Jeremy Ognall (Scott E Fink photo)

What was intended to be a small group of advisors to Nigel Melville around the All-American program, and its future direction, quickly became a launching pad for the recently formed USCRA.

This entity has made many positive moves as well as several mistakes over its life, but there is no doubt that the "design" of their logo was the most significant blunder by far.

Considering the USCRA's opening gambit contained language including "assuming complete responsibility" for college rugby, a stance they quickly back pedaled from, there was going to be no loving relationship between these two organizations.

The daring of the USCRA to then essentially hijack the only attractive and legitimate brand within USA Rugby, the All-American logo, and modify it to their own was naive at best and foolish at worst.

The actions by USA Rugby asking the USCRA to withdraw their logo is clearly the end of any possible productive relationship between these two groups.

Why has it come to this? The USCRA was built on an unreasonable premise that the majority of college rugby clubs are unhappy with USA Rugby and that action was required to fix this unhappiness.

I think the majority of clubs really don't care one way or another about USA Rugby.

What they know is that they are playing the greatest sport in the world while getting an education, and that at most levels for both men and women they get a shot to compete for a National Championship of some sort. This is enough.

The real level of frustration with USA Rugby is and always was with the elite level of competition on both gender fronts.

These are the teams that are incurring the greatest costs, hosting the events, supplying All-Star players and enabling the All-American program.

For doing this they are getting little reward from USA Rugby either financially or structurally.

The USCRA is correct that $1.3m goes to USA Rugby through college dues and that these monies should be coming back into the college game, which they clearly aren't.

Also the money from the National Guard sponsorship that has undoubtedly added nicely to USA Rugby's balance sheet but not necessarily to the colleges that were its target should be pumped directly into the college game.

The inability to get funding to the right programs to promote the sport is a failure and needs to be fixed and soon. The thought that USCRA can do it better than USA Rugby is unproven and a risky proposition for all involved.

USA Rugby is too big of an elephant to fix in one fell swoop and as I already stated, the majority of its members likely aren't aware that it might need fixing.

This is why, since day one in Glendale, I and others wanted our efforts to focus on the advancement of All-Star rugby and the benefits that could bring to the All-American program, a program that has lost its luster in recent years.

I still believe this is an area that USA Rugby can be influenced in and that we can drive to build a better mouse-trap. This should include the creation of a Premier League on a national level to enhance competition.

The misguided approach and agendas of many USCRA members and the stubbornness of USA Rugby has created, what appears to be, a complete stalemate from which nobody benefits.

We need to get back to a sensible approach that will allow the college rugby game to advance regardless of which organizational umbrella these people sit in and bear in mind that all our efforts should be for the benefit of the college rugby player and the advancement of the game. Plain and simple!