This document is a blueprint for the future development of RUGBY LEAGUE.
The evolution of both Rugby Union & Rugby League has been retarded by administrations refusing to consider necessary RULE CHANGES that have been designed to keep up with the EVOLUTION OF PROFESSIONALISM.
The basic principles within this concept have not changed since the initial document was introduced to the Administrations of RUGBY LEAGUE in September 1992. These documents have been submitted to the N.R.L clubs & administrations since their partnership was formed, & prior to the Super League take over to News Limited, the A.R.L, Q.R.L, B.R.L and the N.S.W.R.L
UNIVERSAL PRO LEAGUE - ‘THE PHILOSOPHY’ - ©
1992 - The creator of the Universal Pro League RULES identified that, the rules of RUGBY LEAGUE needed to be scrutinised to accommodate a rapidly changing landscape.
Increasing Television exposure, the level of player & coaching professionalism, plus increasing competition for sponsorship revenue, made it necessary to undertake a comprehensive study of how PREVIOUS RULE CHANGES & RULE IMPLEMENTATION IMPACTED ON THE GAME.
Let it be noted that not 1 development officer or any other administrator had the time, or made the time for such a vital & necessary undertaking. The increase in Television exposure in particular put THE RULES of the game under intense public scrutiny. Television replay began to & continues today to; expose glaring deficiencies in the rules & the application of certain rules. The lack of long term vision by administrations (law makers), plus their failure to conduct the research necessary to adapt to these changes throughout the 1970's, 80's & 90', allowed THE RULES of the game to decay. The rules decayed to such an extent that, by the mid to late 90's a totally different game had emerged. A more physical, more dangerous & less skilful environment had been created. Universal Pro League was specifically designed as an integrated package to, correct design faults exposed by the growing pains of a professional sport & to repair the damage caused to the game during this period of instability.
This entire package of RULES is designed specifically for the 'Elite Professional Level of RUGBY LEAGUE’ and down to the playing age of 16.
The results of this extensive study identified that 'RULES REFORM' was absolutely imperative to repair the way the game is perceived, by spectators and potential participants of the sport.
THE WRONG IMPRESSION IS BEING BROADCAST AT THE MOST EXPOSED LEVEL, nothing but the absolute very best examples in all areas of the game should be displayed at the highest level; this includes the credibility of Administrators, CONSISTENCY WITHIN THE JUDICIARY, integrity of coaches & players, to insure a healthy future for the game. Since the introduction of the 10metre rule RUGBY LEAGUE has been portrayed as nothing but a physical, less skillful contest with an extremely high degree of repetition. Players continuously run into each other, (HIT UPS & GANG TACKLES).
With minimum regard for the protection of the head, (NO SAFE PLAY CODE), & cheap head shots common practice. With Referees setting BAD PRECEDENT, preferring to place illegalities on report, rather than acting on a breach with true on field, on the spot justice. Placing a player on report and awarding a penalty has very little impact on the offending team. This is why players are contemptuous towards referees & the actual framework of the rules. These are just a few areas of DECAY that are resulting in REDUCED PARTICIPATION LEVELS, with parents of future possible candidates of the sport refusing to allow their kids to participate.
THE REASONS WHY? Administrations since the 70’s have created for themselves the situation where, they began to lose control. To keep up with the increasing popularity of rival codes they had to think of ways to make RUGBY LEAGUE more appealing to a greater percentage of the population, via TV. For whatever reason, Administrators refused to seriously consider the alternatives being offered to them by Universal Pro League & they chose the path of the 10m game.
The Mindset was hatched. They decided to artificially 'SPEED UP THE GAME.' In theory this was a good idea, to speed the game up. But they chose to ignore Universal Pro League & opted to speed up the ruck area with the implementation of the 10m rule, which began to create all sorts of other problems for the game. They also began instructing the law applicators, (the referees) to be more flexible and lenient, to administer fewer penalties in an attempt to speed the game up.
TOO MANY PENALTIES, Administrators were instructing the REFS as early as the mid 70’s to ignore certain rule breaches to reduce disruption to the flow of the game.
Like any area of law once a precedent is established it is contradictory to overrule any previous ruling or determination of any particular point of law in question. This dangerous practice began to breed inconsistencies, confusion, frustration and discontent between referees, players & coaches at all levels. The Referees under orders from Administrations had now created an enormous rod for their back. This new adopted mindset, (TO MAKE THE GAME FASTER), by not penalising players for breaches started the exploitation and rule manipulation by coaches & players that has manifested itself into the elite level.
UNIVERSAL PRO LEAGUE - ‘THE PHILOSOPHY’ - ©
- Amendment Wednesday, January 20, 2010: In 2010 News Ltd after their divide & conquer efforts during the mid 1990’s have now declared that they were bailing out of their partnership with the A.R.L, that’s consistent with the way Murdoch does business. The N.R.L clubs and their delegates (C.E.O’s, Coaches and senior players) are all going down the road of an independent commission to run the game. Is that to run the game or run themselves because, since the partnership was formed in 1998 the N.R.L have been an entity within themselves with little regard for the code at grass roots, just ask the people?
- The N.R.L have compromised the integrity of the sport by controlling the evolution of the rules for their own exploitation (wrestling coaches, grapple tackles), players on report for infringements, pathetic scrums, lame trys (downward pressure), excessive hit ups gang tackles & dummy half runs, all of which have had an enormous adverse affect at the grass roots and the development of the sport.
- Just days before this amendment was added the N.R.L club C.E.O’s publicly announced that by cleaning out the middle management (which is necessary & long overdue) they will save millions of $$’s and in the same breath said that they could then raise the salary cap to keep top players from jumping ship to other sports, are they going to also increase the salaries of the coaches & C.E.O’s so they also stay in the game. Are any of the savings going to be invested into stopping kids aged between 15 to 18 from leaving the sport, this statistic has increased to over 30% over the last 3 years, just ask the development officers at the grass roots? The sport would benefit even greater if they (the new commission) at the same time they rationalise the management of the sport they also rationalise the money at the top by adopting the U.P.L rules and the fiscal advantages explained in the scenario under the heading RATIONALISATION.
1992 - The creator of the Universal Pro League RULES identified that, the rules of RUGBY LEAGUE needed to be scrutinised to accommodate a rapidly changing landscape.
- Universal Pro League was conceived in 1992 by an ex player who became disillusioned with the direction of Rugby League Administrators in the early 90's after hearing too many people, (Coaches, Referees, Commentators, the media the Judiciary and the Spectators) whinging about the rules of the game.
Increasing Television exposure, the level of player & coaching professionalism, plus increasing competition for sponsorship revenue, made it necessary to undertake a comprehensive study of how PREVIOUS RULE CHANGES & RULE IMPLEMENTATION IMPACTED ON THE GAME.
Let it be noted that not 1 development officer or any other administrator had the time, or made the time for such a vital & necessary undertaking. The increase in Television exposure in particular put THE RULES of the game under intense public scrutiny. Television replay began to & continues today to; expose glaring deficiencies in the rules & the application of certain rules. The lack of long term vision by administrations (law makers), plus their failure to conduct the research necessary to adapt to these changes throughout the 1970's, 80's & 90', allowed THE RULES of the game to decay. The rules decayed to such an extent that, by the mid to late 90's a totally different game had emerged. A more physical, more dangerous & less skilful environment had been created. Universal Pro League was specifically designed as an integrated package to, correct design faults exposed by the growing pains of a professional sport & to repair the damage caused to the game during this period of instability.
This entire package of RULES is designed specifically for the 'Elite Professional Level of RUGBY LEAGUE’ and down to the playing age of 16.
The results of this extensive study identified that 'RULES REFORM' was absolutely imperative to repair the way the game is perceived, by spectators and potential participants of the sport.
THE WRONG IMPRESSION IS BEING BROADCAST AT THE MOST EXPOSED LEVEL, nothing but the absolute very best examples in all areas of the game should be displayed at the highest level; this includes the credibility of Administrators, CONSISTENCY WITHIN THE JUDICIARY, integrity of coaches & players, to insure a healthy future for the game. Since the introduction of the 10metre rule RUGBY LEAGUE has been portrayed as nothing but a physical, less skillful contest with an extremely high degree of repetition. Players continuously run into each other, (HIT UPS & GANG TACKLES).
With minimum regard for the protection of the head, (NO SAFE PLAY CODE), & cheap head shots common practice. With Referees setting BAD PRECEDENT, preferring to place illegalities on report, rather than acting on a breach with true on field, on the spot justice. Placing a player on report and awarding a penalty has very little impact on the offending team. This is why players are contemptuous towards referees & the actual framework of the rules. These are just a few areas of DECAY that are resulting in REDUCED PARTICIPATION LEVELS, with parents of future possible candidates of the sport refusing to allow their kids to participate.
THE REASONS WHY? Administrations since the 70’s have created for themselves the situation where, they began to lose control. To keep up with the increasing popularity of rival codes they had to think of ways to make RUGBY LEAGUE more appealing to a greater percentage of the population, via TV. For whatever reason, Administrators refused to seriously consider the alternatives being offered to them by Universal Pro League & they chose the path of the 10m game.
The Mindset was hatched. They decided to artificially 'SPEED UP THE GAME.' In theory this was a good idea, to speed the game up. But they chose to ignore Universal Pro League & opted to speed up the ruck area with the implementation of the 10m rule, which began to create all sorts of other problems for the game. They also began instructing the law applicators, (the referees) to be more flexible and lenient, to administer fewer penalties in an attempt to speed the game up.
TOO MANY PENALTIES, Administrators were instructing the REFS as early as the mid 70’s to ignore certain rule breaches to reduce disruption to the flow of the game.
Like any area of law once a precedent is established it is contradictory to overrule any previous ruling or determination of any particular point of law in question. This dangerous practice began to breed inconsistencies, confusion, frustration and discontent between referees, players & coaches at all levels. The Referees under orders from Administrations had now created an enormous rod for their back. This new adopted mindset, (TO MAKE THE GAME FASTER), by not penalising players for breaches started the exploitation and rule manipulation by coaches & players that has manifested itself into the elite level.
Instead of adopting procedures to improve on the laws of the game with long term solutions, the BAND AID APPROACH was adopted. Possible solutions were conceived for a particular problem area, but in its application the rule change would create several other problems in other areas of the game, this was due to the lack of lateral thinking & has been common practice and still continues today. The 10metre rule, ironically designed to open the game up, is the most recent of monumental blunders. The 10metre rule was never tested or trailed & when implemented created the low risk, high gain attitude, naturally adopted by coaches. Natural human instinct would prevail, offering the gift of gaining easy go forward by having the defence in the impossible situation of not being able to get on side unless they,
SLOW DOWN, THE PLAY the BALL, with ILLEGAL TACTICS; the adverse effects of this rule have been devastating. Without question or argument the 10m rule has been the worst rule change in the history of RUGBY LEAGUE.
The I0metre rule saw the introduction of the HIT UP SYNDROME with the spectator subjected to an overwhelming percentage of possession used with 1 OUT HIT UPS & excessive dummy half runs.
SLOW DOWN, THE PLAY the BALL, with ILLEGAL TACTICS; the adverse effects of this rule have been devastating. Without question or argument the 10m rule has been the worst rule change in the history of RUGBY LEAGUE.
The I0metre rule saw the introduction of the HIT UP SYNDROME with the spectator subjected to an overwhelming percentage of possession used with 1 OUT HIT UPS & excessive dummy half runs.
THE HIT UP SYNDROME; the 10metre rule is also responsible for the increase in; Gang tackles with the slow peel off to gain time for the defence to retire to the new defencive line, Sloppy play the balls, Illegal tactics to slow the play the ball down, Head slamming, Ever increasing high tackles, The problem of lifting knees, Voluntary tackles, Steroid abuse, The Grapple Tackle & all its cousins, as well as, reducing the modern forward to nothing but battering rams or wrecking balls.
Reducing the skills of forwards to actually pass the ball, the game has become somewhat PREDICTABLE & BORING; the dilemma RUGBY LEAGUE faced then, now and will always face is the growing demand for the game to overcome the very nature of its DESIGN FAULTS, created when it broke away from UNION. The basic difference between LEAGUE & UNION is the stoppages to play the ball, with LEAGUE having an average of over 300 stoppages per game to play the ball. Another major design fault for LEAGUE is having at least half of ball possession at the wrong end of the field. RUGBY UNION also has major modern day design faults, it is too technical which creates an abundance of stoppages and penalties, usually within goal kicking range; this offers easy options of scoring points. Resulting with successful penalty goal kicks making up over half of the points scored in any given match of UNION at their elite level.
What about the PROBLEMS created for RUGBY LEAGUE when they decided to, DEREGULATE the TRY; and allow the downward pressure rule to replace the act of grounding the ball, whilst in control of the ball? How many trys do you think should not have been awarded when teams started to exploit the fact that referees had to rule on grubs into the in goal, without any assistance to deliver an accurate decision on whether any attacking player actually touched the ball at all?
Instead of researching ways to totally eliminate the avenue for this exploitation they stuck BAND AIDS on the problem and introduced in goal touch judges, so on, and so on.
Controversy thrives, for the time being it creates some level of uncertainty and speculation. The media still complain & the coaches still complain when it backfires on them, when the solutions to the in goal chaos were offered to them by Universal Pro League as early as 1992, but they chose not to fix the problems. I can remember when I played juniors; I would get into trouble for placing the ball in the in goal with 1 hand because it increased the possibility of dropping the ball, or what used to be considered a bounced ball.
And what have they done to the scrum over the last 3 decades, another area of the game requiring a stoppage, more BAND AIDS please. No sensible, fair solution has even been seriously considered. The game has received a lot of emergency surgery, but BAND AIDS won't repair what really needs a major transfusion.
Both of these areas have been embarrassing to say the least & those who actually care about the future of the code are disgusted, those that support these inadequacies can only offer this excuse; controversy.
The primary objective of the package of rules designed by Universal Pro League is to ERADICATE this culture of cheating & exploiting deficiencies that have MANIFESTED itself within the game at THE ELITE LEVEL. THE ABSOLUTE BEST INTEREST FOR THE GAME, should be the No I priority for every individual involved in the game, especially at the highest level!
Prior to the war Coaches had little if any input into the design process of RULES. When the game reunited, realistically under the SUPER LEAGUE, NEWS LTD influence, the joint administration believed they were doing the game justice by allowing coaches to design the rules.
This TOTALLY INAPPROPRIATE arrangement is like giving the keys of the prison to the Inmates. NO other contact team ball sport in the entire world has such an arrangement. A coach would be delinquent in his duty if he were to not exploit every possible deficiency within the rules. Coaches & players knew the impossible situation Administrators put the referees in & they started to exploit the deficiencies & manipulate the rules as far back as the mid 70's. But, by the mid 80's coaches & players had more control, placing the refs under added unnecessary pressure.
An N.R.L coach at the highest level of the game is not going to even consider a suggested review of a rule (any rule) if that suggestion in any way would disadvantage him & his abilities as a coach & or the strengths of his current playing staff & their abilities.
The role of the coach today is to not only expose any deficiencies or weakness within the opposition, but also within the rules. Every inch, every second counts, that's why, because of the 10metre rule we have so much INCH PINCHING, SECONDS GAINING TACTICS in the tackle and play the ball areas. Tactics are being coached to SLOW THE PLAY THE BALL DOWN, to allow the defensive line to return to an onside position. With decoys to spoil the defensive line, & forward passes starting to be the norm. Quick sloppy play the balls, sometimes actually taking a voluntary tackle to maintain (good go forward momentum) to keep the defence on the back foot (just like touch). All of these problem areas along with the fact that, spectators are repeatedly subjected to watching teams hit it up all day, with 1 out hit up after hit up for the greater percentage of possession. The game has become predictable and boring.
Example of the thinking of the N.R.L. coaches; in 2001 the coaches voted to not allow a defending player to kill the ball grubbed into the in goal by having 1 foot dead in goal. Since the excessive exploitation of the in goal with the grub kick because they deregulated the try it took them well over 10 years to realise that a 20m tap was on offer for having a foot dead in goal before they started to coach players to be aware of the offering. So when they became aware of the 20m gain for using the dead zone to nullify the kick the coaches that coach the exploitation of the in goal quickly changed the rule to gain even more advantage for the attacking side.
Major problems have emerged at all Junior & Adult levels with players & coaches emulating what they hear & read in the media & what they see on TV. The problem is that the safe play code is in place for players up to 15 yrs of age after that age group is where they start to really practice what they see on TV.
At the National summit on a fair go for referees it was identified that on field violence and off field (spectator) violence can stem from poor refereeing decisions that can dramatically shift the balance of a game and in affect can ruin the actual sporting contest. Universal Pro League has minimised grey areas within an outdated rule book & has created rules with true on field justice for inappropriate conduct, poor discipline and foul play.
DUE PROCESS; During the research and design stages of each and every rule in this package, many great sports from across the globe were observed, to identify what makes each contact team ball sport, popular for its own unique idiosyncrasies. Key components from several sports were selected on their merits and blended with most of the basic rules of RUGBY LEAGUE. During the design of each new rule strict attention to detail to ensure that each rule would support every other rule, was critical.
After identifying all the design faults with Rugby League and creating optimum solutions to these compounding growing pains, it was also necessary to create an environment where each and every person involved in the game understands exactly where they stand. Creating an environment where, a far higher degree of discipline and consistency will be prevalent, including the judiciary & its responsibility to the community, continuing on down to the individual player. Each rule came under extreme scrutiny ensuring that there were no negative adverse effects to any other aspect of the game.
And that the new rules promoted the old skills, the basic fabrics of the game that have been consumed by & lost to the 10m rule hit up syndrome, of running the ball to the gaps between defenders, drawing the defenders, off loading the ball & promoting the ball forward by ball movement & not just physical player movement trying to knock down a defencive wall.
Studying various other sports it was determined that the most popular team ball sports in the world are based heavily on skill and not the physical contest. However, there is a great percentage of the spectator population that also craves for the physical contest. It was also identified that a team ball sport that consists of a high degree of unexpected variables is more preferred, than one where the spectator more times than not, knows what to expect. To create a contact team ball sport that contains the correct balance of the physical contest, with a high level of skill, both physical and mental, plus a high degree of unpredictable scenarios, was an interesting challenge, with a truly exciting result.
Throughout the process spectators, referees, coaches & players were constantly surveyed to ensure that Universal Pro League was on the right track.
All modifications were moulded together to be used together to create the ideal balance of all the necessary ingredients. In fact, if any single particular rule was to be selectively implemented, either modified or in its exact original form without the entire package, absolutely nothing would change. For example, the 40/20 kick was changed from the original guidelines set out in this package - 50/20, to what the public sees today. An implemented rule that has had very little impact on the game at all, simply because changing it from its original form rendered it virtually impotent & unachievable to the majority. The package was also designed with total integration to protect the total concept. Because, as predicted, when administrators received the material they weren't going to accept the entire package, they would instantly have a mental block about the main aspect of the package. As predicted, they would pick out what suited them, modify that rule to their own interpretation and discard the rest; this is why the current game is still burdened with problems, inconsistencies and controversy.
RATIONALISATION; The Bradley report studied the long term viability of the competition & identified that the saturation of the number of clubs in the Sydney metro needed to be reduced because of shifting demographics which in turn would affect revenues, (too much competition, too close together). The Super League botch up was intended to trim the amount of clubs but Australians don't take too well to sneaky clandestine tactics, so the exercise failed. Unfortunately there are a few who are responsible for this chapter in the games' history that still remain at large, who are still in positions of control. This concept was available to key persons who could influence the future of the code, they either dissected parts of the concept & modified components to side step intellectual property protection or they chose to & still continue today to ignore the importance of this concept. Universal Pro League is the Bradley report for the rules of the game.
=========================================================
The Bradley Report
========================================================
Prior to News
Corporation's Super League proposal, the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL)
and Australian Rugby League (ARL) had planned
to rationalise the number of Sydney teams. In July 1986 The Daily Telegraph reported:
"Ken
Arthurson has proposed a Super League... comprising four or five teams from
Sydney, two from Brisbane, three New
South Wales Country teams, Queensland Country and Auckland. You
could amalgamate Manly/Northern Suburbs, Eastern
Suburbs/Souths, Parramatta/Penrith
and so on."
Following the expansion of the
competition throughout the 1980s and '90s many clubs were not financially
viable in the long term. The NSWRL solution was to eject them from the
competition when they no longer met prescribed criteria. Although Newtown
were ejected from the competition at the end of the 1983 season, attempts to
remove Western Suburbs were unsuccessful after
court action. Thereafter the NSWRL introduced an invitation-based system
whereby it could fail to invite a club, thus excluding it. This left clubs
without the security of continued participation in the premiership.
On 9 April 1992 A blueprint
for the expansion of Rugby League was tabled by the Premiership Policy
Committee of the NSWRL, followed in August by an Organization Review, by
Dr G. Bradley, which was distributed to the premiership clubs. The Bradley
Report, as it became known, was central to the ARL replacing the NSWRL as the
governing body of the premiership. The report concluded that:
"...to reduce the number of
clubs in Sydney, will be very hard for the League to implement given the long
playing traditions of some of those clubs. In the long term, however, it is
likely that Sydney is not going to be able to support eleven clubs as it does
at present. Therefore in the long term this is the only viable solution. Sydney
based clubs are going to have to move to new areas, merge or be relegated from
the League. This is going to be a painful process. In the long term I believe
that the ARL should be looking to reduce the number of clubs in the National
Competition to fourteen, thus allowing clubs to play two complete rounds. This
will mean, assuming that only four new clubs are admitted from areas outside
Sydney, that there will be only five clubs based in Sydney."
Each club received a letter of
invitation for the 1995 season on 2 May 1994. Included were a number of
admission criteria including the ability to "attract a minimum average
home attendance of 10,000 people". Balmain,
Easts, Gold Coast, Illawarra, Parramatta, Penrith, Souths, St
George and Wests failed this criterion for 1995 . After the privately owned
Brisbane
Broncos transferred a 20% share of their company to Northern Rivers Ltd,
the new shareholders received the following:
"Under the terms of the
League's Constitution, it is necessary that, without exception, all clubs which
wish to participate in the League's Premiership competition, must apply each
year for admission. No club has any automatic right to participate in any
year's competition and the League has the unfettered right to reject any club's
application for participation."
Universal Pro League is the Bradley report for the rules of the game.
This example was factored out when the competition had 14 teams: Current team squads require 25 players to play a game that has a 17 man limited interchange team on the field. For this exercise let’s say that the $ value of each man in the squad averages out to 100k per man, total basic salary expenditure $2.5m. With the Universal Pro League package the size of the elite squad can be reduced to 20 elite players in total. With a 15 man interchange team and 5 backup players playing a much more exhilarating contact team ball sport. An initial savings of 500k per team is achieved, and that is just on salaries alone. A 14 team competition would have a total savings on base salary alone of $7m.
The Universal Pro League concept is without any doubt absolutely economically viable; perhaps even necessary for the long term survival of the code as a professional sport.
Add to this initial economic benefit, the real possibility of the reduced amount of injuries due to design & the follow on savings of not having to maintain as many playing staff & the financial advantages of adopting and implementing the entire Universal Pro League concept without compromise are clearly apparent, if common sense were to prevail.
There are further steps that can be taken to secure future development for the code but for certain reasons I can't disclose the steps needed through this forum.
Along with the obvious benefits already mentioned, the positive flow on effects of such a concept being implemented at the elite level will filter on down and throughout the entire code. Initially more cream will rise to the top, but it will also distribute more talent to the 2nd level and so on. But most of all and more importantly is the message that will be sent to the future of the game, a professional contact team ball sport the kids of the future can aspire to, a game with integrity.
- Amendment added 12th Nov 2009: Universal Pro League also believes that certain off field behavior by various players’ stems from this endemic culture. (Constantly being taught to exploit the rules of the game creates a contagious attitude of - how much can the individual get away with in all aspects of their life)?
Implementing the entire Universal Pro League without compromise will lay the platform, the FOUNDATIONS for the code to fully EVOLVE.
This entire package is designed specifically for the Code of Rugby League to EVOLVE from its origins, to finally separate from the umbilical cord of its mother Rugby Union, to survive & thrive well into the 21st century. I sincerely thank you for taking the time to read this document.
This entire package is designed specifically for the Code of Rugby League to EVOLVE from its origins, to finally separate from the umbilical cord of its mother Rugby Union, to survive & thrive well into the 21st century. I sincerely thank you for taking the time to read this document.
Created & Designed by Anthony W. Solway.
"When you change the way you look at
things, the things you look at change," a quote from Dr Wayne Dyer.
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A work does not need to be published, or have the copyright notice on it, to be
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it is protected. Universal Pro League have the exclusive rights to
all information on their Web Site, therefore, for anyone who wants to use
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