Rugby In Argentina

RUGBY IN ARGENTINA: Important decisions have to be taken in the coming days.


Since its beginnings and up till not much more than fifteen / twenty years ago, rugby all over the world was playedjust by amateurs. A game which started,- close to 200 years ago -, as a simple pastime has been transformed into a global network around which enormous amount of money, big administrative structures,great number of stadia, and big sporting events attract the interest and enthusiasm of many people of all ages, players, coaches, referees, officials or just fans.

As of 1995 the InternationalRugby Board (IRB) declared the rugby as an open game, meaning that both, amateurs and professionals players, are allowed to be part of the game. On one side, it is clear that Rugby, at internationallevel, has fully embraced the professional era but on the other side, Rugby is also very proud to have retained in this process, those high standards of sportsmanship and fair play that always were partof this lovely game.

Since then, changes from a game fully amateur to a professional one, took place in most of the relevant countries, rugby wise, like England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, France andItaly in the North Hemisphere and South Africa, New Zealand and Australia in the South. Those changes were not easy to be taken and some of them are still being carried.
Argentina, together withthose 9 countries just mentioned, forms part of the Tier 1 Rugby Unions. They are, according the IRB, the top 10 Rugby Unions of the world. This classification takes in account, mainly, the sportiveperformance in the Rugby World Cups and in the test matches played during the year by the senior and junior national teams of those Rugby Unions.
In the case of our country, we are among those 10 Unions,just for the great merit done on the field during the last 10-15 years but off the field we are still well behind most of the others Unions and some big changes must be done if we want to stay on...