Here are some of the more memorable stories from the first quarter of the past year, thematically grouped. I'll try to get to succeeding quarters in the next few days, and will look to follow up on these trends in 2011.
High school & college
- College plans put National Guard outcome in context
- ACC launch unveiled, national league gains steam
- College playoff regulars heading to premier league
- Reaction to USCRA could loose broad changes
- 'Youthquake' in northern California
Senior & representative
- Should USARFU prioritize 7s over 15s?
- Next-gen 7s Eagles know the way forward (US reaches final of Australia 7s)
- On the Super League and representative rugby
- Canadian Suggit wins women's 7s post
Commerce, policy, and adminstration
- 7s conflict of interest for USARFU executive?
Update: Grand Prix Sports & Entertainment and Melville - Refs mentor Porter stepping down
This was in the New York Times this morning, and probably sums up a lot of what has gone on this year.
"But he believes that while the new national competition is a step in the right direction for U.S rugby, playing in the established conferences would be the best pathway to becoming part of the N.C.A.A .
“What would be most helpful for N.C.A.A inclusion would probably be to play in the established collegiate leagues,” he said, mentioning the Big 10, the Pac-10 and the S.E.C.
“If the goal is solely to be sanctioned as one of those N.C.A.A sports, the premier league might be helpful in a way, but it probably wouldn’t be the purest way there.”
Jack Clark
Posted by: Jack Sparrow | 20 December 2010 at 13:19
Jack's right. The best way to get the NCAA to care about rugby is to get the conferences to care about rugby. With Utah in the Pac-12 now, there might just be some competition for the Bears year in and year out. The West division of the CPL is mostly Mountain West teams less SDSU and UNLV and with Utah and Colorado thrown in.
Unfortunately, BYU just exited the MWC in every meaningful NCAA sport, so an alignment with the MWC could be a bit ticklish.
With so much turmoil in the NCAA football conferences and so little overlap between power rugby schools and power football schools, the current CPL alignment stands the best chance of raising the (admittedly quite spotty) visibility of college rugby by providing regular quality matchups between college rugby powers. It ain't gonna happen any other way.
Posted by: Little power overlap between football & rugby conferences | 20 December 2010 at 21:37
Rugby conference alignment need not be be 100% of the football conference teams. Notre Dame has been an independent in Football but plays in the Big East for Basketball. The teams in Big East Men's Basketball are not the same as Football. Rugby need not be exactly the same as Football. For example, one could create a Pac-10ish conference and add afew strong independents like BYU.
Posted by: Tron | 28 December 2010 at 11:19
#ce n'est pas la fête pour
Posted by: Taobao English site | 30 December 2010 at 00:32
BYU a strong independent? lol
Posted by: Phill McCrevice | 03 January 2011 at 02:52