Rugby News from unexpected places

[The Ghost of Raelene]

It doesn’t. It’s why the idea of our Clubs being a third tier is absurd. The resources required for the uplift would be crippling and not bare the fruits of the cost.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

And yet you suggested that clubs like Glendale, OMBAC and NYAC should have been the vessels in the States?

I just pointed out having actively followed the game in the States alongside other T2 nations for quite some time now that these clubs have resources on the level of Subbies clubs. It's been tried and failed in the past.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

For the standard of the MLR it could develop Eagles and the game in the US. Very different to the goals of RA and the Wallabies.

The sleeping giant spiel about the US is garbage. They will never be a top tier nation. More likely to be good at Soccer before Rugby.

I follow these comps as well. Know many involved across them. A lot of people do if you’re around circles here. I don’t care so much about Currie cup players and even ITM cup. Edmed went and brained it…then you have 14 Currie Cup teams minus all the guys overseas…

Was said by a few weeks ago that I’ll be surprised if the MLR exists in 3-5 years but good luck to some Clubbies if they can get some coin out of footy. It’s a tough gig to earn.

 

[Rebel man]

They could easily become good at rugby if the game was well run

 

[pnut]

It doesn’t. It’s why the idea of our Clubs being a third tier is absurd. The resources required for the uplift would be crippling and not bare the fruits of the cost.

rubbish. The current pathway is broken. Get your involved with it but 3 east coast teams is not a pathway. Different ways to fund it rather than super clubs wasting it.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

I have zero involvement. I promise you.

Do you genuinely believe Australia’s Club ecosystem has the ability to provide a professional environment without being a complete burden on RA that would cripple other things? Just geographically the cost would be immense.

I love Club Rugby and think it will always have a place and I get the romanticism of it being something greater but it’s not the way forward.

I’d love someone to show a business case for it working and what would it take.

 

[Wilson]

The sleeping giant spiel about the US is garbage. They will never be a top tier nation. More likely to be good at Soccer before Rugby.

While there are people making the 'sleeping giant' argument, I don't think it's the actual goal of any of the major decision makers. All they really want is a stable foothold in the market - if MLR got to anything near where MLS has (even relative to the scale of Rugby vs Soccer) it would be a very solid market that would enable the rest of the Americas to take a big step forward.

I do think it's in a pretty dire state though, the only real caveat to collapse is that the 2031 world cup has pushed the US into "too big (or important) to fail territory" from a world rugby perspective for the next 5 or so years. If I were an ambitious tier one nation or top flight professional club side, I'd be actively courting USA Rugby, MLR sides and most importantly World Rugby to try and get my share of that investment (bail out money) to come.

That is all said from a very 'men's game' perspective though, on the female side of the game they're already a fairly strong force and the sleeping giant moniker is much more apt. Arguably MLR should be looking to run an equivalent Women's comp and let them drag the men along with them, basically the opposite of how the women's game is building elsewhere. If they were running dual men's and women's sides at every club and playing either double headers or Saturday/Sunday paired games each weekend for a double round robin they might actually have something both sustainable and with solid growth potential, even if they had to fall back to 6 clubs to do it.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

A women's 'pro' league launched this year. Womens Elite Rugby or WER.

 

[Wilson]

How closely bound is it to the MLR?

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Not at all.

 

[Wilson]

That's probably good for the Women's game but a huge missed opportunity for MLR. Being able to offset some costs and broaden the market would've made a huge difference for some of these teams, particularly at the salary base they're currently operating at.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

What's intetesting is that they operate in mostly different markets. With the exception of Boston (who actually have a relationship with the Freejacks) and Chicago the rest are in markets with no MLR presence.