USAR Varsity Rule Tough Sell in SoCal
USAR Varsity Rule Tough Sell in SoCal
The effort to create state-sanctioned varsity rugby in California has run into issues with USA Rugby’s insurance requirements.
Many of the private schools in the Southern California Varsity Red Division have their own insurance for their sports teams, and administrators have balked at paying the full USA Rugby dues because they don’t need the insurance.
USA Rugby, led by Youth and HS Manager Kurt Weaver, came up with a work-around, a $250 affiliation fee for Varsity High School that would keep those teams “involved and invested,” in the governing body, said Weaver. The $250 fee would allow a varsity team to include as many teams as they wanted to on their roster, and avoid paying per player.
But this is the first year of the program, and so USA Rugby is moving slowly. They have a high standard of insurance policies for schools to qualify.
“It’s not just insurance,” added Weaver. “The Athletic Director has to sign off and say it’s a varsity program. They have to have a liaison in the school, and discipline has to be handled by the AD’s office. Being ‘treated just like a varsity sport’ isn’t the same.”
Weaver said these standards can be used to make schools want to take the final step. However, some teams and SCYR Varsity Red Division Manager Ven Griva feel the standards are too restrictive.
“If USA Rugby were to create a realistic varsity status policy, it would streamline the process for moving rugby into California high school, where one in nine US high school athletes reside, and where it is a requirement of the California Constitution that high school sports be free,” said Griva.
Weaver said this can happen, eventually.
“In the near future we might acquiesce to school requests,” said Weaver. “The long-term goal is to push as many teams this way as possible.”
Currently only a small number of school teams have applied for the USA Rugby Varsity status, and half of those have been rejected. They can register like other HS clubs, paying the per-player fee. At the time of Goff Rugby Report's interview with Weaver, only one, team, in Massachusetts, had negotiated all of the hurdles to attain USA Rugby Versity HS status.
Meanwhile, Cathedral Catholic Head Coach Glenn Irvine, who has been an instigator of the project, said they are doing things the right way in San Diego.
"Every team is under the control of the AD or the Principal," he said. "We follow the rules regarding there being no JV championship, and when the season runs. We follow the CIF disciplinary rules, and we have private and public schools in the league. We are all 100% single-school, which is important."
Meanwhile, Cathedral Catholic Head Coach Glenn Irvine, who has been an instigator of the project, said they are doing things the right way in San Diego.
"Every team is under the control of the AD or the Principal," he said. "We follow the rules regarding there being no JV championship, and when the season runs. We follow the CIF disciplinary rules, and we have private and public schools in the league. We are all 100% single-school, which is important."
