Category: The Arts

The Rugged Rugby of Geoff Richards

Savannah's Katie Thomen tackling Lauren "Speedy" Buslinger Raleigh Venom vs. Savannah. Photo by By kelseye
Savannah’s Katie Thomen tackling Lauren “Speedy” Buslinger Raleigh Venom vs. Savannah. Photo by By kelseye

Rugby is a form of football (not soccer) most popularly played in countries throughout the British Commonwealth. First developed at the Rugby School in Warwickshire in the 1830s, it became widespread and popular in the mid-19th century. Today there are two main types of Rugby played; rugby league and rugby union. These two forms of the game are quite similar, but they diverge with different sets of rules.

Geoff Richards is a former rugby union player and also served as a coach. In 2006 Geoff Richards was England Women’s Rugby coach when he challenged New Zealand in the last game of the IRB Rugby World Cup. The match took place at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Canada.

This match was incredibly a deja vu of a game that took place four years earlier, in 2002. That tournament finale ended with a score of 19-9, the Black Ferns taking the championship. Sadly, the Red Roses of England did not have even one victory over their arch rivals from New Zealand since their win in 2001 at Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium.
Geoff Richards said this about the upcoming game:

“This is our best and strongest squad and certainly a very exciting team. We are solid up-front and we have a lot of pace in the backs.

“There’s a very positive mood in the camp, from the players all the way through to the management team, but this is going to be our toughest challenge yet.

“To beat the Black Ferns, primary source of possession is crucial and also how we defend. The battle up-front is where most games are won and lost so if we can really put pressure on them and get into their faces then let’s see how they handle things under pressure.”

Barrett Wissman: A Modern Medici

Barrett Wissman
Barrett Wissman

One could make an excellent case for saying that what the Medici family did for art and architecture in the 16th century, Barrett Wissman is doing for refined music and fine arts in the 21st century. A successful Los Angeles, California-based entrepreneur and patron of the arts, Barrett Wissman began with an idea and turned it into a movement.

Wissman’s idea was to give a new meaning to performance arts by bringing prestigious music performances to out-of-the-way venues, in contrast to the well-worn art hubs like Milan, London or Edinburgh. From the early stages of Wissman’s project his vision was to create an arts festival. He began with a small performance in Tuscany in an 18th century abandoned opera house. Within a short time this acorn grew into the mighty oak of the now globally praised “Tuscan Sun Festival.”

It did not take long before other arts lovers sought Barret Wissman’s unique abilities to help them create their own arts festivals. For instance, in Northern California Wissman was called upon to help launch the “Napa Valley Festival del Sole.”

As Wissman himself put it,

“It’s a mission in my life to have more and more people enjoy and love the arts.”

As a philanthropist, financier, Principal and Co-Chairman of IMG Artists, a performing arts management company with offices in Los Angeles, California, New York, Paris and London, Barrett Wissman seems to fit the description of “Medici of the 21st century” quite well.