Bylaws Vote Makes Saturday A Different Kind Of Rugby Day

Saturday is an important day in USA Rugby’s potential rise from the ashes.

On that day, the current Congress members will vote on a new set of bylaws to oversee the game and the national governing body. One key question that needs to be answered is a settled dues structure that a) ensures that a National Governing Body with a pared-down number of employees is operational, and b) demands less in dues money than members have paid in the last several years.

The new bylaws seek to drastically change the makeup of the current Board, creating smaller Board that includes members voted into those positions by their communities—club, college, and youth & high school.

The question of insurance is a big one, and there needs to be a plan going forward with regard to whether an organization uses USA Rugby to find both liability insurance and injury insurance, or gets it own policies. If everything goes forward, we will likely see a basic maintenance dues structure, and a more a la carte insurance plan.

Youth & HS has formed its own organization that will operate as part of USA Rugby but under some parameters the Youth & HS advocates are going to hold fast to.

The club organizations aren’t as organized, but will find a way to get the Geographical Unions communicating. 

Collegiate rugby is a little more confusing as there are as many as six, and more likely three organizations with significant influence: the College Rugby Association of America, NSCRO, and NIRA are the main players.

Other groups could well fold into working with those three. NSCRO (soon to be NCRO) has taken the most significant steps to handle its own affairs without USA Rugby involvement, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need a National Governing Body to represent it internationally (touring overseas is a big part of that).

It all comes down to the voting. Congress has 45 members, and 30 of them are needed to vote for the new plan, which has apparently been approved (with edits) by World Rugby and the USOPC. If the 2/3 supermajority doesn’t approve the new bylaws, it’s unclear whether World Rugby or the USOPC will support another plan.

If you want to let members of Congress know where you stand, here is the list of members:

(The International Athletes do not have their email addresses published. However, if you want to address a comment to any of them, feel free to email us at GRR - if you use the subject line "Comment to IA On Congress" then we have the right to publish it.)