I got one, albeit a generic response in english.
playing league in southern spain throughout summer? good luck with that.
and "rugby league europe"? is that supposed to be the RLEF? I'm going to fire off an email to DK.
Hello and thank you for your interest in SuperIberica and our launch season 2013.
I apologise that this is an impersonal reply but we have received a large interest in positions with our competition and it has taken more time than expected to read each reply. If this reply has been more than a few days since you contacted us, it may be that you didn't include the correct information in the subject line of your email.
Our computer was set up to bring emails forward as priority with the correct subject line. We have not yet made final decisions and all applications will be read with a lot of interest from us.
If you did not include information about language skills in Spanish, Portugese and English please send us another email to confirm this and the same about your visa status. We will need to know if you are not an EU citizen or have access to an EU visa.
To some news from us.
SuperIberica will play from May to October 2013 with an eight team competition. The competition is run by IPRO (Iberian Professional Rugby Organisation) and through Rugby League Europe, IPRO will be able to help develop the national governing bodies for RL in Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar.
The eight teams will be run as individual franchises by groups in five Spanish ciities, two in Portugal and one in Gibraltar. The season is comprise a home and away round of 14 games per team and then a finals series to decide the champion club. There will be a break from league play mid-season when there will be a Tri Nations series for players qualified for Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar plus a Nines competition which will include teams invited from other developing RLE nations.
Coaches and Professional players will be paid by IPRO and will be initially contracted for one season. Contracts will have bonus payments based on team results and also on development of RL in the club's local area. Development is crucial to the game of RL in Iberia and coaches/ players will be highly involved in this.
Each team will be allocated an IPRO funded coach and four contracted players. Additionally, clubs may register additional professional players if they show financial resources to meet the contract payments for those players. The remaining places on team's rosters will be amateur players.
Clubs are permitted to negotiate additional payments and bonus payments to IPRO funded players and these payments would also be previewed by IPRO to ensure financial stability of the clubs.
Teams are based in southern Spain and Portugal plus the city state of Gibraltar. For 2014 there are development plans to play festivals in the Euskadi/ Basque and Catalan regions of Spain ahead of those teams joining the league in 2015.
Sponsorship agreements have been reached with a leading airline for shirt front sponsorship of all eight teams and with an internet auction website who will sponsor a sleeve with all teams. Teams will also look for their own sponsorship but these agreements go a long step to make all teams financially stable.
In the current economic climate, the stability of the teams is crucial to the league and we are sure you will agree about this.
The season has been timed to avoid a clash of dates with soccer clubs and will also give the best chance of attracting good crowds to games as over 2 million British holidaymakers are in these cities during our season. Teams will play in good quality local soccer grounds with capacity of 3,000- 5,000 people. Our estimate is approximately 1,000 at each game. This will make a great atmosphere and help to show local people what a great game we have.
Your interest in this position is very important to us and we will contact you more personally soon.
Sincerely,
Joao Oliveira
Chairman SuperIberica
So all you got from the response was that it will be too hot to play during the time proposed and that Mr. Oliveira's use of RLE taints the whole operation.
If you look at the positives - the fact that they are first and foremost putting a great emphasis on grassroots - it seems this group has put a lot of thought into this, and should, be successful. It isn't going to happen overnight, but it should bear fruit and develop into a solid operation in a few years.
