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Apr 25, 2007

And the thunder rolls on...

More and more details are coming out about this topic.

Check it out this is the information I have found while digging around on the Internet. I love the Internet, you can find ANYTHING!

WARNING: Austin has NOT decided to challenge yet, some of us want to, but most just want to forget this ever happened. The reason for this continuing discussion is to prevent this from happening again. Bending the rules may make you feel strong, but is it right? I and others are are hoping that this will help change some things so that this doesn't happen again.

Thanks for listening...

1) An email from a coach in the SoCal region:

G'day,

Just a quick email. I read your blog.

I think that some of your points are great. But, I'd be more worried by the fact that Belmont Shore bolstered their team mid-season from fellow Southern California rugby clubs. The elite players from Riverside Rattlers, Coast and Las Vegas joined Belmont in time to qualify for your challenge match. Players from the Santa Monica Dolphins were approached as well, but politely refused. So, Belmont Shore basically made a regional super-squad to fight for the national seed.

We travelled to Vegas to play, only to find out that they only had 14 players as 2 players had gone to Belmont Shore for the weekend. Not a great rugby situation! We also played Belmont, only to play against players that we had already competed against in other matches. This match was the same week that they tried to poach our players - we had 5 players missing through injury and work and manged to field 15. If our player had played for Belmont, we would have had to forfeit!

I have no problem with players changing clubs. Everyone has a right to play wherever they want. It may seem unfair, but that is the way it goes. You can never stop players personal choices. As long as it is during the off-season. But, swapping clubs mid-season and then going back to your original club is a no-no.
Inviting foreign players into your squad is also not a problem. Clubs all around the world do this, in men's and ladies rugby. If Belmont Shore wants to spend their sponsorship dollars on bringing in international players, so be it. Santa Monica Women's Rugby help coach and develop local juniors and are involved in inner-city programmes. I know who'll sleep better at night!

If you push this matter further, good luck. Unfortunately, I think that Belmont Shore may have bent the rules, but not broken them. But, if enough voices go to USA Rugby, this situation may be able to be stopped in the future.

p.s. we raised this matter with So.Cal rugby (a month ago) and are still waiting on a reply. I'm sure that our club president (outgoing on April 30 unfortunately) will also send you an email.

2) And I was able to get all the rosters from Belmont Shore's THREE D1 matches for their league schedule. Basically their player eligibility may not be correct. It appears that some of their players did not play in TWO matches as required by USA rugby...If I am to understand this email correctly from Kasey Richer ( kaseyricher@yahoo.com):

Wendy,
Please note that our league is split into a Div 1 and a Div 2 split so our games against Tucson and Santa Monica are considered inter-divisional matches. Only the Coast, Surfer's and Scottsdale matches would pertain to your inquiry.

Also, can you please let me know what eligibility information is being challenged so that I can have Belmont gather any required documents as well? Also, who at USA rugby should we be copying on this information? I will make sure the official match reports are sent to you from the SCRFU VP who handles this for the SC Territory.
Thanks,
Kasey

3) So I made a spread sheet from the three rosters from their D1 league matches...I also included roster for the Challenge Match. Some of it matches up and some of it doesn't. I received these match rosters from the Paul Ganey ( scrfu@earthlink.net) of the SoCal Union.


(*click on image to get a larger view.)

Thanks, and and some interesting conversations have come from this on Blondies log at http://saturdayrugbyday.blogspot.com

I think the point here is that we all want to play rugby...that's why we sweat it out through workouts, officer duties, fundraiser etc. We want this battle to be on the field not because our team scouted out some of the best international players out there and loaded our team.

I understand that their are rugby swapping programs where you can go and play for a different country and such, but would you be able to switch teams mid-season and play for Ireland's World Cup Team? I highly doubt it...