So the winter months are coming to an end for most of the country…ok, so maybe just for us in the South! I don’t know how you Northern countries train in the Spring, it must be freezing and horrible weather to boot!
Anyways, The Girl and I have started back in the gym and we are loving it! It is amazing how you take some time away from the gym and instantly it’s not a horrible torture device that it can become during rugby season. Another thing I am looking at is the Spring and Fall schedules for my team and I am excited but dreading it as well.
If you haven’t heard, USA Rugby is changing the way the Women’s program will be formatted. The Internets have been abuzz: K-train posted about the new Super League, Blondie posted about the D1 Super League as well, but there has been no official announcement yet from USA Rugby.
So just glancing at my Club schedule, All-Star Schedule, proposed D1 schedules and any USA Rugby WNT events that a player may be invited to…we will all be putting out more money than ever before to play rugby. Even if you do not play All-Star or WNT events, you will still potentially be paying more than ever. I am going to try and estimate the costs with a few different scenarios for you now:
Most of us think the teams will be Beantown, Berkeley All-Blues, Keystone, Minnesota Valkyries, New York, ORSU, Twin City Amazons, and Washington Furies
I am not sure if they will play each other once or if they will have 3 away and 3 home matches. Will it be pool play or regional play? Another consideration is will “home” really be a home match or will it be a location half-way between? Then there is the Championship, where will it be located?
Looks to be about 4-5 tickets at the least and 6-8 at the most including a USA Rugby Championship.
I know the West is still hashing out how we will handle our Central Region. I think that is what we are being called now instead of the West, the West Region (west coast) and East Region (east coast) have also been created. But it appears that it could be similar to the Premiership League, and it looks like each Region gets to decide their format, be it pool play, tournament style, league matches etc.
Looks to be about 4-5 tickets at the least and 6-8 at the most including a USA Rugby Championship.
Current teams are Orlando, Detroit, Village Lion, Brandywine, Providence, Miami, Cincinnati and Chesapeake. I would guess that there are about 15-20 more D2 teams that will participate, but I am not positive on that number.
I would imagine that this would be a similar format to the D1 League with Regions etc and each Region would decide their format. Imagine the costs will be similar to the Premiership and D1 setup…4-5 tickets at the least and 6-8 at the most including USA Rugby Championship.
Same deal here, “home” matches depend on your territory, for instance the West will more than likely be having a match in Glendale, CO, Tulsa, OK and Atlanta, GA. Since I live in Austin…none of these would be a “home” match for me, if you live in Kansas, not a “home” match…get the drift?
I would guess it will be 3-4 tickets at the least and 4-5 (Camp or Tournament, 3 warm up matches and NASC) tickets at the most.
February 26 – March 1: WNT Combined Camp, Clermont, Florida
June 20 – 28: CANAM, Glendale, Colorado
August 15 – 30: Nations Cup, Toronto, Canada (exact dates TBD)
December: Possible Test matches in Florida (confirmation TBD)
This looks like 3-4 tickets for most players…on top of Club, and All-Star play.
I think the new re-structuring is awesome, yes it will be a shake-up and will incur more costs, but I think the overall change is well thought out and needed. The difference between the top 8 teams and the rest of the country is very obvious. An quick example of this was when Glendale traveled to Round of 16 and had to play New York. Of course we all wished Glendale well, but the reality was that they would more than likely would lose. So at that point it all became about winning the next match against whoever it would be so that they could keep their seed. The Tournament became more about surviving than playing rugby and that is a shame.
Club = 3-8 tickets
All-Stars = 3-5 tickets
WNT 3-4
Total = 9 at least 17 at most
Lastly, I mean absolutely no disrespect to USA Rugby, Alex Williams (HP) Manager or the Competitions Committee, I think the endeavors they are putting in place are hard focused on success. The road may be tough this year, but the following years will be better than ever thanks to your efforts!
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simple – if my team went SL, I would switch to D2. I don’t have that kind of cash, or the desire to use it to play.
Everything is still being ironed out with this. It is def in the making, and the first year will be a trial/error year. I believe the teams invited are Berkeley, NY, Beantown, MN Valks, MN Zons, Keystone, DC and ORSU (as Atlanta turned down the invite).
It truly would be a step up for women’s rugby, so players that are serious about it can play at a consistent high level. It also weeds out the players who may not be that serious about playing at the highest level, (last poster) and gives direction for young serious players when looking to pick a team.
It’s my understanding that D1 and D2 will not be managed as national leagues, but as territorial leagues with a national championship. Just like it is now.
So the cost of playing -SuperLeague- will be significantly more than the cost of playing D1. Combine that with the likelyhood that many of the WNT players will also be playing Superleague, and funding becomes a big challenge.
i wondered where i can read more about the D2 rugby status. D2 rugby has been trying to organize and be officially recognized for YEARS and i had no idea such recognition was nigh! i’ll tell you what, there are way more than 20 more teams out there. there are at least 15 teams that compete in the Midwest alone, and i know MARFU and NRU have tons of teams as well. Not really familiar with the South, West or Pac Coast D2 situation…
But anyway, where can I read more?
Katy-
Unfortunately, nothing has been released from USA Rugby yet, or at least I can’t find anything on their website.
We are hoping they make a formal announcement soon as most of the information I have gathered has been from WNT events and chatting with other WNT players.
Will keep ya posted if I find out more!
Wendy
Anonymous 3 –
You are correct, they will be Territorial Leagues and it will end in a Championship.
Funding will be a huge challenge, it will be interesting to see if the Super League teams can get major sponsors.
Wendy
It’s interesting that the Furies get in ahead of NOVA. Yes, I’m aware that the choices are based on national finishes over the past three years, but NOVA is truly a team on the rise, and they shouldn’t have to miss out.
The Furies vs NOVA thing is why promotion and relegation must be included from the very beginning of a Super League setup. I would say the bottom two teams should be dropped and the finalists from the DI competition move up.
If they are unwilling to create any sort of promotion system I think it will pretty clear that this is politically driven animal.
What about the dozens more D2 clubs? Would USA rugby only support nat’l level brackets and not the current territorial/national structure?
I think, in theory, it’s a great idea, but is it really feasable at this time/ economy?
With that being said, I think that the points system also, in theory, seems like a valid way to pick teams, but there are threats to that validity.
Take for example what one of the other posters said about taking DC versus NOVA. Or, the fact that Atlanta was invited based on their points over the last three years, yet they lost to Boston at nationals. Look who Boston plays in the competitive season. Beantown, Keystone, and New York have consistently been ranked in the top five in the nation. The NRU had three seeds for the first two years of the points system, making it very difficult for a team like Boston to make it to round of 16’s. They beat Glendale, recieved a 4th seed for the NRU, and then beat Atlanta. I’m not saying that I think Boston should be in the top eight, but I don’t neccesarily believe that basing the invite to superleague on points alone is the way to go.
Also, what does that mean for teams in DI? The teams in superleague have a better chance of getting sponsorship than the clubs remaining in DI. I realize that teams in the West have always had to travel to play good competition,so this doesn’t really apply to the, but teams in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast will have to travel just as far as those in the superleague.
I think you’ll find yourself with a bunch of teams folding, due to the economy. Is it really the right time to take this step?