Rugby

Calgary won RCSL in 2004, I believe.

Vancouver Island can support two teams because nobody cares about support. There are enough players. It's a club sport so players pay out-of-pocket costs for most things. They only use the ticket sales to cover overhead.

Wait...we have crowds in rugby? I never knew...

NOTE: My team has our first match on Saturday. It's a preseason match, but I'd still like to do well. Wish me luck (as well as with the lady-friend I'm letting tag along ;D )

Good Luck Steve!

maybe one of those V.I. teams can move East to Cape Breton? just a thought.

GO BUFALLOS!!! :mrgreen:

these teams are not movable like a franchise… they are based on the residents of the area that happen to live there and happen to be good at rugby.

Only way that these teams would move east would be if the entire team were to coincidently get job offers in their respective fields for the same money all in the same place. Add to that, that thousands of other younger players below them that will take their place as their form drops off would also need to find comperable jobs in Cape Breton… don’t think they have that many jobs in Nova Scotia!

We are talking strictly amature players that have 100% full time jobs, train after work, and travel on weekends to play the game they love.

The reason that BC has 3 teams is that this is the hotbed of Canadian rugby. Don’t know the stats, but more play rugby there then anywhere in the country. Most schools have rugby starting down in early elementary. Kids play school rugby during the winter, and club rugby during the summer… year round rugby. No where elese in Canada do you have such depth of numbers and tallent. From this massive pool, they are able to find the talent to field 3 top teams.

Many ruggers from across the country are also drawn there as well. The chance to play year round in ideal rugby conditions (face it, Manitoba is either frozen solid, or sweltering hot 80% of the year!), with top coaches, using top facilities…

ok, then, maybe they should be renamed then, Nanaimo? Yeah, I know I sux, but I can't stand two teams sharing the same place name.

http://www.rugbycanada.ca/index.php?lang=en&page_id=32

don't understand why you would have problems with two teams in one town? It is not like they are professional franchises worried about splitting one fanbase between two teams....

In an amature sport, where attendance is not such an issue, and there is a depth in tallent.... why not have 2 teams?

The alternative would be for them to take the best of what would have been two top teams, and have one super team that would be so hands down better then any other team, that it would discourage any competition and ruin the league.

Seriously, by having two teams there, it forces them to split their vast talent pool up into two teams to level the playing field because BC rugby is simply that good.

Hm, maybe the Victoria Crimson Tide and the Vancouver Island Raiders. That could work, if the Tide is in Victoria at this time.

personally I like the idea of 'cross town rivals' really brings out the spirit in the players and fans.... one of those 'must win' games for bragging rights. Usually the most memorable games as well.

of the 45 players on the national team, 23 of them are from BC, with the rest from the rest of the country... based on that, it would make sence that they would have 3 teams (two on the island).

OK, off my rant.

Of all of North Ameirca, BC has the best rugby culture, and most like what you would find in England, Australia or other rugby playing countries. The bay area of California is the closest thing we have, and everything there pales in comparison to BC.

Yeah, here in the bay area, once I started playing I was amazed I had never gotten to a match before. It's abig community, but it's hidden, unlike soccer - you've got to know where to be to get a match in (the internet is a godsend in that regard).

Now Kanga...I'm not sure here...but...why would you have a problem with two teams playing in the same place when THE AFL HAS TEN AND THE NRL HAS NINE?!?!??!??!?!?!?!?!

lol.

'nuff said.

Simple, the AFL is messed up, and I say anuting about the NRL cuz I have no clue.

but a least teams have different place names, Hawthorn Hawks, North Melbounre Kangaroos, Melbourne Demons, Fitzroy Lions, etc.

all those clubs used to be based out of disctinct neighborhoods/suburbs with quaint small stadiums.

Over time, as crowds grew, and demands for more expensive stadiums with more amenities and fetures grew, the posibility of having each club with their own venue in their own neighborhood decreased. Now there are just two major venues in Melbourne... The MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground, the grand daddy of them all), and the Telstra Dome (formerly Ausie Dome, formly Colonial Stadium... depending on who pays the most to name it...) with a retractable roof. All but one of the teams in the Melbourne area play in one of these two venues. So lots of "home games" of sorts...

As for rugby having a hidden culture... so right. People not in it don't know it exists, and have to really look to even find signs of it. People in it, really eat, think, drink, breath it 12 months a year all their lives... Having studied sociology in college, it is an interesting phenomenon (sp?)

Yes, it's sad to see what the old VFL (fomer name of the AFL) has become. Used to be a great Vic only league, now it's a bad dominating national league.

It'd be nice if the VFL expanded nicely into two conferences (Victoria and Interstate), but that has been bantered about on an NRL board I am part of and the 90% consensus is no. I think it'd just be nice to have half of the teams outside of Melbourne though (Tasmania and Canberra are the obvious choices for moves or expansion, with Darwin and another NSW team as seconds).

In regards to home grounds and such...it keeps a very centralized venue for all matches inside Victoria, which is great for the organizers and easier for the league, organizationally and revenue-wise. You're not going to see and end to the 5-games-at-MCG-or-Telstra, I can assure you.


We lost our game to a higher division team yesterday. I don't even think we broke their 22 (and maybe their 40 ONCE). If I had to guess the score I'd say 110-0, it was more than a whitewash.

Things like that make me want my ideas to come to fruition even more (sevens rules for placekicks and kickoffs and the team that kicks off, plus changing the scores to 2 for a try, 1 for all goals). Oh well, it's still a nice game, just...not the kickoffs.

Dude, make a separate national Aussie ball league (like the CFL), expand that with Aussie Ball clubs alover Australia and reserect the old VFL.

THAT'S WHAT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED!

As for the stadiums, use the old stadiums for the VFL, but the big veners for the National teams.

sorry to hear that Steve.

Oh Kanga:

the Fitzroy Lions haven't been around for 10 years, remember they merged with the Brisbane Bears to become the Brisbane Lions [Australian Football Club] the bit in brackets was needed as there was a Brisbane Lions soccer club, who threatened to sue for breach of copyright.

North Melbourne have long been rebaged as The Kangaroos with no reference to a local.

Likewise with Footscray - who now the Western Buldogs

Same with the Swans...who still use the "SMFC" acronym...even though they're 500 miles away lol.

[b]Kanga-Kucha said[/b] Dude, make a separate national Aussie ball league (like the CFL), expand that with Aussie Ball clubs alover Australia and reserect the old VFL.
It ain't gunna happen mate -- ALL the clubs are happy with how things are running, I doubt that had the AFL been established as you wish that they'd be drawing the crowds or tv revenues they do.

In reality, the only option was to expand the VFL and try to do as little damage to the other state leagues as possible, sadly most of them are suffering with lower crowds and surving on in the case of SA & WA of the dividends from the Crows, Power, Dockers and Eagles. With out this dividend from a Tas based team, Tassies’ state league went under.

I know terrible isn’t it?

my god! though it was great that they finnaly won a permership

for the recond, I would like to see Tasmania get a team at some point.

more than likly, another VFL team will move out of state, and it’s a damn tradray. I’m sure most Canadians can sinpiates with the Vics since the Canadians lost their league, the NHL, to the americans to the south.

my team (the Hawks) almost died in 1996, and alound with St. Kilda and Footscray, isn’t doing to well in the “new” league and I can see them 20 years down the road unless they drop out of the league and join the VFA (now the “VFL” :roll: )

I can see the underperforming teams like the Hawks, Saints, Bulldogs, etc. moving out of state, one in the ACT and one in Tassie. Darwin and Gold Coast are limited expansion options at the very best, but Canberra and Hobart look pretty farking good.

Kangaroos already play in the ACD (aka ACT). make the maddness stop!!! Where's a lock out when to need it to wake people up!!!