2005 USARugby College Championship Weekend (4/29-30/05) [R]

Or go to Balboa Park in San Francisco, watch a quality San Francisco derby between Olympic Club and Golden Gate, who could kick Cal's ass, for $5, and get smashed.

 

I would love to see a competitive match between Cal and Utah. I doubt that will happen, as Utah has had to come from behind in their last two matches against UCSB and BYU, respectively. Heck, Utah benefited from a strange yellow card on the UCSB scrumhalf for the final 10 minutes of the match in the final 8 tournament and Utah were able to come back from being down for the majority of the match (sorry, UCSB supporter still pissed).

Not that Cal has to lose, but it would be great to see them challenged in U.S. collegiate rugby.

It is too bad that the Super League is run in a less than professional manner compared to the collegiate championships. The rugby could be of a high standard, but at this point the quality is all over the place. Plus, it looks really poor that Aspen quit during the middle of the season regardless of the excuses.

 

I don't think Super League could be blamed for Aspen throwing their toys out of the pram, and if anything the League is better for it. Aspen is a foreign club; their team has very few Americans on it, and those foreigners who stay have little interest in representing the United States. With the new player regulations for Super League coming into effect that limit the number of non-qualified players, Aspen knew they had no chance because they'd actually have to recruit Americans to play for them.

I've watched Cal rugby frequently and I play for Golden Gate, so I'm in a good position to compare the two. Cal would give the best of Super League a good game, although I think the top 3/4 SL clubs like Golden Gate, Belmont Shore, OMBAC, etc. would probably shade it due to the experience of older players. But the rest of the collegiate world are dreck. North Carolina trained at our pitch before the Final Four at Witter last year, and it was like watching a high school team train.

O-Club and Golden Gate are loaded with ex-Cal players. Some rise to the top, others not so much. I think this is what would sink Cal in a match against Super Leaguers. They'd have some really good players, but other positions are filled by sub-standard Super League players.

Organisationally, both competitions are pretty hopeless; don't get the idea collegiate rugby is run well because they're playing the final four in a purpose built rugby facility.

 

True, Super League is not to blame for the demise of Aspen. Their poor recruitment of U.S. players is solely to blame. The problem with the Aspen departure is that it creates the view that the top U.S. level is run in the same way as most U.S. leagues, nothing more than pub league rugby where teams cancel out on a whim. You absolutely cannot have that at a Super League level. That is brutal for American rugby.

As far as the running of the collegiate finals, I disagree that the Super League and the collegiate finals are equal. First, one is run at a an actual rugby facility (college) and have fans in the thousands, the other (Super League) chooses high school stadiums and do not receive the same fan support. Secondly, college rugby is televised. Actually, that should be first because regardless of the organization of both, being televised is the most important organizational factor for any sport.

I am sure you are correct about the level of play between Cal and Super League teams. I think the one huge advantage for Cal that is not measureable is their ability to train everyday with fitness sessions in the morning and training in the afternoons. Most men's clubs are not able to accommodate those schedules due to work commitments. I think the Super League players would be more physical and experienced which should lead to a victory in the end.

 

You've made some good points here. Super League has it's problems as all American rugby does - it's run on an ad hoc basis by volunteers. This is inevitably going to lead to ********-ups. Aspen pretty much canceled right after they got smashed by Olympic Club, the worst team in Super League (by far - they're something like 1-19 in Super League). If Olympic Club kicks your ass, you're bad.

I am unaware of Super League clubs, at least those on the West Coast, who play at high school facilities. Golden Gate plays at Balboa Park, an Eagle Test ground until very recently, which is far better than either Witter Field or Steuber. And once you take these two out of account, Super League clubs tend to have the better facilities. I've seen the highlights of college rugby on Fox Sports World, and it seems to be by and large played on paddocks with three men and a dog watching. Super League crowds could be better (although about a thousand people turned up today for SFGG-OC - an excellent crowd by anybody's standards in US rugby), but outside of the excellent support Cal gets (about 2,000 on a Wednesday afternoon against UBC) college support is thin.

Much of college rugby's appeal comes from the fact it's very much a college sport. Even most of the big American clubs are stocked with players who learned in college. In a way, Golden Gate is insulated from this as we are an actual working-class club (far more like the Welsh clubs I'm used to), but the entire Super League scene, particularly East Coast rugby, is very much old-boys japes.

 

Reading all of this stuff with a lot of interest.
At least you guys get to play in stadiums sometimes. The US Aussie Rules clubs are increasingly relying on Polo grounds in various places to have full sized matches.
Rugby with its longer history in the USA than A/Rules should it be further developed.

 

The men's Division 1 and 2 finals and women's Division 1 final will be broadcast on a tape delayed basis beginning next Saturday, May 7th on CSTV. CSTV is now on most cable networks (Time/Warner, Cox, etc), as well as on the satellite providers (Directv). Yes, CSTV is small, but it has created enough interest in their product that ESPN is now starting an ESPNU network devoted to college sports. Realistically I will take any televised rugby on any station regardless of it's stature. Plus, what a great way to help legitimize the sport than to present an actual professionally televised broadcast of your team's championship match to your school's administrators. That helps further the sport more than any other medium. Other fringe sports; lacrosse, volleyball, swimming, wrestling, etc. are more than happy to have their sports presented on CSTV.

If the Super League is able to venture into televising their matches or just the finals, than it would give an enormous boost to their stature and marketing efforts. I do hope that the Rugby Channel receives enough signups to begin a startup.

As far as the high school stadiums, PsyCeltic is most likely correct that Super League teams don't play at high schools. I was more referring to the finals last year in Newport, RI. I didn't go, but from the pictures I saw, the playing area didn't look like a stadium at all. I could be incorrect on that though.

College rugby playing areas are incredibly random. At UCSB, they play in the university's football stadium (no football team exists now). In the final 8, they attracted about 1,500 fans for each of their matches vs. Wyoming and Utah. But, most colleges play on an intramural field with no stands.

I hope that Super League is drawing well into the upper hundreds, if not low 1,000, but I just don't think anyone outside the rugby community knows that it exits.

It is good that at least there is interest in rugby that we can even have a discussion on bigsoccer.com.

 

At least you've got it. Cablevision does not offer CSTV or ESPNU. CSTV is manna from heaven though. Or mana, I don't really know how to spell that. Baseball, hockey, soccer, lacrosse, volleyball, and every other NCAA sport that isn't called football or basketball. You've got to love it. Also, they broadcast club sports like rugby and ultimate frisbee.