Stirring the Pot: SCRFU Prom Court Announced

Unless you've been living under a rock or have the attention span of a South African at a cartographer's convention, you no doubt are aware that the SCRFU Prom King and Queen were announced over the weekend and that the members of the Pasadena Rugby Club are the hands down favorites making up almost 30% of the Royal Court. I went to an all-boys school and when I had the chance was always too busy trying to look up the cheerleaders skirts to be bothered with caring about such vanity. I've also never been associated with the popular crowd so it is with some amount of uneasiness that I can look at any of this as a good thing. Pretty soon guys are going to make outrageous demands like orange wedges at ½ time and cold beer at the drink ups. Stop the horror.

Today on The 2nd Row we have a Special Guest Columnist, our very own Marksman of Mayhem, Allen “The Claw” Rooney. The intelligent reader will find Allen’s article not to be an attack on any individual but more a question of the system or process itself. The unintelligent reader will find this a slam against one of our own and will probably go on to harbor all sorts of nasty thoughts about divisiveness in which case I’d say you are a complete doushe and are missing the point. That is more of a disclaimer than Allen wanted me to post but he’s probably loading ammo right now and won’t see this until I’ve had a chance to butter him up with a couple pitchers of beer compliments of Colby’s reverse celebrity Look-alike Sloan. Here it is, enjoy:




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CRONYISM ALIVE AND WELL IN USA RUGBY.
By: Allen Rooney





Cronyism: Noun: favoritism shown to friends and associates (as by appointing them to positions without regard for their qualifications)





Having played rugby for some time now, I can say with some confidence that politics is part of the subculture. The tales of quality rugby players going to select side try outs only to find that the selectors wouldn’t consider players that weren’t from team x or division y are not just tales, they are fact. January 2007’s issue of Rugby magazine illustrates that this practice goes all the way to the highest levels of USA Rugby. The head coach of USA Rugby‘s national men‘s team, Peter Thorburn, in response to a question about the comparison between his selection process and that of prior Eagle teams had this to say: “ ………I can only see the results of some of those selections. It may be deemed as being critical, but I think they were very exclusive……I don’t know what their systems were, but by looking at their selections, I found apparent protection around certain players when we went to the first NA4 (national tryouts)- they were basically guaranteed that they were going to be on the Eagles.”





If this politicking is evident at the top, it certainly is rampant at the bottom. The awarding of Pasadena’s Man of the Match glasses has become very similar to the spinning of a roulette wheel, with a once prized symbol of kicking ass on the rugby field being spread around to everyone. I don’t know the reason for this, maybe it is so nobody gets their feelings hurt. Everyone knows that Keegan, Casey, Frazier and Andy should have a cupboard full of them. Maybe It does get a little difficult on a team like Pasadena RFC’s 2007 edition, because we had a great team made up of decent and unselfish players (both on the field and on the sidelines). Nonetheless, an award to recognize rugby excellence is not to be used as a feel good lozenge. A pat on the back will suffice for most of us.





The 2006 SCRFU award for Blue Division MVP went to Eagle Rock’s JP. I have played against JP since I moved to California in 1997. I certainly recognize his aggressiveness, tenacity, and physical ability as something that is vital on the rugby field. In fact, if JP had been a player in a club that taught teamwork, fitness, and class (the three principles of rugby), he would have been an incredible player. 2006 Blue Division MVP? I don’t think so. Most people I talked to found it funny that this award went to a guy that, while standing in the try zone waiting for (another) conversion attempt to be made against his team in a lopsided loss said “you know who I am, I’m the division MVP.” Perhaps only EARC players had access to computers.





The 2007 season rolls around, Pasadena RFC crushes all opposition handily, makes major contributions off the field, and does everything I could want except win nationals and keep my house clean. When the time for nominating an MVP came around, some Pasadena players that were deserving of consideration for the award, such as Keegan, Casey, Dean, John John, and Andy, were not nominated. So be it, we aren't EARC, so we don't nominate our entire team. Among the players that were nominated division wide, 3 players stand head, shoulders, chest, and midsection above the other nominee’s. In order of their teams finish in the SCRFU Blue Division 2007 championship, here they are.





Brian Wolf, OC Bucks, Division Semifinalists. Brian plays inside center. There are several ways to describe Brian, most of them dealing with the fact that he is built like a genetic experiment gone horribly awesome. Tackling Brian is not a job for those faint of heart or fond of mirrors because he will hurt you in the offing. But the real indication of his ability is revealed in a peek at the Blue Division ‘s Scorers table as provided by Alan Johnson (great idea, Alan, it made the season very interesting). Wolf scored 6 tries for himself, but look at the name just above his. Brandon Fischer is the Buck’s outside center. He is a rookie. He also has 6 tries. I can only imagine that the extra defensive pressure that must be put on Brian left Brandon in the gap frequently. Those 6 tries of Fischer’s are as much Wolf’s as Fischer.





Vincent McGlade, SOC Gators, Division finalists. Vince is a center as well as the team’s points kicker. He’s still wet behind the years, not even 20 years old. The scorers table shows that he had 12 tries, 18 conversions, and 7 goals for a division leading 117 points, 33 points more than the closest rival. In fact, he even scored a try against Pasadena, something that only 2 other players were able to do. Vincent is a player to watch in the future, he will grow into a great rugger.





Mark Frazier, Pasadena RFC, Division champions. What can you say about the hardest hitting, quickest thinking, fastest running player on the team in a 144 lb package. Not enough. Frazier is like a geeked out Jack Russel Terrier. At every single break down ( well, he is scrum half) before the ball even hits the deck, he’s spinning it wide, running it weak, or dumping it off to a rampaging forward. Frazier scored 6 tries in the regular season and 5 more in the play offs, caused innumerable turn-overs on defense, and was responsible in one way or another for most of the tries being scored by Pasadena this year. Frazier was awarded the best back, best offensive player, and team mvp award this year, and it was a long time coming.





This year, SCRFU had an opportunity to legitimize this award by recognizing the actual most valuable player. Now I’m a Pasadena guy, so I was hoping that Frazier would be recognized as what he is, the division’s MVP. When I saw the process that was used to select the MVP, however, I realized that there was a good possibility that something nefarious would happen. The MVP was nominated by coaches, and voted on by coaches, referees, and the SCRFU executive committee. Numerically, the largest group of voters, if the SCRFU website is accurate, is the SCRFU executive committee. In looking at the names of those folks, the only people that I saw at any games were Jim Ciampa and Chris Caufield. The second largest group of voters is the referees, many of whom do not referee blue division games.





Well, Brian, Vince, and Frazier, I suggest that you become referees and get on SCRFU’s executive committee if you want to be division MVP’s because politics and cronyism are alive and well in Southern California Rugby. Caufield, it’s your turn next year. In the meantime, would you like a Pasadena Man of the Match glass? They’re practically free.




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Agree or disagree, I think Allen makes some pretty strong arguments. Without trying to distract from any of his points and having had some time to reflect on this issue since I originally posted my misgivings back in Sept, I have come to the following conclusions:

First To discount or question the process does not mean that I find illegitimacy in the recognition we received. People are just now figuring out what I’ve known for 10 years- Pasadena Rugby and its members are kick ass. No shit Sherlock. Welcome to the game. The sky is also blue, baseball is a lame sport and Lincoln is the capitol of Nebraska. I am also a loud drunk.

Second, agree or disagree, awards like this are not going to go away. Like the Blue Griffins, if the process can be revised and legitimized then there might be some merit (so long as you can buy into the process of individualizing players in a sport whose success depends on the contrary). What merit you ask? How about to shine the light on the efforts put in by some outside of the game itself in order to highlight how this sport is a metaphor of how to live- in non-selfish support of others. Jim Ciampa hasn’t laced up his boots in almost 5 years but he continues to give. Alexis could be at home arranging his action figures and making midnight calls to Tyler in a whispered voice but instead is hitting the streets trying to figure out how this Club is going to Give Back. Non-selfish play and support. This is something that our Coach drives home every practice and maybe recognition of his efforts and that of our members can help deliver this message to others. I don’t expect Belmont Shore to take the time to develop a youth side or to go out into the community and take the time to change the public’s perception of rugby but if we helped plant the seed or changed the perception of what a rugby club can and should be, then fanfuckingtastic. Maybe… maaaaaybe clubs that exist on the fringe will begin to be included in the dialogue. Hey- if we are the hood ornament on the short bus, then so be it. Pretty sure that short buss can plow through a crowd at the buss stop with just as much ease.

Lastly, I think the biggest shock of the evening (for everyone who doesn’t pay Pasadena dues) is that Keegan was voted Prom King over some dude who just vacationed in the South of France to get his ass kicked by everyone in the tournament except Japan, Namibia and a few of the handy capped junkies passed out in the Paris underground. And now he has to move to France to play “professional French” rugby, whatever that is. This poor fucker can’t get a break. He now must know what our own Minister sees every day he looks in the mirror: gnireffus si efil.





No wonder he looks so pissed.












Here we see Keegan settel into his new life as a professional bowler