Mellsblue wrote:Puja wrote:Mellsblue wrote:RUNY owner has said that they will start next season at Coney Island and then tour around NY stadia.
That's interesting. Where'd you see that one?
Puja
I was listening to the Rugby Wrap Up podcast on my jog this afternoon and, in between puking in my mouth and inwardly bemoaning my Flatman-esque love of red meat and red wine, Kennedy made said revelation.
Other points of note were the dislike of Austin’s (foreign) recruitment policy, that Boston look strong for next year, Atlanta are going to build with young local players, Washington DC have gone very quiet, and the only thing stopping San Francisco entering a franchise is an inability to find a suitable stadium. He also hinted that expansion is at an end as they are in danger of diluting player quality.
Washington can't have gone that quiet - they're playing an exhibition game this weekend against Ontario!
Austin have just let Thierry Dauphin go as their GM and he was the main driver (or at least the public face) of their foreign recruitment policy, even openly saying in an interview that there wasn't any talent in Texas. Baffling strategy - even if true, the finances don't allow a 100% imported squad so depth has to be backfilled from local players and pissing them all off is one reason why Austin's been getting both rubbish results and rubbish attendances. He's been replaced by Todd Clever, who has a lot of work to do, but is a US rugby legend and could be the right man to rebuild bridges to the local clubs and local rugby scene.
Agreed that expansion should come to a halt (with the possible exception of any Canadian franchises, as they're a different player base). With the possible exceptions of North California and the Mid-West, there's no real pockets of unmined rugby talent that aren't covered by MLR sides (and the best from those areas will move if they're serious about rugby as a career). It's good that there's interest from new franchises wanting in, but better to pause now and let the player base grow, rather than go too fast, too early, and end up with a crappy product that collapses back in on itself in a few years.
Besides, if they pause expansion for a couple of seasons and there's a few franchises banging on the door to get in, then they can up the buy-in to the league and make a quick buck when they do expand.
Puja
