US Rugby's Strategic Plan

[rowan]

US Rugby's strategic plan: https://www.rugbystrategy.us

[Puja]

Thought this deserved a new thread instead of being at the end of the misplaced-optimism-for-Pro-Rugby thread.

Mind, that link looks very much like misplaced optimism in terms of calling it a plan. Is it just me or is that website 90% marketing bollocks, 9% management reshuffling and 1% "We're going to consolidate our efforts to these six areas and screw the rest of the country." It's alarmingly light on details about what the plan actually involves, to the extent that I think they might be hoping that their goals just happen by themselves.

I was expecting some kind of plan on professional rugby - the sensible approach would be to use the assets already in play - the professional teams in Texas, the fact that there's now a good stadium and a ready crowd in Obetz from Pro Rugby, the English and French clubs that want to invest to get their branding into the US market, the marketing bonanza available from the US national side continually getting Tier 1 tests, etc. If they can't piece together an 8 team tournament out of that, then they need shooting.

Puja

[rowan]

Thought this deserved a new thread instead of being at the end of the misplaced-optimism-for-Pro-Rugby thread.

Mind, that link looks very much like misplaced optimism in terms of calling it a plan. Is it just me or is that website 90% marketing bollocks, 9% management reshuffling and 1% "We're going to consolidate our efforts to these six areas and screw the rest of the country." It's alarmingly light on details about what the plan actually involves, to the extent that I think they might be hoping that their goals just happen by themselves.

I was expecting some kind of plan on professional rugby - the sensible approach would be to use the assets already in play - the professional teams in Texas, the fact that there's now a good stadium and a ready crowd in Obetz from Pro Rugby, the English and French clubs that want to invest to get their branding into the US market, the marketing bonanza available from the US national side continually getting Tier 1 tests, etc. If they can't piece together an 8 team tournament out of that, then they need shooting.

Puja

Pretty much sums up North American rugby administration. I tend to think with the US & Canada there's a fair bit of arrogance to blame. They see themselves, rightfully, as world leaders in terms of professional sports organization, marketing and promotion, etc. Nobody does it better in terms of mainstream pro sports. But unfortunately the same models simply cannot be applied to non-mainstream professional sports and US soccer spent many decades grappling with this misconception (while Canadian soccer seems to have missed the boat entirely). A more practical approach is required, along with a willingness to eat a little humble pie and actually try to learn from the structures in place in the elite playing nations.

One of the keys to the Southern Hemisphere dominance of the sport is the regional competitions which provide a bridge between club and international level. These were in place long before Super Rugby, btw, with provincial championships in NZ, SA & Argentina and an inter-state rivalry in Australia.

The only country in the Northern Hemisphere with anything similar is Ireland, albeit with just four or five regions, and they've been punching above their weight for a while now. I seem to recall England actually trialled a regional system back around the nineties or something, but with a lack of any meaningful identity the competition failed to generate interest and didn't last long.

The US and Canada, on the other hand, have genuine, ready-made states and provinces. I wonder if, instead of a professional club league, they might not have been better served to go with a state-based league similar to Super Rugby, ultimately with the inclusion of Canadian provinces. To hell with the Sacramento Express & San Diego Breakers. Bring on the Californian Grizzlies and the British Columbian Bears!!

[rowan]

Interesting blog:

This is not truly meant to be about John Mitchell, but I believe it is very important to address and what MLR's role could be going forward. Mitchell went 7-5-2 in his tenure as the Eagles Head Coach. He was hired by the now embattled former CEO Nigel Melville whom left USAR in bad financial shape from his nine year run. It was Nigel's legacy of hiring expensive, but successful coaches to only replace them with cheap hires, and then rebound again with the current 7s coach Mike Friday and Mitchell for XVs before his departure this summer following the Emirates Summer Series.

Why this is important to me is you have to understand where the Eagles were prior to him taking the reigns. Under Tolkin the Eagles failed to win a game in the 2015 RWC, losses to both Samoa and Japan were devastating, but the issues ran much deeper with management of specific players. Japan being a team we had beaten often in international play, under Eddie O'Sullivan we had taken a victory during the Rugby World Cup in 2011 by defeating Russia.

Many would attempt to disparage Mitchell for not moving to the US and USAR was in negotiations to get him to the US full-time. Mike Friday does not live in the US Full time. That's a fact. He spends a tremendous amount of time here because of the 7s residence program, and having to run training camp prior to the start of the HSBC Sevens World Series. But he most definitely returns home to England when the series is over. So why should Mitchell get beat up about this? In addition to asking Mitchell to move to the US full time, USAR attempted to negotiate a pay cut. Now I wanted him to be fully entrenched in build the Eagles to Tier 1 status on the field. But Mitchell not living here is but one problem, we don't have full time coaching staffs for our age grade teams, either done on an ad-hoc or volunteer basis. But when you're attempting to re-negotiate a contract you have to provide someone an incentive. Where was the incentive? There wasn't one. What does it say about how USAR, and how it has been run over the last 10 years that we can't even keep our coach? I have tremendous faith in the current CEO, he's the only one of USAR's top level officials not lying to the members or to each other. He had to cut costs across the spectrum, so attempting to re-negotiate is not a fault.

Mitchell blooded a lot players in his 18 months and built a squad that was only taking capped players to the Emirate's Summer Series with a legitimate chance of going 4-0 or 3-1, the rumor and subsequent confirmation that he would take the reigns of The Bulls. Mitchell had been previously rumored to be the target of both Oyonnax and the London Irish, they could easily pay Mitchell more. And in the end, I'm super mad about the loss of a coach who had put the train back on the track, and saddened that he wasn't truly invested in the project of leading the Eagles and helping to develop the American Coaching and Playing Style. I understand the purpose of him coaching through the Summer, but what's the point? Let him go now.

Developing a High Performance Coaching Pipeline

Soon enough Major League Rugby will be starting training camp with nine and possibly a tenth team hitting the pitch starting in January. After the now defunct PRO Rugby closed it's door in December with the cancellation of all player contracts and the release of their three remaining coaches earlier in the Spring. MLR will be the highest echelon of domestic competition. The professional coaching staffs that have been announced are extremely impressive from Head Coaches in Eugene Eloff, Justin Fitzpatrick, and Dave Williams to name a few.

Major League Rugby needs to succeed over time to provide a high performance coaching pipeline for young coaches. Currently there is no incentive in the vast majority of the Club System to generate international level coaching. (The majority of clubs have 1 Player-Coach) There are very few collegiate programs that can generate that type of investment in coaching. I would say there are roughly only 8 programs that can demand that level of commitment with the compensation they can possibly offer. Eventually when the structure is similar to that of Football with a Professional, Collegiate, and High School profession of coaching the National side will be reliant on foreign coaches. That is something that eventually must end if we are to be Tier 1.

Over time MLR will have a Academy U20 program and hopefully U23 sides with full staffs. Coaches, similar to players in a Daily Training Environment only get better. Volunteer coaches cannot become elite coaches unless they progress into paid and elite pathways. Coaches need to learn how to develop players at the amateur level, then volunteer at the collegiate level and eventually break into a paid vocation. But without something like Major League Rugby, the elite American coach will be extremely rare. The goal of MLR over it's life is to be the best Rugby Union Competition in the world, attracting the best players and coaches from across the world.

Their support of developing local clubs doesn't just extend to the youth, high school, and senior players. It extends to their coaching staffs, there will be a professional alliance between the local clubs and the MLR franchise. I believe that the quality of Club Rugby will tremendously increase in the areas that have an MLR franchise and that will force the rest of us to raise our level of coaching and play.

For every year that Major League Rugby exists, will be another year that will inspire young men to join the Rugby Coaching profession with the intention of earning a wage with their coaching skills around the pitch. Not only is the success of MLR key to the development of Rugby Players in the United States, but it is also key to the success of Rugby Coaching Development. When there is the chance of wage based compensation the number of young men and women going into the profession will dramatically increase both the quality and quantity of personnel. I think you will see a dramatic shift in the landscape of American Rugby. Colleges will desire to increase the spread of their brand by turning their Club Rugby Programs into High Performance Clubs that are in Daily Training Environments with Head Coaches earning a solid wage and granting the use of NCAA training facilities, this will prepare the collegiate Athlete for a chance to earn a wage both on and off the pitch rather than just off. There will be a drastic increase in the number of Single School-High School programs with the HC being on campus much like that of the football coach, they will wear their school's colors as the Stater High School Athletic Associations certify and govern the sport and coaches will have to do the same thing as their football counterparts: Win Games and Develop their athletes for College or Rugby Academy Selection. The Youth coaches will be focused on preparing to send their players on to the High School coaches and then getting them back in the off-season much like in travel-soccer/travel-baseball. The Senior Men's clubs will become more competitive hoping to be scouted and selected for a Rugby Academy and win a high level national club championship.

The American Rugby Community needs Major League Rugby, not just to develop players for Eagle Selection, but more importantly to grow the game by providing the opportunity for growth and development of American Rugby Coaches. In 5-10 years, with the success of Major League Rugby it will not matter when an Eagles Coach leaves or is fired, there will be stable of qualified Professional and Collegiate coaches ready to be called.


https://thestrobro.blogspot.com.tr/2017 ... cceed.html

[rowan]

[rowan]

Mike Ford could be the next head coach of USA. https://www.lequipe.fr/Rugby/Actualites ... ial/816621

[rowan]

Too many arrogant rednecks involved at admin level, in my view...

Whither U.S. Rugby?

In 1975 I was 16, and the United States Rugby Football Union was a baby, the ink from the signatures on the Union Charter, my father’s included, barely dry. Those founding fathers saw the need for a national governing body if the sport was to grow beyond the territorial unions. Today, that union, now known as USA Rugby (USAR), is being criticized for, among other things, being unresponsive, insular, and of creating a culture, not of excellence, but of mediocrity.

In 1975 very few kids, from grade school through high school, played rugby, soccer, or lacrosse. Today, we’re well into the third decade of the youth soccer boom, and the day I saw a middle school boy in my neighborhood riding his bike with a lacrosse stick strapped to the back, I knew that lacrosse had arrived. The Seattle Sounders, our MLS team, consistently draw 40,000 passionate fans to their games, and I can watch the NCAA Lacrosse Championships on television every spring. Soccer and lacrosse have leapfrogged rugby, and become popular, ubiquitous, and money-generating sports. (It pains me to write that sentence, since rugby is 100 times more awesome than either of those sports.)

Yet, 40 years after a group of visionary men (yeah, all men…this was 1975, after all), came together on behalf of a sport they loved, Americans who wanted to watch the Rugby World Cup, one of the most popular sporting events in the world, were forced to pay for the privilege. And the post-tournament comments from USAR, meant to mollify fans disappointed with the performance of the Eagles, were, yes, a celebration of mediocrity. We should be long past the point of patting ourselves on the back for simply having qualified for the World Cup. Long past.

I’m aware that youth rugby is growing – my nieces, both under 10, have participated in multiple rugby camps, and there are many passionate, hard-working folks driving the engine that is youth rugby. Kudos to them. It appears to me, however, that this movement is organized and funded at the local level, and not significantly supported by the national union. And once introduced to the sport, where do these kids set their sights? High school teams? There are a few, but by no means does every high school have a rugby team. Playing for the Eagles, the national team? The American sports fan, and their children, like winners. Forty years into this experiment, the Eagles just went 0-4 in the Rugby World Cup. Not winning.

What about club rugby? The Seattle Saracens are currently ranked number one in the nation, yet attending their games is little different from attending games 40 years ago – sparse crowds milling along the sideline, no PR, nothing mentioned on the local sports radio or television. If you’re not a part of the rugby community, you likely have never heard of the Seattle Saracens. Few clubs have their own facilities. If the national union is involved in supporting club rugby, they’ve been about as successful with that initiative as they’ve been guiding our national team to victories. From what I can see, clubs are doing it on their own.

There are people in the rugby community who want to shake things up, effect change, and create a culture of accountability, of transparency, and, most importantly, of excellence. Naturally, there are many naysayers, purveyors of the status quo, who question the history, motives, or intentions of those who want a rugby revolution. Who say they should work within the current system despite the fact that the current system appears to be an abject failure. Who say that it’s disrespectful to criticize our national team players or coaches for results that hardly bear scrutiny, much less praise. These are people who consider treading water a success. Well, the only situation in which treading water is a success is when somebody’s drowning, and I daresay that US rugby is in danger of slipping under the water.

Rugby is a magnificent game – one HAS to think that a national union with a clear vision, a plan developed with input from stakeholders and executed in an environment of transparency and accountability, would have moved the game forward ON ALL LEVELS far beyond where we are now.

I remember 1975 like it was yesterday, but it wasn’t yesterday. I’ve learned a great deal in the intervening 40 years, and consider myself at least a moderate success in almost every arena (other than marriage – I suck at that).

Can we say the same thing about USA Rugby? And, if not, what do we do about it?

https://kimwordsmithdotcom.wordpress.co ... comment-10

[rowan]

Food for thought:

It's perfectly reasonable to think that the above headline is ridiculous. All you have to do is look at Houston's signing of Osea Kolinisau this week to say that Major League Rugby is progressing toward their inaugural season. However, with now less than six months before players would be reporting to training camps what the competition will exactly look like is up in the air. Should we be worried?

Let's start with the positives. When you talk to folks in and around MLR they talk about how this is being done organically. The idea is that MLR teams, for the most part, and growing out of existing rugby clubs and communities. A lot of the infrastructure is already built in and there is a base of support that can help make things happen. Additionally, the league salaries are mostly going to be on a gameday basis. That's more sustainable from a payroll perspective than a season salary. Obviously there are exceptions for bigger name players like Kolinisau but when you aren't shelling out 20k for each player it's much more affordable. Even if a player played 12 matches for a club at $500 a game that's only 6k for the whole year.

Take the jump to read more.
Another positive is that the league has buy-in from all members. Reportedly each team had to put up a good chunk of money just to make it this far. Few people would make that type of financial commitment unless they were serious about doing something. The competition also seems to have the backing of stakeholders within U.S.A. Rugby which is helpful as well.

All of that said, there are things to worry about. When you look at the status of each team it becomes even more apparent that what we think MLR will look is probably not how it will turn out:

Glendale Raptors--No problems here. They have the backing of the City of Glendale as well as a private investor. They have their own stadium and a group of players as strong as any in the country. They could rival any PRO team in terms of talent.

Houston Strikers--Again, no problems. The Strikers have made a lot of good signings in the past few months and they have a solid plan. You have to also give them a lot of credit for being active in the media as well. They face the the task of building a team from scratch, including a fan base. Having an active presence locally is only going to help.

Austin Huns--Like the Raptors and the Strikers they seem to have everything is place. They have the players, they coaching staff, and the organization to be successful.

Rugby Utah--Utah may not have brought in national team players or overseas players but they have a very solid organization, a great rugby market in Utah, and the ability to be successful. They are choosing to use a development model with local players and given the talent in Utah it's only a matter of time before they reach another level. They may struggle in the first year but as an organization they won't be any problem.

Seattle--Once you get past the four teams above it gets a little murky. Nothing has been heard from Seattle since they were included in the press release. They also lost their coach to Houston as well as one of their best players. It's worrying that nothing has come out of Seattle but at the same time the Saracens, who would presumably be the base of the team, are as good of a club as there is in America. They may have had a drop in level of play from a few years ago but with Canadian talent from British Columbia presumably available they can create something. Again, without info it's hard to tell.

Dallas--They made news with their hiring of Mike Ford as head coach but they haven't done anything since. They have no presence in the local media and it's unclear who is in their player base. The Griffins, who are supposedly behind the team, have had some troubles in recent years and rumors have swirled that they don't have the financial backing they once had. You would think that after making a splash with the Ford hiring that they would have followed it up with something. It's worrying they haven't. Like some other teams on this list it's hard to see them competing with teams that are already stocking their rosters with some of the best talent in the country.

New Orleans--The team hired Nate Osborne, which is a great hire, but like Dallas there hasn't been anything else besides a few social media posts. Like Dallas, if they are going to rely on local help they could be in a lot of trouble talent wise.

Kansas City--They've partnered with the Blues but outside of social media accounts that promote the Blues there hasn't been anything.

Minneapolis--We haven't heard anything from them and they even lost Osborne to New Orleans.

So when you actually look at the list there are only four solid teams ready and one or two maybes. That's not good. The idea of a nine team competition is probably not going to happen and if it did the talent disparity and readiness between the top teams and the rest could make for a lot of blowouts. Say what you will about PRO Rugby but at least Steve Lewis did his best to make parity among the teams.

Even more, the experience from PRO Rugby looks to have made some players skittish, especially if they are going to get paid on a per game basis. Having Colorado and Utah in the competition is a good thing but you are also going to miss out on all the talent in California and the East Coast. Maybe they have a plan for that but we don't know. They haven't been the best at communicating.

We've reached out MLR several times to try and get answers to some of these key questions but we're always told they can't comment right now. Some of that is understandable. You don't want to announce something unless you are solid but at the same time the fact that basic things like "where are you going to play" and "what teams will be in the competition" haven't been answered by now are worrying. They also talked about waiting to have a PR team in place but if there is one there isn't an evidence it's doing something. Fans are ready to get excited but they need something to get excited about.

Again, we want to stress that the purpose of this piece is not to downgrade MLR. Far from it. The league's success is only good for American rugby and therefore American rugby news websites. We want it to succeed. However, at this point it feels like some of the same blindness we as a community showed to PRO Rugby because we were so desperate for professional rugby is shining through again. That in no way is meant to equate MLR with PRO it's just meant to encourage people to take a step back and possibly tamper some of their expectations. That doesn't mean cheer any less or get any less excited with a team signs a gold medalist--make no mistake, that is big news--but more to be happy with what emerges.

http://www.thisisamericanrugby.com/2017 ... l?spref=fb

[rowan]

Something to watch if you're either a) ridiculously obsessed with US rugby, b) insanely bored with a few hours to kill:

[rowan]

Thirty five young American players and coaches will be coming to England in 2018 on Premiership Rugby Scholarships as part of a ground-breaking initiative in partnership with the Friends of the British Council, AEG Rugby, USA Rugby and NBC Sports.

As part of the legacy from Newcastle Falcons’ Aviva Premiership Rugby clash with Saracens in Philadelphia at the weekend 20 teenage players and 15 coaches will be given a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to England and spend a week with Premiership Rugby clubs. They will look at what it takes to be a coach or player in the best and most competitive league in the world whilst taking part in a series of high-level rugby and knowledge transfer sessions.

The American Series – which kicked off with the Newcastle Falcons and Saracens match – brought together new grassroots opportunities for the American rugby community including:

• Clinics for players aged 15-24
• Coach Education Clinics
• Youth Flag Rugby Tournament

Scholarship winners at link below:

Read more at http://www.premiershiprugby.com/scholar ... YL7SWPq.99

[rowan]

Director of rugby Gary Gold is to leave Worcester Warriors at the end of the season and take over as head coach of the USA national team. The 50-year-old South African joined Warriors in January this year and guided them to Premiership safety.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/41470141

[Mellsblue]

There may be some competition from rugby league:

Toronto Wolfpack owner Eric Perez plans to launch two more American sides
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/41544831

[Mellsblue]

Not sure whether this was part of the strategic plan: