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Romanian Rugby

I have a question for you dragos03. How do the Romanian Union pay for the professional league? Crowds are not massive at all?
The Union does not pay for the pro league at all. In fact, the champion club has a budget equal to the one of the Union. The clubs are supported by local councils and city halls and from private sources. They also get some money (but I think it's not much at all) from the current TV deal. The average crowd for Superliga matches has been around 1000 last year but it seems to be increasing this season. Some of the stadiums are in a very poor state and the starting times are not helping the crowds either (matches are usually played in the morning to allow clubs to return to their towns by bus until nightfall).

The overall popularity of the sport is not very high because football is king here and there are a few other sports above rugby as well. The Federation has tried to grow rugby in cities that don't have good football teams, like Timisoara or Baia Mare and I think this is a good strategy.

Waching rugby is not hard because major competitions are on TV: the Superliga, the matches of the Oaks, Aviva Premiership, 6N, 4N, some autumn and summer internationals, Heineken Cup and even the LV Cup.

As for a Tier 1 match, that's hard to estimate. Romania plays on a small stadium in Bucharest (around 6000 seats) but did get 8000 this year at a match in the city of Cluj (against Spain). I'd guess that a Tier 1 match in Bucharest would get between 10-20k.
 
Just saw Steaua-Timisoara
It was an entertaining game despite the rain !

here the 7 tries of the game
 
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A move that might have important consequences in both Romanian and European Tier 2 rugby: Octavian Morariu has resigned from the position of President of the Romanian Olympic Committee (COSR). Morariu was is also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and head of FIRA-AER. He said he is resigning from COSR because he wants to have more time for his IOC and FIRA-AER duties.

This could be good news for FIRA-AER. Morariu is a competent and forward-thinking administrator, who managed the very hard task of reviving Romanian rugby from the brink of total collapse. I think he was just a figurehead at FIRA-AER so far, due to lack of time. He will become more involved hopefully from now on, the stagnant and amateurish FIRA badly needs someone like him in a more active role.

It seems that the favorite to replace Morariu as head of the COSR is Alin Petrache, the current head of the Romanian Rugby Federation. Petrache is also a competent administrator and Romanian rugby could get more funds if he gets elected.

In other news, Romania U18 - Spain U18 15-17 today in the semifinal of the European Championship. A frustrating result for the Junior Oaks, who fail in their objective to reach the final. Despite this defeat, it seems that this is the best youth generation of Romanian rugby in many years, they will have one more chance next year at U19 level.

10013880_814447585249663_8876590910652988616_n.jpg


Superliga Round 4 will be played on Thursday (due to the Orthodox Easter weekend)

Dinamo vs CSM Bucuresti (April 17, 11:00 local time/8:00 GMT, live on TVR 2 and http://www.rugbytv.ro)
Probable teams: http://www.super-liga.ro/informatii-meci/?im=2093

Baia Mare vs Steaua (April 17, 15:00 local time/12:00 GMT, live on http://www.rugbytv.ro)
Probable teams: http://www.super-liga.ro/informatii-meci/?im=2091

RCM Timisoara vs Farul Constanta (April 17, 20:00 local time/17:00 GMT, live on TVR3 and http://www.rugbytv.ro)
Probable teams: http://www.super-liga.ro/informatii-meci/?im=2089

The match in Timisoara (poster above) is significant because it will be the first for the hosts on the big football stadium in the city, after several years of failed attempts to play there. I am curious what kind of crowd they can get for this match, it could be a record one for Romanian domestic rugby. Sadly, the weather forecast predicts rain for Thursday evening.
 
The RCM Timisoara vs Farul Constanta match can also be watched on TVR Timisoara's official stream, a good quality one that shouldn't be geoblocked:
http://www.tvrplus.ro/live-tvr-timisoara

The local club is trying to get as many fans as possible to the match (a good attendance could help them make the big stadium their permanent home). They have even bought advertising space on billboards around the city, this is probably the first time when a domestic club makes a serious marketing effort.

10170897_628806693867308_6258097242833535907_n.jpg
 
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Timisoara v Farul Constanta lineups
[TABLE="width: 500"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TD="align: right"]RCM Timisoara
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]V
[/TD]
[TD]Farul Constanta
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Gigi Militaru
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]1
[/TD]
[TD]Petru Tamba
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Eugen Capatana
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]2
[/TD]
[TD]Otar Turashvili
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Alexandru Tarus (c)
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]3
[/TD]
[TD]Vlad Badalicescu
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Marina Drenceanu
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]4
[/TD]
[TD]Onal Agiacai
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Valentin Poparlan
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]5
[/TD]
[TD]Cristian Petre
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Randall Morrison
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]6
[/TD]
[TD]Malakai Ravulo
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Dorin Lazar
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]7
[/TD]
[TD]Vali Mototolea
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Vasile Rus
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]8
[/TD]
[TD]Eseria Vueti
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Valentin Calafeteanu
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]9
[/TD]
[TD]Eugene Jantjies
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Jack Umaga
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]10
[/TD]
[TD]James Semple
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Viliami Moala
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]11
[/TD]
[TD]Adrian Apostol
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Paula Kinikinilau
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]12
[/TD]
[TD]Dale Sabbagh
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Fonovai Tangimana
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]13
[/TD]
[TD]Ionel Cazan
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Stephen Shennan
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]14
[/TD]
[TD]Robert Neagu
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Catalin Fercu
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]15
[/TD]
[TD]Florin Vlaicu
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Cristi Cornei
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]16
[/TD]
[TD]Matthew Taljaard
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Sami Maris
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]17
[/TD]
[TD]Nicolae Nere
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Sione Taupaki
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]18
[/TD]
[TD]Florin Sasu
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Stelian Burcea
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]19
[/TD]
[TD]Petre Neacsu
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Daniel Carpo
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]20
[/TD]
[TD]Nicolae Ion
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Victor Dumitru
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]21
[/TD]
[TD]Renaud Van Neel
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Jody Rose
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]22
[/TD]
[TD]Constantin Gheara
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]Gabriel Conache
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]23
[/TD]
[TD]Andrei Ilie
[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]
 
Thank you for the lineups Croket. The match starts in one hour (17.00 GMT) and can be watched here:
http://www.tvrplus.ro/live-tvr-timisoara
or www.rugbytv.ro if the above doesn't work

Today's earlier results:

Dinamo - CSM Bucuresti 16-27 (3-19)
Tries: Andrei Cristea, Ion Cavcaliuc/Andrei Filip, Marian Ispir (2), Ion Florentin
Conversions: -/Andrei Filip (2)
Penalties: Teodor Nitu (2)/Andrei Filip
Man of the match: Andrei Filip (CSM Bucuresti)

Baia Mare - Steaua 31-3 (10-0)
Tries: Johannes Van Heerden, Sean Morrell (2), Bizdina Shamkharadze/-
Conversions: Luke Samoa (4)/-
Penalties: Luke Samoa/Danut Dumbrava
Man of the match: Stefan Ciuntu (Baia Mare)
 


RCM Timisoara - Farul Constanta 35-13 (27-6)

Tries: Viliami Moala, Paula Kinikinilau, Stephen Shennan, Catalin Fercu/Onal Ageacai
Conversions: Valentin Calafeteanu (2)/Florin Vlaicu
Penalties: Valentin Calafeteanu (3)/Florin Vlaicu (2)

It was a spectacular match and good propaganda for rugby at Timisoara's first match on the big stadium. There were around 3500-4000 fans, hopefully the good show last evening will make most of them return to watch rugby from now on (and maybe bring their friends as well).
 
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Great topic Dragoș, a lot of info. To make the picture a bit more complete, i'll write a bit about the lower divisions from the Romanian rugby.

Divizia Națională de Seniori- 2nd division
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The league below the professional SuperLiga, contains 7 teams (should have been 8, but Buzău retired due to money issues, just before the start), (most of them) with semi-professional status (the players receive some money from the clubs, but they have an other occupation- work or studying).

We have traditional (old) teams, like Poli-Agro Unirea Iași (formed in 1969, old contender from the SuperLiga (from my info, the team with the biggest budget from the 2nd div), CSM Bucovina Suceava (formed in 1963) or Știința Petrosani, which played for the first time in the top division in 1960. Also, there are some new teams like Galați or Bârlad, which were formed in the second part of the 2000's, but from cities with some rugby tradition & history.

Many of these teams (&players) have 1st league experience, some in the SuperLiga and many in the old system, before the fully professional era.

The players are very young, almost all the teams have an age average around 22-23 yo. Many of them are students (university), hence most of the teams are based in cities with strong university centers (Iasi, Arad, Petroșani, even Suceava & Galați).

Petroșani earned the right to promote to the SuperLiga on various ocasions, but they weren't able to make the step, because of some money issues.


Divizia A- 3rd division

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The bottom level of the league system, Divizia A is an all-amateur league, all the players have jobs/school, even if some of the teams offer money bonuses/prizes. There are 8 teams in a two geographical groups. After the regular season, every team plays a play-off with the correspondent placed team, from the other group, to determine the final standings.

Again, we have some old-traditional teams: RC Grivița (mentioned by Dragos above), founded in 1932, CFR Brașov (another team of the railway workers, besides Grivița & Rapid)- formed in 1968 and some newer teams like Lions Arad, CSM Sibiu.

Top flight experience does not lack in this league, Mangalia, Brașov and of course Grivița played in the top league, some of them in the late 2000's (Brașov in the 08-09 season).

Similar to the 2nd Division, Brașov did promote on the field, in the last 2 seasons, but is unable to promote to the 2nd league, the lack of funding hits again.

~~~~~

The attendance at these games is between <100 and some 1-200 spectators per game, depending on the veneus and the teams.

These legues benefit from the awareness of the SuperLiga, all the games/tables + info get their place on the official site: http://www.super-liga.ro/.

All amateur (non-league) tournaments:

In the last years, a number of amateur teams got together in some very good organized tournaments: 10's, 7's or beach rugby.

For example:

http://www.arlechinii.ro/after-work-rugby-10s-series-2013-etapa-1/, managed by the Arlechinii Bucuresti Team.
after-work-championship_web.jpg



Also, we have a range of 7's and youth tournaments, but i'll talk about them in another post.
 
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Very solid info racer, good contribution. I doubt people here would be interested in the lower leagues or the youth tournaments though. The overall interest in Romanian rugby appears to be quite low.

Anyway, back to some news. Today, Romania U18 has defeated Poland U18 41-7 and finished 3rd in the European Championship Division A.

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RCM Timisoara vs Farul Constanta full match:
 
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Happy Easter to all who celebrate it!

Some news:
- next weekend (25-26 April), there will be an international 7s tournament in the Eastern Romanian town of Barlad. Participants: Romania, Romania A, Moldova, Poland, Romania U19, Poland U19, Moldova U19.
- Ealing Trailfinders, the team of Romanian hooker Andrei Radoi, has managed a crucial bonus point win away at Plymouth Albion. Before the final round of the RFU Championship, Ealing are no longer the botoom team and could avoid relegation. This is an almost miraculous outcome, when Radoi signed for the club in December they had zero points and looked absolutely doomed.

Baia Mare - Steaua 31-3 highlights:
 
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Farul Constanta has signed two Fijian players:
- scrumhalf Nemia Kenatale Ranuku (25 caps) - he was a starter for Fji at RWC 2011, also started Fiji's last test against Romania in Bucharest in November. Has also played for the Barbarians and Southland, looks like a big transfer for Farul.
- centre David Faamita - this one is a young player who only seems to have played rugby league (but he did it for the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL)

Alin Petrache has officially announced that he will run to replace Morariu as COSR President.
 
Superliga Round 5 will be played this weekend:
Farul Constanta vs Baia Mare (April 26, 11:00 local time, live on TVR 2, Neptun TV and http://www.rugbytv.ro, also on http://www.ntvonline.ro/articol/ntv-live)
CSM Bucuresti vs RCM Timisoara (April 27, 11:00 local time, live on http://www.rugbytv.ro)
U Cluj vs Dinamo (April 27, 14:00 local time, live on TVR Cluj and http://www.rugbytv.ro, also on http://www.tvrplus.ro/live-tvr-cluj)

10308484_838090639537685_4188460104182017817_n.jpg


10247358_264511853721584_5568265843378054457_n.jpg


Other news:
- another transfer has been announced: U Cluj has signed a Tongan scum half named Leimoni Moala. I've found nothing about him on the Internet. The name could be slightly wrong though, there is a scrum half named Filimone Moala who has played for Tonga U23.
- Catalin Fercu was named the best player of Round 4 of the Superliga. Round highlights here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pKWrHfL5UI&list=UUr9zhnwmEgwHR6QW3onmVOQ
 
Farul vs Baia Mare highlights:


Farul Constanta - Baia Mare 15-17 (12-3)
Tries: -/Stephen Hihetah, Constantin Ene
Conversions: -/Luke Samoa (2)
Penalties: Florin Vlaicu (5)/Luke Samoa
Man of the match: Ranuku Nemia Serelevu (Farul)

CSM Bucuresti - RCM Timisoara 12-36 (0-10)
Tries: Andrei Filip, Johnny Sola / Daniel Carpo (2), Jack Umaga, Catalin Fercu, Gabriel Conache
Conversions: Marian Ispir / Gabriel Conache (4)
Penalties: - / Gabriel Conache

U Cluj - Dinamo 24-22 (17-16)
Tries: Ionut Dimofte, McGrath Van Wyk, Constantin Rosu / Cosmin Stan
Conversions: Ionut Dimofte (3) / Teodor Nitu
Penalties: Ionut Dimofte / Teodor Nitu (5)
 
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A 7s tournament took place this weekend in the Eastern Romanian city of Barlad, the participants were the senior and U19 teams of Romania, Poland and Moldova. Here are the results:

Day 1
Romania U 19 - Moldova U 19: 33-0
Romania - Poland: 14-0
Romania U19 - Poland U19: 12-5
Romania U19 - Moldova U19: 26-0
Romania - Moldova: 32-0
Moldova U19 - Poland U19: 7-21
Poland - Moldova: 24-7
Romania U19 - Poland U19: 12-7
Romania - Poland: 14-12

Day 2

Romania - Moldova 29-5
Romania U19 - Moldova U19 24-0
Romania U19 - Poland U19 5-7
Moldova - Poland 5-27
Poland U19 - Moldova U19 29-0
Romania - Poland 21-14
Romania U19 - Poland U19 26-0
Romania U19 - Moldova U19 47-0
Romania - Poland 21-7
 
CSM Bucuresti vs RCM Timisoara highlights (they are made by a guy from Timisoara and only include the tries scored by them):


The partnership between Romanian champions RCM Timisoara and Saracens has been officially announced. The Romanian club will not have to change its name or colours. Saracens will assist with know-how in various fields (but mainly in training and junior development). A player exchange has also been mentioned for the future. Saracens director Edward Griffiths said that he wants Timisoara to be strong enough to play in the RCC in ten years as a result of this partnership. He also hopes to see in the future a new system for the 6N: three divisions with promotion and relegation between them.

Also, RCM Timisoara will return on the Dan Paltinisanu Stadium (33000 seats) for the match against Steaua on May 31 and play every home match there until the end of the season. This means that their match against U Cluj on Sunday will be the last on the small Gheorghe Rascanu Stadium this year.
 
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CSM Bucuresti vs RCM Timisoara highlights (they are made by a guy from Timisoara and only include the tries scored by them):


The partnership between Romanian champions RCM Timisoara and Saracens has been officially announced. The Romanian club will not have to change its name or colours. Saracens will assist with know-how in various fields (but mainly in training and junior development). A player exchange has also been mentioned for the future. Saracens director Edward Griffiths said that he wants Timisoara to be strong enough to play in the RCC in ten years as a result of this partnership. He also hopes to see in the future a new system for the 6N: three divisions with promotion and relegation between them.

Also, RCM Timisoara will return on the Dan Paltinisanu Stadium (33000 seats) for the match against Steaua on May 31 and play every home match there until the end of the season. This means that their match against U Cluj on Sunday will be the last on the small Gheorghe Rascanu Stadium this year.



It would be fabulous to see a Romanian team in the RCC, and a few others like Georgia and the likes. Would make it a real European tournament.

Not sure about the second though. Could end the game in Scotland.
 
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I would hate to see the end of the game in Scotland, it's a rugby nation with a long and proud history. I also feel that the Western media often bashes them in an unfair way.

But is it a good idea to continue to kill the game and stop it from growing in the rest of Europe just to barely keep Scottish rugby alive? Removing the ringfence that's currently strangling European rugby could actually help the Scots and provide them with the motivation they need to stop their long decline. At RWC 2011 Romania was ten minutes away from beating them. That near upset actually motivated the Scots, who went on to beat Georgia and be very competitive against Argentina and England in their remaining pool games. Perhaps they need more of that instead of the current system where they basically play one balanced match against the Italians and are usually no more than sparring partners to the rest of the 6N teams.

Romanian rugby also went through a long decline after the fall of communism. It continued until 2009 when the unthinkable almost happened: it looked like the Oaks would fail to qualify for the RWC. That finally caused an earthquake at the top of the union: the old guard was replaced by young and competent people who implemented wide reforms. As a result, our rugby has been growing ever since. That's exactly what Scotland needs at the moment: a major shock to rock their system.

But if they are scared of a relegation playoff against Romania or Georgia and hide behind the current closed structure of the 6N to avoid it, I'm afraid Scottish rugby is dead already.
 
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aww yes lets bring scotland and ending the game here again eh ? well why scotland ending the game and not italy they have a bigger problem they are starting to look more like a tier 2 nation and got the wooden spoon in the six nations with 2 hammering loses to ireland and england and they're pro 12 team are both 11th and 12th i think they are more in a problem then we are
 
vad ca dedici putin din timpul tau pt a posta...oricum faci treaba buna!
 

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