SuperDuper League 2011 : The Proposal

I believe the format of Brasil's national league would improve by being changed.

The dog's dinner image above shows what we have at present - no its not the Super XV, its the Super 8, and no its not the ABR, it is now the CBRu, oh do pay attention 007.

This year's Super League had eight teams, playing each other once (seven matches). There were five teams from Sao Paulo state, and one each from Rio de Janeiro,  Parana, and Santa Catarina states. 

The CBRu (Brasil Rugby Confederation) plans to add two teams next year, one from Rio Grande do Sul state, and one more from Sao Paulo state. (i.e. nine matches for each team.)

There is also a playoff for this year's last placed team, and they could be replaced by a team from Minas Gerais state. 

This will increase every team's travel expenses substantially, which is a BAD THING. 

Currently there is very little money in Brasilian rugby, the game is mostly amateur and without major sponsors. So...

I believe the sport's elite teams would be better served if the national championship had an initial regional format, leading into fully national knockout semifinals and final.  

Based on the current top teams, this would give us the following divisions:

Region 1, South (three states) -  four teams playing home and away: Desterro, Curitiba, Farrapos, Charrua. 

Region 2, Sao Paulo state - four or five teams playing home and away: Bandeirantes, SPAC, Pasteur, Rio Branco, Sao Jose dos Campos. 

Region 3, South-East (three states) - four teams playing home and away: Niteroi, Rio Rugby, Belo Horizonte, plus 1 other. 

This structure gives 6 or 8 quality games for each team, with reduced travel costs. The three group winners plus best runner-up go to semifinals (with these travel costs paid by the Confederation). 

The regions can expand to have more teams in them, and other regions can be formed, as and when required.

But it all needs a new name, as frankly my deahs "SuperLeague" is just soo passé.  How about the...  

AWESOME LEAGUE TM 

        24/7 ATTACK !  TM

THAT will pull in the sponsors! 

Get your motor running...

Yesterday (Saturday 9th) should have seen Niteroi Rugby Club's final game in this year's national Super 8 Championship, involving a road trip (yay!) to Desterro Rugby. This is a journey of about 1150 km (720 miles). Easy peasy!
Unfortunately, the bus broke down half way, in Sao Paulo state, and couldn't be fixed in time for a match to go on.


Who needs a scrum machine when you have a bus to push? 

So, no rugby, and if the game is declared a Walkover then Niteroi may be fined R$5000 (US$3000), AND be barred from next year's league! Lucky white heather, anyone?



On a more serious note, with the inclusion of a team (Farrapos Rugby) from the southernmost state in next year's expanded Super 10  9, even more stupidly long journeys (and associated costs) will be required for all teams. And for the referees too, I suppose :-). Unless...

Unless the decision is taken to split the national Super 9, Campeonato Brasileiro, whatever, into two or three regional mini-leagues, with the top four teams overall advancing to national semifinals.

This structure ought to be easy enough to implement on top of the existing state championships, same as the current Super 8, while still giving the top teams a higher level of competition.
Plus it reduces travel expenses.
Plus it is easily expandable, if the Centre-West and North-East/Bahia regions want to get involved at some future date. (Thus making a more truly National competition.)

My next post will give more details of this proposed regional SuperLeague.

Time for a quickie ...comment, that is!

Cable channel Bandsports showed both semi-finals from the 2010 Rugby Womens World Cup today. (Better late than never)

Fans of the men's game should get out and support the women's game more. An international is an international, ffs! You will be pleased to know that, just like for men's senior matches, squint put-ins to scrums and lineouts are perfectly legal.... 

  

Campeonato Fluminense 2010 : final results

These are the results for the Rio de Janeiro state rugby championship, played in Brasil's wintertime from March to October.
This year there were two divisions, the top being serie A, which started with 8 teams. The teams played 15-a-side.
Calx-Cis had severe problems fielding a team, and they did not play any matches. Niteroi were champions, winning all their matches. Rio Rugby ran them very close, winning their other six matches, and only losing to Niteroi by 19-3.

Campeonato Fluminense 2010

SÉRIE A

1 Niterói          won 7

2 Rio Rugby    won 6

3 Guanabara   won 5

4 UFF               won 4

5 Friburgo       won 2

6 Itaguai          won 2

7 Patriotas      won 2

8 Calx-Cis       won 0

SÉRIE B

Serie B is for less well established teams, and matches were played as either 10-a-side or 12-a-side.  The champions were Campos dos Goytacazes, from a city up in the north of the state.

  

1 Campos 

2 Maxambomba 

3 Grandfather (Jacarepagua)

4 Rural

5 Tamoios

Campos and Maxambomba could probably make the step up to Serie A next year, to be replaced in Serie B by some of the even newer startup teams!

I personally would like to see Rio Rugby's B team (or Rio Oeste), plus Niteroi's under-21 team, plus Vila Real, playing in Serie B. All they do right now is fanny about play the occasional friendly.

Link to more results ( in Portuguese) :

http://blogdorugby.com.br/index.asp?s=6&c=47 

We are now moving into the Spring 7-a-side, and beach rugby, season.

Rugby teams in Rio de Janeiro state

The International Rugby Board (IRB) can be happy that the men's Rugby World Cup appears to be doing the job of promoting rugby in new territories. Before the 2003 Cup, there were only five teams in RJ state; four new teams were started in 2004-2005; then after the 2007 France World Cup there was an explosion of growth!

Year    Team   
1940    Rio Rugby
1980    Niteroi
2001    Cabo Frio
2003    Vila Real
2003    Jacarepagua
2004    UFF
2005    Guanabara
2005    Buzios
2007    Nova Friburgo
2007    Cachoeiras
2008    Itaipuaçu 
2008    Campos dos Goytacazes 
2008    Itaguai 
2008    Maxambomba 
2008    Patriotas 
2008    Calx-Cis 
2008    Rio Rugby Oeste 
2008    Rural 
2009    Titans
2009    Grandfather
2009    Tamoios 
2009    Imperio
2009    Macae
2010    Vassouras

Not all these teams have lasted, some are "hibernating", and some are in low-population towns where they will struggle for numbers. The growth, however, is still impressive. 

Below is the logo of the RJ state rugby Federation, the Federaçao Fluminense de Rugby:



FFR is already taken, by the French national fed'n, so the RJ version may need to change name.

It will also need to make itself more publicity-savvy, visible, representative, and accountable. Why, you may ask - because, I will reply, rugby is now an Olympic sport again, and this means more MONEY will be floating about, and I want to know where it goes to!        

Fact Hunt

Photo shows Brasil women's national 7-a-side team, champions of South America.

 

Some general info about Brasil and its rugby. 

Brasil has a population of almost 200 million people, with about 150 rugby clubs/teams. It has a bigger area than mainland USA, ie it's HUGE. 
There are 26 states, plus the federal capital, Brasilia.

The country is split into five regions: North (7 states, pop'n 16m); Northeast (9 states, 55 m); Centre-west (3 states plus Brasilia, 15m); South-East (4 states, 82 m); South (3 states, 29m).  Rugby is strongest in the South and South-East.





The South-East
Sao Paulo state (population 41 million) is the richest, and is the hotspot for rugby, with 5 teams in the Super 8 national championship. (Two more teams will be added in 2011, to make it the Super 10). Neighbouring Rio de Janeiro state has 16 million people, and has one team, Niteroi, in the Super 8.  Minas Gerais (20 million) and Espirito Santo (4 million), currently have no teams in the Super 8.

The South
Rio Grande do Sul (pop'n 11m) has no team in the Super 8, but will have one in the expanded Super 10. It has a fairly strong rugby presence, perhaps due to the state being close to both Argentina and Uruguay. Santa Catarina (6m) and Parana (11m) each have one team in the Super 8.


The national governing body is the CBRu, Brazilian Rugby Confederation, but more about that in a later post.
Each state that plays rugby has (or should have) its own federation, which organizes the local state championship.

"I love the smell of pitch marking fluid in the morning"

It is spring in Rio de Janeiro, and FINALLY there is rugby on the tv, with Espn showing two live Heineken Cup matches this weekend. First up was Leinster v Racing, i.e. 

 V     

Magnifique!
Leinster won 38-22, and it was great to once again have high level rugby on tv. The more visibility that there is for the game here, the better. Otherwise it will be business as usual, and football(soccer) will continue devouring all the sports-related money/resources/sponsors/tv time/publicity.

Next up on ESPN is Bath v Biarritz, Sunday 9am, but wait, there's more! Bandsports, another cable tv channel, are showing both semifinals from September's Womens Rugby World Cup today (Oct 9th), and the final tomorrow. Fandabidozi!  All this tv time is just what the game needs here in Brasil, here's hoping it continues.

Finally, will Bandsports please remember that they have coverage rights to the Super 8, Brasil's top national league, and SHOW IT ON TV !!!