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Atlanta Rhinos

Sjrugby

Juniors
Messages
58
Hello everyone I run a rugby blog, and will be conducting a Q&A with the Atlanta rhinos and wanted to take a moment to open this up to anyone who may have questions about the USARL, the Rhinos themselves or the World Cup coming to North America. I will take the questions submitted here and send them over to Atlanta for the article.

The cut-off time will be Thursday midnight 4/13/17.
 

nzwarriorskuz

Juniors
Messages
122
I have a few:

Juniors - What attempts are being made at the Under 18 level and how far off would it be to establish full contact under 18s rugby league tournaments/representative team/s. Or even semi contact from under 13's up, to get players used to basic rugby league skills and slowly feeding them through a system.

Professional training: Clubs should form closer links with professional clubs to get players some full time training experience with a professional club, the benefits of this would be enormous, and of course playing in the local league has already seen an improvement and positive outcome on both sides of the players development.

Reserve grade: Will clubs with overflow of players definitely have a proper 9 a side reserve grade league, giving less experienced players the opportunity to experience rugby league in a somewhat competitive environment.

Exposure: What efforts will be made to give rugby league enough exposure to ensure a successful tournament? How are we sure grounds will even come close to being filled and the pricing to attend matches? Is there a backup plan in case things don't go according to schedule anything close or worse than the 2000 World Cup will ensure a complete disaster! and that's definitely the direction RL doesn't want to go in! I doubt even 1% of the country can even recognise that there are 2 forms of rugby.

Assistance: What current assistance is Moore Sports International providing? have they attempted to contact any of the USARL clubs and I believe they are planning to launch a professional competition in the near future, or there are professional bids in waiting to join the RFL.

Expansion: What efforts are being made to expand to the West Coast? 9s tournaments may be the way to go but activity seems to be very small and on/off and plans for fixtures unfulfilled.

It seems I may have answered alot of the questions from my point of view but I'd love to hear the Rhinos take from within the USARL. The systems need to improve from pro/semi pro, local comp, reserve grade, youth, semi/non contact. Especially at the youth level, it needs to increase East Coast wide, and slowly but surely activity needs to become regular on the West Coast. I'm really hoping this can be ready for the WC come 2025 otherwise it seems we just need to stick to the heartlands for now - don't mean to be negative but that's the reality of it.
 

Sjrugby

Juniors
Messages
58
All great! Thank you. I will be sending them all over tonight and hopefully have the answers from the Rhinos posted as soon as I get the response back

I have a few:

Juniors - What attempts are being made at the Under 18 level and how far off would it be to establish full contact under 18s rugby league tournaments/representative team/s. Or even semi contact from under 13's up, to get players used to basic rugby league skills and slowly feeding them through a system.

Professional training: Clubs should form closer links with professional clubs to get players some full time training experience with a professional club, the benefits of this would be enormous, and of course playing in the local league has already seen an improvement and positive outcome on both sides of the players development.

Reserve grade: Will clubs with overflow of players definitely have a proper 9 a side reserve grade league, giving less experienced players the opportunity to experience rugby league in a somewhat competitive environment.

Exposure: What efforts will be made to give rugby league enough exposure to ensure a successful tournament? How are we sure grounds will even come close to being filled and the pricing to attend matches? Is there a backup plan in case things don't go according to schedule anything close or worse than the 2000 World Cup will ensure a complete disaster! and that's definitely the direction RL doesn't want to go in! I doubt even 1% of the country can even recognise that there are 2 forms of rugby.

Assistance: What current assistance is Moore Sports International providing? have they attempted to contact any of the USARL clubs and I believe they are planning to launch a professional competition in the near future, or there are professional bids in waiting to join the RFL.

Expansion: What efforts are being made to expand to the West Coast? 9s tournaments may be the way to go but activity seems to be very small and on/off and plans for fixtures unfulfilled.

It seems I may have answered alot of the questions from my point of view but I'd love to hear the Rhinos take from within the USARL. The systems need to improve from pro/semi pro, local comp, reserve grade, youth, semi/non contact. Especially at the youth level, it needs to increase East Coast wide, and slowly but surely activity needs to become regular on the West Coast. I'm really hoping this can be ready for the WC come 2025 otherwise it seems we just need to stick to the heartlands for now - don't mean to be negative but that's the reality of it.
 

Sjrugby

Juniors
Messages
58
I have submitted the questions over a week ago and sadly no response. As soon as I do get something back I will let you all know and post link to article here.
 

Rugger

Juniors
Messages
127
I have submitted the questions over a week ago and sadly no response. As soon as I do get something back I will let you all know and post link to article here.

Why not reach out to other/all USARL clubs? Would give you more content overall...
 

Sjrugby

Juniors
Messages
58
Why not reach out to other/all USARL clubs? Would give you more content overall...
I actually have. Atlanta was the only ones to respond back. Unfortunately one of my biggest problems with USARL, except for Jax. Axemen at times it is next to impossible to hear back from anyone. I've even sent 2 request to the USARL it self to see if they wanted to set something up. Again crickets. What's even sadder USARL if you look it up only has 1 email for contacting. Usa Rugby Union has multiple people you can contact.
 

Evil Homer

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
7,178
Yeah, I tried to contact Boston 13s about something a couple of months ago and got no response. The communication from the USARL teams and the league itself has been very very poor for the past few years.
 

adamkungl

Immortal
Messages
42,955
Yeah, I tried to contact Boston 13s about something a couple of months ago and got no response. The communication from the USARL teams and the league itself has been very very poor for the past few years.

More things change the more they stay the same.
 

deluded pom?

Coach
Messages
10,897
I think the USARL teams basically shut up shop once their season is over but having said that the 2017 season is only about a month away so there's no excuse for not responding to genuine enquirers.
 

Deeecoreturns

Juniors
Messages
146
Hi; I used to be on here years ago but resigned up as I couldn't for the life of me remember my details.

I just wanted to address the OP briefly by saying you haven't ever reached out to us at Tampa. We have an average response time of 4 minutes (as the badge on Facebook will tell you) and we certainly don't shut up shop in the off season. I know Nick at Atlanta is a busy guy but if you give him a chaser i'm sure he'd respond.

I can't speak on behalf of the USARL as a whole but in the South we pride ourselves on trying to be as professional as possible. It's not perfect by any means but we try our best!

Chris
 

Sjrugby

Juniors
Messages
58
April 9 sent a email asking the same question if the warriors would be open to a q&a. Offer still stands.

I understand people get busy, I've had responses happen a month ands half later. What I am trying to point out is the silence. I appreciate it more if what ever party I reached out to would just give a heads up if it will be quite sometime till they responded back because again I've made contact with both union and league clubs and have sent the questions over but will never hear back from them again even after reaching out at again asking if they received previous contacts.
 

Deeecoreturns

Juniors
Messages
146
That's fair enough mate; we feel left out now :D
Feel free to reach out to Tampa any time you like. You can contact us through Facebook or me directly at chris@mayhemrl.com and we'd be happy to answer any queries you had. You might not like the answers like ;)
 
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