TAS Rugby Results (to August)

TAS 1sts

v High 1sts 81-0
v Grammar 1sts 45-24
v Newington 3rds 22-7
v King's 2nds 12-15
v Shore 3rds 8-0

TAS 2nds

v High 2nds 72-0
v Grammar 2nds 15-7
v Newington 4ths 22-20
v King's 4th 25-23
v Shore 5ths 44-0