Leagues and Flroida cup going forward
A number of teams are asking for guidance and information about league and cup schedules for 2010/11.
Florida Cup
With a lengthened league season and as clubs build up for it, the Cup was losing interest and commitment and relevance to many. As you will have seen in the note from Ken Simmons the cup will be contested over one weekend October 16/17 at All Florida weekend in Tavares. Detailed structure will come when Ken receives commitments from clubs so get the in.
This will leave all teams free to arrange fixtures as they wish leading up to the league season. Big request is that clubs check with Florida Referees Society on availablitiy before making commitments.
LEAGUES
With the withdrawal of Nashville to D 2 and Life abandoning a D 1 side in favor of running only a collegiate and Super League team this leaves the South D 1 structure in limbo.
Add to this the wish of Naples, Fort Lauderdale and Tridents to drop to D 2, leaving Miami and Boca as sole Florida D 1 representatives, the South in consultation with Florida and Georgia will rethink the D 1 format. Likely outcome will be a 4 team D 1 conference with Atlanta Old White and Renegades taking on Boca and Miami home and away.
With the extra teams dropping to D 2 this will have to be restructured and thinking will be shared shortly on how this will work out.
D 3 will alter slightly based on Tampa Myrmidon situation and any relegation that might come from D 2.
Thanks for your patience on scheduling. Any feedback welcome.
July 7th, 2010 at 8:13 am
Why won’t Krewe be D1? They just won a national championship.
July 7th, 2010 at 10:57 am
I understand the desire of Miami & Boca to stay in D1, but they are not D1 caliber teams, as shown by their playoff results. I believe you need to PROOVE yourself as a D1 team, by consistently competing for the DII national title and putting 2 complete competitive sides for 3-5 years. It also is unrealistic to believe that it is financially feasible to have a home & away schedule with 2 teams in Atlanta, then travel for National playoffs as all 4 teams will automatically be in the national playoffs, which also makes no sense. It makes much more sense to create a DII North, with the existing DII florida teams and a new DII South consisting of the former D1 teams. From there will come a TRUE Florida champion as we had before the South hijacked our playoff system in the 90′s. Furthermore we create North and South select sides selected by the coaches in the respective regions, and now we can bring back the Florida select side to give our best players pathways to play at higher levels
July 7th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Go back to one big Div 2 like the old days, play each team once a year. One year at home, next year away. Sprinkle an All florida day or 2 into the mix to assist with some lengthy travel and resurrect the Mens Allstar team. Cap the amount of teams hanging out in D3, restrict them to newer teams. We will need at least 3 seeds into the South Matrix. Have a FL championship weekend to seed 1-3 with a saturday sunday matchup to prep the teams for that format going forward.
July 15th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
I agree with Brian about how to do DII, but I don’t think DIII should be restricted to newer teams. Many teams play their B-Side in DIII. Those teams would not be allowed to have two teams in DII (according to USA Rugby rules). It is also problematic because many of the non-B-Side teams in DIII are at that level because that is the appropriate division for the size of their club and the level of their play. Depth is a big determinant in what level a team can play. That’s not to say that individual players on DIII can’t be good. I’ve played on DIII teams with Eagles. These DIII players should be eligible for an All-Star/Select Side just as much as guys from the DI teams. This lack of avenues for higher rugby for men is one thing that is hurting Florida, and American men’s rugby as a whole. That said, a DIII side will also often have some guy on wing who has been to two practices. It is difficult for him to compete against a player that has had to beat out eight other players for his position. Extrapolated out, this is the reason why it is difficult to compete as a team with teams of greater depth. For this reason, I think DIII is a very valuable division that should not be changed from its original reason for existing.