RSL revamps for 2010 season

Rugby Super League's 2010 schedule, including Old Blue after all, shortens the season by one match and omits interconference games.

Without four-time champ Belmont Shore and Santa Monica, both surprise departures this fall, organizers have reverted to a two-conference format and returned the Dallas Harlequins to the west. Eight of the 14 competitors will advance to the playoffs, which culminate Friday, June 4, in Glendale, Colorado.

The eastern division, contested among teams in Boston, New York, Washington, Charlotte, and Atlanta, takes on a regional character reminiscent of the old Eastern Rugby Union. Meanwhile the west, which has produced most of the 14-year-old league's champions, ranges from Chicago to Dallas and Seattle to San Diego but encompasses fewer Californians.

The abbreviated season and more concentrated Atlantic seaboard grouping could help reduce costs, significant because of the league's approach to sharing expenditures. On balance, however, the slate underlines that many of the country's most prominent teams maintain a regular national schedule is more valuable than local opposition leading to the rococo Division 1 playoffs.

The rub is the strain on club fabric: frequent travel is a semi-professional undertaking that has often worked to distance top XVs from the rest. For most of those half dozen or so who have exited the competition, the game has not been worth the candle.

Having thought twice, Old Blue decided it would instead shed it Division 1 commitments and take other steps to bridge its members. Interestingly, both Belmont and Santa Monica have sought to leave the door open to return, as Life College did earlier this decade.

The season opens March 13 with defending champion San Francisco Golden Gate visiting the Denver Barbarians, nipped on the last play of their May semifinal on Treasure Island. Finalist Life, whose new personnel includes coach Dan Payne, who led San Diego State to last year's college final four, swings into action against the Potomac Athletic Club on week 2.

Related: Top clubs on their own

Comments

[Beagles]

D1 comp in most parts of the country is going to be more interesting than the RSL. Local rivalries of quality sides make it a more attractive proposition. Too bad guys weren't fighting it out for ITT spots in their TU in these league matches. Competition is the way forward, and the argument that the RSL guys are fighting it out for Eagle spots is shortsighted and just foolish. Basically in either competition their is no rep side spots to be claimed in a league match, and that is poor from USA to have league structures without this element. In every nation that plays rugby guys are battling for more than just a team victory. They are playing to get on their county, province, etc.

[RSL offically DOA]

RSL just looks weaker every year. The competition level and the commercial saleability of the league is weak.

For the first time, it is clear this isn't an important aspect of US rugby. The technical level won't help to make Eagles, over D1, and there is zero chance investment funding or sponsorship will occur.

RSL should be seen for what it is, a closed association where teams pay travel cost to call themselves better than D1. Kind of like those "Who's Who in America" associations a person can belong to for a fee. Just an ego trip at this point.

[RSL fan]

I'm all for a premier league, but I fail to see how a 6 game season is a positive step for an 'elite' competition. Seems a bit sparce.

[RSL > D1]

6 game comp is wayyyy too few...that being said, i did a little research to see how d1 stacks up against RSL teams (not during RSL season of course, when presumably, the RSL team is at its peak).

I got this info from various team's websites:

Denver 2-0 against Aspen, the d1 champions, 1-0 against Glendale (top 8 in '09 and runner up in '08).

Charlotte 1-0 against Atl Old White (top 8 in '09).

Belmont 2-0 against Las Vegas ('09 finalists).

NYAC beat both Glendale and Atlanta Renegades (final 4).

Old Blue, well, d1 side are the northeast champs, so that means they beat Mystic ('09 sweet 16) and we can assume that the Old Blue RSL side is better than the d1.

Life - not sure what their Fall schedule was like, but they were the d1 Champs when they left, therefore, better than all of d1.

all you people who claim the RSL is not the top comp, please, list some facts and then we can talk. Also, please recall that it was stated earlier, that these results were NOT during RSL season. A little more than an ego trip I'd say...

[still losing money]

The best college teams could beat half those RSL teams on a regular basis.

Best D1 teams didn't lose to the RSL either.

Who cares that Old Blue won the ERU D1, when is the last time a D1 ERU team made any waves.

[RSL > D1]

that is a completely different issue. even if "the top" college programs could beat these teams, just think about how much better the college teams are compaired to d1!

simple math you see (and for the record, i disagree with you):

RSL>d1.
College>RSL (your opinion)
=
College>d1.

according to that theory, the problem isnt rsl v d1, its college v mens level and the dramtic dropoff that occurs when these once dominant college rugby players graduate and join mens clubs and become mediocre players.

[Amateur Hour]

Take the top 4 finishers of each league/Div last year, and start a League this year.

I'd bet my mortgage that 4 of the top 6 teams are from the SL, and one of the teams (D1) does not win a single game.

[Amateur Hour]

What killed the SL?

a) the economy
b) poor planning
c) Nigel Melville
d) other

[Concerned Rugby Fan]

Amatuer Hour - Who said the RSL is dead?

Looks alive and well to me. It is certainly disappointing that there are not more Clubs in the US ready to make the commitment to compete at the Super League level.

[please]

SL "level", now that's fu*king funny.

Look at the bottom half of the league and say SL level with a straight face.

[Concerned Rugby Fan]

Super League level with a staight face.

[Invictus II: The Reach Around]

Straight Super League with a level face.

[Eric Keys]

NHL was a six team league for years, RSL is the right idea but perhaps not exactly the right combo or management. Yah, NHL is having a rough time but they are fully professional and the best players in the world are coming here. We need a top level of rugby and no alternative exists that I have seen.

[Chauncey O'Tool]

Melville and the Horse Faced man killed the SL, when they decided to use fly-n average instead of SL homers. They also uselessly dumped funding NA$ and other useless vehicles for professionalism?

USA Rugby management, AKA Tool Academy, have much splaining to do when the next two SL teams leap ship (next week).

[crashtheline7]

What does it take to get people to understand that USA Rugby isn't backing the Super League?? I am not a RSL player and am not affiliated with any club for that matter, but for cryin out loud before commenting make sure you are educated about the simple facts.
Now that I've said that.....I'd like to advocate for a more regional approach to mens club rugby, playing for cups and shields which would give it more of a local derby feel. From there we need and NASC/ITT type of environment to reward guys for excellent play in local comps. I know variations of this comment have already been made but just want to back it up.

[crashtheline7]

p.s. agree with the sentiment that RSL season is to short. There needs to be 12-14 games to make it a worthy competition. 6 games is a quarter or mid-season for the rest of the world. IF it's not economically feasable to do so than it's not a viable competition model. My opinion.

[RSL > D1]

obviously, in a perfect world, if you could set up a pure regional comp that had 10 high level teams in it, that would be ideal and cost effective. The fact of the matter is, there is a drop off between RSL teams and d1 teams that this is not possible. Who, other than Life and Charlotte would make up the south? In NY/NE, who would be in? Old Blue, NYAC, BIW, Boston RFC and maybe Mystic River...with the exception of 1 team, sounds like a comp that is already in place...Cal could probably put together a more competitive league, but than what of The Harlequins and the middle America teams?

The answer is easier said than done: a lot of clubs need to step up their level of play and have decent facilities. Until that happens, the RSL is the best option. It would be great if their were 5 or 6 regions with 6+ competitive teams in them and they can battle it out regionally (home and away series) before playing a playoff system around the country, but that is not anything close to what we currently have.

[Super League?]

Went to a RSL match last year and it was a half way decent standard of play. My guess would be about a Nat 2 in England. There was about 30 people watching on each sideline not including obvious reserves, trainers and coaches for each team. The school sprinklers went on at one point during the game. It was kind of a joke.

[The Shep]

The SL is really of little use for anything these days. It has been deliberately devalued by the Union.
It is no longer a valuable tool for the MNT. It is no longer the elite comp of America - aside from the top 6 teams.

I find it disgraceful that USA Rugby has allowed its top comp to flounder. This could have been fixed, easily, 3 years ago. No doubt there would be a watchable, expanded SL if simple logic was available to USA Rugby. Allowing the top comp to flourish with HP money would have undermined our leadership's intentions all along.

Devaluing the top comp has obviously been the intention all along.

[anon]

SL is better than college and D1. Don't be foolish.

A couple of teams could compete but over the course of a SEASON they would weaken. With travel and injuries it's a tremendous committment.

I think a point gets lost. The value of the SL is that the worst competition you face is better than the worst comp you face in open play.

There are going to be last place teams in ANY comp you have. D1 college or SL.

I'm sure they are soing there best as clubs but we need this comp played at legitimate facilities to move forward.

If we continue to play in open parks any progress will be marginal and temporary.

You want fans? Make it a fan friendly event.

[crashtheline7]

Understanding the difficulty in finding a big group of competitive teams in each region, but what's the point of having 4-5 really good RSL teams traveling thousands of miles? This is a plain example of what is wrong with rugby in this country. The top down approach isn't working. What needs to happen is a strong grass roots movement, and I believe this can happen if a more homegrown approach is taken. This can be achieved by strengthening Division I, sending some of those piss poor Div I clubs down to Div II, reorganizing Div II so that if you want to play beer league rugby you play in Div III.
I'm not entirely sure how it should be done, but although it's not an exact science it also isn't rocket science.
RSL in my mind helps to weaken the Div I, and II clubs in the general area anyhow, they poach players and don't do a lot(not saying nothing) for the state of rugby as a whole. There are obviously exceptions to the rule, for instance OMBAC does a good job of supporting the growth of rugby in San Diego, but at the same time it's the Div II clubs there (SD Old Aztecs and North County Gurkhas) who play the biggest part in the youth programs (they both have their own youth development programs with multiple age grades)...and actually probably take a hit for staying so busy with this cause they are so busy working with the youngsters they can't worry much about holding recruiting dinners for college grads.
This is by no means an attack on any team or area, but there is something that needs to be fixed and by continuing to deny, deny, deny a rot is beginning to develop in the state of our rugby.
I love rugby and have spent alot of my own dollars to go overseas to play a couple seasons for a small country club just for the experience of it all. What I can tell you from that experience is that its the kids and young men and women coming up who will save rugby in this country, not the old boys club or the USAR board of directors, we need to quit thinking we've got this thing whipped and be open to other ways of doing business.
Go grassroots!!

[Keep It Simple Stupid]

RSL is 10 years old and not much better in terms of facilities, marketing and administration. Time to fold up camp. It failed.

The future should be regional competitions. A Pacific Coast League would be a fantastic competition.

5 So Cal Teams
5 Nor Cal Teams
2 Pacific Northwest Teams

11 game season with playoffs of top 4 teams and a relegation playoff for the bottom 4. Travel would be reasonable, and the quality would be as good as RSL. Do the same for the east with an East Coast League and the midwest/wet with a Mid-America League. Three regions, three leagues and you would have a something you can build on. Maybe take the top two teams from each league to have a national championship competition and the en of the regular season.

[not in the club]

Everybody wants to be to in the Super club so bad they forgot how to build a rugby club.

Now that college is on the upswing along with HS and the D1 comp is improving and has many time RSL champ Belmont the SL is losing any form of cred.

There will be more Eagles selected from college and D1 teams than from RSL. This fact alone dooms the SL.

[most of the SL isn't very good]

Let's be honest for a moment.

The following teams are good US rugby teams, capable of beating all other US rugby teams on a given day: Denver Barbo's, OMBAC, SF Golden Gate, NYAC, Life, and Chicago Lions, Old Blue (maybe).

But this isn't the RSL, most of the teams in the RSL aren't that good. They would lose most time out against the top D1 and even top college sides.

This list is way too long and it looks like this: Old Puget Sound, Boston Wolfhounds, Boston, Dallas Quinns, Philly-Whitemarsh, Washington, Charlotte, PAC, Chicago Griffins

[Alan]

Really? Whitemarsh and Washington are evidence of the poor quality of RSL? Next you're going to tell us that the Las Vegas 51s are an indictment of the poor quality of MLB.

You list half of the RSL teams as being top quality, and then claim that "most of the teams in the RSL aren't that good"? Let me guess...not a math major?

Obviously there is going to be some overlap in quality between the top of D1 and the bottom of RSL (though I think it is a stretch to say that the bottom of RSL would lose "most times" against D1 competition). That's why most rugby competitions have promotion/relegation built in.

But really, the bottom of RSL isn't that bad. A quick glance through last season's scores indicates that only Puget Sound was really out of their depth. Outside of maybe 25-30% of clubs at the extremes of the competition, there was actually a fair bit of parity with the majority of teams in the middle.

[NumbaoneCrip]

Wow rugby sucks in this country...pretty soon there will be no such thing as USA Rugby and all rugby teams in each state will be just playing weekend tournaments with a bunch of 42 year old weekend warriors...and thats on crip!

[SD Hitman]

Level of competition aside, the league is still on shaky ground.

Just because OBNY decided not to drop out doesn't mean everything is suddenly okay in the RSL. From day 1 of the RSL, all RSL clubs have had to self-fund every rotten penny for each of the $15K-$20K, 25-person away trips. The cost for three or four trips like these a year is enough to dissolve most US clubs. Absolutely nothing has been accomplished of late to change this. No sponsorship, no kit agreement, IRB aid to the League, or anything else has come the RSL's way. Amateur clubs competing in a league with professional expectations.

This is exacerbated in RSL squads who field supplemental teams in Div 1,2, or 3. The financial and human effort to properly run squads on all sides every weekend is huge and requires fulltime dedication. Like any other club, its a select few who step up and do the work to benefit the many. For those few, the spirit of volunteerism needed to make sure everyone and everything gets taken care of on game day runs thin over time. RSL clubs become two faction entities of 'haves' and 'have nots'. It ruins the essential uniting fabric that makes any club successful. Eventually, with no light at the end of the tunnel in sight, all forms of support tend to decline and eventually disappear. The 'have nots' become less willing to pitch in. This is how the rash of club withdrawals has occurred over the past 5yrs or so. Ask someone from STL, BEL, ASP, OLY-OB, STMca. It's going to happen to other clubs soon. The current national rugby infrastructure cannot support this model.

Reduce, re-focus, and re-energize. TU/LAU Div 1 is where its at. We all know how to do it that way and its an affordable, manageable process. It's how we last operated as a Union when our National team was respectable and big name sponsors like Fox, Adidas, and Reebok were willing to answer our calls.

BTW - just dumped another $80 on local youth wrestling for my kid.

[armchairbomber]

Remember that around the time the SL started (or shortly before) that PAC's only comp was the local derby with Washington and Belmont and Ombac had eachother.

The SL club's got together and said they wanted more week in and week out. The fact it has failed is the classic chicken n egg scenario. Substandard facilities and sometimes level of play limit sponsorship. Without even decent size crowds and product no sponsor is interested. Therefore, the comp is not viable without a deep pocketed sugar daddy. For many of the clubs in the comp, they have sacrificed lower level sides and club #'s have suffered. Intermediate level high school football has more interest and sponsorship dollars.

The way forward is two pronged. First, absolutely continue with the grass roots stuff. Secondly, package all levels into making "Saturday a rugby" day again. A Saturday where the youth touch club plays 2- 15 min halves, followed by next level, followed by H.S., followed by a premier D1 or SL match, with small simple concessions, etc. will do more for the sport than everyone going off on their own and running little pfeifdoms. Do a little guerilla marketing and sell ad banners for x$, sell programs for x$, etc. Ask supporters to support the sponsors. $1000 donated by John Q. car dealership is easy to get year after year when 3 or 4 people mention the part of the reason John Q. was chosen by the car buyer is due to its support for rugby. It takes the same traits required in the sport, discipline, tenacity and teamwork.

[SD Hitman]

armchairbomber-

that used to be our club's M.O. to the letter. instead of youth or HS, it was a local college match or our 3rd side which always had a handful of college and/or high school kids on it. along with dues, yearbooks, banners, t-shirts, and low cost bbq were a staple of source funding. throughout the course of the RSL years, the number of people stepping up to help nurture these opportunities got less and less. it started as a 4 or 5 person committee, de-evolved into two people, and then eventually fizzled away to no one at all chasing free money.

when the people performing this 80% of work weren't seeing any tangible return or any measure of gratitude, it became easy to step down.

i would venture to guess that this pattern of behavior is more the rule than exception. it would be great if someone proved me wrong...

[finally]

Armchair, this is the only intelligent thing you have posted in three years!

[Rugger 62]

Money is still the biggest challenge for clubs, leagues and USA rugby. Hopefully 7's in the Olympics will funnel more sponsorship money into the sport.