Teams in D1A-NCR D1 Mixed Conferences All Agree to be USA Rugby Members
Teams in D1A-NCR D1 Mixed Conferences All Agree to be USA Rugby Members
After something of a line in the sand was officially drawn, all teams in the Big 10 Conference will be members in USA Rugby and pay the CRAA $20-per-play fee.
This came after an earlier vote among teams in the Big 10 that, to avoid complications in games between USA Rugby-only members and NCR-only members, all conference members should be USA Rugby members. Three members of the Big 10 are pursuing an NCR post-season. There was some question as to whether, of those, Michigan and Notre Dame would be members, although UND Head Coach Justin Hickey said that was never in question.
What has been in question for NCR member teams that also hold a USA Rugby membership is the $20-a-player fee that covers some services. The University of Michigan and University of Notre Dame men’s rugby teams notified the Big Ten Conference last week they would be USA Rugby members and would pay the $20-a-player fee, as well.
This comes on the heels of Rugby East teams deciding to do the same thing.
The two conferences are the only two conferences that mix D1A and NCR D1 teams. Both have the same commissioner, Scott Zavrel, who has been Rugby East commissioner for some time and was recruited this year to also run the Big 10 and become the conference's third commissioner in three years. Zavrel’s condition of employment was that all members of the conference be members of USA Rugby to, in his (paraphrased) words: to limit the extra work that would be required by each program and the competition administrators when working with two separate competitions.
Zavrel had told the Big 10 teams that he would step down if the teams were not all USA Rugby members.
