Will Carling and Rucku -The Perfect Example of a Community Website

I posted an article this morning about turning your blog into a community of readers - you can read it below, as the first of the posts related to this one. Then during the course of the day it dawned on me that there was a perfect example out there, of a website that is developing a real community following, and one I have been visiting a great deal recently.

Go, please, and have a look at www.rucku.com which bills itself as rugby's first virtual clubhouse. It's a great illustration of the point I was making.

Of course, the team there start with the advantage that the sport seems to engender a really friendly, clubby feel anyway. I'm not quite sure why, but rugby is much more inclusive than, say soccer. As a former player, I know the sense of kinship I feel with other players - I wonder if it's the fact that it's a game that can only be played safely with 100% commitment, that bonds players and supporters together.

Rucku's other ace card is that some of the game's current and former stars are part of it and contribute to the content. The figurehead is former England Captain Will Carling - but, and this is crucial, he's not the usual token celebrity whose only involvement is to allow his photo to be used liberally in the promotion. Carling is actually involved in the running of the site on a daily basis, he stars in videos, he writes on the forum and he spends a good deal of time on Twitter, where you can follow him @willcarling . And for those of you who don't follow rugby, make no mistake, Carling is a 100% A list rugby celebrity. He was England's youngest ever captain, and led the team to back to back Five Nations victories, as well as a world cup final and, best of all, the Grand Slam.

Other stars, such as Ieuan Evans and David Campese are involved, and the site has a brilliant description of itself, under the heading "What is Rucku?" it tells us to ....."think of us as a combination of MySpace, You Tube, Facebook and Flickr, all filled with stuff and people of interest to every rugby fan, and MC'd by the stars of the game."

The name is also a great example of how to bring people into the community, juxtaposing a term used to describe recycling the ball when its on the ground, with a well known rugby expletive.

I have no doubt that Rucku will succeed and become one of rugby's most visited sites, and it will do so because of the community spirit that is already evident in the forums and the posts that are on the site. Go and have a look for yourself, and post a comment in the forum! www.rucku.com

Do you know of any sites that engender a similar feeling of community? Please give us some more examples in comments.