For those of you that may not know, for the first time all collegiate teams from both Div I and Div II men and women met in one place to begin the national championship tournament. USA Rugby served as the official host this year and pulled the matches off campuses and away from regional venues in favor of a national “festival” atmosphere.
First the good – I like the idea of being able to catch up with other collegiate coaches and trade notes on successes and failures, what works and what doesn’t, and other issues associated with collegiate rugby. I was able to catch up with some good friends and fellow coaches throughout the weekend. Having USA Rugby in town in force would in theory make things easier to manage. The fields were very wide and in great shape allowing for some exciting wide open play. They got decent goal posts up and for the most part they were straight. National level coaches and selectors got a good look at a lot of players. Albuquerque is a beautiful area, the local folks were very nice and the weather was fantastic.
Now, for the bad…
What’s the score?
Easily the most asked question of the weekend. How an event like this could be scheduled, planned and executed without anyone saying “hey, shouldn’t we get scoreboards?” is absolutely beyond me. This was a $100 problem for each field. Just go get one of those flip chart style (volleyball, etc) score boards and be done with it. Give them to local high schools once the event is over. Seems so simple… This isn’t ultimate Frisbee, we care who wins and by how much – even if it is a hundred.
Scheduling
While it was nice to have all the Div 1 teams in one place, most of the games were played near or at the same time meaning I actually got to watch less rugby this year than in year's past even though there were 10 times more teams. I understand all that same amount of rest stuff but why the heck couldn’t the games have been spaced out a bit more is beyond my comprehension…
Fields
While the fields were good and wide, flat (for the most part) and full length, they only had 10 yard try zones. But, probably the biggest issue was the barriers marking off the fields and the close proximity to each other. The restraining barriers were about 15 feet off the field and featured iron fence posts. That seemed very dangerous and unnecessary considering the amount of space that appeared to be available. The field we played Army on was parallel to the field that Cal and Cal Poly was playing on at about the same time meaning that the headliner match was only about 45 feet away. We had balls flying all over our field plus at one point a cameraman was a good 20 feet on our field filming an interview with some National Guard dude… No kidding… it was halftime of the Cal game and they were broadcasting it live. There he stood right out on our field oblivious to our game. Probably the biggest issue though was a set of bleachers that had been rolled in for the Cal match that were only that same 15 feet from the field. I know at least two players went into those things during the Cal game. Given the available space, it all seemed very dangerous to me.
Medical
By all accounts the medical staff in the park was very professional and proficient with their care. However, we had to have a player transported to the hospital for further evaluation and was surprised that the ER personnel indicated they had no idea that there was a rugby event in town. Also, apparently we were a bit lucky with the ambulance as it was there for another call and wasn't stationed there for the day.
Match Officials
Referees were plentiful and competent but I was a bit confused by the "game management" packet that was given out on the eve of the event. Inside were some directives and illustrations on what would and would not be allowed at the tackle and in the ruck. Some of this had been debated around here a couple of months ago and we received stern notice that a specific type of rucking would not be allowed. Then, what do you know, I open this packet and inside is the very rucking technique in question and it says that its going to be allowed on the weekend. It would have been nice to know that months ago. Wonder which teams did?
Filming
I don’t know of a Division I club that doesn’t film their games. Heck we’ve been known to film practices in the past. Plus, since we all played at the same time, we would have had to have a second camera just to film our opponent for the next day. No provision was made to assist teams with filming which seemed short sighted. Teams were going out to Home Depot and buying step ladders just to have a decent vantage point for filming. How hard would it have been to put up some scaffolding at each field? Again, that seemed to be a $100 problem.
National Guard
There was a presence but not really an overbearing one. Some feared it would be a huge recruiting event which it wasn’t. Not really an issue or a benefit from what I saw. But, since the National Guard is probably $1M into it with rugby sponsorship of the collegiate game, their presence was probably a bit understated. The sad part is that those that were opposed to all teams being in the same location from the beginning tend to blame the National Guard.
Media
Much has been made by the (only) two articles that appeared in the Albuquerque Journal about the event. One seemed to painfully be focused on the women’s anti-social behavior associated with the sport and the other seemed content to focus on the women’s NCAA initiative. What a missed opportunity… Of course, with the climate that exists with USA Rugby on this issue, I’m not surprised. That’s a topic for another day.
And finally, cost…
It cost us $18k just to get a traveling party of 40 to Albuquerque. In 2007 it cost us $9k to get 45 to Penn State and in 2006 it cost us $9K to get 50 to West Point. Obviously, keeping teams on their own side of the country so they can bus the trip is a financial benefit for the participant. The sport will soon price teams right out of the competition if this isn’t addressed at some point. That’s also a topic for another day.
Bottom Line…Interesting idea and it had potential but opportunities were missed. One thing is for sure, men’s and women’s competition doesn’t really have any business being in the same venue. Like it or not, for the most part, it is a different sport with a different set of social values. The reality is (IMHO) that the division I men’s game is the marquee athletic competition so if USA Rugby is serious about promoting rugby as a high performance sport, that’s what they should market. Get the Division I event back on college campuses and focus on controlling travel costs for the participants by regionalizing (and even expanding) the competition.
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