World-class rugby takes center pitch when the 2010 Churchill Cup Finals Day kicks off at the new, Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ on Saturday afternoon, June 19. The event is North America’s premier XV-a-side rugby tournament. The first match begins at 12 noon EDT. Start times for the following two matches are 2:30 pm and 5 pm EDT.

Attendees get to enjoy 3 exciting matches for 1 price. Ticket prices for the Finals start as low as $25 for the tripleheader. Other price levels are $35, $45, $60 and the $150 ticket includes VIP hospitality services. Tickets are now on sale and may be purchased via www.ChurchillCupRugby.net or www.redbullarena.us. Packages for groups of 15 or more may request $5 off each ticket (*excludes Club level). These group tickets may be ordered by calling 877-RBSOCCER.

USA Rugby, America’s governing body for the sport, is hosting this event which showcases six world-class, national teams – the USA Eagles, Canada, the England Saxons and tournament newcomers France A, Russia and Uruguay. Attendees will get a unique preview of Rugby World Cup 2011′s opening day match when USA faces off against Russia.

In addition, New York area sports fans will get the chance to experience one of the metro area’s newest, state-of-the-art professional sports facilities when The Churchill Cup Finals make its East Coast debut at Red Bull Arena. The Finals Day follows three earlier rounds of doubleheader matches that will be played on June 5, 9 and 13 at Infinity Park, Glendale, CO.

“The Churchill Cup is a vital part of our international season and offers top-flight international competition, as well as providing increased exposure of the sport to new audiences in the United States,” said Nigel Melville, Chief Executive Officer of USA Rugby.

Terry Burwell, the Churchill Cup Tournament Director, said: “We are delighted to bring Churchill Cup VIII Finals to the New York metro area for the first time and especially to this beautiful new stadium.”

The Churchill Cup will be the first non-soccer event held at the 25,000 capacity, soccer-specific Red Bull Arena and looks to provide an unforgettable spectator atmosphere. Red Bull Arena General Manager Steve Urbanowycz added, “We are honored to have the Finals of the Churchill Cup here. The arena was constructed with the fans in mind and will offer an up-close experience as the seating is less than 21 feet from the action.”

For more information on the Churchill Cup and to order tickets, visit www.churchillcuprugby.net.

Following last year’s successful event, which was attended by about 26,000 visitors, the European Rugby Association FIRA-AER awarded the men’s Sevens European Championship to the provincial capital of Lower Saxony for the second time in a row. And this year, for the first time, women, too, will be chasing a title of their own.

Under the motto “Rugby, family and friends”, the best European teams will be competing for the European title in the AWD Arena during the course of the two-day tournament. Matches are divided into two halves of seven minutes each and the play is fast- moving and easy to follow – ideal conditions for spectators to experience everything up close.

Altogether ten teams will start, with the men’s teams having to earn their participation in the European Championship through qualifying competitions taking place in the run-up to the event. Currently, in addition to hosts Germany, the European champions Portugal, France, Spain, Georgia and Romania have all secured their places. On the women’s side, the reigning European champions, England, as well as France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Russia, Moldova, Sweden, Portugal and hosts Germany, will be taking part.

Hannover Marketing und Tourismus GmbH (HMTG) is supporting the city’s great rugby event with posters and fliers, distributed as supplements in various newspapers, and is also offering an attractive package, which combines a visit to the tournament with an overnight stay in the city centre.

Spectators who need a break from all that high-performance sport can enjoy the biggest Schutzenfest (marksmen’s festival) in the world, which takes place on the neighbouring fairground. The funfair is an official fringe event of the Sevens European Championship. The stadium can be revisited with a valid entrance ticket at any time, as the tickets are good for both days and all matches in the AWD Arena and Sports Park.

For further information, visit http://www.hannover.de/rugby

This year will see the USA Eagles, Canada, England Saxons, Ireland A, Argentina Jaguars and Georgia play doubleheaders at Infinity Park in Glendale – the first municipally-owned rugby-specific stadium in North America – on June 6, 10 and 14.

These pool stages will be followed by a tripleheader finals day at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, home of Colorado Rapids Major League Soccer side, on June 21.

“The Churchill Cup continues to be a valuable part of our international season, offering top class international competition, as well as allowing us to showcase international rugby to new audiences in the United States,” said Nigel Melville, Chief Executive Officer of USA Rugby.

“We are delighted to play at two great facilities in Infinity Park and Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. This will give the Churchill Cup and rugby in general a great platform in a wonderful sporting city and help us achieve our objective to grow the sport.”

Mike Dunafon, Mayor Pro-Tem of the City of Glendale, said: “We are proud to host the Churchill Cup pool matches in Glendale. It has been our vision to bring international rugby competitions to Glendale and the metropolitan Denver area. We look forward to showcasing Infinity Park.”

Terry Burwell, Churchill Cup Tournament Director, added: “The Churchill Cup goes from strength to strength and is now established in the international rugby calendar.”

“This will be the seventh Churchill Cup and we are pleased to add Denver and Glendale to the eight other cities in Canada and the USA who have hosted the tournament since it started in 2003. With the tournament being based solely in one state for the first time we hope that we can build a following throughout the pool stages, culminating in a bumper crowd on finals day.”

KieAnn Brownell, President of the Metro Denver Sports Commission, added: “We believe that rugby fits strategically with our overall objectives and is a sport that our city will embrace and support. We also feel that we can provide significant value to the Churchill Cup both in terms of building the brand and growing the sport in Denver and the U.S.”

Dick’s Sporting Goods Park Senior Director of Venue Operations Allison Hamilton concluded: “We are very excited about our role in hosting the Churchill Cup during its first time to be played in Colorado. Between Dick’s Sporting Goods Park and Infinity Park, rugby fans will have an opportunity to experience this wonderful event in two world-class facilities.”

The 2008 Churchill Cup finals were played at Toyota Park in Chicago and attracted more than 9,000 fans. In front of a bumper crowd, the England Saxons beat Scotland A 36-19 to retain the main trophy, while Ireland A and Canada won the Plate and Bowl with 33-8 and 26-10 victories over Argentina A and USA, respectively. In 2009, Georgia has replaced Scotland A from last year’s line-up.

Tickets for Churchill Cup matches will be on sale to the public starting on Friday, May 1, at 10am for as little as $15 and are available online at http://www.tickethorse.com/EventDetail.aspx?eid=260&vid=7 or via phone by calling 1-866-461-6556.

The games will be broadcast live on SkySports in the UK and Setanta in North America.

Churchill Cup 2009

Pool A
Canada
Georgia
Ireland A

Pool B
Argentina Jaguars
England Saxons
USA

Fixtures (kick off times local)
Saturday June 6
Infinity Park, Glendale
England Saxons v Argentina Jaguars (2.15pm)
Canada v Georgia (4.30pm)

Wednesday June 10
Infinity Park, Glendale
Canada v Ireland A (4.30pm)
USA v Argentina Jaguars (7pm)

Sunday June 14
Infinity Park, Glendale
USA v England Saxons (1pm)
Georgia v Ireland A (3.30pm)

Sunday June 21
Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
Churchill Cup finals (12.05pm, 2.30pm, 4.45pm)

Churchill Cup background

The Churchill Cup is an alliance between the English Rugby Football Union (RFU), Rugby Canada and USA Rugby.

The tournament was launched in 2003 and aims to develop and grow the sport of rugby union across Canada and the USA.

It is named after former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who shared close ties with the United States – his mother was American – and with Canada during the Second World War.

With support from the International Rugby Board, as part of their Rugby World Cup-funded strategic initiatives, the tournament has grown in success since 2003 when 5,000 people attended to watch the three Alliance nations in Vancouver.

In 2008, when the tournament was played in Canada and the USA, the finals day in Chicago attracted almost 9,000 spectators.

Since its introduction, both men’s and women’s teams from England, the USA and Canada have participated although since 2005 it has been a men only event.

Invitational sides from Argentina, Ireland, Scotland and New Zealand have all participated, while there was also a women’s competition in 2003 and 2004.

www.churchillcuprugby.net

Source: Infinity Park

Without looking, the casual passerby would have thought they were overhearing a raucous game of pickup basketball, a herd of pre-teens running rampant, crying out to their teammates to pass them the ball: “I’m open! Over here!”

Sudden silence fell over the room as the neon yellow and blue World Rugby Shop ball soared through the air, hitting the hands of the waiting receiver, who gripped the ball with two hands before hurriedly diving over the makeshift try line painted across the wooden tiles.

Cheers rang out, ushering in a wave of high fives and fist pumps before a shrill whistle cut the celebration to an abrupt halt.

“Remember instructors, we want to do our best to discourage diving over the try-line when playing Rookie Rugby indoors. We want to prevent injuries in any way possible and gym floors are not the most forgiving. Make sure to tell them to simply touch the ball down across the line with both hands. OK, let’s go again,” said USA Rugby Youth Manager Katie Wurst, before giving a quick blow of the whistle to resume play.

Game on.

Upon further inspection, this was not the average weekend play date at the community gym, but rather day two of the Rookie Rugby Trainer Accreditation process, which was just one part of the action-packed 2008 Youth Conference on the Game agenda, held December 5-7 at Infinity Park.

Over the course of the three-day conference, more than 100 youth and high school coaches and administrators gathered among their peers to take in a series of presentations ranging in subject matter from State-Based Rugby Organizations (SBROs) to safety in the scrum and tackle to developing all-star athletes and administering a league.

The wide range of topics provided a little something for all in attendance — some first-time participants and others three-year veterans of the annual conference launched in 2006. More importantly, the event gave them an opportunity to network with others in similar positions and exchange ideas and best practices, each taking away their own unique set of tools to benefit their respective programs moving forward, with special emphasis on the newly launched Rookie Rugby program.

First Time Around

First-year attendee Thomas Van Trees, who joined his father Mark in representing Florida Flag Rugby at the conference, found great benefits in listening to the diverse range of speakers. The Van Trees family has worked hard to utilize the core characteristics of Rookie Rugby in combating childhood obesity among the Florida youth and aims to grow their program in 2009.

“I had a great weekend. The most important thing was hearing about how different people approach situations within their programs. You kind of get stuck in your ways — but you hear from people spanning from California to New York and learn about so many different pathways you can try and new ways of going about teaching children new things,” the younger Van Trees said.

Likewise, fellow conference newcomer, Glendale Youth Rugby Coordinator Jenna Anderson took away a plethora of great ideas from long-time members of the youth rugby community that she can implement in her own programs.

Anderson, a veteran of the college club system at Illinois State University and former Women’s National Team age-grade participant, is relatively new to the youth rugby community and gained valuable insight from the variety of presentation subject matter.

“The topics were great because you had a choice between the dual tracks and if one didn’t necessarily correlate with your role in youth rugby, you could attend an alternate presentation. I found all the presentations highly relevant and the speakers were great,” Anderson said. “The Positive Coaching Alliance workshop and the Physical Education Business Model presentation by Mark Van Trees were especially helpful regarding the proper follow-up after visiting area schools.”

Honoring their Own

On Saturday night, December 6, Youth Conference participants took a break from workshops to recognize the honorable achievements of two of their peers: Ernie Vargas of the Hawaiian Gardens Rugby program and from Gonzaga High School, Lee Kelly.

Vargas, a soft-spoken gang prevention coordinator from the small Los Angeles area city of Hawaiian Gardens, was awarded the World Rugby Shop Award for Community Service for his active role in introducing a group of troubled adolescents to the game of rugby, diverting their intended pathway from the streets and possible gang life to the opportunities that can be found on a rugby pitch.

Initially, Vargas’ intention had nothing to do with rugby. He was simply looking for an alternative outlet for middle and high school students who were bored in the flag football off-season. But the kids fell in love with the sport and since starting up the initial program of 16 kids two years ago, Vargas’ rugby teams have now grown to 50 athletes that compete on both boy’s and girls’ sides around Southern California.

“These kids just love the game and they’re learning. They’re not the most disciplined team and I’m not the most experienced coach, but what I’ve learned about rugby is that it brings kids together like no other sport and it builds a bond that I think will last forever,” Vargas said, proudly sporting his Hawaiian Gardens Eagles emblem on his shirt during his emotional acceptance speech.

“I want to tell you how excited I am to be invited here — there is so much I’ve already learned. I’m just so honored to be among you as a guest because I’ve had a chance to interact with you and talk with you and learn a few things. I’ve got a lot of notes to take back with me,” Vargas added.

Also recognized was Lee Kelly, Head Rugby Coach at Gonzaga High School, which was recently named in the top 20 sports high schools in the nation by Sports Illustrated magazine, due in special part to its successful rugby program. Kelly was also recently inducted to the Gonzaga High School Athletic Hall of Fame for his dedication to the sport of rugby.

Introducing Rookie Rugby

In addition to the long list of qualified presenters from across the country, an integral portion of this year’s Youth Conference on the Game was the Rookie Rugby Accreditation course put on by USA Rugby staff members. Day one introduced participants to the administrative side of the non-contact game and ushered in a practical session on day two that gave participants an opportunity to get the blood pumping and stretch their legs.

“The Rookie Rugby gym session was just awesome. It was great to play and get a chance to feel like kids again. We’re all coaches and administrators and deal more with the technical aspects of the game, so it was good to take a break and get back to the basics,” said third year participant Tony Mattacchione, Jesuit High School Head Coach.

Led by USA Rugby Youth Manager Katie Wurst and Coach Development Officer Sadie Thomas, coaches and administrators were given the chance to experience first-hand the progression of Rookie Rugby activities, which take newcomers through the basic skills of running, passing and tagging and build into an eventual game of touch rugby.

“I love the Rookie Rugby program — it’s going to be fantastic and will be a great way to get more kids involved with the game at an earlier age,” said JR LaPierre, Executive Director of Colorado Youth Rugby, following the conclusion of the conference. “Over the course of the weekend you could just feel the excitement building among the participants. My colleagues and I are rejuvenated and ready to go home and put these new ideas into action.”

Glendale’s Jenna Anderson shared LaPierre’s enthusiasm for the Rookie Rugby activities: “I’ve been using the Rookie Rugby games for awhile and have had extremely positive feedback with it. I’ll continue to teach my teammates and coaches the basics of Rookie Rugby so we are able to build off of this great foundation and run our own programs to benefit Glendale Rugby and ultimately all of Colorado Youth Rugby.”

Three years strong … and still growing

As USA Rugby CEO Nigel Melville wrapped up the 2008 Conference on Sunday afternoon, he gave a special thanks to Youth Manager Katie Wurst for organizing a great event for all who attended.

Met by an appreciative round of applause, Wurst rose and gave only a modest nod, a wave and a “thank you” to her supporters. Although drained from the past three days of non-stop rugby, she couldn’t help but smile when talking about the Youth Conference.

“Overall, I think the weekend went really well. Every year, we try to make changes to improve the selection of topics and the subject matter gets a bit more in-depth, which is certainly a testament to the constant growth of the game. I am confident we will continue to raise the bar building into next year’s conference.”

And her colleagues certainly agreed that her hard work had paid off.

In his second year at the conference, World Rugby Shop’s Brad Kilpatrick, who was on-hand both to honor Ernie Vargas and as an active participant, was blown away by the phenomenal increase in numbers across the youth and high school game and impressed by the participation goals set for the coming year.

“I can’t overstate the importance of the annual Youth Conference on the Game — it’s through events like this that we can work to lay the foundations and build the future of our sport. This is a great way for us to get involved with the game, grow the game, and become actively involved in the youth community,” Kilpatrick said.

“It’s hands down one of my favorite events of the year. Katie (Wurst) does a great job of putting together a dynamic schedule that carries beneficial takeaway value for all of the participants,” he added.

Building on the momentum of the conference, the general attitude of attendees as they left the conference room for the final time last weekend was positive, and the masses were clearly embracing the changes afoot in the USA Rugby youth and high school community.

“The first time we came together in 2006, those in attendance were wondering what USA Rugby had done for us. It’s been interesting to see how the philosophies have evolved. Those who have been here for the last three years can see big changes in the way the community operates,” added Jesuit’s Mattacchione, as he was headed out.

“I think it’s greatly beneficial that we get to interact with representatives from the National Office staff — not a lot of members can say the same about their sports organizations,” he added.

Source: City of Glendale, Colorado

Ticketmaster will provide VenueMaster ticketing software at Murrayfield Stadium, the largest stadium in Scotland with a capacity of 67,130. The Ticketmaster service will enable Scottish Rugby to offer their customers online and call centre ticket sales 24/7, as well as valuable traffic and exposure via Ticketmaster.co.uk (http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk) , the No.1 ticketing portal on the web*.

As part of the deal Ticketmaster also will provide ticketing services for the home fixtures of the two professional rugby union clubs in Scotland, Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby Club.

VenueMaster allows the control of ticket sales and the fulfilment process to take place in one flexible application. VenueMaster will also assist Scottish Rugby to manage its membership schemes. Key financial data can be analysed effortlessly using the VenueMaster reports suite with all transactions linked to customer databases.

e-Tickets gives Scottish Rugby customers the ability to view ticket availability and purchase tickets for events securely with the convenience of 24-hour Internet access. e-Tickets also provides operational convenience for Scottish Rugby venues, offering direct and seamless integration into the VenueMaster ticket office solution.

VMCall means Scottish Rugby supporters will have access to 24/7 telephone booking which will prove invaluable during peak periods where Ticketmaster’s operation is capable of handling large volumes of simultaneous calls.

Chris Edmonds, Managing Director, Ticketmaster UK, said: “We are delighted to continue providing the ticketing for Scottish Rugby. This further underlines Ticketmaster’s position as the preferred ticketing provider for rugby governing bodies in the UK market and the exclusive provider of ticketing services to professional rugby union clubs in Scotland.”

Colin E Douglas, Ticket Services Manager, Scottish Rugby, said: “Scottish Rugby is delighted to extend its long term business relationship with Ticketmaster. The additional provision of 24/7 call centre services will provide a highly convenient method of purchase to debenture holders and the general public. Ticketmaster’s substantial marketing reach will also assist us in driving ticket sales and maximising revenues.”

* www.ticketmaster.co.uk (http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk) ranked No. 1 based on market share of visits among all United Kingdom websites in the Hitwise Shopping and Classifieds – Ticketing industry.

Source: Ticketmaster UK Ltd