USARFU is failing its commitment to provide quarterly financial reports to the congress, renewing concerns the board is obstructing dues payers' senior elected representatives.
'The last financial report we got was in April 2010. There wasn't even a mention of financials at the congress meeting in September [2010], despite the almost $1,000,000 operating deficit that was shown in the April report,' one representative said in an email.
Union executives did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
In a World Cup year, the immediate worry is that Boulder lacks sufficient funds for both international and domestic objectives. One warning sign: preseason Eagle training camps have yet to be scheduled, meaning the national team could go into the Churchill Cup cold.
On another level, the congress is notionally responsible for amateur rugby in America, and its members are accountable to the constituencies that fund a large share of Boulder's activities with their dues. By withholding financial information, the board puts the congress in an untenable position, and can be accused of dealing in bad faith.
One of the boards' primary functions is to 'provide open and transparent insight to the leadership and financial control of USA Rugby'. (Another, which the 2006 strategic plan articulates more clearly and succinctly, is to 'significantly increase revenue'.) But virtually since the Kevin Roberts-led group of nine directors was seated in summer 2006, financial management has been contentious.
In a 2006 London Times interview which outlined that the board would be responsible for professional-level rugby and congress for the amateur game, Roberts said 'We want to reach the quarterfinals of the world 7s [sic] by 2009 and the quarterfinals of the 2011 Rugby World Cup', making clear the majority of the directors' energy would be steered toward international performance, while famously adding that 'I [don't] want to work with dickheads'.
In fall 2006, the chair of finance committee (and simultaneously a member of congress) wrote the directors to indicate he hadn't received any statements, which he found worrying as the union was about to hire a new chief executive, president, and national team coach. (The positions of chief executive and president were subsequently consolidated.) Counting benefits, these positions today account for an estimated 7.5 percent of the union's $8.1 million turnover in 2009.
Separately, another congressman wrote the board to ask that the union provide financial statements, as dues continued to represent a major revenue source. 'I ask these questions because my constituents are asking and I have no answers,' he concluded.
Even after being forced to retreat from professionalization plans trumpeted in 2006-08, largely because it couldn't raise the requisite funds, the board has continued prioritizing national teams and 'high performance' programs. Player dues, mainly from collegians and high schoolers, remain indispensable to these programs' operations. In other words, money is being transferred from the constituents represented by the congress to the programs the board favors.
Tensions flared anew at the September 2009 congressional meeting, when representatives raised pointed questions regarding a report summarizing the 12 months ending June of that year. In Dallas, the board committed to provide a regular accounting in the interests of 'transparency'. But the reports 'never materialized', a congress member observed.
Despite losses of $226,000 from July 2008-June 2009, the September 2009 report expected a surplus by year end (i.e., June 2010), and anticipated a $1 million reserve by 2012. Six months later, chief executive Nigel Melville surprised the congress by writing 'The biggest concern for 2010 is to fill the gap of $400,000 in budgeted sponsorship' owing to the loss of the National Guard pact.
The September 2009 meeting was also notable for submitting two directors for ratification without so much as providing the congress with the individuals' biographies.
The board is meeting this weekend in Las Vegas, in conjunction with the USA 7s tournament.
Related:
Q1 USARFU report shows sponsor gap, disconnect
USARFU losses undermine strategy
Is American rugby adaptive?
Melville: USARFU pro strategy scaled back
Congress is spineless - they gave away a whole bunch of their rights and then failed to get rid of Roberts last year - just 3 people voted against him. I know that at least 1 of those 3 has resigned from Congress now, maybe more.
Sad to say, but if the US team goes winless at the world cup then surely Roberts position will be untenable. And then if he doesn't go, there should be a country wide non-registration of teams and players in August 2012.
Because USAR are next to useless, withdrawing Cipp funds would bankrupt them.
This isn't the ideal option but we need a change. Putting all our eggs in the same HP Eagle's centric basket is not working. And paying all that money for 3 foreigners for little or no ROI is absolutely wrong.
Posted by: Jack Sparrow | 10 February 2011 at 11:18
The only game the Eagles have a shot of winning is against the Russians, and they just finished up a two week tour to NZ a few weeks ago. They went 2-0 against provincial sides, and spent time and played in New Plymouth where they play the USA. So, they will have some locals cheering them on getting a bit of a home team edge. At the very least they will be familiar with the locale and the stadium.
Eagles go 0-4 in NZ with heavy defeats to Australia, Ireland, Italy and a close loss to Russia.
Posted by: In The Cards | 10 February 2011 at 11:41
Does anyone have names for those 3 Congress members?
Posted by: My Dinner With Andre The Giant. | 10 February 2011 at 14:28
Yes!
Posted by: Jack Sparrow | 10 February 2011 at 15:00
The funny thing is that the yes men of the congress have been well truly 'done' by the board. The LAU/TU fifedoms have been looked after by the board over the years, promised this and that. They then gave away a lot of rights in exchange for then being able run their unions as they saw fit.
"Isn't Kevin great?"
Thats until the USCRA came along and stirred the pot. Sure it wasn't much of an organization in itself, but it got many college coaches and teams asking questions and threats were being made to pull away from USAR and create their own union.
To placate them somewhat, USAR appointed a new collegiate director and said yes to a complete re-structure. But wait, this pulls a huge and easy revenue stream out of the fifedoms. Faced with a huge whole in the budget, USAR allowed the TU/LAUs to take a financial hit.
"Rather them than us?"
Now they are up in arms demanding the repeal of the changes and financial records etc etc - too late guys. Should have shown some backbone years ago.
There is some irony in there somewhere!
Posted by: Jack Sparrow | 10 February 2011 at 15:55
BTW - Vagas is freakin' awesome!
Posted by: Jack Sparrow | 10 February 2011 at 15:57
Any chance you'll let us know?
Posted by: My Dinner With Andre The Giant. | 10 February 2011 at 21:32
No I feel uncomfortable doing that.
Maybe they are on this msg board will come out of th e shadows.
Posted by: Jack Sparrow | 11 February 2011 at 04:18
Why is this whole thing such a big mystery? Is it a secret ballot?
Posted by: My Dinner With Andre The Giant. | 11 February 2011 at 09:46
Not at all - I just don't want to put names on here if they don't want to do it themselves - thats all.
Posted by: Jack Sparrow | 11 February 2011 at 10:29
http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/02/11/athletics-continuation/
Posted by: Jack Sparrow | 11 February 2011 at 11:30
come on - no balls on this site..
name the names and move on to the next subject.
Posted by: cheesehaedrugger | 11 February 2011 at 11:32
Had they been spineless wimps then maybe - but no, I'm not naming someone that has at least tried to do something right. Thats up to them.
Posted by: Jack Sparrow | 11 February 2011 at 11:48
USA Rugby not releasing financial statements makes it harder to evaluate what they're doing. Not knowing how our representatives in Congress vote makes it impossible to know how well they are representing us. Should I vote to re-elect my representative next time? How would I possibly know?
Posted by: My Dinner With Andre The Giant. | 11 February 2011 at 12:04
I understand - I wrote to mine - who voted for Roberts. But from August I no longer have to be apart of the fifedom so I really don't care.
Posted by: Jack Sparrow | 11 February 2011 at 13:49
Why the secrecy? -fear of public outcry at the division of use? Simple bureaucratic incompetence in putting out a report? Arrogance? Fiduciary misconduct? Something worse? Gotta be a reason....
Is it any wonder that State HS rugby organizations are withdrawing their programs and money from USARFU and going on their own? (never mind that USARFU is completely out of touch with the Youth and HS game. That's a topic for another day..)
Youth rugby in the US was grassroots grown by the people in the game without USARFU help and often in spite of USARFU roadblocks.
Maybe USARFU needs to deal strictly with the elite game and let an entirely separate and separately funded organization administer the youth, HS, Collegiate and maybe even club game.
USARFU makes a lot of claims to growing the game, but at what cost? Where does the money go? How much actually goes back to youth programs? Is the bang for the buck worth it? Prove it.
Did you know that one state got twice the liability coverage offered through USARFU for $8/kid/player!?!? If you don't need USARFU for affordable liability coverage, that pretty much invalidates the only compelling argument USARFU has for participating in a tax without representation on the game.
Its a business at the elite level. These guys are supposed to be businessmen (Roberts, Melville etc). Make them prove it. Go out and get the sponsorship and funding to support your program and quit leaching funds to cover your…
Posted by: RugbyBuddha | 12 February 2011 at 08:37
we believe it is a great time to be apart of rugby - it is growing. the management evolves and grows or is replaced, it is really that simple. we are not worries about what usa rugby is doing for us.
they are irrelevant.
Posted by: cheeseheadrugger | 12 February 2011 at 10:25
"Did you know that one state got twice the liability coverage offered through USARFU for $8/kid/player!?!?"
Which state? Which insurance company? How?
Why is everyone so damn coy?
Posted by: My Dinner With Andre The Giant. | 12 February 2011 at 11:08
Turned on NBC to watch the 7s from Vegas and was disappointed to see Dave "Grandpa" Sitton doing the commentary. Luckily it was on TIVO and buzzed that clown out of the show.
The intro promo was a little over the top. 15s is a much more of a warrior game than 7s. I would hate to see 7s become the dominate version of rugby in the USA. 15s is the soul of rugby.
Posted by: Eesh | 12 February 2011 at 13:20
Eesh
Rugby on NBC on a Saturday afternoon - ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
15's could never do that in this country.
I'm willing to ride Seven's banmdwagon for a while.
Posted by: Jack Sparrow | 12 February 2011 at 14:00
Sevens may be on TV, but the college game is turning into a joke. Cal and BYU are destroying other top CPL teams. Just this week Cal blew out Air Force & Wyoming, and BYU blew out Penn and Cal Poly with each team putting nearly 100 point on these teams and most matches shutouts.
Bottom CPL teams like Claremont didn't meet match commitments in Vegas forcing Delaware to pick up a game this week that only had 20 minutes halves. The CPL has not kicked off yet, and I am not impressed.
Posted by: CPLame | 12 February 2011 at 18:50
USA beat Japan...YEAH!
2016 Olympics here we come! Hide your kids...hide your wife...hide your husbands because we ain't beating any top teams around here....YO!
Posted by: Pearl Harbor? BOOM !!!! A-bomb...bro | 12 February 2011 at 18:54
Perhaps me being stupid...again!
But, after all the great TV coverage this weekend you'd like to think that one of the multi-millionaire sports moguls that pay basketball & football players silly wages each year would agree to bankroll an 18 -20 man USA Sevens squad.
How much would it cost? To keep the guys full time on a decent wage it would probably cost less than what a single NFL team pays one of their quarter backs.
Posted by: Jack Sparrow | 13 February 2011 at 07:59
I just wish the commentators would stop trying to make these false equivalencies to American sport.
It's not just in rugby, but in anything other than the big four team sports. I think they even did that with soccer up until 2007.
I think people would be better served being explained why something in rugby is DIFFERENT than gridiron.
Tell them why it's important to not make inches of territory, and why possession and quality of possession is important.
Instead of talking out of their arse, why not do a chalk-talk screen and explain what the players are trying to do.
Posted by: ISP8 | 13 February 2011 at 09:42
dont crap on the CPL. If you are looking for someone to crap on, crap on PSU and their coach, Don Ferrell. Is he without a doubt the worst coach of an "elite" college team working today?
Here we have a program that is top 5 in resources (2 paid positions, access to varsity facilities, training staff, admissions spots, and a ton of alumni support) and yet they have gone DOWNHILL since all of that happened. They need to be called out for not becoming the program and true national championship competitor they should be.
Posted by: overrated | 13 February 2011 at 11:10
Overated
You are spot on sir!
There are several programs like that which have gone backwards despite getting a ton of resources and support from their schools.
Navy is another one going nowhere!
Posted by: Jack Sparrow | 13 February 2011 at 11:42
Well done Al Caravelli.
Had the balls to say on NBC live that the USA were the only team of those on the circuit that were not full time.
Perfect timing - lets hope it was heard in the right places and in the right ear.
Posted by: Jack Sparrow | 13 February 2011 at 15:50
Al was looking for excuses, not sponsors. Kenya, Uruguay and some other nations are not full time either.
This weekend was a disaster for the Eagles and Al Caravelli. Dropped to 11th (last) in the HSBC Sevens World Series Standings and were only able to beat Japan and Uruguay over the weekend. Lost to Canada to boot.
Word from the players from all teams in the recovery area was that the schedule changes, field dimensions and lack of atmosphere at the stadium made this one of the worst stops on the tour. The only thing saving it in their opinion is the city of Las Vegas.
PS> They all think Subway was the worst food provided anywhere they have played. Some of the teams with a nutritionist brought food for their players because the Subway food provided was deemed not nutritional for an athlete.
Posted by: Perspective | 13 February 2011 at 17:23
So why don't Cal and BYU play a pre-season opener at the LVI. It would be a crackerjack way to start the pre-season. And I, for one, would be willing to pay to see such a match-up in the stadium (Friday?). I talked to several others in Las Vegas who had the same opinion.
Inquiring minds want to know. Why don't they play each other more than once a year?
Posted by: Inquiring Mind | 13 February 2011 at 18:01
I was not able to attend this weekend so I watched on TV.
I thought the presentation was great, camera angles worked well to show good action and most of the featured games (besides USA matches) did not dissapoint.
As far as the USA's team performance: I am still in shock. They really took a huge step backward as far as i'm concerned. Also, some of those players need to be let go--sorry Howard Kent, but Bokhoven is a liability in defense. He is not able to turn his hips quickly enough and was often caught out of position. As for the rest of the team, falling off tackles and getting steamrolled are not particularly attractive. One thing I also think has hurt us a few times is our obsession with Zach Test disrupting the kick-off....we were burned by the lack of just straight up tackling in this situation (first kick-off of second half vs Samoa changed the game). Make the damn tackle first.
Bad part was Dave Sitton--I don't care how long this guy has been associated with rugby, he continually makes the sport seem like a freakin joke as he relates it to football and such. Quit doing that.
p.s. who cares if they had to play 4 matches on Day 1?? It adds to the planning and player usage factors. There are 12 players on each team and they can all be used during the two days, plus injury pool players if something goes awry. It just takes a little more thought and game planning.
Posted by: crashtheline7 | 14 February 2011 at 06:54
the constant references to football and other sports are demeaning to rugby. The sport of rugby is JUST LIKE RUGBY. Stop bowing to others' ignorance. Tell people rugby is the greatest sport on Earth and if they take the 10 minutes it takes to learn the basics they will be rewarded for years to come.
When non-rugby people watch it and hear all of those references they just think rugby is some sort of bs sport that cant stand on its own.
Posted by: enough | 14 February 2011 at 12:40
I find it hard to believe that NBC can't find someone to replace Dave Sitton. All this talk about the future of rugby being the youth and NBC's rugby "expert" is old enough to be their great-grandfather and uses words like gridiron. Take a clue from other emerging sports and get someone from the MTV generation as the rugby expert. How about one of the recently retired 7s Eagles who played at the highest level in the exact same tournament that they are presenting? What are Mr. Sitton's credentials? He coaches an underachieving Arizona side and he does local sports broadcasts in Tucson, which is nationally ranked 66th in radio and 60th in television.
Come on NBC pull your head out!
Posted by: National Boredom Corporation | 14 February 2011 at 13:20
Let's not pile on him. He is doing the best he can and heart is in the right place. He is of course an American rugby man who has been fighting the good fight along with everyone else for decades.
The point is all of us in rugby from USAR to NBC to the college ranks to high school rugby all need to get on the same page as far as our MESSAGE.
For example, is everyone paying attention to the NFL's labor situation. The NFL might have a lockout during the same fall that the Rugby World Cup debuts on network television. If that happens it will be up there as one of the biggest opportunities ever for rugby to jump into America's consciousness. But will we F it up by referring to our sport as "football without pads" or "tougher than football"? We cannot attack our country's favorite sport. We have to present rugby as complementary to it. The same football fans we will be trying to recruit next fall will be turned against rugby if we describe our sport like those comments above. How many of us have engaged in the "which sport is tougher, rugby or football?" A ridiculous argument and harmful to our sport. If anything we should admit and push the fact that football is much "tougher" as in it results in much worse injuries. That is exactly what we need in order to counter the "rugby is crazy with no pads" stigma that every parent thinks of when they first look at us.
Posted by: College | 14 February 2011 at 13:38
Follow BBC America's lead. Their coverage of rugby has been great. Get a former NFL player in the room and let him tell the NFL fan what he thinks of the game. That goes a long way compared to some old dude saying rugby is tougher than football.
Posted by: BBC American Got it Right | 14 February 2011 at 13:51
enough,
the comments about demeaning the game are right on.
Why not coach or teach some rugby, rather then tie it to baseball? Take 30-60 seconds with a telestrator, and explain with some diagrams what they are trying to do?
The "geometry" of rugby is vital to understand, and a little bit would go a long way -- explain the offside line. Explain how teams try and break a straight defensive line, and how a gap in the line creates a diagonal space.
Also, the commentators calling Ben Gollings the greates 7s players in the history of the game, when Waisale Serevi's there?
That would be like having Pele over at your house and discussing how Cristiano Ronaldo's the greatest player in the history of soccer.
Posted by: ISP8 | 14 February 2011 at 17:53
by "baseball", I meant "football". Don't worry, perhaps during the 2012 broadcast, they'll tie it to "baseball"
And actually, for the record, sevens defense and attack bear more similarity to baseketball, contact aside.
Posted by: ISP8 | 14 February 2011 at 17:55
HOT NEWS FROM www.wearerugby.com !!!!
NEWS ALERT: Newcastle have confirmed that former Knights, New South Wales and Australian Rugby League Test star Matthew Johns will join the club's coaching staff as assistant to Rick Stone for 2011.
Thanks Brian Lowe!
Posted by: WeAreTARDS! | 14 February 2011 at 22:02
Just saw this:
http://rugbyamerica.net/
Why isn't the CPL all over this? Why has a 'Drek' league like this stumped my awesome news about Matthew Johns?
Why is the world going to end next year?
Posted by: Brian Low | 15 February 2011 at 06:32
the link to the article he's referring to: http://www.rugbyamerica.org/2011/02/15/breaking-news-adidas-world-rugby-shop-sponsor-acrl/
Do we think the CPL competed for this sponsorship or wasnt even in the mix. As in they have done nothing to even reach out to potential sponsors.
Posted by: College | 15 February 2011 at 07:52
Here's a direct link to the article mentioned above.
http://www.rugbyamerica.org/2011/02/15/breaking-news-adidas-world-rugby-shop-sponsor-acrl/
Posted by: RA | 15 February 2011 at 07:52
"Even esteemed Cal Bears Head Coach, Jack Clark, has openly stated that the CPL competition may not be the ideal medium for college rugby down the road and aligning conferences along more traditional NCAA boundaries is the best way forward."
This doesn't help the CPL - but I think he's right.
Well done Pat Kane, Adidas and Rugby World Shop.
Not bad for a 'Drek' rugby conference?
Posted by: Drek head | 15 February 2011 at 08:17
Well done Pat Kane and the ACRL.
Posted by: Jack Sparrow | 15 February 2011 at 08:18
That's only because USAR is incapable of selling anything. They haven't sold one CPL sponsorship in 6 months. No one is even sure if they have made a presentation.
How does USAR afford a college director who doesn't sell the sport?
Rugby in America is doing really well, as evidenced by the USA Sevens. Individual teams like Cal have deals with Nike and hundreds of thousands in rugby sponsorships and millions in donations. This is similar to the millions in donations which built the Army rugby complex. Now we have a new rugby conference finding partners, while USAR has their finger in their nose.
Come on Boulder, get to work.
Posted by: disappointed college fan | 15 February 2011 at 13:21
The only person I have ever heard say that the creation of the CPL would open up sponsorship and broadcast opportunities was Jack Clark. He said this repeatedly on the ARN College Podcast and the result was that the first order of business for the College Director Todd Bell was to sell this hastily assembled league to sponsors. As soon as it became apparent that no sponsor was interested, Mr. Clark starts talking about rugby leagues that mirror NCAA leagues is the way forward to get sponsors. He basically crapped on his own baby.
The way forward is to say that you are going to have an American Collegiate Rugby Championship with the top 8 or 10 teams, which will start in 2014. Between now and then you start to sell sponsors and broadcasters by taking advantage of things like the Vegas 7s. Do you think that if Cal played BYU in an exhibition match in Boyd Stadium on Friday night with all the 7s sponsors and NBC/Universal brass around to watch that you couldn't make the case for that product to be sponsored and broadcast? Don't you think that match would draw 5K people on that Friday night? Then do something similar at the collegiate 7s tourney this June in Philly with maybe Army v Dartmouth or Penn. Do it again at an Eagles match with Life, St Mary's and Arkansas State. If the sponsors are on board, you roll out the league. If not, you made a good effort and didn't waste a lot of peoples time and energy reorganizing all of college rugby on a pipe dream.
Posted by: Crap on Your Baby | 15 February 2011 at 19:18
I hope you meant Penn State by "Penn" and not UPenn. As incompetent and underachieving as PSU's leadership is they would beat Penn by 20 points if they had to play the game while running backwards.
Posted by: UPenn vs PSU | 15 February 2011 at 19:32
JC never said the CPL wouldn't work or wasn't helpful for the growth of US college rugby. He was asked if it would help rugby gain NCAA status and he said not really, that traditional conference alignment would do more to that end.
Somebody should link to the story.
I did hear JC say the CPL was marketable on the ARN podcast and I guess we will never know, since USAR has failed to even make a presentation.
BTW, no pipe dream here. Most CPL college teams were playing schedules very similar to what they will now play. In the old system, USAR pocketed several hundred grand of National Guard sponsorship while the team paid all the participation cost. Assuming USAR can find similar sponsorship, the CPL will be much cheaper. Not to mention the teams are out of two match weekends, something only Cal enjoyed.
Each of the college teams have a little sponsorship, some like Cal have more than a little.
Why would the CPL not be worthy of some modest sponsorship? Why wouldn't the highest level of a college national championship be worth sponsorship dollars?
The USA Sevens management certainly found several hundred thousand of sponsorship dollars for the college invitational.
Face the facts, everybody looking has found sponsorship for rugby, but USAR.
Posted by: disappointed college fan | 15 February 2011 at 20:05
What sponsor would give a crap about 90 percent of the teams in the CPL? Most have facilities that do not accommodated fans, basic sponsor signage or TV broadcast ability. The gap between the top and the middle is massive, and the gap between the top and bottom is laughable. Cal and BYU will waltz through their competition at a great expense when they could have played local teams. The whole thing was thrown together with ZERO thought and it was dumped on Todd Bell. Throw in the coaches that were making promises left and right to get their team into the league, and you have a real non-starter of a league. It is a joke and won't get a penny in sponsorship dollars in the first year, which basically means it is DOA.
Posted by: Crap on Your Baby | 15 February 2011 at 20:25
Crap on baby, you're being a bit extreme. There is not a huge increase in cost. For example CPL teams that played a full fall schedule last year, with all the costs involved with that, played a very limited schedule this past fall.
It has its problems, but your issues are obviously against either the CPL teams or someone who backed it. i.e. Jack Clark
Posted by: college | 15 February 2011 at 20:44
The leaders of the ACRL were real pleased when they started talking about the CPL because it allowed them to do what they knew would work for their conference.
Sure they have some crappy teams and even the best teams cannot compete on the national level but they really know what they are doing.
Posted by: Jack Sparrow | 15 February 2011 at 20:53
@college
I have a problem with the fact that college rugby has been stagnant for years and gone backwards since the late 70s. JC has the only varsity team in the country and the loudest microphone and he pushes for a league to be formed in less than a year and handed to a guy new to the game (Todd Bell was a football guy through and through) to make it happen. This is a joke.
Posted by: Crap on Your Baby | 15 February 2011 at 20:57
JC knew it wasn't going to work all along - he's clever he wasn't going to be left holding the baby!
At least the ACRL guys have some balls and have invested everything in this league.
Posted by: Drek Head | 15 February 2011 at 21:04
JC got what he desired, which was more attention paid to the top college programs by USA Rugby. He could care less if the idea was half baked, and he could care less that he hi-jacked the momentum of the newly formed coaches association and had it diverted to the top few programs. One example of what he got is that CPL games now fall under the title of a national USA Rugby Competition along with The Rugby Super League and all USA National Championships. This means that they fall under 2011 USA Rugby Game Management Guidelines when it comes to refs. Better refs for Cal to knock the crap out of Claremont, UCLA, SDSU, Cal Poly, UC Davis, Central Wash, and play one tight match against St Mary's. Same level of competition as he would have had in Nor Cal, but now better refs and fake prestige.
Posted by: Crap on Your Baby | 15 February 2011 at 21:35
what a conspiracy theory! all of this to get better refs?? cal has the money to pay its own ref association.
I am all for criticizing the execution of this league and Jack Clark for trumpeting the sponsorship opportunities, etc. but i dont get crapping on the CPL for the hell of it.
You don't like JC. That's fine. But criticize him with facts and leave the league alone. They are just trying to raise the bar of competition. Excuse them.
The USCRA still exists. They just don't know how to do anything productive. Best practice manuals anyone? Where are they? They would be useful to many many college programs.
Posted by: college | 15 February 2011 at 22:05
Crap is just another anon poster that has never none a thing in rugby. Crap didn't play at a high level, he hasn't coached at a high level, in fact Crap has accomplished crap his entire rugby career.
Posted by: wrt | 16 February 2011 at 08:13
Yeah come on guys, post your name and who you coach - stop this anon carp!
I'm Jack Sparrow and I'm the assistant coach at D4 club side Faber College!
Posted by: Jack Sparrow | 16 February 2011 at 08:50
The best teams in the country have put their hand up to be included in the CPL. The league has a favorable agreement with USA Rugby. Looks like TV of the finals is a strong possibility. Big beautiful stadium in Utah.
Now if Todd Bell and Nigel Melville, as full time professional rugby administrators (on membership dues!), would sell some sponsorships this competition looks like a step in the right direction.
If not, no skin off anybodies nose. However, it does beg the question...why are we paying NM and TB $400k per?
Posted by: CIPP watchdog | 16 February 2011 at 09:00
No way does Todd Bell make anywhere near 200k. You're spot on everything else.
Posted by: college | 16 February 2011 at 10:41
Nigel makes 275 and Todd makes 125.
Posted by: 400 | 16 February 2011 at 14:29
Catching on to this a bit late, but how can they (The CPL) get sponsors without any promotional venues for sponsors to work with... There is no CPL website, they have no Facebook page or Twitter feed to even update their "fans" on how the league is doing, when games start, etc. You cant get sponsors when you have nothing to show them. Does the USAR even have a marketing team?
I was very excited for the league when first announced, but now it seems clear that the people in charge have no idea what they're doing.
Posted by: Big5 | 23 February 2011 at 09:29