College club nationals

[GoRangrHky]

So, there was a lot of talk a few months ago about all the stuff about how nationals was run and all that. While I thought that this year's was great, there was still plenty of stuff that people had problems with (ie tickets). Just figured I'd show this to give people a taste of what nationals COULD (and maybe should- eventually, that is) be like.

http://www.usasevenscci.com/

[William Bourque]

So this is club?

[GoRangrHky]

Yup. There is no NCAA rugby.

[kevinsmithAZ]

I wish there were more replies in this thread. They did a top-notch job putting everything together. The tv coverage, incorporating a HS event into their event, the rivalry matchups for NBC (Army/Navy, Penn State/Ohio State).. all very smart.

This would be HUGE for the NCRHA and roller hockey in general if something of this caliber could be put together.

[GoRangrHky]

I'd love to see how this event turns out- the crowds, the broadcasts, the games themselves. The rugby team at Harvard I know personally is extremely well organized and operated, but a lot of that has to do with how long it's been around.

I also see that Mark Cuban is getting involved with scholarship money. He played rugby in college at Indiana, I know, so I'm sure that played a major part in that. I wonder how much he had to do with getting this off the ground.

And yes, the rivalries are great, and well designed. This isn't the college club championships, but rather a made-for-TV tournament. They even changed their playing rules to make it more of an offensive game (rugby normally has 15 guys on each side, these games will have 7).

It also appears that the national governing body of rugby in the US is playing a big role in this. Rugby will be in the Olympics in 6 years, so I guess this is trying to get people involved in the game that could potentially become Olympians.

One other note, there's also a lot of live music during the last two days of the tournament, I guess designed to draw in the fans of the bands in hopes that they'll get interested in the game. http://www.usasevenscci.com/tournament/#concert
I've never heard of any of these guys, but I'm sure some have a following in the Columbus area.

I definitely think that the NCRHA needs to get in touch with some of the organizers of this once all's said and done and see how things went.