Rugby Washington, the State Governing Body for youth and HS rugby in the Evergreen State, is in trouble.

A complaint has been filed with the state Attorney General’s office alleging that Rugby Washington failed to provide services that member teams paid for. Goff Rugby Report has obtained documents providing information on the complaint and additional issues within Rugby Washington.

The complain states that in 2016, teams from eastern Washington paid the same dues as those from western Washington, however the western teams had their athletic trainer and referee costs covered by those dues, while the eastern teams did not.

Are SGBs Broken? Do They Need Fixing?

The explanation given was that eastern Washington is too far away (however most of the teams in eastern Washington could have been served by the same network of trainers as in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellingham-Olympia area).

Eastern teams were not reimbursed, and then-USA Rugby head of Youth & HS, Kurt Weaver, prevented the eastern teams from joining USA Rugby as an at-large group.

The complaint adds a more disturbing charge that in 2019 teams in eastern Washington were not registered with USA Rugby, even though their dues to Rugby Washington were supposed to go toward that.

The teams were told by Weaver that they had insurance, and they competed, but it not seems clear that they did not have insurance through almost the entire 2019 season. Teams paid almost $8,000 to Rugby Washington for services they said they never received. Rugby Washington did reimburse Yakima, Wenatchee, Spokane, and Tri Cities $1,000 each at the end of the 2019 season, but the insurance payments (aver $3,000) were not refunded.

These very serious charges are part of an ongoing problem within Rugby Washington, which has struggled to recognize the success and growth in the Yakima and Spokane areas. There are now more high school teams in eastern Washington than in the west, but the west remains in charge of policy and governance.

Interestingly, in 2018 there was a movement afoot to dissolve Rugby Washington due to massive infighting. That didn’t quite happen, but the Loggers select side program did splinter off as a result.

Now, the State Attorney General is involved, with charges of not providing services as advertised, not filing correct tax forms, and not making their bylaws publicly available; as well, a complaint of insurance fraud with the Washington Department of Insurance. 

This week, there will apparently be a meeting of the SGB heads of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Northern California, along with a representative from the eastern Washington group, to resolve the issue. Clearly, a State Governing Body being under investigation from the state Attorney General’s Office is not a good look.