Hull Kingston Bronco wrote:STOP PRESS: This story just gets better and better - have a look at this stuff we were hearing in 1997 FFS http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4370954.html I'd forgotten all about that! The sooner our sport stops getting wound up by these jokers, Maurice and Rupert?

Hull Kingston Bronco wrote:STOP PRESS: This story just gets better and better - have a look at this stuff we were hearing in 1997 FFS http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4370954.html I'd forgotten all about that! The sooner our sport stops getting wound up by these jokers, Maurice and Rupert?

Catalancs wrote:the amount of money pumped into rugby union is incredible. i saw a feature on the set up over there on total rugby and i was blown away. nigel melville and his team have put a ton of work in and now they are starting to see the fruits of that effort. a good international calender also helps the game develop. If you're running a global business, this is the sort of thing you do when you seek to develop a new market... http://www.usarugby.org/media/EDocs/STRATPLANFINAL.pdf Pretty impressive stuff. Goal, strategy, tactics, execution, review. If you're a couple of attention seeking weirdos, you do this... http://www.nrlus.com/history ...apparently the Northern Union broke away in the 1920's, some 20 years after the player numbers were cut from 15 to 13 in their own dodgy timeline (did Union cut from 15 to 13 and then go back to 15 again later then or something?). The internal logic is nutty, they can't even do something simple like an order of events right The thing that really winds me up about these idiots, is how daft it makes our entire sport look compared to the other lot - I swear we have the best product, but the worst administrators, in the whole of the world sporting landscape.

Catalancs wrote:the amount of money pumped into rugby union is incredible. i saw a feature on the set up over there on total rugby and i was blown away. nigel melville and his team have put a ton of work in and now they are starting to see the fruits of that effort. a good international calender also helps the game develop. If you're running a global business, this is the sort of thing you do when you seek to develop a new market... http://www.usarugby.org/media/EDocs/STRATPLANFINAL.pdf Pretty impressive stuff. Goal, strategy, tactics, execution, review. If you're a couple of attention seeking weirdos, you do this... http://www.nrlus.com/history ...apparently the Northern Union broke away in the 1920's, some 20 years after the player numbers were cut from 15 to 13 in their own dodgy timeline (did Union cut from 15 to 13 and then go back to 15 again later then or something?). The internal logic is nutty, they can't even do something simple like an order of events right The thing that really winds me up about these idiots, is how daft it makes our entire sport look compared to the other lot - I swear we have the best product, but the worst administrators, in the whole of the world sporting landscape.

They'll do whatever it takes to sell the game to their target audience, which is very different from the UK audience. That will probably mean taking a different approach. If this means a successful RL comp in the US then I'm all for it.

Hull Kingston Bronco wrote:If you're running a global business, this is the sort of thing you do when you seek to develop a new market... http://www.usarugby.org/media/EDocs/STRATPLANFINAL.pdf Pretty impressive stuff. Goal, strategy, tactics, execution, review. If you're a couple of attention seeking weirdos, you do this... http://www.nrlus.com/history ...apparently the Northern Union broke away in the 1920's, some 20 years after the player numbers were cut from 15 to 13 in their own dodgy timeline (did Union cut from 15 to 13 and then go back to 15 again later then or something?). The internal logic is nutty, they can't even do something simple like an order of events right The thing that really winds me up about these idiots, is how daft it makes our entire sport look compared to the other lot - I swear we have the best product, but the worst administrators, in the whole of the world sporting landscape. whats wrong with ambition if this works it will be fantastic, if it doesnt who cares lofty goals get people excited, when selling an entertainement product thats what you need to get people excited

Hull Kingston Bronco wrote:If you're running a global business, this is the sort of thing you do when you seek to develop a new market... http://www.usarugby.org/media/EDocs/STRATPLANFINAL.pdf Pretty impressive stuff. Goal, strategy, tactics, execution, review. If you're a couple of attention seeking weirdos, you do this... http://www.nrlus.com/history ...apparently the Northern Union broke away in the 1920's, some 20 years after the player numbers were cut from 15 to 13 in their own dodgy timeline (did Union cut from 15 to 13 and then go back to 15 again later then or something?). The internal logic is nutty, they can't even do something simple like an order of events right The thing that really winds me up about these idiots, is how daft it makes our entire sport look compared to the other lot - I swear we have the best product, but the worst administrators, in the whole of the world sporting landscape. whats wrong with ambition if this works it will be fantastic, if it doesnt who cares lofty goals get people excited, when selling an entertainement product thats what you need to get people excited

Hull Kingston Bronco wrote:If you're running a global business, this is the sort of thing you do when you seek to develop a new market... http://www.usarugby.org/media/EDocs/STRATPLANFINAL.pdf Pretty impressive stuff. Goal, strategy, tactics, execution, review. If you're a couple of attention seeking weirdos, you do this... http://www.nrlus.com/history ...apparently the Northern Union broke away in the 1920's, some 20 years after the player numbers were cut from 15 to 13 in their own dodgy timeline (did Union cut from 15 to 13 and then go back to 15 again later then or something?). The internal logic is nutty, they can't even do something simple like an order of events right The thing that really winds me up about these idiots, is how daft it makes our entire sport look compared to the other lot - I swear we have the best product, but the worst administrators, in the whole of the world sporting landscape. Rugby Union is a joke sport in America. Played by upper class 'college boys' who are more interested in drinking that playing, and quit as soon as they finish college. RL needs to distance itself from Union to avoid being labeled as a joke, and this initiative seems to be doing that. The AMNRL are doing a great job and to be negative and label them as 'idiots' is pathetic.

Hull Kingston Bronco wrote:If you're running a global business, this is the sort of thing you do when you seek to develop a new market... http://www.usarugby.org/media/EDocs/STRATPLANFINAL.pdf Pretty impressive stuff. Goal, strategy, tactics, execution, review. If you're a couple of attention seeking weirdos, you do this... http://www.nrlus.com/history ...apparently the Northern Union broke away in the 1920's, some 20 years after the player numbers were cut from 15 to 13 in their own dodgy timeline (did Union cut from 15 to 13 and then go back to 15 again later then or something?). The internal logic is nutty, they can't even do something simple like an order of events right The thing that really winds me up about these idiots, is how daft it makes our entire sport look compared to the other lot - I swear we have the best product, but the worst administrators, in the whole of the world sporting landscape. Rugby Union is a joke sport in America. Played by upper class 'college boys' who are more interested in drinking that playing, and quit as soon as they finish college. RL needs to distance itself from Union to avoid being labeled as a joke, and this initiative seems to be doing that. The AMNRL are doing a great job and to be negative and label them as 'idiots' is pathetic.

Erm, yeah

Union is focusing on growing participation, and diversifying the player base. Feel free to stick your head in the sand and write them off as posh frat boys, maybe they were but they won't be eventually - because they have a plan to change, and the resources to do it. I can't stand the game personally, but if you think that's a worse long term strategy than having a few clubs on the East coast for a few years and then pretending a pro league wil just spring out of nowhere like magic in 2010, then good luck to you mate. I loved that Kevin Costner movie too, but I reckon in the real world they won't just come if you build it - you need a step-by-step, organic approach. Step one? Get amateurs playing the game for fun. The obsession with professionalism and illusory business opportunity is stupid - first things first, get people to enjoy the game through participation. That then becomes the platform for later pro growth. If the US guys had spent more time since 1994 focused on that, and less on grandiose schemes and bizarre press releases, who knows we might have a bridgehead now to kick on from. As it is, we've got vapourware. A great job indeed!

Lofty goals that are repeatedly unrealised get people bored, and diminish your chance of ever building anything real - cry wolf anyone? That's my point - this is not a one-off, this has been said time and time again

what a load of poop.

the NZRU recently helped one of their clubs sign michael witt.

1. hes not a kiwi
2. he doesnt play union.

and this is the nation where RU is a strong sport.

even talking about union having junior development is just one big laugh

i dont fully believe these RL stories but im sure the RU efforts in the US are a load of poop too.

union fans have been talking up the US for years.

a few stuck up kids playing some union hardly comprises much of a sport

funnily enough union have managed to trick the world into believing that places like australia even care about the sport.

and georgia, russia, romania, half of africa, canada, japan, much of asia, uruguay, chile....
none of these countries have made it into the top nations.
argentina were in this list, but fair play to them, there's no way you could say they haven't made it.