Day One Substack

I’m a glutton for punishment. How do you think I found rugby? I’m always looking for new experiences, so let’s give this Substack thing a whirl and see where it goes. Because I’m not already busy enough.

Times have certainly changed since I founded my first two rugby websites. One was nearly 20 years ago and the other more than a decade ago. Yes, I’m dating myself, but it’s ok.

Storytelling has evolved to match the rapid digestion of social media.

Twenty years ago a website/blog was the jam. There wasn’t any competition as social media was just getting started. That said, I believe a website still has a place in online publishing, but the game has changed.

Substack presents a great opportunity to meet readers in a place that is less formal and more conversational. I aim to use it to publish quick hit conversation starters and save my long form writing and feature pieces for the Bottom of the Ruck website.

The rugby community is something special. I’m looking for new ways to connect with them on a more personal level than can be found on social media. I hope to create a safe space that presents ideas on how to improve and grow the grassroots while allowing the community to bounce ideas around.

Just like with the Bottom of the Ruck website, this space is for discussion and conversation about grassroots rugby. While the topic of elite level rugby will be bridged in relation to the grassroots, the purpose of this space isn’t to talk about professional rugby.

My goal is to post here at least once, hopefully twice, a week with quick hit topics. It may be some sort of breaking news, a thought that gets stuck in my craw, club administration/operational topics, or just my musings about rugby which I have plenty to spare.

I’ll also use this space to create a monthly newsletter with a breakdown of content published on the main website along with quick hit news and discussion topics.

For now there is no plan for paid subscriptions, but that is certainly subject to change in the future depending on the amount of traffic and subscriptions this page gets. It could certainly change as my content evolves.

In the 7-8 months since Bottom of the Ruck came to life there have already been some big surprises. Well, to me at least. I went in heavily focused on driving traffic to the website and somehow managed to pile up millions of views on social media????

Now, all of sudden I’m cutting video clips and shifting gears.

Join me on this ever evolving journey and click on the subscribe button below (or link above) so that you get notification when content is published.