Carl: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to another episode of Rugby through the League's podcast. We are amazingly honored to welcome Eleni here from Greek Rugby Eleni. For those that don't know your involvement, we could probably spend about an hour going through the list of job roles that you do do within Greek rugby.
Carl: But for the brief, the brief round up, can we please enlighten everyone? And I really appreciate your time. As always.
Eleni: I had the honor. To be the head coach of the women's, the first ever women's fifteens match and played internationally against Bulgaria in SoFi. We put it together in approximately a week.
Eleni: I felt very privileged that, uh, these girls also put their trust in me as, uh, I have been watching them for a really, really long time now, and I've seen the development of each and every individual. Some of them had, uh, played fifteens before on occasion. Also with other clubs from, uh, countries around Greece or in major tournaments [00:01:00] like the Flanders, et cetera.
Eleni: I headed as a head coach for the boys, uh, against Albania. Uh, we picked Albania because. Number one, they weren't in rugby Europe yet. And uh, number two, they also wanted, um, a few games nationally. Uh, I'm especially proud of everyone that took their time out and came to the minimal practices that we had.
Eleni: Um, unfortunately. Um, but we, this had to be done and I'm so proud of, uh, the squad because all their names are on all rugby.
Carl: When we discussed it as well, it was a case of showcasing what Greek rugby was about as well. You there you have the option to call in players from different areas and different leagues, but that was a predominantly solely Greek league.
Carl: Team call together on a very, very rainy day, an evening in Albania on what was a pitch [00:02:00] made of cones. Effectively. It was a spectacle to see and to say that you are part of that to even start with is, is, is impressive. But then obviously the world rugby bit on set on top helps as well. We did tip, tip on it slightly there.
Carl: Rugby Europe wasn't part of Greek rugby at the time. Yep. Now that's happened. You are now. The F, was it the 51st member or whatever, or 48th? 48th, 48th member. So that now brings us into the Rugby Europe fold. I'm sure there's a lot of questions still, rather than answers as, as you get included into Rugby Europe as it always is.
Carl: What's the next step as well? 'cause obviously that opens up different games, obviously. Gibraltar have managed to start, they've managed to already get Finland. They've just announced Sweden. Have you guys got any conversation, I know you've got Albania lined up again, was that correct? From last?
Eleni: Yeah, we've got Albania lined up within the next few months.
Carl: Nice.
Eleni: Um, we [00:03:00] finalizing on that shortly and we also have another Rugby Europe, uh, member in as well. A lot closer to us than what a lot of people, uh, may believe. We don't want the huge, huge games at the moment, and nor do we want, um, to bring in additional support from other players, uh, internationally as yet we want to keep it as even as possible with Greeks living abroad.
Eleni: Okay. Um, that have played rugby from before. They were born, basically to Greeks that actually. Were 15, 16, 17 years old when they were first introduced to rugby, uh, as a sport and fell in love with it. In 2019. Basically what we had said, uh, had said was, it's a pity that Greece is not on the rugby map. In 2015, our president had died.[00:04:00]
Eleni: Our president of the federation had, uh, passed away. And uh, that caused a lot of, uh, HAC also internally. Um, we weren't able as a country to meet, uh, certain requirements. And also Greek governments or governance also got involved in that as well because it's a federation now. Uh, some people will understand that ESE is very document orientated.
Eleni: Don't just do something. I mean, if we do something, if we have to have all the steps actually go through all the bureaucracy that's needed for a club to stand on its own. So in 2019, we said, okay, let's do this. Let's try and get to Greece on the map again. Let's lift the black veil off of Greece. You know, we were invited by the Romanian, uh, Olympic Committee for a special seminar.
Eleni: For certain coaches in certain countries because [00:05:00] via Rugby Europe, you, in order to be a coach for a national team or to be a medical for a national team, et cetera, you have to have passed the courses. The first night that we got there, uh, each country was sitting at their own little table and, uh, we were sharing the, the mess hall being all rugby players and of a rugby background.
Eleni: The next day in the morning, we all went for the eggs. And it was funny because, uh, the chef ran out. He's like, no, no, no, these are for those athletes. So everyone was like, with their plates and they were like, what, what can we do now? They had to bring in another, like 40 or 50 eggs to make us just for us.
Eleni: Um, but apart from that, we went through, uh, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Um, it was intense. Uh, morning seminars. Afternoon seminars. Um, we had to present our game plans. We had to present, uh, our sevens, uh, workflow before, during, [00:06:00] and after the matches. Uh, what goes down before, uh, game days, tournaments?
Eleni: What happens afterwards? Uh, what happens when your players are lacking in certain skills? How do you, you bring that up, your general understanding of the game. As a coach, what to look at, uh, for women and for for men. I think it was the Friday before we left to go back to our respective countries. Uh, we had a lot of, uh, physio and what to do.
Eleni: For strength and conditioning. And the funny thing was that, uh, the Greek delegation, we all had answers to what we do and how we do it and stuff like that. And it was funny because the head of, uh, education then doing us the, that was, uh, giving us the seminar, he said, that's amazing because in all our countries we have a coach for that.
Eleni: We have a coach for, for the, for the forwards. We have a coach for the backs, you know? [00:07:00] Yeah.
Eleni: You don't
Eleni: actually have what you have Greece. So we formally have in the Greek educational system a warm up and a cool down on everything we do. So he said to us that it doesn't work like that in a lot of the countries.
Eleni: So we're very happy about that. The friendships poached in that week. Were. Incredible. They were very strong. And we came back to Greece also with an understanding of, uh, how to be a coach. Because as a player you can always say, yes, we should have done this, or we can do that better, or maybe we should do more of this, et cetera.
Eleni: As a coach though. You have d different levels of, uh, players, and you have to bring them up to coexist also with other levels because you have a lot of players coming in and you have to take, you have to take them back, the whole squad back because it's a whole, it's a unity thing and show them again.
Eleni: We've revived also the rugby [00:08:00] spurt in, uh, older players, 40 years old, 42. Um, but uh, I think our oldest player in that played last year, I'm not quite sure. Maybe. I think he's 50 something. 50 something. Yeah. But that's, that's pretty good. So there's,
Carl: there's still still players in the same age rolling around in Spain.
Carl: They, they, once you got the bug, you just, it's hard to retire. You're a long time, a long time retired as they say. And some of them are just, and they can still do a job as well. So let let them go until. Until they stop. 'cause they, uh, they pass the knowledge onto to the younger. And when you sit there and you think, have I got any more years left?
Carl: And you, you see this 50-year-old prop still, still tottering out one, one leg not working properly. And you think,
Eleni: yeah.
Carl: Yeah, I think I've got a little bit longer.
Eleni: I know. But it keeps us all alive. It keeps it happy. And, uh, the soul is, uh, I think. Where the spirit starts and your energy comes from. [00:09:00] But your body may not work, but if your soul is fine, it's great.
Eleni: I mean, we've seen it all the time, you know?
Carl: Yeah, exactly. So great Rugby's on the right trajectory. It's, it's building the right bits. It's, it's in a probably the easiest way to potentially set a reeducation phase. 'cause obviously there was a time before and now there's a, a new, exciting, vibrant want for rugby.
Carl: Like the amount of messages I get. On from obviously just exposing a little bit is, is crazy to, to, compared to other stuff that I've done, like the, the passion for people reaching out and stuff like that just to say, oh, is this going on? What's going on? Can you, have you been told this? And I'm like, it, it, it's been amazing and I'm glad that I've been part of it and obviously we're able to have this conversation as well.
Carl: And you just think nations like that have such a platform. And obviously Greece is a. A fairly large country, when you add all the other bits together, it has the platform to add everything together. It's just sometimes [00:10:00] rugby gets in its own way as well. And as you said, the bur bureaucracy with it, it's not just, it's not just Greece, obviously Spain, I live here as well, and bureaucracy within the Mediterranean countries seems to be key to keep people in jobs rather than actually help move things forward potentially.
Carl: So it's. It, it, it can also get in its own way in what could become a snowball of just passion and over excitement. And do you feel that like the passion bubbling up from within as well? 'cause you, you must be like, you are literally sat over the top of all of it as well.
Eleni: Uh, look, I won't, uh, tell you it's, uh, all being hunky dory.
Carl: No, it never
Eleni: is. It's roughly. It's rugby. Um, everyone's really excited. Everyone's really excited. So a lot of your messages you'd get was like, oh, why this? Or why that? Oh no, this is incorrect. It should be like this, or something like that. As long as there's a lot of passion and everything's done in, in an altruistic good way, I believe that we will go forward with a [00:11:00] bureaucracy.
Eleni: It's tough, but at the same time though, I think it's until tomorrow evening. We have, uh, the applications for our coaching school, which is, uh, done at the general secretariat of sport. It's the first ever Greek rugby coaching school. It's gonna take about six to eight months to complete. So you actually come out of the school with a rugby coaching license.
Carl: That's, that's amazing that it, it might take six to eight months. That's, is it? I'm guessing they're not there every day for six to eight months, like it No, it's not
Eleni: every day. Yeah.
Carl: I was gonna say like just six to eight months just sat there learning how to be a coach. Like they,
Eleni: yeah. Which is a, a thing because in order to apply for this, you must have had a history of playing the sport in Greece.
Eleni: So going back to the bureaucracy now that if we didn't. Have the bureaucracy, then [00:12:00] we wouldn't have the players on the match sheet actually signed up in the federation in the General Secretary of Sport from match one. So one of the match sheets that the president, uh, signed off on the day before yesterday, uh, to send to the players because the player has to actually get, uh, uh, validation from the federation that they've played.
Eleni: Okay.
Eleni: Yeah.
Eleni: And also send through the application with their match sheet. So,
Eleni: okay.
Eleni: The president signed off on the match sheets of the players that were actually in the system that even played their first match on the 17th of February, 2024, in an accredited way. So they, so they can actually put in their application for the coaching series.
Eleni: I mean the, the, the coaching school. So bureaucracy on the one hand. Helps validate why you should be allowed to go into the coaching school because you've played [00:13:00] seven games, eight games, nine games, 20 games, 15 games. You've played so many games in 2000 and, uh, 2 23, 24. You've played so many games in 24, 25, you should be allowed to go in.
Eleni: So it's a, it's a sense of validation on that way. Um, just saying that, oh, you know, I played, et cetera, and I'm brilliant. I don't know how and uh, things should be different and I know better. Okay. From day one, your name's been in the system. You have been signed off, you've been accredited. You can play.
Eleni: You can play. That's fantastic. Now, because of your experience as a player, you have the opportunity to get into a coaching school, get a coaching license. Level three. It's a level three coaching license and level two. And then Level one. Okay. Yeah. Level three coaching license, which allows you to coach an academy in Greece because that's the whole thing.
Eleni: [00:14:00] Uh, that's why a lot of the bureaucracy comes into play because you need to have a coaching license of some sort in order to coach kids. You can't be somebody's dad or somebody's mom having all of that sports background. Uh, it's, it's absolutely important for that and also according to law is that any, any team that, uh, has a certain sport and doesn't have a coach that is accredited through the general period of sport won't be able to play that sport.
Carl: There's the safeguarding, but also the protection of. The sport and the federation in, its in its own entirety. Yeah. From what, from what everyone I've spoken to within Rugby Europe, we had, um, fin Finley Harrison on the other day from the DOR at Hungary and Rugby Europe have got a great way of supporting and endorsing coaching courses and all of that availability for, for those [00:15:00] nations as well.
Carl: How, uh, as you said, you weren't quite, you weren't in the fold, but you were still invited into that, the, obviously the coaching course, et cetera. How accommodating are they? Uh, like there's a lot of things that rugby Europe probably get questioned on, but I think there, there's so many positive 'cause. Even with the RFU in England and stuff, the coaching courses have all changed and it's kind of made it a little bit harder to make it, which is fine.
Carl: I obviously, there you've, you've got to ju there's certain hoops, as you said with bureaucracy, et cetera, but Rugby Europe seemed to go outta their way to make these courses available. Like all I've seen recently is, is a big drive for, right. We've got this course on this course, on this course is being made available.
Carl: This one and like to upskill people within. The Rugby Europe family, I've gotta take my hat off to what they've done. Has that increased now that you are a me a lot, a member officially now rather than obviously the, the support they gave you beforehand
Eleni: because we weren't part of Rugby Europe, uh, for a few years now, um, we [00:16:00] couldn't access, um, coaching in any way possible.
Eleni: So it was a, a barrier of entry for a lot of people. Um. But at the same time though, um. The opportunities given to many of the countries and many of the unions and many of the players and a lot of the staff is incredible. We had to go extensively. I just speak to different people in different, uh, areas and a lot of friends of mine all over the world basically on exactly what the roles are for, uh, the documentation of, uh, the game.
Eleni: I mean, like the match commissioner, what does he actually do? I mean, what are, what are they in charge of? Then, uh, we also had, um, uh, something that we also had to look at now and also spoke to the general secretary is, uh, what happens with red cards? Uh, what happens with the yellow cards, uh, depending, we had to go through all of that, um, as well, uh, together with, [00:17:00] and the Greek law and rugby law and all rugby, uh, laws, you know, which is a, it's a little bit of a toughie to, uh, get through there.
Eleni: But, uh, the more knowledge. And that's what it is. Knowledge helps you perform. Knowledge really will get you where you need to go. So if you do get accredited and you go and you have a look at everything, uh, that needs to be done, uh, in your sector or the sector that needed for your federation, it's um, it's incredible.
Eleni: I was invited by Moldova Rugby Union to go to. Uh, be a sideline manager for the sevens trophy as one of the toughest jobs and one of the most important jobs at the same time. But I learned so much. I think I did 34, maybe three, seven or something like that, games in a row.
Carl: Great day. Rugby.
Eleni: That experience got me very, very happy to actually run [00:18:00] the match with, uh, in against, uh, Albania and uh, Greece because I knew exactly what the protocol was.
Eleni: How to go in, how to go out, how to get the players, what the blood injury, um, uh,
Carl: were and stuff. Yeah,
Eleni: yeah. Was for that. But coming back to that for you, saying about the courses, is that they're brilliant, even for people that know and people that don't know.
Eleni: Yeah.
Eleni: It's not that you'll learn something, you'll be bored, you know, you, there's always a, a new question.
Eleni: There's always someone from somewhere, uh, asking something in, in addition to that. What ifs, what if this happened to the what if, you know, uh, situation. Um, and that's, uh, another thing that, um, when, um, we delivered as Greece, our speech to the assembly in Ali Conte, uh, to be voted in for the, as a, the member, a new member from, uh, [00:19:00] for Iraq, uh, we said that what it means for Greece.
Eleni: Be voted in. It means access to seminars, access to courses, access, uh, to Europe, rugby. Um, at the same time, uh, it's also access for other countries to come to Greece. Um, we can, uh, validify everything. Um, it's, it's just encouraging to be able to do that, right. And, uh, hopefully. Soon, hopefully. We also have our, our coaches here in, uh, in the, I mean, our seminars here in, uh, Athens and where we can invite also other countries to come and get accredited to.
Eleni: So that's also in the works. Let's see, step by step.
Carl: By little as they say. So with rugby, it's, it's not, it's not always what you know, it's who you know. 'cause you, if you have conversations with people, a lot of people are willing to open up and sort of explain their experiences, have done this, [00:20:00] oh, I did this because of this.
Carl: You learn more by having a conversation or sitting with multiple different groups as well, because everyone's got a different experience of rugby. Like everyone's had one what, what seen one side of it or they've done that. And then as you say, you sit there and then somebody's got a story for this, somebody's got a story for that.
Carl: And you think, how can so much happen within one beautiful game? Like there's so many different variations of one beautiful game that everyone experiences something different. It
Eleni: is. It is. It's, uh, it's brilliant. I often hear also with the, the teams that I coach is that, oh, did you see this? Oh, this guy said this to me there, or she did this, or something like that.
Eleni: Um, and the funny thing was that, um, I'm gonna say this and I hope, uh, the girls don't get upset. We basically have four women's, uh, rugby teams that, uh, can compete in Greece, okay? Okay. That are competitive teams. So going [00:21:00] to Bulgaria for our first fifteens, um, I pulled in at the goals, et cetera, from the different positions and, uh, the respective levels, et cetera.
Eleni: And the funny thing was that, uh, the morning before we played, uh, Bulgaria, I said to the one goal, uh, and to the other goal that, uh, they were gonna play in certain positions. And I'm like, uh, you guys have to make up now, because I remember there was a lot of, uh, uh, pushy pushiness. The last time Hug Girls played against each other and they started laughing.
Eleni: And it was funny though, because I had heard one story from the one girl, okay. About the same incident and the same story from like a different story from the other girl. So anyway, so they got together afterwards, they spoke about it. They're like, oh yeah, oh, and this happened and this happened. And that's, it's a global, it's it's small little world.
Eleni: Small little walls. Yeah, a big universe. That's how rugby should be thought of. Little walls in a big universe in a game. Yeah.
Carl: Yeah.
Eleni: I like that. [00:22:00]
Carl: Yeah, no, I see. It's true. Let everyone's got their own little bubble, and then obviously when you get to the third half and everyone sits in as a beer, all of those stories actually become one story rather than, as you said, two little bubbles.
Carl: They actually meet and become one story with, um, now that obviously Rugby Europe is now approved, is is the, the kit that you've, because you, it was the first time you wore the kit against Albania. You had a new kit. Have you got the, the Rugby Europe logo going on the new, the new stash or is it already in print or have you gonna hang fire or what?
Carl: What's the plan?
Eleni: So the plan is, uh, for whoever until our first Rugby Europe matches. Yeah. Uh, in a conference of sorts, um, that whoever's worn, uh, the shirt, uh, will get it signed by the rest of the players in the squad. Okay, nice. And actually have it. A as, as a token of, uh, what Rugby's meant for them and [00:23:00] yeah.
Eleni: Then taking home the first shirt that they've ever worn as a national team. We ordered them and uh, we are like, okay, let's do this. I mean, the colors are good. They, it's blue and white.
Carl: Is that gonna be the same kit? Are you gonna carry on and get the rugby Europe, or are you gonna look at. An alteration.
Carl: Is there, is there a long term planned kit or is, is that it now, but with the Rugby Europe logo on it?
Eleni: No, we are looking at also other possibilities as well, uh, on that level. And, um, as soon as we finalize, uh, we'll inform, we'll definitely inform you on that. There's a few players in Greece that, uh, had a lot of anxiety on what the kit was gonna be.
Carl: Yeah. What is the long-term vision? Because I know a lot, obviously people, you get sort of accepted into Rugby Europe. I'm sure you don't know whether it's gonna be a conference or whether you go into the, that a development league for a period, et cetera, et cetera. Obviously Gibraltar and [00:24:00] yourself in a development league is not probably logistically very clever.
Carl: Uh, Gibraltar have probably got a. A longer vision potentially. They're already trying to accelerate theirs and they, they probably feel that they're 13 years ahead 'cause they've obviously the previous rejection, et cetera. But that's a political side that being in Spain I'm not really gonna get involved in.
Carl: There is gonna be a period of time that some results may potentially be uncomfortable because of seasoned teams, but you have that luxury of potentially bringing in players of overseas experience and stuff. As you said, you wanna try and build up what is the long-term vision? Is it 10 years Greece is gonna be competing at X or is it a case of it's just gonna organically grow and we just try and build that base and it go where Greek rugby goes,
Eleni: uh, like we've, uh, done slowly, slowly step by step that, uh, uh, going through the motions with rugby in Greece and Rugby [00:25:00] Europe.
Eleni: But uh, before that. What's happening at the moment is different clubs, uh, together with, uh, the federation are actually going to schools. So we're going to schools here in Greece. Um, unfortunately schools aren't like other schools in other countries. So in South Africa, for instance, uh, even a public school, we also had our grounds to play on.
Eleni: We had our laboratories, et cetera. In Greece because it's an, uh, an Athens specifically because it's, uh, an I city. Um,
Eleni: yeah.
Eleni: Uh, space is, uh, a commodity. So what happens is that the school championship has to be set up by the educational depart, like the, the Ministry of Education. Okay.
Eleni: Oh, okay.
Eleni: Um, on that part.
Eleni: And then in the afternoons, the kids actually go and play at different clubs. So, oh. What we want to do at the moment, well, what we are doing is let get [00:26:00] them at 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 years old. Okay?
Eleni: Yeah.
Eleni: Uh, liking the sport in any form possible. Okay. And then refer to them, refer the kids to the closest rugby club, uh, in the area.
Eleni: The thing is also is that, uh, the kids at those ages, they can't travel far, and then they don't have taxi moms and dads. Like we do in other countries. So they'll go like, I don't know, maybe five blocks down the road, you know, to the local club, et cetera. That's it. That's a little bit tough on that level.
Eleni: Yeah.
Eleni: But on the, getting them into schools, um, at a later stage, seeing how we can work with the Olympic, uh, committee and, uh, getting a form of some syllabus somehow. In the athletic universities in Greece at that level. 10 years from now, 10 years from now, I wanna be sitting at home watching Greece play on the tele over 20 [00:27:00] threes, over 20, ones under eighteens, under sixteens, fourteens, twelves, elevens, I don't know.
Eleni: Yeah. All of that. And, uh, it has to be a collective arrangement by all the clubs. Yeah, in Greece. So going back to what we said for the first championship that we held in Greece, um, is that, uh, we went from Athens to the, and Athens, the, again, all the clubs we went that lived in, that are state based in Athens, went up to Te Ath, came down to Athens.
Eleni: Okay. And the reason for this is we are still a development developing country in the sense of rugby. So when you are actually trying to bring in a friend and you've been telling him for like the last five months, six months, buddy, I'm playing this Saturday. It's not just gonna be one game. There's gonna be a whole bunch of games, there's gonna be music, there's gonna be food, whatever.
Eleni: You know, it's guys, teams, women's teams, whatever. [00:28:00] You know, just come and watch. You know, that's what we're trying to do. So in the second year we also put in Patra. So we got Athens. Okay. And the reason why we put LSO in was for the kids, some of the clubs, like we said, but also to play on a grass field. I know this may sound part sound funny to some people.
Eleni: Okay.
Carl: No. Yeah, yeah.
Eleni: But we wanted to play on grass. Athens is a very hot in the summer, which makes it incredibly difficult to have a decent. Grass field.
Eleni: Yeah.
Eleni: Okay. Not even the many of the top football, football teams.
Eleni: There we
Eleni: go. Yeah. The football teams, uh, don't even have grass fields.
Eleni: Wow.
Eleni: So when we do see grass, we do, we do grass angels.
Eleni: Um, the one time we played on theoretically a grass field in. I think half of it was, I don't [00:29:00] know, maybe there was some greenery. The other half, I don't know what was happening there. I mean, uh, one of my players, she got tackled and she slid from the green to the sand and it was beautiful. It was, it was, she had like a grass burn and then a sand burn and I don't know what the hell was happening over.
Eleni: Right. But thank God that all got patched up. Other than that, uh, we do go to the cities and try and entertain. Have it as a home team, uh, advantage for that because the, the one club in all of us go to two clubs. In one men's, one woman, we all go to te where the majority are in Athens, trying to build it more and more and more and more and have it more fun.
Eleni: But it's, uh, predominantly Greece is a predominantly football. Basketball, uh, country. So even if [00:30:00] we win the Olympics in another sport, it might get 30 seconds or 40 seconds on, on the news. Maybe.
Carl: Yeah, maybe,
Eleni: maybe
Carl: it's one of them as well, because you guys are. I'm sure you, you are all trying to help and support and do bits and bobs.
Carl: It's uh, it's something that also rugby also doesn't support very well. It's, we're in that, that, that industry of attention through social media, is that something Rugby Europe's support and help 'cause Rugby Europe have got a half decent social media set up as well. Is that something they've got as courses or do they sort of advise.
Carl: Nations and say, maybe look at doing this to try and put that, because they've got, they've got score play, they've got the access. So, well, I can access all the photographs and games, et cetera, et cetera, to, to help promote it. But sometimes nations also need to help promote themself. Yeah. It's, it's a hard balance to, to find.
Carl: You can only poke somebody with a stick so many times when they're, if they're not interested, they
Eleni: just, yeah. Um, [00:31:00] so promotional promotion of, uh, the actual clubs. And, uh, the Federation is extremely important. The federation does whatever they can, et cetera, to, um, also, uh, have the games up as fast as possible.
Eleni: Uh, the find a photographer that is available for so many hours and shooting a sport that they have no idea how to shoot. You know, they don't know that like, I mean, many, many times I send a player, I'm like, just follow the photographer around. Yeah, listen, spend some time over here. Yeah. Because this, this, and this is gonna happen, you know?
Eleni: And, uh, it's also teaching the photographer and the videographer of like what's important. So, um, but we do our best for replays. Yeah. For replays and to get some, uh, sponsorship in there. But it's, it's funny because the videographer, he'll see [00:32:00] the. Try score. You'll see the try, et cetera. And then everyone's like, yay.
Eleni: You know, and stuff like that. And then you'll be following him all the way until he drinks water, while the conversion kicks happening, you know? And uh, and I'm like, oh no. I'm like, I thought I told that guy, you know,
Carl: last. That's a football mentality though. They think the gold score, they see it, they haven't gotta worry about it now a lot, whatever they're doing over there, that must be just having a conversation.
Carl: He's just mentoring the ball or something. There's no, there's nothing to see here.
Eleni: But, uh, it's, it's tough also on social media and social media manager and to actually have a, a certain identity, like this type of blue with that type of white and this fun, fun part and, uh, being more serious for fifteens.
Eleni: Being a lot happier for sevens. You know, it's, it's all of that that has to come into play. Um, a lot of people want to do it, but it's also It takes a lot of time. Takes a lot of time.
Carl: Yeah, it does.
Eleni: Yeah.
Carl: Like I was there at the weekend obviously for the, for the Netherlands, [00:33:00] Spain game, uh, and just the traffic that we got through, uh, the channel and stuff like that from speaking to people and like putting up content.
Carl: And then I look at what content was put pumped out by people for the six Nations and it's. It's a hundred times less and you, it, it, those little bits, you think, right, I think I've done it right here. And then you look at it and I'm like, it's a hundred percent worthwhile. I love it. I absolutely love doing it.
Carl: But you think there's that I could take the easy, I could take the easy route and just do, yeah, just do that. But. Everything that we do here is, is to try and promote these, these sort of conversations and, and showcase. And then I had the pleasure of actually people coming up to me, even players for the Dutch squad, uh, that said, I follow the channel.
Carl: I love everything you do for it. And, uh, those are the little bits that you remember. Actually, there's a bigger picture to this. Like, it, it's, it's not all about views, it's about conversations and relationships and [00:34:00] rugby will get out of its own way at some point and will make it more. Viable and lucrative for people, but somebody's gotta try and help lead the charge alongside the others that are still milling at the grindstone.
Carl: So
Eleni: definitely, uh, look, a lot of people didn't even know that Rugby Europe existed. Yeah,
Carl: I can imagine.
Eleni: Yeah, they didn't, A lot of people didn't know that. They didn't even know what IE stands for. Um, but uh, okay, so let's talk about the upsets. So, Germany, Romania,
Carl: yeah.
Eleni: So.
Carl: I, I called it, I'd called
it,
Eleni: uh, I also called it, I also called it, but in the sense that, um, was it, uh, Romania A, no, B in essence, was it, uh, total a hundred percent Romania?
Eleni: I dunno.
Carl: No, they add to what, eight, eight key players out. There was a, there was a few, but they've been in demise for a little while. Um, the Germany [00:35:00] squad was very re revamped. Uh, I obviously spoke to a few people within their, within the Rugg, uh, the, the Germany sort of set up and they were like, our vision is just to make sure we're not in the relegation battle.
Carl: I said, this is probably your best chance you're gonna beat Romania.
Eleni: Yeah,
Carl: no,
Eleni: definitely. Yeah, definitely.
Carl: Like Romania are not nowhere near what they are, but they're qualified for the World Cup, so they've got time like that tide. They've got time
Eleni: exactly.
Carl: I think the other, well obviously Portugal have come out the traps a little bit more than I expected that I think they're, they, they've got revamped a little bit from the summer.
Carl: They, that, that summer could have hampered them pretty badly. But the Netherlands against Georgia's gonna be a really fun one to watch. 'cause Netherlands, not many people, oh, there's gonna
Eleni: be so much fun. That's gonna be
Carl: brilliant. Nobody expected Netherlands to do what they did on Spain and Spain. If, well, if Netherlands hadn't switched off for the first 20 minutes and wondered what was going on, we could have [00:36:00] had a different conversation.
Carl: I think Spain would've still had enough, obviously there. Um, yeah, I think there was still enough in the tank, but it's just so exciting and like, and then when you go down to the trophy, you go down to the conference. These matchups that people don't know that goes on, like, what was it? Um, Czechoslovakia or whatever, CCHE or whatever they're called now, beat in Poland, like the other, and like you think, people don't realize how big that actually is, but it is.
Carl: I, that's a massive result. And like
Eleni: I know
Carl: the Super Cup, like super
Eleni: brilliant, brilliant.
Carl: It's at risk because it's not getting the exposure it deserves. Like that's the perfect one. Maybe Spain, et cetera. And, and the Black Lion and the Lus may, it may be a step below them, but that's the perfect platform for the likes of the Austrian teams.
Carl: Mold over Greece. Still. Do you know what? That's the one that we want to make use of that development model. You bring your, [00:37:00] effectively your development team. 'cause look at what happened to the Delta squad that basically played. Against the Iberians in that semifinal and then they go and do what they did in Amsterdam against the Spain national side.
Carl: It's, there is such a product there that just gets lapsed and it's, it's painful to, to think that that might not be here much longer as well. 'cause it's Well, rugby funded.
Eleni: Yeah. No. And uh, that's another, also, another thing is that, uh, we've grown used to watching rugby from the television.
Eleni: Yeah.
Eleni: And not actually being down there on, you know, on the third seat in the rain.
Eleni: So I'm happy to say that, uh, this year I couldn't do it. Um, we started, uh, an annual tradition.
Eleni: Yeah.
Eleni: That, uh, uh, in our teams that we coach, uh, me and my husband, uh, that we were both coaches, um. [00:38:00] That we go to Rome for, uh, the first, uh, Italy game. It, so last year we had one with some of our players with, uh, against, uh, France.
Eleni: Obviously we didn't see anything. Uh, it was so much fun and uh, this year we were going to go as well. But, uh, I think that the other amount of people that went doubled in, I think 11 people went this year from like our team, you know, to watch, uh, Italy and Scotland. So, and we couldn't go. We had to cancel last minute.
Eleni: Yeah.
Eleni: But, um, it's, it's brilliant that they come back and they say that, okay, I had a guy behind me with a bagpipe, you know, and, uh, he's playing his, uh, the like, what, what's it? The whatever he wanted, you know, on his bagpipe. Yeah. And you have the, and you got
Carl: the, the, the Italian brass band behind you as well?
Eleni: No Italian bras trying to outplay the, the bagpipe. Then they, they do like. They tried to do a, I know, a rugby band. Yeah. I dunno what it's, [00:39:00] et cetera. And then, um, uh, they're all sitting together and, you know, those fun things.
Carl: I love it. I love it. I love Rome. Rome's such a good away date. Like until you've done I've done ah, I've done that.
Carl: I've done, obviously I've done the cow cutter cup in obviously in Murrayfield, that flower Scotland. Like, that's like even for an English word, I'm like. Oh, that's, that's impressive.
Eleni: No, it
Carl: hits odd. It, they're, they're the bits that people don't, you don't experience on the telly. You can hear it, but you don't experience it.
Carl: You don't feel it. But the pro, like at the minute, as you said, you Greek rugby's developing, there's still gaps in your schedule. The problem is, like in the developed nations, rugby still gets in its own way, apart from France. Everything is centered around your, your club. Your club plays on a Sunday morning so that you can go and see your top 14 team.
Carl: You can go see prodo de, you can go see your national loon, you can go see your [00:40:00] club that's in your region. But rugby still gets in rugby's way by putting the one, the one people that gonna, funnily enough, watch the game are usually playing it on a Saturday and not gonna be able to get, go and watch the product.
Carl: And that's until we resolve that as a sport. Rugby's never gonna move forward.
Eleni: Look, even, uh, what are they doing now with the auto automat nation's, uh, championship, et cetera, that even trying to align northern, southern hemispheres, which is good. It's only taken them a few years.
Carl: It's a step. It's a step.
Carl: They're trying to what make a 360 calendar or something, but, which is fine, but they don't then look at, they don't look at the grassroots level. They don't include the grassroots. The grassroots is where the people that want to go and watch the game are at. And if you. Stick 'em in the grassroots bit. You are not.
Carl: You are only gonna get who Ray Henry's at at the game. You're gonna get people with their chinos on, with their brown loafers. Eating a prawn that don't give up monkeys about the game, aren't gonna be the ones that become the future. They're not gonna change the [00:41:00] way this sport gets better. They're just there for a big, jolly and a piss up and pretending to make business.
Carl: That's it.
Eleni: That's what our vision is for Greece.
Carl: Can't wait
Eleni: to get it going.
Carl: I can't
Eleni: wait.
Carl: Like
Eleni: all the age levels because, uh, those, basically those 10, 11, 12 years that we didn't have a federation has, uh, put us back 20 years.
Carl: Let, I think, I think it's perfectly timed that we probably put pause on part one.
Carl: I think we've got part two somewhat. I think it's perfectly timed that on that statement, like, I'm fully locked in. I I can't wait to see Greek rugby grow to where it is. And I'm, I'm here for the journey. That's for sure. Just amazing talking to you as always, like, uh, from that first phone call you made to try and explain everything that I got wrong was, uh, was just massively appreciated to, to now sitting here and having another conversation with part two line up
Eleni: down the line.
Eleni: Uh, sorry. Sorry, I'm butting in the best. [00:42:00] Was, uh, uh, your comment a donis.
Carl: Oh, what a man.
Eleni: What a man. Yeah. What a And and it was funny. He was laughing his head off. He called me from, uh, we were on the bus. He was laughing his head off. 'cause he had, uh, him and his wife had just, uh, given birth to their first child.
Eleni: Wow. It was like, oh wow. A Donnie. And he was laughing. He was laughing. That was amazing. It was amazing. It was so much fun.
Carl: But that's rugby. That's the thing that's, that's the best bit. But Eleni, I really appreciate your time. For everyone that wants to keep abreast of Greek rugby, make sure you get on our social media, on Instagram, every other platform, and keep an eye out for part two.
Carl: 'cause part two's gonna be. Probably just as good, if not better as part one. Appreciate your time.