Some lessons learned from the past weekend in Las Vegas, where the country’s biggest rugby tournament, in terms of fan size, and the country’s biggest rugby tournament, in terms of teams in attendance, took place.

The LVI provides wonderful competition for these teams. It provides a venue to play teams you wouldn’t normally see, a reason to play rugby AND see the international tournament, and it provides a chance to get a warm-weather venue early in the year.

The competition drives the good feelings, and it’s enormously hard work to make it happen. But there are some issues teams would like to see addressed, and they speak to how to run a tournament in general.

 

1. Paperwork.

A bit of a tizzy emerged in the CRC Qualifier when Lindenwood were under the impression (as stated to Goff Rugby Report) that player-coach Cameron Wyper would be eligible to play. Wyper, who is 27 years old, doesn’t fit with USA Rugby’s eligibility rules but is a full-time student at Lindenwood and would be eligible under NCAA rules for other sports. 

The company that runs the LVI also runs the Varsity Cup and the CRC, and they generally follow NCAA rules, which are slightly more liberal when it comes to age of players and gaps in education due to military service, etc. 

So it was logical that the CRC Qualifier might have followed NCAA rules, but then the teams were told to sign documents saying they would comply with USA Rugby rules, not NCAA rules. This caused some consternation, as some teams thought Lindenwood got a sweetheart deal, when really they were just operating based on information told to them. In the end, Lindenwood was told at the last minute that Wyper could not play, and he didn’t play. No one was happy. This speaks to clarity. You’ve got to have your documents straightened out and you have to be clear. Also, there’s nothing wrong with saying “I will check the rules and get back to you” rather than giving a verbal Yes or No to a question.

 

2. Tiebreakers.

You have to know your tiebreakers. All of the teams and organizers need to know the tiebreakers. You have to have policies in place for forfeits (what score do you give)? And you need to have tiebreaker scenarios nailed down past head-to-head and points difference. This takes time and it takes people keeping track of this stuff. Including referees - too many refs, overwhelmed in a huge tournament, get scores wrong, forget to record yellow cards - it can make for a big argument at the end of the day.

 

3. Cards.

Should a red card mean you’re out of the tournament? I think the answer is “no” but many tournaments have a hard and fast rule saying differently. In 2014, Mike Ziegler of the USA Falcons was red-carded in his first game at the LVI. After a discussing with the organizers, he was suspended for the remainder of the day, but was able to play the next day. That was a reasonable action, in my opinion, but was a courtesy not given to other players this year. Get your policies in place, including the scenarios under which you will be flexible, and know how you will handle those things. Also, appoint a disciplinary person for each venue.

 

4. Creature comforts.

A tournament with something like 26 fields in the desert needs to provide water and food to the thousands of people there. The Heritage Park venue had one concessions stand, which ran out of some items. Silver Bowl had one concessions. Same for Star Nursery. On the larger venues, a food truck, or a cart selling water and sandwiches would have done very well. 

 

5. Shelter.

If you bought cheap easy-up tents from Wal Mart and charged teams $50 for them, you’d have made money and made people happy.

 

6. Sad Posts.

One of the saddest sights in rugby is to see floppy, listing goalposts. By the end of play on Friday, several sets of goalposts were leaning at a weird angle. Some of the fields where those posts were leaning were set aside for cup semifinals. Can you imagine a semi being decided by a conversion at posts leaning 30 degree to the right? 

If you want to pump up your tournament, straighten up the goalposts. It was sad to see those posts on the field. Here’s a screen capture from video I took of the Boys HS Elite Cup Semifinal. The posts are just inexcusably bad.

It takes some work, yes. You have to slide the posts off their stabilizer stakes and re-straighten the stakes, using rocks or dirt to ensure they’re straight, and slide the posts back on. You might need to put some packing inside the PCV pipe to make sure it doesn’t wobble. It takes four people to fix a set of posts, but it’s worth it.

 

7. Scoreboards.

Some day we will have electronic scoreboards at each field linked via Bluetooth to a referee’s watch, which records the score, and linked to a screen showing the scores and standings in real time. Some day. But right now, for the most part, every tournament has a printed schedule and score sheet that they write scores on. I’ve seen a lot. I’ve seen a lot texted to me what are impossible to read.

Here’s what you need:

A layout of games that leaves sufficient space for the score to be written in (this would seem obvious, but the LVI has been in operation for six years and still doesn’t do it).

Use erasable markers. Or thick pencil tat can be erased when you make a mistake.

Have a white board and (erasable) markets handy for announcements, explanations, or anything else you forgot or need to clarify.

Have someone update standings as you go.

And that, my friends, is my advice for this week.