I was going to take a few days to write about the painful experience that has been Austin vs Glendale this year, but the comments on my last post have gotten a little crazy! The point of that blog was not to stir up controversy or badmouth a team, if you read it that way, read it again and really read it this time.
A lot of injustices were done by Glendale and before you think I am just ripping Glendale, keep reading! Austin made a few mistakes as well. Glendale should have come to Austin when they were scheduled. As we all know, Austin was cleared of ANY weather concerning Hurricane Ike and the match should have continued as scheduled. Glendale should have also made more of an effort to come to Austin on a rescheduled date. Austin should have stuck to their guns and not agreed to move their match or accept to play Glendale in Colorado. Austin should have been more vigilant in what was best for their team, not convenient.
The West perhaps has made the most mistakes here, one single person made the decision to cancel this match and started this firestorm. It was not taken to the West board, or Competitions Committee, unfortunately one single man made this decision. On top of that, the West failed to appoint a fair and neutral referee, they also failed to appoint Assistant Referees that were certified and not from either team. In all, the West in general fails because they allowed ANY of this to happen.
However, I think we should turn the tables on this and try to put a positive spin on all of this…what can we learn from this?
– Home games should not be taken for granted, and teams should not lose their home field advantage if at all possible.
– Rescheduling the game should not be a hardship on either team if at all possible, but Friendlys and Tournaments should be canceled in order to play a League Match.
– Referees should be completely neutral and possibly brought in from other territories. IE: if Glendale is playing KC, have a ref from TX or Missouri.
– Assitant Referees must be in attendance and certified referees and not from either team.
– Safety is always a concern, but what constitutes a National Weather Emergency or Natural Disaster?
– Who really has control over this league? Bill Haffner or the West?
What other concerns do we have? Do you experience similar problems in your Union? Have anything to say positive or negative (lets try to be positive!) please leave it in the comments.
If we can’t expect each other as teams to hold each other accountable for our actions, than how can we expect the West or USA Rugby to be held accountable as well?
Since and including 1997, the West is 15-37 at Nationals. It has only won 5 games in the championship round, including 2 in 1997 by the Olde Girls (now Glendale) and 3 by Kansas City. None since 2004. Austin is 1 and 3, the Jazz is 6 and 12, and the Olde Girls/Glendale is 6 and 14. The Jazz’s work in the mid-2000s earned extra seeds for the West, but clearly, no one in the league has been able to make that next step, as no one has won a second round game since 1997. Despite having three teams in Nationals in 2005 and 2006, the West only won 3 games during those years, 2 by Glendale/Olde Girls and 1 by Austin, all on the consolation side of the bracket. The West was a big 0 for 4 in the last go-around. Glendale/Olde Girls are 1 and 1 in challenge matches, Austin is 0 and 1, and I believe the Jazz are 2 and 0, for a 3 and 2 record on challenges. Not a lot of success from this territory at all. Therefore, rather than bash Glendale, maybe the West should get a bit more introspective and figure out why things have not improved, how to fix it, and where to go from here. Perhaps reducing the league to four teams, rather than 6, is the first place to start. That way, teams don’t have to make as many trips out to Colorado to play, and can instead schedule more physical matches with other teams in stronger territories.
I agree! Lets make the West better!
Looking at a few more statistics might be helpful as well.
Coaches:
Sabres: 1 non playing coach
Glendale: 2 non playing coaches
Boulder: 1 non playing coach
KC Jazz: 1 playing coach
Austin: 3 playing coaches
Black Ice: 1 playing coach
Numbers:
Sabres: 20-25 Cipp’d members
Glendale: 30-35 Cipp’d members
Austin: 30-35 Cipp’d members
KC Jazz: 15-20 Cipp’d members
Boulder: 15-20 Cipp’d members
Black Ice: 10-15 Cipp’d members
Current Select Side Players (15’s):
Sabres: 2
Glendale: 15
Austin: 2
KC Jazz: 2
Boulder: 2
Black Ice: 1
West 15’s Coach: Mark Bullock (Glendale)
Current Select Side Players (7’s):
Sabres: 0
Glendale: 5
Austin: 2
KC Jazz: 2
Boulder: 0
Black Ice: 0
West 7’s Coach: Laura Hertel (Glendale)
USA 15’s Pool:
Sabres: 0
Glendale: 2
Austin: 2
KC Jazz: 0
Boulder: 0
Black Ice: 0
USA 7’s Pool:
Glendale: 1
Austin: 1
KC Jazz: 1
Boulder: 0
Black Ice: 0
Does anyone see a pattern here? All of the focus seems to be going to Glendale and their players, I know the Jazz have GREAT players and I know the Sabres have GREAT players as well etc etc. Clearly coaches that aren’t playing and coaching will have an impact on our teams. Even further, if we can have select side coaching staff that don’t come from the same city/state, some of the other teams will be able to benefit from Select Side play?
If we can support each other from the outside/in…we only will make the West stronger in general.
I think more to the point of what is wrong with the West – when was the last time more than 1 player from the West made the rostered 22 for an Eagles game? (or the rostered 10-12 for a Eagle 7s game – I can’t remember if Ellie and Melissa where on the same team at any point)? Why is that? Surely there are enough good players out there? Without having players with international experience, it is difficult for advanced skills to be brought back to the clubs. It is obvious what international-caliber players bring to an organization – just look at what Meredith has brought to Austin. So what is missing for the West, and how do we get more of our players involved internationally so they can bring that skill set back to the local clubs? Are our eligible players frowned upon because they are from the West due to the West teams’ poor showings at nationals? Or are the West teams not spending enough time playing high caliber competition, and so the players are not advancing in skill at the same rate as those from the Northeast or California? Any thoughts there?
I don’t think you are being fair with yourselves. There are some cold hard rugby facts of life.
One of those facts is that the NRU and MARFU both have MUCH easier travel considerations. Heck we groan and moan about going from Boston to Philly. Or Philly to Raleigh. Travel being shorter (and less expensive) fosters competition at the club and makes assembling for select sides much easier. Plus it’s much easier to retain players just out of college when all your away games aren’t crazy 8+ hour car rides or plane tickets.
Which leads to second issue-total number of players. Again, look at NRU + MARFU, 60+ U19 girls teams,100+ college women’s teams and 40+ additional women’s clubs after DI teams.
I am not sure how a region is supposed to stay competitive without players and with a huge drain on resources (travel expenses) like the west has.
Glendale has the unsavory task of playing New York/Beantown/Keystone on the first day of nationals. They would need either Beantown or Keystone to finish second AND that team would have to be depleted by the 7s world cup availability issues.
If they lose on day one they have another daunting task. Either they’re playing ORSU (ferocious at the point of attack and well coached) or the 2nd place finisher of the Philly/NOVA/DC battle royal.
It’s a tough road to find that win but if they don’t find a way to win the only West seed could be up for challenge or at the very least you’ll be stuck with 15th/16th aka “seeds of death.”
Anonymous 1 – The idea of reducing the teams from 6 to 4 has come up of late. Would this really rally our union or would it just focus on the top 4 teams?
There is not currently a D2 in the West (it is in the works we hear), and so those teams that are not in the D1 league do not have anything to play towards, mainly a championship.
Also is the current format of the West the best way to prepare our team’s for Nationals? Currently we play 6 league games and are those really enough to prepare any team to go to Nationals? There doesn’t seem to be time in the schedule to play teams outside the West and lets face it, we have to go outside the West a bit to gain more experience for our teams. I am all for growing the West, but reaching out to other Unions for suggestions could be helpful for out teams.
Just a few thoughts this early morning…
Anonymous 2 – Thanks for working on all those statistics, I see that they are a generalization, but I appreciate the effort!
It definitely sheds some light on our coaching situation, selectside participation and national selections.
I think one of the biggest improvements the West could make would be to appoint a West Women’s Representative to the West Board. We struggle as teams to find coaches, players and so much more. If we had a representative on the Board that had our interests at heart instead of the constant answer of “the men do this or that, why can’t you?”
Anonymous 3- You speak a lot of truth and bring up plenty of valid points. Geographically we all know we have plenty of challenges, playing each other requires plane tickets and money. This makes it harder to play our league games and to maintain numbers, especially as the economy is spinning out of control.
I agree that the West does not play high enough caliber teams, but I think that is due to the current league schedule. Glancing around at the 6 teams in the league, Glendale and the Sabres are the only teams that really played outside the West this year. Is that because the league schedule is too tight? Cramming 6 games in to two months is quite difficult and really can break the pocket book.
What if we went back to a Tournament style of league play? What if we went to a Tier 1 or Tier 2 format where seeds can be challenged or your can move up from Tier 2 to Tier 1 with a good record?
If we can grow the West then the National Teams will be forced to recognize our teammates and we will have a better representation of players in respective Eagle Pools. We all know what a few Eagle camps will do to help a player, and better yet if they get to play in a high level National game, they bring all of that back to their club.
K-Train, as always you bring up strong and valid points about the challenges we all face as rugby players. Retaining college players has been difficult in the West and in my opinion it is because of the challenges they faced as college players in the West.
In College they scraped and pinched to play rugby. Some teams do see some support from their University budgetwise, but more often than not, rugby is from their own pocket. Once they leave college and begin experiencing West Club rugby teams, I think they start to understand how expensive rugby really is, especially in the West! The current League Schedule is not kind to those of us/you with smaller pocket books, no matter how much you love rugby.
And of course you speak the truth when you state that we could be losing the last West seed this year. While of course I am hoping that does not happen, we have to face facts. Glendale has drawn a very hard spot in Nationals and will have to work incredibly hard to defeat Beantown/New York/Keystone (whoever gets the seed). These are teams that have done very well in recent years and are slobbering to prove themselves as teams and Unions.
I’d stop this discussion forthwith. Whichever sport you follow, there always appears to be a club or region that appears to engender favouritism. Wasps, Manchester United etc. People will argue ’til their blue in the face that they are right.
Have fun, and see you at the next World Cup!