Says alot about the Coach and Organization

[Nipper]

So, to start with a little background - I lived in Perth and worked for the WARU (before RugbyWA) way back in the early 90's.

These days I work for a 7s Development Academy in the US, and when the Director of the Academy said he was going to Perth, I got in touch with my old roommate to see if I could set him up with a visit to observe a Force training session. He contacted a mate who used to work for the Force, who gave him Michael Foley's email address.

He emailed him out of the blue, and Foley responded directly and said "sure, we'd love to have him come down" and forwarded the message to the manager who set up his visit. Earlier this week, he visited and said that the entire staff was fantastic, showing him around the facility and taking him down to training.

Perhaps that's commonplace in Australia, but that would NEVER happen here in the US. The head coach of a pro team would never respond to a random email, and invite someone down to training. In fact, I'm not sure that would happen at, say, the Tahs.

I think it says a lot about Foley and a lot about the organization he's created - and that bodes well for the future.

[Alison]

Great story Nipper :-) It also says a lot about what a wonderful family the game of rugby is :-)

[Nipper]

Indeed. I've always found the rugby fraternity - professional or amateur - to be the most welcoming people around the world.