Not sure if there will be a letter from King Charles III but the Shute Shield turns 100 years old this season and to mark that occasion the Sydney Rugby Rugby have produced an excellent promotional video.

Narrated by former Wallaby and Eastwood legend Brett Papworth, the mini documentary traces the history of the greatest club competition in the world from its beginning on the back of a tragedy in 1923 to the present day.

It looks at all the great eras and the casting call is extensive to say the least.

Around The Traps watched the longer version and the people interviewed included Wallaby coach Eddie Jones, Stirling Mortlock, Mick Martin, Nick Farr-Jones, Jed Holloway, Scott Fava and Simon Poidevin.

And that’s just the Wallabies with deep connection to the most tribal competition in this part of the world.

They all spoke about what the Shute Shield gave them and the critical role that it played in their playing careers and lives after Rugby.

There’s a few of those pesky journos and commentators there as well with Iain Payten from the SMH and Stan Sport caller Sean Maloney saying their bit. 

Maloney was particularly insightful.

It’s well worth a look and will be about on most of the Rugby social streams as the season heads to the finals.

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Many say that it was the most significant Shute Shield grand final victory of recent times and it must be said that’s hard to argue against in light of what came from that 80 minutes in 1983 at the old Sydney Sports Ground.

Manly under the guidance of soon to be Wallaby coach Alan Jones, beat an international studded Randwick side in one of the great premiership deciders.

The score was tight at 12-10 but it did show that Jones was a coach that may have some success a bit further up the pathway and that’s the way it turned out.

His “Blues” side was gnarly and tough and got their noses in front thanks mostly to a 31-17 line-out count – engineered by skipper Steve Williams mostly – that starved the Randwick backline featuring the three Ella brothers of too many opportunities.

That 1983 side will come together on Saturday for a special lunch to celebrate the 40 years since that grand achievement before heading to the Village Green to see the Marlins take on the Galloping Greens.

ShuteCast host Anthony Bergelin will MC the soire and I’m sure there will be many stories to tell from the reunion.

Two of that side though will be missing with Tony Cox and Oli Hall not with us anymore – I’m sure that they will be looking on. 

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We’re heading into Rugby lunch season and already a number of Shute Shield clubs have put on highly-entertaining afternoons as we head towards the looming Test season and of course the Rugby World Cup at the back end of the year.

Around The Traps was lucky enough to head along to Norths’ annual ‘Bon’ Andrew luncheon at Harbourside, Darling Harbour and joined in on a reunion of the club’s 1993 reserve grade premiership side.

That Colin Caird winning side was the first Norths team to win a title after the club had clawed its way back to the first division.

They flew in from all points north, south, east and west for the coming together and by the time Adam Ashley-Cooper, Greg Clark and Graeme Bond had finished the entertainment many were feeling bullet-proof.

The Pontoon Bar was a familiar haunt to see out the rest of the afternoon and I’m sure that as the sun set over Darling Harbour the stories got bigger and better.

Speaking of that I’m reliably informed that one of the lunch attendees nodded off on his train home after dark and only woke up when it was rattling its way over the Hawkesbury River.

Meanwhile on the northern beaches Waratahs coach Darren Coleman was wowing  them at the Manly Marlins luncheon.

Not to be outdone one of the attendees, I’m told, decided to have a nap amongst the garden gnomes in his front garden before heading in the front door.

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The Rebel Burger, an institution at Forshaw Rugby Park for many years, has undergone something of a transformation and the word filtering through to Around The Traps has been mixed.

The ‘RB’ was renowned for doing the simple things well in the footy food stakes – good beef patty, excellent bread roll, a bit of tomato, maybe a handful of lettuce and the sauce of your choice.

The new age rebel though dabbles in a couple of unfamiliar areas with spicy pickles and a Big Mac style sauce thrown into the mix like a mystery box challenge on Masterchef.

Final judgement won’t be made until this column has got his choppers across one of those big boys!

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No wonder there was a rush to head to Los Angeles a couple of years back when the LA Giltinis dropped on to the Major League Rugby scene.

According to a report in the Australian Financial Review last weekend, un-named players were offered F45 franchises in “available” territories for free if they signed up.

The gyms would attract no licence ($50,000) or marketing fees ($25,000) while the branded equipment ($125,000) would be supplied free of charge.

All up that is close to $US200,000 value but in return they would agree to promote F45 and its franchises on their socials as well as getting other high profile sports stars on board.

That’s a lot more than your average Shute Shield stipend!

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Wow, wow, wow. You couldn’t help but come away impressed with the wait that the Western Sydney Two Blues put Eastwood to the sword last weekend at ‘The Eric’

The score ended up being 60-28 but it sent out a warning to all the other sides in the Shute Shield about the run home to the playoffs.

The Two Blues sit in eighth spot as we head into Round 13 and looking at their draw they must be a decent chance of making the six-team cut.

It revolves around beating Souths this weekend and also West Harbour and hope that they can get some sort of recent against Sydney Uni, Manly, Randwick or Gordon.

It’s a tough road but not impossible!