| This Is American Rugby interviews Rugby Super League President Sean Kelly. Part 1 - July 12, 2011 http://www.thisisamericanrugby.com/ Sean Kelly, the President of the Rugby Super League was kind enough to sit down with This Is American Rugby. In part one, he talks about the history of the Super League, sponsorships, and the media. This Is American Rugby: If you would, please give a brief history of the Super League and your involvement with the league. Sean Kelly: The RSL was founded in 1996 as a result of the need for more visibility and a higher competitive structure for the sport of rugby throughout the United States. It was created by the management of 14 of the best rugby organization in the United States at that time. The hope was to create a high level, national rugby competition encompassing the whole country. Over the year the League has expanded to as many as 18 teams and shrunk to a few as 11 (2011). I first became involved with the League in 2007 when I was appointed to the Board of the Representatives for the Boston Irish Wolfhounds when they joined the League. I was elected President in October 2009 with the departure of then President Keith Engelbrecht. TIAR: Alex Pohlidal, the head coach at Army, has recommended that the CPD switch their season to fall to allow some players to chose whether to play in the Super League or 7's in the Spring. Do you think this would be a positive move for the Super League? SK: There are a number of teams currently playing in the CPD that I think could compete at the Super League level. If the CPD was to switch to the Fall, I don't see any reason why the League would not seriously look at any application from the top teams in the CPD to compete in the League. TIAR: Last year's final between Life and SFGG was webcast but not broadcast on a national network like in years past. Do you think this is a setback for the Super League? SK: It's always a setback when you lose out on a national broadcast. Unfortunately, hard decisions have to be made when economies are tight and one of those decisions was to move the Final to save the league money. TIAR: What is the league doing to gain more television exposure? SK: The best way to gain television exposure is to put the best product we can out on the field. I believe the games that were played in 2011 were on par, if not better collectively, than in prior years. By continuing to improve the quality of rugby being played, that should hopefully gain television exposure down the road. TIAR: How is the league reaching out with 'new media?' Does the league have a twitter account or a Facebook page? SK: The League has a Facebook page that anyone can join. We currently do not have a Twitter account but that is something that we can look into creating for the 2012 RSL season. We have a webmaster that looks after our website. It's not the greatest website, but it does the job. We have a Media Officer who writes up the Reviews/Previews every week in season and USA Rugby helps to distribute them on our behalf in their weekly bulletins to all their members. Our Media Office coordinates our weekly rereleases with the Rugby media. TIAR: What kind of sponsorships does the league have? How do you go about getting new sponsors? SK: The RSL is sponsored by Gilbert Rugby who supplies all the practice and match balls for the season to all the teams in the League. Rugby Athletic sponsored us in 2010/11. Tap Out Mouth Guard supplied every player in the League with a mouth guard in 2011 and we are hoping to expand on that relationship in 2012. We are currently working on a number of new sponsors for 2012. Recently, sponsors have been approaching us as well and we are receiving referrals from member teams. TIAR: Does the league go out an get sponsorship on their own or rely on U.S.A. Rugby? SK: I do a lot of the cold calling as well as getting back to referrals. USA Rugby supplied the Gilbert Ball sponsor. I am always open to any potential sponsor who wishes to contact me. TIAR: What is the forecast for next year's sponsorship looking like? SK: I am always optimistic about the coming year because you never know who is going to approach you as a potential sponsor. I am hoping we can land a few more in 2012 and keep building upon the current ones that we have. Part 2 Sean Kelly, the President of the Rugby Super League was kind enough to sit down with This Is American Rugby. In part one; he talked about the history of the Super League, sponsorships, and the media. In part two, he talks about expansion, league stability, and plans for the future. This Is American Rugby: A lot has been made of teams dropping out of the Super League in the last few years. Is this a setback for the league or does the decision of some financially smaller teams leave the league in a stronger position? Sean Kelly: Teams go through cycles of growth and shrinkage, of financially flush to struggling to pay their bills, of having good players to struggling to put out a competitive team. These all contribute to whether a team can remain in the League or if they decide to leave. This has happened more often over the past 2/3 years. I see it as a setback because no one wants to see a team struggle and have to leave the League, but we all understand it happens. I think 2011 proved that, even though teams dropped out of the League, the level and standard of play did not diminish. If anything, it improved. Maybe the reduction in teams pushed the standard of rugby in those remaining teams higher. TIAR: There have been rumors regarding the application of Glendale into the Super League. Some sources have claimed that Glendale hasn't approached the league for entry while others have said certain teams have blocked their entry. Can you tell us what happened in terms of Glendale's application last year? SK: Glendale unfortunately was unsuccessful in gaining entry into the RSL in 2011 but as a result, they went on to win the DI Men's USA Rugby National Championship for the first time. A great achievement for a club so young and I am sure when the time is right, hopefully we will see them enter the Super League. TIAR: Does being DI champions have any possible effect on a possible future application? SK: If anything, it improves their application should they wish to reapply for entry. TIAR: What standards are needed for application to the Super League (stadiums, quality of play, etc.)? SK: There are a number of criteria that the League looks for in a club when applying to join the Super League. The main ones consist of on the field performance, the facility that they play at, the location in proximity to other member clubs, club administration and longevity, but we do not limit to just these. Every application is looked at in light of what a team in that location may bring to exposing rugby to that particular part of the country. Essentially is it good for the League and good for rugby? TIAR: The Utah Warriors entered the league as a new kind of entry (a team only designed to play Super League). Has their entry sparked interest from other groups? Is this a direction you think is in the best interest of the Super League? SK: Yes, we have begun to see similar interested parties approach the League that is not your 'norm' club entity. Yes, I would say it has opened people's eyes to the possibility of forming partnerships to participate in the League. I think it works in certain situations and certain parts of the country, but may not work in all. TIAR: Does the league have any interested clubs for expansion next year? SK: Yes. We are currently talking with a number of teams who have shown an interest in joining the League for 2012. TIAR: IS the league looking to aggressively return to the large number of teams it previously had or is it looking for people who have the financial resources to stay long-term? SK: We are definitely looking to return to at least 14 teams in 2012. We also look for teams who will stay long term, not much good having a team join this year and drop out the next. TIAR: The Kansas City Blue recently announced a connection with Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer. Even though the Blues are DI, are Super League clubs looking to forge similar partnerships? SK: I think it's the way of the future if you want to attract the American public to watch rugby. They are used to watching their sports in stadiums with the attraction of seating and concession stands. The RSL has always encouraged our member teams to use the best facilities that they can get to stage their league games. Connecting with a facility such as Kansas City has done is definitely good for the game. TIAR: How might a partnership benefit clubs and the league (sponsorships, facilities, etc)? SK: By playing our games in a facility that has good seating, concessions, bathrooms, etc., I would hope it would attract a larger audience than is currently watching rugby on a weekly basis. By attracting more fans you have the change of gaining sponsorship as that is what sponsors want! TIAR: Has their been a significant movement by clubs toward professionalization? SK: Professionalism will never happen in this country until somebody puts money into the game. Teams and clubs can act in a professional manner and I applaud any team or club who strives to act this way, but without real money our players need to go overseas if they want professional contracts and to make a living in this sport. TIAR: Some say that the club season (6 games) is not nearly long enough. Is the league looking to increase the amount of games it plays? SK: 6 regular season games are not enough and everyone know this. Yes, we would love to expand our season to 10 or 12 regular season games but there are so many constraints on playing a national league in this country that prohibits this from happening. The League will look to increase our games in 2012 and see what number is best for the clubs and not put too much of a financial burden in terms of travel costs on them. TIAR: The AMNRL and some Canadian teams have staged exhibitions during halftimes of American/Canadian football games. Has the Super League approach the NFL or other leagues to stage similar exhibitions. SK: RSL teams have also performed at these in the past but it's something that the teams themselves get involved in to promote their club. The League has not recently approached the NFL to my knowledge. | 
