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23 May 2011

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They read over the loudspeaker that there were about 10,500 in attendance. Whatever it was, it was a pretty amazing atmosphere. Felt like a BYU football game. Crowd was really buzzing. Kudos to USAR for a great event.

Actually, kudos to BYU staff that appeared on every talk show, every television station, in the local newspapers...anywhere there was a venue they talked it up. USAR's promotion was limited to a single press release by Jarrod Beckstrom. If USAR had actually promoted the match it could have drawn, what, 15,000 and maybe more.

As it was it was a wonderful event, but giving the credit to USAR is not aligned with the facts. They came in to collect the money. There was no way to buy advance tickets (the event wasn't visible anywhere but the USARugby.org Website, and certainly not on the Rio Tinto Stadium calendar of events) until a week before the event. There was no advance publicity of any kind until a couple of days before the event. USAR didn't award the event to a local organization as it did to all the other championships (ala Stanford), so there wasn't even a firm reservation for fields to play on for the U-19 championships until the week before the tournament. What a fire drill that was, getting a place to play at the last minute!

It was a great game and a great crowd, but USAR simply isn't entitled to the credit.

The U-19 and High school pool-play games were moved due to the heavy rains that occurred for several days prior to the event.

Yes, they were moved, but up until the week before the final, they was no reservation at Murray park, since the proper paperwork wasn't filled out by USAR. This is just an example of the importance USAR gives to this part of their job. Repeated emails requesting their attention to this problem went unanswered. In the end, the matches were held elsewhere, but that doesn't excuse the lack of groundwork by USAR.

How about some love for Davenport University which in their third season won the college crown from the frequently forgotten by USA Rugby Midwest.

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