If it seems like we’ve stagnated on the USA Rugby reorganization, it’s mainly because what has been happening has been fairly congenial, with some exceptions.

As reported on Goff Rugby Report earlier this week, the Youth & HS State Governing Bodies approved, without a single NAY vote, the Terms of Reference which will allow the plan for a Youth & HS Board and how it represents itself to go forward.

Next up is voting for that Board, and then work on the bylaws of the 501c3 called USA Youth and High School Rugby. So after a few hiccups, it seems like that section of the game is moving forward.

Smooth Sailing In Club Rugby? 

Fewer hiccups, believe it or not, have surfaced in the senior club game. Mostly that’s because of two factors: 1) the club game was already split into seven Geographical Unions representing 17 regional unions, o those regions already had people they (for the most part) trusted in leadership positions; and 2) the clubs were not looking to form an independent 501c3, and so didn’t need to form bylaws or worry about laws regarding 501c3s.

So while Youth & HS has had to work additionally on 501c3 regulations and laws (making things more difficult), and College has had to deal with a splintered constituency (more on that below), Senior Club only had to get Terms of Reference and leadership in place.

And that’s what they have done.

The Terms of Reference have been passed, and the Council of Unions have voted in a group of officers:

• Al Lucas (Transitional Director, Midwest)
• Kirk Tate (Chair, Texas)
• Vice Chair (Ken Pape, Empire)
• Secretary (Rick Humm, Northern California)
• Treasurer (Jill Williamson, Pacific Northwest)

Lucas is the Club representative to the USA Rugby Board, but only temporarily while a confirming vote will be taken in the near term.

The Clubs have changed their leadership and decision-making with this group. They aren’t much different from the Congress members, but they are people who have ongoing experience in club rugby and its challenges.

The Terms of Reference for Club focus on getting more people to play and play at a higher level. It lists is principles are:

• Player centered decision making 
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 
• Transparency and Accountability 
• Fiscal Responsibility 
• Strong Competitions 
• Strong Clubs with Strong Administrators, Coaches and Match Officials 
• Membership Growth
• Regional Balance
• Participation in the Success of USAR 

Notice that there is no mention of National Championships, and there will be a long discussion about whether playing for a national title at every level is in the best interests of the club game. It is likely that we will see what some high school regions decided years ago, and some college groups embraced more recently—having many national championships dilutes the honor and costs too much money and there are better, and less expensive ways to cap off a season (regional championships, challenge matches, tournaments).

College Movers, Shakers, And Wall Flowers

Things are a little different in the college game. While the TORs seem pretty clear, with the different divisions getting a vote on officers and boardmembers, the complication comes when various divisions are split among different organizations.

CRAA is a 501c3 and runs D1A, Women D1 Elite, Women D1 (save one conference), and a large chunk of Women D2 that plays 15s in the spring.

NIRA is its own entity running Women’s NCAA Rugby, and is a non-voting participant.

NCR is a non-profit that has said it will be separate from USA Rugby (as far as we can determine, it’s not at the moment because the current membership cycle is still in effect). About half the teams and probably half the players in college rugby are currently part of NCR, giving the organization a lot of leverage, if they use it correctly.

ACRA is a small organization of women’s D2 conferences in the Northeast (Tri-State, NEWCRC, Rugby Northeast, and MARC) that would need to communicate with the other women’s D2 conferences to operate within the College Council framework.

And interestingly, after a flurry of announcements of conferences joining one organization or another, there’s been silence on that front. Mostly that’s because questions remain about how NCR specifically will interact with USA Rugby. With a strong behind-the-scenes recruiting effort going on by NCR to add to its rolls, and another D1AA group looking to form, some conferences have told Goff Rugby Report that they are waiting.

What they are waiting on mostly is confirmation on what USA Rugby’s new dues structure will look like. The unspoken caveat there is that if USAR asks for too much, those conferences might bolt. (This is the classic pricing conundrum—you want to charge as much as the market will hold, but if you ask for too much, you get nothing.)

This is also the case with a few D1A teams that have been quiet on their intentions: they are waiting to see if membership with NCR is just too complicated, or if NCR and USA Rugby can figure out how to play nice.

At the same time, some conferences are thinking that they can just run their competitions and play bowl matches or challenge matches at the end of the season. They don’t need an umbrella organization. But, again, they’re waiting to see if there’s a problem with that plan.

Here are some of the questions that need answering to those independent (or undecided) conferences as were given to GRR from one conference dealing with these questions:

• [The Conference] needs general liability insurance coverage and a player registration system
• [The Conference] values and requires a connectional relationship with the national governing body
• [The Conference] wants to see a plan and structure of how club and varsity programs are advanced into postseason
• [The Conference] teams and players do not want to pay any more than they already do in membership fees and dues

That list was punctuated by this statement from our source: 

"Still no definitive answers to most of this so we are content to sit it out and see how it unfolds."  

The desire to wait to see which way the wind blows has taken hold among the conferences that haven’t said much lately.

Here’s our list of conferences that haven’t outright stated what they’re going to do. We mention NSCRO connections because NSCRO (small college) teams are already members of NCR:

1. Rugby East D1A
2. MAC D1AA
3. Heart of America D1AA
4. NCRC D1AA (connected with an NSCRO league)
5. Lonestar D1AA (shares a league with NSCRO teams)
6. Gold Coast D1AA (shares a league with NSCRO teams)
7. Pacific Western D1AA
8. Florida D1AA
9. University of Notre Dame
10. Iowa Central Community College
11. SCRC D1AA
12. SCRC Men D2
13. Ivy League D1AA
14. Cascade Women D2
15. Great Lakes Women D2
16. Lonestar Women D2
17. MAC Women D2
18. Rocky Mountain Women D2
19. West Coast Women D2
20. SoCal Women D2

This list of undeclared conferences (plus two independent teams) represents about 120 teams and approximately $225,000 in dues money.