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Rugby News from unexpected places

WorkingClassRugger

WorkingClassRugger

Michael Lynagh (62)
Beer Baron said:
(Aimed at those in the know like WCR) How is the Pro Rugby tournament going? Are crowd numbers building or steady?
Was the Americas 6 nations a success - apart from Chile there were no flags so one would hope it was deemed successful. Rugby taking off in the Americas would do wonders for the sport. Rugby games already lack atmosphere - and flares.
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It's beginning to settle now. Crowds are sitting in and around the 2,500 mark which is what they were hoping for. Will be interesting to see what kind of turnout Denver get this weekend. Only their second home for the season. They managed 2300 in what were terrible conditions on the opening weekend. Considering they are the form team of the competition they should do okay.

Back to the crowds. Something most people haven't realised is that this year is essentially the competitions beta test. It has caused confusion for some particularly with the lack of team names.Though ProRugby have just launched their naming competition to resolve that.

One issue until recently has been broadcast. Their TV partner has only provided one crew for the season which means if both games are on a Sunday then they have fo choose which one misses out. Fortunately as the club season is winding up in the US they can now play more games on a Sat/Sun schedule.

Overall, it appears the beta is proving sucessful. Though ProRugby's ability to bring sponsors on board for next season will be a key commercial factor. I think a lot of fans are not necessarily engaging just yet, opting to wait and see how it goes. I think if they are able to come out at the end of the current season with an announcement of more teams (they've stated they want 10 for next season) and follow it with bringing a more mainstream broadcaster online with sponsors a lot of those who have been watching from the sidelines will look to get on board.
 
WorkingClassRugger

WorkingClassRugger

Michael Lynagh (62)
A for the game in the Americas. I've long thought of it as a huge growth market for Rugby. Particularly Sth America. According to some sources there are supposed to in around a million participants in Sth America but from what I can see the real figure is about half that. Still, the positive is there is now a regional strategy being put in place to drive the games growth at a rate of around 10% annually.

In regards to the Americas Rugby Championship. It was a great success on the fielld and for the likes of Brazil has seen a jump in interest and attention do,estically. In thr recent Sth American Championships they've seen around a 40% growth in attendance and on both home games have seen their games outrate Brazil national Basketball league (second biggest league in the country behind Soccer) by a factor of two.

In regards to Chile, they really need to get their act together. Somethibg that I think came home big time in the ARC. They've sat on their hands of late, not helped by some financial issues, while their competitors have been initiating high performance programs and extensive developments efforts.

Hopefully the Chilean RU succeeds in getting the game on the national cirriculum via their 'Rugby for all' program which will help a lot.

Finally, keep an eye out for Colombia. World Rugby has been quite open in their desire to see the game in Mexico grow but have also recently increased their funding of the game in Colombia tenfold. It's in regard for the Colombian RU's efforts over the past 5 years. At the beginning of the 2011-2015 RWC cycle the CRFU initiated an ambitious developmenr plan to grow their base from around 5,000 players to 10,000. They managed to do that in two years. By the ebd of the cycle they had 16,000 players (I mean actual regular players) with around 70% of them being youth players.
 
Highlander35

Highlander35

Steve Williams (59)
WCR You seem to have your head switched on in these matters

Should A Tours make a comeback? Obviously not for your USA/Canada/Japan/Fiji/Samoa/Tonga type Nations.

But if, say, one of the 6 Nations sides was to send a second side to play a Brazil/Chile/Uruguay trio, or a Kenya/Zimbabwe/Namibia one in the June international period, would the first trio provide a necessary standard it would mutually benefit both teams?

I was thinking about this the other day. Because of a shortened tour, and small squad selected we're not really blooding any new players, and a 30 or so man A tour would have been a useful way to both tie players and bring them into the fold, mostly the Glasgow and Edinburgh boys uninjured and unselected on the Japan tour with a handful of boys in the Premiership and Championship.
 
Omar Comin'

Omar Comin'

Chilla Wilson (44)
WorkingClassRugger said:
Finally, keep an eye out for Colombia. World Rugby has been quite open in their desire to see the game in Mexico grow but have also recently increased their funding of the game in Colombia tenfold. It's in regard for the Colombian RU's efforts over the past 5 years. At the beginning of the 2011-2015 RWC cycle the CRFU initiated an ambitious developmenr plan to grow their base from around 5,000 players to 10,000. They managed to do that in two years. By the end of the cycle they had 16,000 players (I mean actual regular players) with around 70% of them being youth players.
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It was definitely cool and unexpected to see Colombia qualify ahead of Argentina for the women's olympic sevens tournament.

Has that participation growth also translated to improved results at youth international level?
 
WorkingClassRugger

WorkingClassRugger

Michael Lynagh (62)
Highlander35 said:
WCR You seem to have your head switched on in these matters

Should A Tours make a comeback? Obviously not for your USA/Canada/Japan/Fiji/Samoa/Tonga type Nations.

But if, say, one of the 6 Nations sides was to send a second side to play a Brazil/Chile/Uruguay trio, or a Kenya/Zimbabwe/Namibia one in the June international period, would the first trio provide a necessary standard it would mutually benefit both teams?

I was thinking about this the other day. Because of a shortened tour, and small squad selected we're not really blooding any new players, and a 30 or so man A tour would have been a useful way to both tie players and bring them into the fold, mostly the Glasgow and Edinburgh boys uninjured and unselected on the Japan tour with a handful of boys in the Premiership and Championship.
Click to expand...


Yeah! I think they'd be a good initiative for the likes of Brazil, Chile, Kenya etc. I'd even suggest sending U20s national teams as I think they'd be more even to start.
 
WorkingClassRugger

WorkingClassRugger

Michael Lynagh (62)
Omar Comin' said:
It was definitely cool and unexpected to see Colombia qualify ahead of Argentina for the women's olympic sevens tournament.

Has that participation growth also translated to improved results at youth international level?
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Not yet. Most of that participation is too young to compete at the junior age grade levels at the moment. Could be a few years yet. But considering what they were able to do with the equivalent of $36,000 a year from WR (World Rugby) imagine what they could achieve with 10x that.

Edit: I just found the information about the funding for Colombian Rugby. Only $22,000 of the $36,000 came from World Rugby (roughly 49m Colombian Pesos) while the other $14,000 was from sponsorship(34m Colombian Pesos). World Rugby have have increased tgere funding by a factor of ten. But what is also promising is that their sponsorship levels have also followed suit from 34million Pesos to 340million Pesos.
 
WorkingClassRugger

WorkingClassRugger

Michael Lynagh (62)
Hey guys, I have a favour to ask. ProRugby has launched their team naming competition. They received over 4,000 submissions including a number of mine. Turns out two of my submissions have been shortlisted to the final three. The two are the Denver Stampede and the San Diego Breakers. Now, voting on the final three has started. Stampede is comfortably ahead by about 10 points (though I hope you all follow through on my request with it as well) but Breakers is leading in a tight race.

If it's not too much trouble, could you all just pop over to prorugby.org and vote. Ideally for my submissions. They haven't announced what the prize is yet. But I want it anyway.:)
 
WorkingClassRugger

WorkingClassRugger

Michael Lynagh (62)
Thanks to everyone who has voted. One of them seems to be fairly certain (Stampede) and the other one (Breakers) while still close opened a little more of a lead. Hopefully enough tp hold out until tomorrow.

RugbyFuture,

I wouldn't be surprised if they do something similar for their logos. If you want I can keep an eye out for you if you're interested. Might be a good portfolio builder.
 
RugbyFuture

RugbyFuture

Lord Logo
Please do, would be keen, though the american aesthetic is a bit more commercial than what I'm used to in terms of sports logos, that might be what they're after.
 
BarneySF

BarneySF

Bob Loudon (25)
neilc said:
No issues with paywall for me - excellent article, really interesting to see this start from scratch. I hope that it continues to develop.
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Interesting to see this guy as the champion for the game here in the US. No rugby background and a relatively recent 'fan'. Obviously a businessman first, but all the power to him.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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