The Atlantic Coast Rugby League introduced plans for a quartet of 7s tournaments, building up to its conference championship in October.
Slated for Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, the 8- or 12-team events will reserve places for the league's 8 members, and award remaining slots to applicants. The series will feature one-day competitions, while the conference finals will be a two-day affair.
'The expansion from a single tournament to a series is a natural progression given the increasing popularity of rugby 7s. It will expose our teams to more and better competition while providing competition opportunities for collegiate teams outside of the ACRL,' commissioner Pat Kane said in a prepared statement.
In moving to establish competition for non-conference teams, the initiative suggests USARFU's designating autumn as the time for university 7s has caught on. Last fall, a flurry of tournaments sprang up after Boulder calendared a national championship event.
The Atlantic Coast Invitational Rugby 7s Series, as the series will be formally known, also confirms the three-year-old league as commercially nimble. A year ago, the ACRL struck a multiyear marketing and gear pact with adidas and World Rugby Shop, while its conference 7s championship is underwritten by the USA 7s organization.
Separately, USARFU and Bill Tatham's Grand Prix Entertainment last week said they had renewed a pact for exclusive rights to pro 7s rugby in America.
The six-year deal, until 2018, extends a relationship struck in 2005 and renewed in 2008. Though Grand Prix has yet to bring a product to market, the announcement unveiled a lineup of well-known sports executives.
A draft of the 2008 agreement put the financial terms at $900,000 over 4 years. Given that the initial agreement was inked during 2005's severe cash crunch, and that since 2008 the abbreviated game has entered the Olympics, USARFU's consideration has presumably improved.
7s regular Blaine Scully has damaged his achilles tendon, extending an injury streak, and will be out of action for the remainder of the season.
Mark Bokhoven, Nick Edwards, and Tai Enosa join the Eagle squad heading to the Hong Kong and Japan 7s, at the expense of Matt Hawkins, who was not in camp, and Garrett Bender and Miles Craigwell. Shalom Suniula will captain Alex Magleby's first team.
United States to Hong Kong and Japan 7s
Mark Bokhoven (Denver Barbarians), Andrew Durutalo (Old Puget Sound Beach), Nick Edwards (Sydney Univ.), Tai Enosa (USARFU), Colin Hawley (USARFU), Folau Niua (USARFU), Mike Palefau (undeclared), Nu’u Punimata (Old Puget Sound Beach), Shalom Suniula (captain, USARFU), Zack Test (USARFU), Peter Tiberio (USARFU), Maka Unufe (USARFU)
Has USA Rugby got anything to do with this ACRL Sevens series?
Posted by: Sevens | 15 March 2012 at 19:48
No
Posted by: ACRL | 15 March 2012 at 21:04
Am I the only one that finds the rugby magazine website layout annoying? Half the time you click on a link and it is misleading and it is either a cut and paste from a team's website, or it is about the women's game with a headline that sounds promising if about men's rugby, or it is a subscriber link.
Guess it goes to show that when there is no competition who needs to provide good service.
Posted by: unreadable | 15 March 2012 at 22:48
Perhaps you should complain about it on that website. Neither writer has time to read this forum...js
Posted by: Grant Cole | 16 March 2012 at 04:59
Just don't go there anymore, and coaches don't talk to them.
They'll soon unlock those doors.
Posted by: People power | 16 March 2012 at 06:19
Great leadership at ACRL. Hopefully the other college conferences will do as well.
Posted by: sevens | 16 March 2012 at 07:28
unreadable, I completely agree with you about RM. It is a poor site with does a poor editing job, which now wants to charge for the shite it produces. Grant Cole is wrong to believe the two main writers don't read GL and further wrong that comments here don't matter. Internet "hits" are important and I would rather voice my opinion here than give RM a visitor.
Posted by: No RM fan | 16 March 2012 at 10:57
I think the writing on RM is horrible at times, and I have the same issues with the BS headlines that dont tell But people need to be a little understanding. They are the only people out there trying to provide a site like this to the American rugby community. And obviously they are struggling to find a way to make it actually worth all the time they put into it. We've seen them partner with USA 7s, they've tried subscription service before, their brand new monthly magazine fell through, they have spotty ads, etc. Id rather they exist then not so I think constructive criticism is in order unless they do something ridiculous. If they do something ridiculous then blast away.
Posted by: college | 16 March 2012 at 11:48
"... dont tell people they are about to read a women's college article instead of a men's." Is what i meant to write.
Posted by: college | 16 March 2012 at 11:48
OK some RM constructive comments.
1) Be journalist. Demand things like a budget and detailed financials from USAR. Hold high paying executives to real performance standards. We all get the media doesn't get a vote in the organization or can't hire and fire, but they can become a voice for truth. RM does not do this, they are not journalist, they should not charge a fee unless they becomes journalist.
2) Edit your stories before they are published. Misspellings and nonsensical copy is unprofessional for a fee based media site.
3) Service your customers. Give them what they want to read not what you want them to read, ie northwest girls rugby.
Posted by: No RM fan | 16 March 2012 at 12:42
haha bingo. Im surprised RM hasnt tried to get any streaming up and running or highlights put together. An amateur was able to provide highlights of nearly every D1A match last year. How is it RM cant step up to do the same?
Posted by: media watch | 16 March 2012 at 13:17
Im as big a critic of RM as anyone, but how would you want them to provide video highlights? Im not sure they'd even have access to the D1A video share site.
Posted by: MattD | 16 March 2012 at 14:37
"colege rugby films" managed to do it somehow last year. http://cr-films.blogspot.com/
Let's see, I know RM probably doesnt know anyone involved in the D1A league, but maybe if they called around they could somehow reach someone who might be willing to grant them such access.
I would hope RM would have as much pull/know how as someone who seems to have done it as a hobby last year.
Posted by: media watch | 16 March 2012 at 15:14
One: I think 7's in the fall is the way forward with college rugby. Call it Olympic rugby and let the colleges know they have potential Olympians in the making. We'll see how much the Northeast and Midwest hold fast against progress.
Two: Typos like this: "Mike MacDonald is still injuries..." Make me turn to RugbyMag less and less every week.
Posted by: Sergeant Hulka | 17 March 2012 at 12:11
Does anyone have the terms of the 2012 exclusive 6 year agreement between USA Rugby & Gran Prix Entertainment?
It seems inappropriate at best that USA Rugby renews an exclusive deal with an entity that has launched nothing in 7 years, while USA Sevens, LLC has spent millions developing this market via the international and collegiate tournaments.
Posted by: Steve Laake | 18 March 2012 at 09:17
Where's MattD? I want him to admit RM can and should be providing highlights/video content.
Posted by: media watch | 19 March 2012 at 06:26
Media Watch - I will now admit that they should be able to get access to the games, but who do you want over there to edit video and put into highlight form. Pat Clifton or Alex? Maybe they could find a bored college kid to do it. But I don't think RM has budget to bring on or pay someone to do that. Hence them trying to rape us for "premium access" which I do NOT do and will not do.
Posted by: MattD | 19 March 2012 at 08:23
haha ok. That's all I was asking for. It is possible and it has been done. Idk how much time they really work on writing articles since they've already been accused of just reposting what other teams write. (I personally believe they probably spend a lot of time)
And yes, they could easily find a college intern or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 10 to edit these videos into highlights. Every college kid is looking for resume material, and for any student trying to get into film/video related business, producing content for a sports news wenbsite aint bad.
But they dont even need to do as much as the CRF did. How about just one match/week? One game highlight a week? That would be a good step towards actually providing something worth paying for.
Posted by: college | 19 March 2012 at 15:46
Its a good idea to reach out to a college kid to see if he'd do it. But it wouldnt matter anyway. They'd put that on Premium access, and again, I wouldnt ever get a chance to see it. If they charged like their normal annual magazine price I'd think about it, but Im not paying some monthly fee to them.
Posted by: MattD | 20 March 2012 at 07:06
Besides Gainline are there any alternatives to RM? I've liked Rugby America for awhile and I found This Is American Rugby to be pretty full of information recently.
Posted by: alternative | 20 March 2012 at 11:33