Benson Hendrix's Rugby SuperSite

The International Rugby Board has upped the ante in the growing Fijian rugby crisis, announcing that Fiji’s national team will not be allowed in the upcoming Rugby World Cup should the forced resignations of the Fijian Rugby Union board go through in “contravention of the constitution of the FRU.” The IRB has asked the members of the Fijian Rugby Union board who were told to resign not to give in to pressure from Fiji’s military-led government.

According to Reuters Africa:

The IRB also warned the FRU they faced a ban if they did not adhere to their constitution.

“Any action in contravention of the constitution of the FRU will result in the Union potentially not remaining in good standing as a member of the Union of the IRB which may result in the IRB having to take a determination on the continued membership of the IRB of the FRU,” the IRB’s letter said.

On the other side of the argument, the Fijian government has stated that the country provide the necessary funds (Fijian $3 million, approx US$1.6 million) for the team’s 2011 Rugby World Cup preparation.

The crisis started when Fiji’s Rugby Union help a lottery to raise money for the 2011 World Cup, but money from that lottery was unaccounted for, or spent on perks for board members – including a trip for one of them to the Hong Kong Sevens tournament.

This is not the first time in recent months that the Fijian rugby team has found themselves in the crosshairs of international pressure because of actions by the government.

Fiji was banned from last year’s Commonwealth Games due to international political concerns in the island nation.  Does this potential RWC ban also mean that Fiji will be ejected from the remaining World Sevens Series competitions if these resignations go through?

So I’m sure you’re asking why Gavin Henson is able to get under my skin (Buddha knows I ask from time to time). By all accounts, he appears to be quite the talented player, but for a while there has been something overly annoying about not just Henson the athlete, but Henson the man.  The entitled attitude, the subtle, and not so subtle arrogance. It finally came to me this evening – Gavin Henson reminds me of Ryan Leaf, the former quarterback for the San Diego Chargers NFL team, and considered by many to be among, if not at the pinnacle, of the worst draft picks of all time.

This comparison became clearer to me after reading this story on ESPN Scrum, where Henson compares qualifying for the semi-finals of his TV dancing competition as being more exciting and meaningful to him than the two Six Nations’s championships he has won in his rugby career, in addition to slagging off his former team Ospreys, also based in Wales.  He has since moved on to an Aviva Premiership team, Saracens, based in England.  Thankfully for Henson, he won’t face his former teammates during the season, since Ospreys is part of the Magners League, a Celtic based tournament.

And let’s not forget the stress between his Wales teammates and Henson after he published his first book in 2005. Henson said stupid things, feelings were upset and Henson had to backtrack his statements with his team mates. 

It was easy to see the stressed relations with old teammates reappear in 2010 when Wales unveiled their new jersey design – complete with Henson, a player who had been out of Welsh International Rugby for over a year at that point, modeling the new design.  It was easy to imagine the long knives starting to unsheath for Henson. 

Comparing Apples to Apples?

But is it a fair comparison to hold between Gavin Henson, a hot commodity player with years ahead of himself and a record behind him, and Ryan Leaf, a player tagged with the dreaded “potential he never attempted to reach” tag?

During his collegiate football career, it was believed that Leaf was a “franchise player,” the kind of quarterback you could build a team around for many years.  During the NFL draft he was considered “on par” with Peyton Manning,

Henson has the raw ability to be a top flight rugby player, but his petulant and dismissive attitude towards the game, his belief that he alone is the Welsh team (the other 14 players on the field being window dressing) plus his self-imposed 18-month layoff from rugby to learn to be a television dancer, as well as implode his relationship with Charlotte Church, have stolen the luster from one of Wales’ best rugby players of the decade. Currently he’s not even able to qualify for the starting 15 of the Saracens, but has decreed that he’s ready and should be a top selection for the Wales National Side.

Henson has been given chance after chance, time and again, to get away with actions that might have seen players with less luck lose any opportunity for an international career.  After serving a seven-week ban for elbowing, Henson was immediately seen back on the pitch for Wales against Ireland.

At the end of the day, since Henson has had some success in the Rugby Universe, although not as much as his attitude would warrant, he’s not as much Ryan Leaf as he is Eli Manning, Peyton’s younger, less talented but just as egotistical, brother.

But enough of this emo rugby blogging, we’ve got the rest of the Sevens Series ahead of us, plus rumor of a new Olympic Rugby project by Waisale Serevi, the Fijian wonder-rugger who is widely considered the best Sevens/Olympic rugby player to ever play the game and has recently moved to Seattle to coach Old Puget Sound Beach!

And you’re unable to make the trip to Las Vegas this year to attend the tournament in person? Kicking yourself for not checking out the big party in mid-February? Welcome to the same boat that many of us are in. Before you get upset at the idea of not going to Vegas, think about it. You’re actually in luck, and you have an important responsibility to help the U.S. Rugby community as well.

As we know, this year is the unofficial “Year of Rugby” at NBC/Universal, as far as I’m concerned. Between the USA Sevens Tournament, potential collegiate rugby matches, and the 2011 Rugby World Cup this Fall, there’s going to be more rugby than ever before on network TV, not counting all of the cable possibilities that come from working with a media conglomerate such as NBC.

Watching Olympic Rugby on TV is not the same as being at the tournament, we all know that. And it’s definitely not the same as being at a tournament like the USA Sevens, with all of the passionate and crazy fans in the stands, as well as world class rugby on the pitch.

Now that that’s been said, you need to get over it, cowboy up and realize that you have a job to do as well to help rugby in the U.S. If you’re not at the tournament, this is your chance to help evangelize the sport that we all love to your friends and family.

Your first instinct about watching the game is probably going to be to roll to the pub to catch the tournament, or to have a bunch of your rugby friends over to watch the tournament. If you do this, and you’re not part of the Nielsen rating system then the Monday following the tournament you need to call your local NBC station, or contact the national NBC Sports office. Let them know that as a fan, you appreciate them taking the time in their TV schedule to show rugby, and that you’re excited for the next time they are going to show some rugby.

Next, and this is going to take not much more work than just keeping a pen and paper near the TV set, jot down the name of one or two advertisers at each commercial break, pay special attention to companies that seem to be buying a more than two or three advertising slots each hour. Early the following week you’re going to, yep you guessed it, contact those advertisers and let them know the same thing that you did above. Advertisers need to know that people are watching about their product, and if they believe there is a market in a certain demographic out there (such as rugby players) they will become more willing to buy more advertising, which invests some money in the sport.

This is all about mustering our own resources, as fans of the game, which is our interest in the game, and our willingness to contact those who are helping to support the spread of the rugby gospel and let them know they are being seen. For every person who watches the tournament at home, ask a few of your non-rugby friends if they want to check out the tournament. If they like it, they might even be willing to make a call to the TV station as well, as a favor for a friend. If you start small and work on building your way up with more friends, the tournaments and TV “get togethers” start to act as a force multiplier, getting more people interested, then getting them to call in, and hopefully getting more rugby on TV, and repeating the cycle.

It’s the old idea behind community relations, and it’s something that you see a lot of politicians doing, getting people together in the intimate setting of a home, or a living room, and getting engaged with them in something that matters to those people. Instead of a politician, we have the TV blasting rugby goodness into your home, and the thing that matters is getting them involved in the sport of rugby, if not playing then at least checking it out, and what better way to do that than in a party setting. Think of it as having your own piece of the stands at the tournament, but without the face and body paint, unless that’s what you go in for.

So what in the blue hell is going on with the Fiji Rugby Union? According to a story coming out of the island nation, the new military leadership of Fiji has demanded that the head honchos of Fiji’s Rugby Union (FRU) resign if they want the cash to prepare for and attend this year’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

The story reports that the FRU somehow… “misplaced” over $155,000 (Fijian dollars) that were raised in an improperly run lottery. That money was spent on various things, including sending one FRU official to last year’s Hong Kong Sevens Tournament.

If this does not get resolved soon this could cause problems that would reverberate around the Rugby Universe, as the IRB would then have to quickly determine a team to replace the Fijians – and how would they choose? The next highest team in Fiji’s qualifying pool?  The first team in the IRB rankings that didn’t qualify?  

Due to an internal governmental crisis, including a reported suspension of the nation’s constitution, Fiji had already been denied a chance to play at this year’s Commonwealth Games in India.  For Fiji to miss the Rugby World Cup would probably crush the hopes of those athletes playing on the team, as well as wound the honor of the nation. And the spectators of the 2011 Rugby World Cup would miss out on the exciting, open and flowing style of rugby that Fiji is famous for.

According to the story, the acting Prime Minister of Fiji, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, is a big fan of the world’s greatest game, even going so far as to wait to lead the 2006 overthrow of the government until the yearly match between the police and army had been played.

Read more about the story here, and there’s a new update from Radio New Zealand International stating that the chairman of the FRU has stepped down after an emergency board meeting,

It appears that with the start of the New Year, people have started developing lists of what they think the new rugby year should hold. And I’m going to do the same thing, why not at this point in the year?

Sevens Rugby has long been a favorite of mine. It was the first type of rugby I played in college and it has always had a soft spot in my heart. For those readers unfamiliar with sevens rugby, the quick answer is – seven players on each team, seven minute halves and usually higher scoring than many rugby games. Another benefit of this kind of rugby is that fewer athletes are needed to field a full team and schools, regions, etc. that aren’t traditional rugby powerhouses can be quite successful.

This is one of the reasons that Sevens Rugby was selected to be part of the 2016 Olympic Games. And why from here on out I’m going to be referring to Sevens as “Olympic Rugby.” (It’s a branding thing, it sounds better to call it “Olympic” than “Sevens”) And it’s important to the United States, because we’re the back-to-back Olympic rugby champions, back in 1920 and 24.

And with the recent decision by the English RFU to restructure how rugby is run in England, and the calls over and over and over ad nauseum by the U.S. Internet Rugby Community (you know who you are) to completely tear down rugby in the U.S and rebuild in in their image, here is what I would do to change up American Rugby – take the next 6 years to focus on making us more competitive at the Olympics.

Now, why the focus on the Olympics? Because Olympic Rugby is still the best, and fastest, way for America to build a team to compete on the world stage, and because the Olympics still have some allure to the American sporting public for a sport like Rugby. Much more so than the Rugby World Cup, where the U.S. will once again be torn apart on the field by the powers of the Rugby Universe.

Now since the United States rugby-sphere only has a limited amount of resources and players. I know this is blasphemy to state out loud, but I think for the next five years those resources need to be adjusted to provide more scouting (by which I mean any scouting) and financial resources to the creation of a kick ass Olympic Rugby team. So for some of the reasons why I think Olympic Rugby is the route to follow, I offer a few points of discussion.

1. Olympic Rugby is faster, more athletic and harder hitting than traditional rugby – which would be interesting to American Sports fans. There are elements of the 15-a-side rugby game that people who have played rugby for years still don’t always understand. Which leads to the next point…

2. Because of the speed of the game, and the fact that there are usually fewer penalties and rules to explain to potential fans, Olympic Rugby has more potential quick attraction to those U.S. Fans.

3. Think of Olympic Rugby as that “gateway drug” to get people interested in regular Rugby Union or Rugby League.

4. More teams can be involved in local tournaments, since the matches consist of seven-minute halves.

5. Limited resources can be better deployed in focusing on a smaller team – see below.

The United States rugby community is going to have to make a tough decision in the near future, with the Olympics on the horizon, and the development of a collegiate sevens tournament in the U.S., and the popularity of Olympic Rugby in the rest of the world, USA Rugby is going to have to select where to place their scant resources. As a rugby community we can’t continue to try to be all things to all people. We have to look at the best opportunity for team marketing to grow the sport, and unfortunately for the 15-a-side game, that’s probably going to be Olympic Rugby for the next generation or so.

There’s a movement out there, primarily by people who aren’t happy that the men’s National Team is no longer being run out of Berkeley, to take as many resources out of the men’s national team and hand them out to the local high school and youth rugby, which places resources back in their hands. There’s a push out there to keep the men’s team together as much as possible and continue to limp through games with only a handful of practice sessions before each international match. And of course there’s women’s rugby, which on a collegiate level is being investigated by the NCAA as a potential new sport.

The Olympic games are the key, working in tandem with a growing youth and high school game. The Olympics gives the U.S. more of a platform to grow, if they are correctly marketed to, than any of the above ideas. While there’s a 4-year window in between each games, the Olympics always pull down incredible viewer numbers, with the NBC family of networks dedicating up to 4 to 6 stations showing various games in the last Olympics. Plus USA Rugby already has an advantage with NBC Sports, as NBC is showing the entire USA Sevens International Tournament in a few weeks, plus footage from the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and collegiate sevens rugby. There are plenty of chances to develop a greater groundswell of rugby in the U.S. in between the Olympics. Which I’ll be addressing in future posts.

The latest in a not very long line of rugby movies on the market, “Play On,” is now available through the iTunes store.  The movie, about the son of a Scottish rugby star who comes to make his mark in America playing for the Kansas City Chiefs (don’t ask me how because I haven’t seen the movie yet, but have heard good things about it) and ends up playing rugby for (what else) a Kansas City rugby team.  In order for the team to get more publicity, he recommends that they end up taking a rugby tour of, you guessed it, Scotland.  Much hilarity then ensues… kidding, kidding.  It’s the usual “team comes together under adversity” story, where the main character’s former teammates shun him, give him grief, etc.  

Despite my mini pseudo-review above, it does actually look like a really good story, and I’m looking forward to getting a copy of it in the near future to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/v/8jpTCaCV_Jg?fs=1&hl=en_US

And in American Rugby news, national teamer Mike Petri, recently of New York Athletic Club and the English premiership side Sale Sharks, has been picked up by Newport Gwent for the rest of the Magners League season. Congratulations to Petri, who might be on the field this Thursday against the Connacht rugby team, based in Ireland.

I know I tend to bust into Welsh pretty boy (and part-time rugby player) Gavin Henson on this blog.  And with good reason usually.  But even Welsh former international star Jonathan Davies has jumped in on “Henson-Gate,” stating that there is no way he should be considered. 

For those who aren’t tired of hearing it from me yet, Henson has recently returned to rugby and kind of declared that he’s available to play for the Welsh National Team and it would be crazy to not include him right away!  Despite the fact that he’s only played in a few games since returning to rugby from an 18-month dancing break away from the game.  According to Davies:

“He’s the type of player that when he doesn’t play he looks lethargic. He has to play often because he’s a natural rugby player… if he doesn’t play then it doesn’t come natural to him and then he shouldn’t be considered. If he comes back and plays and deserves a place well so be it.”

And former Welsh star Brynmor Williams spoke up in defense of Henson, thinking that there might be a spot open for Henson if he’s willing to play fullback, a position that he believe Wales is weakest.

David Niu over at We Are Rugby, and the head honcho behind most of the Rugby League efforts in the U.S., has an interesting post up about the expansion of the American National Rugby League beyond it’s traditional base in the Northeast into other parts of the country. I’ve interviewed some of the people involved in AMNRL a little over a decade ago, and they are really good guys.

Many of the places that have been targeted already have strong rugby roots in the U.S., places such as Denver, Utah, Las Vegas, California and Texas, as well as the Pacific Northwest. Given the foothold that league already has in the Northeast and the South (with a team in Jacksonville, Florida and interest from Tennessee and North Carolina), developing a conference in the West to compete with them might make AMNRL more compelling – mix that with a championship match in Texas, or at someplace like the Disney World Sports Complex (perfect for teams from the West, they can make it a three-day trip with the family) and they have something that can be shown on TV.

Speaking of TV, while USA Rugby has an advantage in the media market right now, with the agreement by NBC to broadcast Olympic Rugby here in the U.S., as well as next year’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, Rugby League is starting to make inroads, and has the support of some Australian actor… some guy named Russell Crowe, you might have heard of him.

Again, for readers of the blog who don’t know the difference between Rugby League and Rugby Union (a hotbed of debate), click here. And for more about this recent AMNRL post, click here.

P.S. One other thing, if Rugby League wants to grow in the U.S., the AMNRL needs to change their team name.  The “U.S. Tomahawks” is not exactly PC or a friendly name to all ethnic groups out there.  And it’ll cause some PR problems down the line.