Bronwyn Jones

Ooh typo ‘going the way of Robbie Williams’career”

🤣I have a soft spot for Robbie but he never, ever broke America hard as he tried…and boy did he try. He went to every pool party in LA and brought all the treats…

Audiences and you can do a favor to both SA + NA by approaching both. And actually you might also try more matches in Canada as well. Bring the whole New World in.

You do realize if you have SA you have the attention of a good section of Americans? 5. You also have a strong college rugby system but no one bothers with that either. You need to have a bilingual/bicultural approach bc for better or worse rugby is a middle class sport in the US but it has diverse

2. Women’s rugby is also relatively successful but no capitalizing on that either. 3. You have two big bases of rugby NE US & California but not enough done to create essentially a (mythology) history to get those outside rugby in 3. It’s a crowded market,you need NYC. Get teams there. 4. …

The US is the biggest sports market in the world so wanting to break there makes sense. But the strategy is extremely poor. And it’s all gone & goi bc to continue to go the way of Robbie Williams’ career. 1. What has been successful is 7s. But no one wants to capitalize not entirely sure why not?..

Emma Sing doing Emma Sing things

The Monthslong Legal Battle to Save Foreign Aid

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/u... “It’s never been just about changing the foreign policy of the United States,” said Mr. Wirth, the lawyer for the aid organizations. “It’s also about showing that they can defy Congress and get away without it.”

1 thing I think that is an issue across the Balkans & say AFG, ME is that a lot of the ppl who come to “nation build” don’t have the experience of living in multiethnic societies. & if you don’t understand them how can you build them?

And these are white women. And I don’t blame them a bit. And there is still a good number of Thai masseuses here as well. It really is a place for men still.

And sexist. This is an extremely poor country w/lots of men coming in & many looking for a “submissive” wife or partner. Even if only for a few months. You have many women or girls seeing it as a way out.

They are shocked & really taken aback by essentially what they consider a humanity a step below them being normal, doing normal things. I’ve never seen discrimination at this level ever from locals but also from foreigners. That manifests itself brutally but also in false benevolence.

It was also really shocking to me to see the level at discrimination targeting me. Never, ever had anything happen to me like this ever. But having said this the worst is what happens to Roma across the region. It is so deeply horrific. I see it in ppls faces when we show up with the kids in tow..

Having said this the worst experiences I’ve had & seen were in rugby. And the locals had little to do w/it. I did feel that the atmosphere here led ppl to think it was ok to behave in ways they wouldn’t have in the UK or Canada or US. I never saw anti Irishness before coming here. Imagine my shock.

And Africans & darker skinned blacks are treated awful. I have a Guinean friend who works at the UN whose son is called a monkey at his private international school. Yet when you tell ppl here these things happen regularly they refuse to accept it. They are embarrassed but they teach their children…

Also me being v. pale for a black person helps. For them I’m obvs an American or European of mixed background so that makes me more acceptable than an African. I’ll never forget a KS politician saying that the UN needed to leave here bc Kosovo didn’t need to learn from Africans & Asians….

I’ve followed her work & I’ve encountered much the same in Kosovo & Albania. It’s interesting bc being American you get some leeway but the need to prove “Europeanness” or even closeness to being “American” (which is always defined as white) can be dicey.

WalesOnline Rugby on X: "World Rugby boss says Six Nations matches could soon be played in the US https://t.co/tur94HD9CJ" / X World Rugby boss says Six Nations matches could soon be played in the US https://t.co/tur94HD9CJ

x.com/walesrugby/s... What fresh hell is this?

Wales Women: Are Sean Lynn's players getting enough game time? Wales head coach Sean Lynn knows a lack of match minutes has become a major factor in the national team's recent demise.

Deux constats :
1- il y a des tonnes de Galloises en PWR mais elle jouent peu ;
2- le Celtic Challenge est parfait repérer et faire émerger des talents mais il ne prépare pas au niveau international.

Тысячи сербов вышли в Нови-Саде в годовщину трагедии на вокзале. 16 минут молчания — о память о 16 жертвах обрушения навеса, вызвавшего масштабные протесты — Новая газета Европа В сербском городе Нови-Сад несколько тысяч людей почтили память погибших при обрушении навеса на ЖД-вокзале, сообщает Associated Press.

Thousands of Serbs came out in Novi Sad on the anniversary of the tragedy at the train station. 16 minutes of silence - in memory of the 16 victims. The collapse of a canopy provoked large-scale protests

I do come from a very cool place

Tomorrow I hope will be the last day for this push we did to raise funds ( tho contributions always welcome!) But if rugby didn’t get you to pop up maybe a cat pic will. Pangur Ban says help us out if you can! He also politely asks his human to feed him more often.

This is one of the best stories in ages.

😬

The case for an Anglo-Irish defense union Only a formal bilateral agreement with the U.K. can deliver the territorial security that Ireland — and the EU’s western borders — desperately needs.

www.politico.eu/article/angl... @almagroschool.bsky.social

Moscow’s Balkan Recruits: Russia’s Drive to Enlist Serb Fighters for Ukraine War BIRN journalists obtained access to private Telegram groups where recruiters lure Serb mercenaries from Bosnia and Serbia to join Russian forces in Ukraine with promises of lucrative contracts and vet...

BIRN journalists obtained access to private Telegram groups where recruiters lure Serb mercenaries from Bosnia and Serbia to join Russian forces in Ukraine with promises of lucrative contracts and veterans’ benefits

detektor.ba/2025/10/30/m...

ICYMI and with the anniversary coming up my piece on Serbia’s protests (1 year now!), the EU’s reaction & how a lithium mine that will supply 90% of the EUs lithium needs matters feat: @ericgordy.bsky.social also full comment from him & Srdjan Majstorović on my substack link in my bio.

Ahem @janinegibson.ft.com I could do the Lily Allen piece and a piece on Welsh rugby and the state of rugby as a business and both would be really good for @ftweekend.com and I work fast 📲 DMs open.

👋🏽 am here. It all seems drearily sensible. Say you’ll cut two regions and then cut one so everyone breathes a sigh of relief… Fresh eyes are good. But you need someone who also cares about why things were done the way they were as well.