American Rugby on the Rise

[scrumpox2]

Enlighten me Wert, what's it going to do?
I'm assuming that you think the sleeping giant will wake up, that the Olympic 7s will have an effect in the USA way over and above the effect in other participating nations and that 7s success will translate directly into success in the 15-a-side game.
Bottom line - where do you think the USA will be in the IRB world 15-a-side rankings in 1 year, 3 years, 5 years or are we talking even longer?

 

[SimonSmith]

Probably the same place, give or take a couple.

Until the money comes in, it's going have a limited potential.

 

[DrSTU]

Probably the same place, give or take a couple.

Until the money comes in, it's going have a limited potential.

We have a winner!

If all goes to plan (not my plan) the college rugby game will be THE big game here. We have the rugby college 7s elite coming up in Columbus soon and that is being broadcast live on NBC (MAJOR breakthrough).

The college teams have also formed the college premier league for next season and they have a really good product to sell to the TV people.

The popularity of rugby is taking off here but as SS says, it will always be a minority sport until sponsors get involved and it becomes a viable high school and college sport for kids to play.

The IRB won't change much in 5 years but will be going on the correct direction soon, we'll have to see how China do too

Without boring everyone, top grade rugby needs to get it's act together.

 

[Rit Hinners]

Presently, the vast majority of Americans don't even know that there is any rugby played in the USofA at all, yet it has been the "fastest growing sport" here for a while. That type of percentage increase is easy to acomplish when your numbers are so small. If you only have one team and you add only one more you have 100% growth.

Rugby's little brother being an Olympic sport will raise that awareness exponentially. It will also open a lot of wallets. Those wallets should raise our funding exponentially also.

I doubt that our IRB ratings will see much, if any, change in the 1,3 or 5 years you posit, however if you wait 10 to 15 years it just migh be remarkable.

 

[Davet]

If USA put money in they will lift player numbers, and that will help.

But it perhaps instructive to note that the world's best rugby nation has a small base of players - but its pretty much the ONLY sport the nation actually gets involved in.

Cultural ethos and consequent local bragging rights have normally been the drivers for acheivement. In almost any field.

Discuss in no more than 3,000 words -(8 Credits at Level 1)

 

[DrSTU]

If USA put money in they will lift player numbers, and that will help.

But it perhaps instructive to note that the world's best rugby nation has a small base of players - but its pretty much the ONLY sport the nation actually gets involved in.

Cultural ethos and consequent local bragging rights have normally been the drivers for acheivement. In almost any field.

Discuss in no more than 3,000 words -(8 Credits at Level 1)

I'm pretty sure that lots of people in South Africa play rugby and they also play football too (in fact I think more play that than rugby), don't forget Golf as well and definitely track based sports...

 

[Davet]

I'm pretty sure that lots of people in South Africa play rugby and they also play football too (in fact I think more play that than rugby), don't forget Golf as well and definitely track based sports...

Nice.

But shouldn't you use one of those facethingies as Chopper calls them when making provocative statements like NZ aren't the best rugby playing nation in the world?

 

[barker14610]

It's always about the money.

http://www.walker-sports.net/2010/05/mark-cuban-donates-25000-to-support.html

 

[DrSTU]

Nice.

But shouldn't you use one of those facethingies as Chopper calls them when making provocative statements like NZ aren't the best rugby playing nation in the world?

Oh, I thought that we were basing it on the fact that De Bokke are the World Champions and that the Bulls are the Super 14 champions AND that it's more than likely that either the stormers or Bulls will win it this year.

Appropriate facythingie

 

[Davet]

Difference between form and class, former is temporary, latter is permanent.

NZ have been the best rugby nation for generations - but apart from sheep farming that's all they do.

Being good at something that most of those who share your culture admire is probably more of a spur to greatness than earning loadsamoney doing something no one else you know gives a toss about.

Or at least that's the essence of my cultural thesis.

 

[Not Kurt Weaver]

It's always about the money.

http://www.walker-sports.net/2010/05/mark-cuban-donates-25000-to-support.html

20k to the winner. Perhaps it is the socialist in me, but I'm not to sure a cash prize is the answer to better rugby. My guess is Cal will win. I'm not sure they need the $ or need it to develop their program more.

How would you like to be the ref of that game? How much do you think his fee is for a game worth 20K? $100, $200 Which do you prefer after a throw forward call "you cost us the game" or "you cost us 20k"?

Lots of problems will come with $, steroids, gambling, bribes, lawsuits.

 

[David J.]

Money won't make the sport popular. That's backwards. Popular sports are a way to make money. USAR and the IRB have already pumped millions into developing top grade rugby with no success by any measure. Sports have to be developed from the ground up.

Lacrosse is the new soccer. Not because a lot of money was pumped into it some national team (is there one?), but because they were able to grow the sport among high schools and colleges. It's still amateur and tiny compared to the "Big Four" of American sports, but you can catch women's college lacrosse on one of the ESPN channels just by flipping around. Never seen rugby that way.

 

[SimonSmith]

NCAA? Scholarships? Paid coaching positions - Taht's where the money is needed to grow it in College

 

[barker14610]

Right you are Simon. Mark Cuban is an alumnus of Indiana University. He donated a bunch of money to the program a few yaers ago. They now have a very nice pitch with stands and lights. He is giving the program "plenty of money" for the preperation for this 7's tournament. A few years agho, IU was a rag tag group. With Mark Cuban's support they now have good coaching, nice equipment (including a fancy scrum machine) and play a nice brand of Rugby. They should challenge for the Midwest championship in the fall.

 

[Not Kurt Weaver]

Barker,


Do you think Mark Cuban would yell at any rugby refs like he does b-ball?

 

[didds]

I note the S-word has been bandied around already...

Soccer.

The US is BUNG full of hispanics and european 1st and 2nd generation types who DO "do" soccer. the base support for the sport is WAY larger I would wager than rugby in the US and has been so for a very long time... soccer I read is one of the most popular school sports. The US national team beat England SIXTY years ago in a world cup finals

But where does soccer sit in the grand scheme of US sport STILL?

Why would rugby buck the trend that soccer has demonstrated to date?

This isn't to knock the idea of growth of a rugby in the US howsoever it may be achieved... but it just seem likely IMO. Which isn't to say that I am happy with that situation particularly, just that I don;t see the status quo changing.

didds

 

[DrSTU]

I note the S-word has been bandied around already...

Soccer.

The US is BUNG full of hispanics and european 1st and 2nd generation types who DO "do" soccer. the base support for the sport is WAY larger I would wager than rugby in the US and has been so for a very long time... soccer I read is one of the most popular school sports. The US national team beat England SIXTY years ago in a world cup finals

But where does soccer sit in the grand scheme of US sport STILL?

Why would rugby buck the trend that soccer has demonstrated to date?

This isn't to knock the idea of growth of a rugby in the US howsoever it may be achieved... but it just seem likely IMO. Which isn't to say that I am happy with that situation particularly, just that I don;t see the status quo changing.

didds

What's soccer!

I live in the 8th largest US city and 1 hr away from the 2nd and between us we can only sustain 1 MLS team and that only attracts 20,000 people on average.

A lot of people may DO soccer but very few care about it. Rugby needs to fill that niche. Maybe Friday night games, maybe midweek (logistical nightmare), who knows. We have to make rugby a viable (read cheap) alternative to American football for the schools and then promote it that way.

As has been mentioned on this thread already the vocabulary here is directly linked to American football as to make it familiar and that's not a bad thing.

 

[barker14610]

Soccer is very big among kids. Two of mine play. But, most drift away by the time they are teenagers. That is when we just get them into Rugby. There were 426,000 lacrosse players in 2006. Ther's the comeptition I think. But, it is expensive.
I do think Mark Cuban would yell at the refs. I would have him become a ref coach if he still lived here. He keeps all kinds of stats and trends on the refs.

 

[barker14610]

This is pretty interesting. It seems that you would want to have higher earners as a bigger part of your fan base. Maybe Simon Thomas will share his advertising wisdom as to this:


http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/110930

 

[SimonSmith]

Money goes where money is....