Plugging holes with our thumbs....

If there is one thing in the rugby community which we know for certain, there are not enough sirs. In the girls high school community, we've had difficulty, at times, recruiting coaches despite a demand for a team from player. In other areas, some teams struggle with player recruitment. In response to each of these crises, individuals or groups make valiant attempts to fill the particular need, like the picture of the little dutch boy sticking his thumb in the damn to save Holland from flooding.

In the meantime, even if one crisis is averted, putting our collective thumbs in the wall does little to stem the rising tides of problems behind the levy.

Here is Wisconsin, I think we've done pretty well at the U19 level in forming new teams and leagues. The boys have 2 separate conferences, and the girls have a number of very strong clubs with at least 2 sides. But, we cannot rest on our successes. Wisconsin has a grass-roots tradition to brag about. But, as we grow our U19 program, we increasingly stress the resources (fields, referees, coaches) to the limit.

Here is my off-the-cuff proposal. Let's create a marketing committee within the Union which pulls together members from all the various interest groups (referees, coaches, men's, women's, collegiate, boys, girls and youth programs). The purpose of this committee will be to market the sport of rugby in Wisconsin, regardless of level. My theory is that a broad based marketing campaign would help rugby at all levels. We in the rugby community already believe this is a great sport. Let's create the buzz in the rest of the community, so that non-rugby players begin to ask questions: Where can I watch a game? How do I become a sir? Where can I play rugby?

All our clubs can benefit from unified marketing, which actively includes all levels of rugby, and brands rugby as sport for the whole community.