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Rangers Growing Stateside


AlBear.

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http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/club-news/item/9556-rangers-growing-stateside

Overseas Development Officer Greg Statt said: Last summer we signed up for a partnership with Global Image Sports and last year we had 13 camps out in the States and Im happy to say that this year we have grown to 31.

That includes our first ever national residential camp in America so it is has gone really well over the last 18 months.

When we first started all our international camps it was about raising the brand awareness out there and getting some new younger fans on board in these places.

But the number of kids that we are getting to work with now provides a good avenue for player ID and we are getting to see lots of players out in the States that we maybe wouldnt have seen before.

Those players clubs sign up to be a partner club of Rangers and our North American Academy and from there they would host a camp, so all their kids have the opportunity to come to a Rangers camp.

From that camp our coaches would then pick the best players to come to the national camp which is in Atlanta in August.

Then at national camp we will pick a smaller group that will make the trip to Murray Park to train with our coaches.

I would be delighted if this identified some future Rangers players, Global Image Sports also represent West Ham and they have signed a player from their national camp.

We would be thrilled if that happened for us but if we dont we still get to keep tabs on all of the players at the clubs we are working with so it is a positive thing but if we got a player from it we would be over the moon.

When we had 13 camps last summer it was the most we had ever run in one summer in North America so to then jump to 31 is testament to the work that the coaches did last summer.

I never thought we would reach 31 camps in our second year but I am absolutely delighted.

Rangers work has not just reached America; the club has been casting its net far and wide to provide training and opportunities to youngsters the world over.

Greg continued: This year alone we have been in Italy, Malta and even Bermuda working with clubs and right now weve got two camps running in Australia, having also done one in New Zealand at Easter.

The whole international programme is certainly getting bigger year on year.

The amount of emails we get from the kids who come to the camps telling us that they are Rangers fans now and that they follow the team is incredible and I think that is fantastic.

I like hearing about this stuff. It may get written off as pointless by some but it casts a wider net in the competitive world of football recruitment. Can only see this as positives for the club. Particularly the part about turning young kids around the world, who perhaps hadn't heard of Rangers FC, into supporters and followers. (tu)

To almost treble our camps in North America in a year is fantastic. Hopefully find the next Reyna or Beasley...

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A fantastic increase in such a short space of time. Not only about finding a future star player but also helping build our family abroad. Great stuff

I think many Scottish Rangers fans, particularly in Glasgow, having Rangers on their doorstep perhaps take this sort of thing for granted.

I don't think you can overstate the benefits that initiatives like this bring the club, as you say, both directly and indirectly. Well done Rangers. (tu)

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That's an excellent read, we've had a few lads from the U.S. play for us lately so glad to hear the brand is increasing over there.

Spreading brand awareness, getting young people involved in football and Rangers, potential scouting chances, a great, positive read and long may this type of work continue and grow.

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I was over there recently and went to an MLS game the game over there is exploding at the minute and although the quality leaves a lot to be desired within the next 10 years football will have finally taken off in the states

I watch a lot of American 'soccer' and the quality is head and shoulders above Scottish Football. I've said for a while that tje US is the next big football superpower.

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I watch a lot of American 'soccer' and the quality is head and shoulders above Scottish Football. I've said for a while that tje US is the next big football superpower.

Maybe it was just the game I was at but some of it was fucking woeful :lol: I'd take brek Shea though
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We actually just had them up my way for a camp this past weekend: http://rockrivertimes.com/2015/05/21/raptors-rangers-fc-announce-june-camp/

Got out and spent some time talking to the coaches and whatnot but haven't had time to put another story together just yet. They said it's been going really well at all the camps this summer, though. Been going to some top facilities, too. National camp is coming up down in Atlanta later this summer.

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We actually just had them up my way for a camp this past weekend: http://rockrivertimes.com/2015/05/21/raptors-rangers-fc-announce-june-camp/

Got out and spent some time talking to the coaches and whatnot but haven't had time to put another story together just yet. They said it's been going really well at all the camps this summer, though. Been going to some top facilities, too. National camp is coming up down in Atlanta later this summer.

Rockford Raptors FC are set to host a youth camp with one of European soccer’s giants next month.

We are honored and excited to partner with such a prestigious club as Rangers,” said Hugh Ward, Director of Coaching for the Raptors. “We look forward to our players and coaches being exposed to the Rangers Coaching Philosophy.”

Rangers, founded in 1872, are the most successful club in the history of Scottish football, claiming 54 league titles, 33 Scottish Cup titles and the 1972 European Cup Winners’ Cup.

“As well as hopefully creating more Rangers fans in the Rockford area we have also created a realistic pathway for talented players to potentially make the move across the Atlantic,” Statt said, “similar to likes of (former U.S. Men’s National Team captains) Carlos Bocanegra and Claudio Reyna, to name a couple of U.S. players that have played for Rangers in the past.”

Players who impress at the June camp will be invited to a national camp at the end of the summer and the top talent from that event will move on to train at Rangers’ Murray Park training facility in Scotland.

“Our coaches are very much looking forward to the camp in June,” Statt continued, “and indeed the relationship building in the future.”

(tu)

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(tu)

Yeah, it was nice to slip in a few things that would get the usual suspects riled up. "SEVCO" and "ur deid" on the pending comments of a local midwest paper–whodathunkit? :D

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http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/club-news/item/9556-rangers-growing-stateside

I like hearing about this stuff. It may get written off as pointless by some but it casts a wider net in the competitive world of football recruitment. Can only see this as positives for the club. Particularly the part about turning young kids around the world, who perhaps hadn't heard of Rangers FC, into supporters and followers. (tu)

To almost treble our camps in North America in a year is fantastic. Hopefully find the next Reyna or Beasley...

Things like this should never be written off as pointless mate, even if we only get a handful of players to progress from there to Ibrox, the new people we reach who then take in the club as a fan base is always truly worthwhile in my opinion.

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I think many Scottish Rangers fans, particularly in Glasgow, having Rangers on their doorstep perhaps take this sort of thing for granted.

I don't think you can overstate the benefits that initiatives like this bring the club, as you say, both directly and indirectly. Well done Rangers. (tu)

It's possibly true that it can be taken for granted, I know as a wee guy growing up in the south of England how special it was for me going to Ibrox a few times each season (I was5 when my family moved down) and I am sure it was that burning desire that kept me returning once I was old enough to get a job and my first ST. I eventually moved home 5 years ago and although I don't take anything for granted I ca easily see how if you have always had this amazing club on your doorstep it does happen.

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Great read!

Things like this and increasing merchandise availability are essential in building the brand over here. Considering the number of US players Rangers have had its disappointing the club isn't more visible when tons of people I know are effing Fulham fans for the same reason!

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Great read!

Things like this and increasing merchandise availability are essential in building the brand over here. Considering the number of US players Rangers have had its disappointing the club isn't more visible when tons of people I know are effing Fulham fans for the same reason!

Brian McBride's lasting legacy.

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Great read, and nice to know we are getting promoted so well in this very important market, and it is the type of news that pushes all the negatives written about us by the haters into perspective for the petty nonsense that it is.

Good post AL, and Go USA. :lol:

:uk:

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I'll say, I got out for the older age group Sunday. Kids were eating it up having the coaches there, really enjoying the drills. Helped that the Raptors top coach is Scottish so they could largely understand what was being shouted at them! Plus they all walk away with some Rangers garb to wear to school. It's a win-win for everybody and with the talk of expanding the number of camps even more next year could really be a benefit long term.

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