Russian Rugby

[Chester-Donnelly Profile]

This is actually a plausible league. 10 Russian teams, 3 South African. Single round robin (12 games) plus 2 more games against local rivals. 14 regular season games. For South African teams this could mean two tours to Russia each season. One year, a three game tour to Siberia, and a two game tour to southern Russia. The next, a three game tour to Moscow region and a two game tour to central Russia.
For Russian teams they would only need to travel to South Africa on alternate years.

[STMKY Profile]

No, the point is for the South African teams to be based in Russia, let's say Cheetahs in Sochi, Pumas in Saransk, and Griquas in Kaliningrad. These are 30-35 players and 5-6 coaches from South Africa in each team. They receive 100% funding and collateral from the RRU and Russian sponsors. Also, 10 young Russian players (U23) are added to each team for development.
But this does not mean a complete overthrow. The rest part of these teams can continue to play Currie Cup and other South African competitions in parallel. That is, part of the team will remain in South Africa, with local funding. And the other part of the team will move to Russia, with 100% Russian funding. But the players of these teams in Russia in 5 years will have the opportunity to play for two national teams of South Africa or Russia.

[Chester-Donnelly Profile]

Hmm. That is a totally new concept. Never tried before. I don't think it will work.

[STMKY Profile]

I always wrote about this initially. That we are talking about basing in Russia. This is a broader format than just a team's participation in a tournament. There is naturalization, the development of Russian young players and other aspects. This is a mutually beneficial project. The sports part is South Africa, the financial part is Russia. I think South Africans will find it interesting. They don't lose anything. if they need some players for the South African national team, they can call them to South Africa.

[tryman Profile]

The more I read STMKY’s idea the more I like it although ultimately it comes down to money. The Russian Federation/government would need to pay for the three teams to participate. I presume your talking 1/2 million dollars per year.

Salaries would actually be the small part as these players are paid little by the South African unions and generally come from youth team rugby. Travel & accommodation would be the expensive part. South African players would only need to be based in Russia for the 5/6 summer months. It would be great to give this group of players another competition to play in along with the Currie Cup.

Crowds are nearly secondary, getting a competitive league with the overall aim of developing Russian rugby the main aim.

[STMKY Profile]

In fact, their salaries in Russia will be several times higher than in South Africa (Currie Cup non top-4 teams). Read the interview with ex-Pumas Du Préez. His salary in South Africa was about $ 1000. And in Russia in Enisei is several times larger.
For Russians 3 South African teams a year will cost about $ 9-10 million (salary funds + other expenses). Salary funds:
for Cheetahs (30-35 players and 5-6 coaches) 200 million rubles = 2.7 million $ (4-5 thousand $ per month)
for Pumas (30-35 players and 5-6 coaches) 150 million rubles = 2 million $ (3-4 thousand $ per month)
for Griquas (30-35 players and 5-6 coaches) 150 million rubles = 2 million $ (3-4 thousand $ per month)
To be able to get a second citizenship and the opportunity to play for the Russian national team in 5 years. The players of these teams must live in Russia for 10 months a year, for coaches this is not necessary. Yes, the championship will be 5-6 months, but in the fall there will be another Intercontinental Shield. And in the future, these teams will be able to play in the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup.
TV broadcasts, stadiums, fans, weather, pitch quality ... it all matters. If we want to get a strong PRO tournament that will compete with PRO16 in a few years, then we need to take into account all the nuances.

[Vova12 Profile]

I propose to discuss real scenario of development of events. Aliens arrive on Еarth and create an inter-galactic league.
Mars - 3 teams
Venus - 3 teams
Jupiter - 3 teams
Cheetahs ....

[STMKY Profile]

And what is not the reality of the participation of Cheetahs, Pumas and Griquas in the Russian PRO tournament? Half a year ago, could you believe that Cheetahs would become members of the Continental Shield? Not. This is the former Super Rugby and PRO14 team, what a nafig Shield. But Cheetahs is already in the Shield.

[Vova12 Profile]

I can imagine this if you finance it all from your own pocket.

[STMKY Profile]

You probably don’t know what finances and opportunities the RRU has in recent years? Let me give you an example. They held a tournament for amateur teams in Ufa in rugby-7 for 300 thousand euros. These are two days of the tournament. It's not even a pro or rugby 15. Many clubs of the major rugby-15 leagues in Spain, Italy, Georgia have such a budget for the whole year. And there are several such tournaments a year in beach, snow, swamp rugby. They really have a lot of money.

[Vova12 Profile]

I have been reading this example since last year.
Тournament in Ufa is 2 days. SA teams will have to fund whole year.
In addition 7s is an Olympic sport and is funded by state.

[STMKY Profile]

The RRU budget is 2 billion rubles. It consists of 99% sponsorship money. The RRU decides which rugby to spend. What does the state have to do with it? You are repeating some old rugby sevens stereotype. The state does not fund rugby and rugby sevens. Include logic. If the RRU spends the annual budget of a club of the level of RK Batumi or RK Viadana for 2 days of a tournament of very weak amateur rugby-7 teams, then isn't it obvious to you that they have a lot of money and they don't know how to spend it effectively? They don't have big projects like relocating South African teams to Russia, so they spend 50% of their budget on bullshit.
You don’t understand that these officials 3-4 years ago had an annual budget of less than $ 2 million. And now they have an annual budget of almost $ 30 million. Plus $ 12-13 million in addition for the creation of Russia's bid for RWC2027. They simply cannot physically spend this money. It looks like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x65w1mExNC0

[Vova12 Profile]

State (Goskomsport) pays salaries of players of Russian national team in 7s. This is called government funding.
It makes no sense to discuss something that will never happen.

[STMKY Profile]

That means they have a separate budget, not connected in any way with the RRU. And this does not apply in any way to the tournament in Ufa and other similar ridiculous tournaments in the seven, the beach, the snow and the swamp.

[Vova12 Profile]

New acqusition of Krasny Yar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znJBln_ ... =emb_title

[STMKY Profile]

Look with what words the fool from New York advertises our forum on reddit. These clowns continue to consider themselves exceptional.
T2rugby.com is your best bet as they have a Russian thread. The format of the website looks very early 2000s but it’s the best place to find a large amount of T2 rugby fans. Just don’t mind the random Russian rugby commenters talking about how horrible the West is and spewing conspiracy theories. I know you’re genuinely interested in T2 rugby so this is the best place to find out info.

[Vova12 Profile]

Is this a compliment?

[Vova12 Profile]

In general glad that this forum is not included in ̶G̶u̶l̶a̶g̶ Google Archipelago, at other sites I was usually banned.

[STMKY Profile]

The most interesting thing is that these idiots continue to believe in democracy. even after their president was banned by all American social networks. Idiots. But all this was predicted in advance.

[Vova12 Profile]

I noticed that on Western forums if topic is indicated as for example "Houseplants" then everyone should write only about this.
In Russia usually write about anything except name of topic.

[Vova12 Profile]

Players called up to training camp in Sochi before match against Georgia.

Alexander Budychenko, Evgeny Elgin, Shamil Magomedov, Timur Maslov, Stanislav Selsky, Stepan Seryakov, Konstantin Uzunov, Ramil Gaisin (Enisey), Tagir Gadzhiev, Kirill Golosnitsky, German Davydov, Patrice Peki, Vladimir Podrezov, Daniil Potikhanov (VVA-Podmoskovye), Victor Gresev, Andrey Karzanov, Vladislav Perestyak, German Silenko (Lokomotiv-Penza), Denis Barabantsev, Alexey Golov, Shamil Davudov, Kheta Dzobelov, Nikolai Kazalikashvili (Strela) , Nikita Vavilin , Evgeny Mishechkin, Alexey Skobiola, Stepan Khokhlov (""Slava""), Kirill Gotovtsev, Alexander Ilyin, Yuri Kushnarev, Bogdan Fedotko ("Krasny Yar"), Vasily Artemiev (CSKA), Vitaly Klimov ( “Bogatyri”), Anton Sychev (“Metallurg”), Luc Broca (“Narbonne”, France), Shako Odisharia (“Abner Castagnen”, France), Giorgi Roqua (“Stade Bajneras”, France).

[Armchair Fan Profile]

Avenir Castanéen and Stade Bagnérais

[Vova12 Profile]

Avenir Castanéen and Stade Bagnérais

[Vova12 Profile]

Big interview with Kazan Strela coach JP Neil.

https://kazanfirst.ru/articles/536950
https://kazanfirst.ru/articles/537066

[armchair_expert Profile]

behind-the-paywall article about an 18-year-old Russia-born Angers player Nougzar Adjamov:
https://www.ouest-france.fr/pays-de-la- ... 445d9854ac

Né en Russie, Nougzar Adjamov a quitté Astrakhan, bercé par la Volga, à trois ans. Ses parents ont fui alors le racisme et nourrissaient l'espoir ...