UPDATE: Match was successfully rescheduled, for details check out this post.
Everyone come take a ride on the Merry Go Round…remember when you were a kid and you would sit in the middle of it and your best friend would spin and spin until you couldn’t take it anymore? You would try to get up after it stop moving and you would feel nausea and pukey, its all you can do to hold the vomit down…That’s pretty much a description of the 2008 West League Match season, specifically the match details vs Glendale. Here is a quick summary of our the Austin Valkyries Merry Go Round ride:
Hurricane Ike moves towards the Texas coast during the week before our League Match. There are broad reports of it being the worse storm to possibly hit Austin since 1961, so the Valkyries begin to make preparations in case the storm does hit or impacts us. Typically storms are forecast to hit Austin and surrounding areas, but usually the storms move around and do not hit Austin. True to that fact Hurricane Ike did not hit until early Saturday morning and the only affected areas were surrounding Houston and Beaumont.
During all of weather drama on Tuesday and Wednesday the Valkyrie Officers and Coaches have been in close contact with the Glendale Coach and Match Secretary. On Tuesday evening both teams decide to give the storm 24-48 hours in order to gauge safety and weather conditions. The storm continues to move Northeast during the next 24-48 and weather predictions only have a risk of high winds and 80% chance of rain for match day.
However, everything begins to shift dramatically Thursday morning when our Coach receives an call from Bill Haffner that there are concerns about safety and weather conditions for this match. Our Coach and Officers spend most of their workday on Thursday working with Bill and Glendale trying to keep the match on. We had requested further information on Hurricane Ike and received a report from OEM (Austin Office of Emergency Management) at 5:15pm saying all will be clear and safe. We also requested a report from FEMA and the National Weather Service and received their report at 6:30pm that Austin was OFF the “cities at risk” list. Our coach called an emergency meeting with the Austin Blacks at Burr field at 7pm and received permission to play in wind or rain at Burr Field. We also reserved a back-up field in case there was a large amount of rain. At 7:30pm our coach called the Glendale coach and confirmed that “the game was ON” – at 9pm confirmation of match and details were sent to West, TRU, Referee and both teams that the game is ON and will be played.
The Valkyries believe all is well and we continue our match preparations in case there are problems with the Hurricane. Friday morning at approximately 9am we receive an email from Bill Haffner that the game has been cancelled and we must reschedule with Glendale. Our coach quickly calls Haffner and the discovers the reason for canceling the match (given verbally over the phone) was “the storm may hit later and prevent travel out of Austin Saturday night.” After pouring a stiff drink and buying pack of cigarettes, our Coach attempts to work within new template that implies “What Glendale wants, Glendale gets.”
Since we are forced to reschedule by the West, we immediately offer the next weekend for the rescheduled match. Glendale refuses saying they are attending Aspen Ruggerfest. We suggest Sunday Oct. 5th and the response is “no, it costs too much.” Glendale offers a counter offer of Sept. 27 and they can guarantee a forfeit by Black Ice (League Match) and they will move our Boulder Babes League Match to Sunday.
As soon as we received this counter offer of Sept 27 complete with forfeit and moving of a match, we contacted Black Ice and Boulder and asked if they had been informed of these decisions. Of course they had no idea what was going on and we suggested they call the Glendale coach as she was offering them up. Black Ice and Boulder were both of course appalled that these arrangements would be made without being consulted, and were extremely happy we had the integrity and fortitude to contact them.
On the originally scheduled match day we continued with our plans to play rugby and we hosted our B side vs Texas State in Austin, TX at the reserved pitch. The weather was picture perfect, the rugby was even more beautiful and we had a GREAT Hurricane Ike party.
Negotiations continued throughout the next week as Glendale, Boulder, Black Ice, Austin and the West officials continued discussions about this match and the conditions thereof. Finally we received confirmation that we would play Glendale on Sept 27, 2008 in Denver (pitch to be neutral and TBD). Glendale will play the Kansas City Jazz (League Match) and then we will play our League Match against them that afternoon. We found out later that Black Ice decided to forfeit their League Match because they wanted to see the best team go to Nationals and we confirmed with them that we would give them a B side match after we play Boulder on Sunday, Sept 28, 2008.
All in this has been a huge stress and completely ridiculous as the weather in Austin on Sept 13, 2008 was absolutely gorgeous without a drop of rain and our B side threw to Pod 2 without any problems all day long. There has been plenty of speculation as to why this match was really canceled, and I have my own opinions about that, but that is for another day.
We are looking forward to our League Match this weekend against Glendale and may the best team win! It doesn’t go without saying though that Glendale obviously thinks they are pretty powerful, scheduling two league matches in one day, speaking for other teams when they don’t have the right…is this what having USA Rugby in your backyard does, give you false confidence and false power?
UPDATE: Match was successfully rescheduled, for details check out this post.
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Wow! Sounds like you’re really being given the run around by that team. Very best of luck at the weekend.
I do believe that Glendale has convinced themselves that they carry as much weight off the pitch as some of their girls do ON to it!
It takes some great deal of arrogance to presume to move another teams matches without so much as a “would you mind”?
We dealt with a “league pet” team like this when I was just out of college. The rest of the teams in the division decided to forfeit ALL games against said opponents, and although they won the division going “undefeated”, they had no games under their belt when playoffs came around. Makes it hard to keep a team focused with no games. I am sure Glendale and the West will get the message, especially if it were to happen two or more years in a row.
If the West doesn’t like it, then let them cover the cost for the trip to Austin by Glendale since they authorized the cancelling of the game. But to penalize the Valks a home game for working so hard to pull off the preparations despite hurricane Ike is just ludicrous.
And if Glendale doesn’t like it, then let them woman-up and make the trip like they were supposed to anyway. Weather happens, chickenshit shouldn’t. A good weekend in sunny Austin might do wonders for them.
HERE IS SOME ADVICE FOR GLENDALE AS HURRICANE IKE (THE AUSTIN VALKYRIES) HEADS THEIR WAY:
Some descriptions of what to expect during Cat 5 storms, from the FEMA website:
* Catastrophic
* Devastation
* Storm surge
* Landslides
* Intense
* Secure & Brace
* Take refuge
* Lie on the floor
FEMA also suggests that our Glendale opponents may be quite shaken by this experience. Check out the list of symptoms:
* Difficulty communicating thoughts.
* Difficulty sleeping.
* Difficulty maintaining balance in their lives.
* Low threshold of frustration.
* Increased use of drugs/alcohol.
* Limited attention span.
* Poor work performance.
* Headaches/stomach problems.
* Tunnel vision/muffled hearing.
* Colds or flu-like symptoms.
* Disorientation or confusion.
* Difficulty concentrating.
* Reluctance to leave home.
* Depression, sadness.
* Feelings of hopelessness.
* Mood-swings and easy bouts of crying.
* Overwhelming guilt and self-doubt.
* Fear of crowds, strangers, or being alone.
Finally, since we're not completely callous and we have shown great grace & sportsmanship through this whole ordeal, here are some words of advice you can give your Glendale opposites once the storm has subsided and we are on our way back to the hotel for dinner:
* Talk with someone about your feelings – anger, sorrow, and other emotions – even though it may be difficult.
* Seek help from professional counselors who deal with post-disaster stress.
* Do not hold yourself responsible for the disastrous event or be frustrated because you feel you cannot help directly in the rescue work.
* Take steps to promote your own physical and emotional healing by healthy eating, rest, exercise, relaxation, and meditation.
* Maintain a normal family and daily routine, limiting demanding responsibilities on yourself and your family.
* Spend time with family and friends.
* Participate in memorials.
* Use existing support groups of family, friends, and religious institutions.
* Ensure you are ready for future events by restocking your disaster supplies kits and updating your family disaster plan. Doing these positive actions can be comforting.
Bring on the rugby hurricane
Now I remember why I stopped reading your blog Wendy. Your complete inability to remain even a little bit objective and support the community of rugby as a whole is sad.
Rather than using your blog to rip other teams, why don’t you just stay positive? Let the outcome of games on the pitch determine what everyone thinks about the teams.
I miss Saturday’s A Rugby Day. At least Blondie was positive and fair.
Wow, I thought Wendy’s post was quite objective. She could have really gone down a destructive path and I thought it was done tastefully and was well done.
There are plenty of readers who do support you Wendy! Keep on blogging!
Blondie is of course missed as well as she was a great asset to rugby blogging!
Have a great day Wendy!
Susan from PA
hey “flip in the midwest,”
Clearly you haven’t stopped reading Wendy’s blog if you have such an opinion on her Austin v Glendale post.
But then again, maybe you didn’t read it if you think a rugger should support another team making decisions for another. Wendy DID support the rugby community…she gave Boulder and Black Ice a voice.
Don’t you worry… at 4:30 on Saturday the decision will be made on the pitch that should have been decided 2 weeks ago in sunny Austin….and you’ll be the first to know since you STILL read Wendy’s blog and she’ll be posting live from from Denver.
Cheers!
since there is no LIVE posty from Denver, Ill be the first to write… the match results are…. GLENDALE WINS. How about all that talk now. Inaccurate confidence maybe? Just goes to show that confidence spitting from your mouth can do NOTHING for you on the pitch. Hope it was worth that fictional story you fabricated prior to the match.
As a spectator who watched the Glendale vs Austin game…and watched the bias of the referee and touch judge, I was once again appalled by Glendale’s actions. The game was 65 minutes in and it was grid-iron with a score of Glendale 8 and Austin 3.
Two tries were incorrectly taken back from Austin, one where a player stepped out of bounds (hmm she was at least 3 meters from the line…) and another where Glendale popped up so Austin could not drive over and score. Penalty try anyone?
After that the wind was gone from Austin’s sails as they knew they were playing against the ref and the touch judge for Glendale as well. The game was already decided and it was just a matter of time before their spirit broke.
Pity that this game was NOT in Austin as planned and the Glendale fans were ATROCIOUS and the Glendale players were vicious and backstabbing the whole game. I watched girls get raked, punched, stepped on and maliciously late hit…all while the referee said “it was so subtle I must have missed it.”
The wrong team is going to Nationals…
Wow – some of these comments are absolutely disgusting. You know what it sounds like to me? A lot of whining from the losing team that wouldn’t be happening had they – you know – won.
For Christ’s sake, grow up and take the loss like women and not oversized diaper-wearing children. It is an obvious sign of a poor loser and a bad athlete who places all blame for losing on “favoritism” and other such nonsense. Why not concentrate on your GAME instead of what’s going on with the other team?
I might not be an rugger, but as a third-party outsider with little knowledge of rugby, I for one am embarrassed for Austin. I’m just now getting into the sport but have yet to see such an unsportsmanlike public display of cry-baby garbage. I hope this is not indicative of what this sport is about. You girls (yes, GIRLS – women don’t act so low class) should be ashamed of yourselves.