At the request of our members the TRU Board will be releasing their monthly board call minutes and notes. View all of the TRU archived minutes or read on for the most recent notes:
*Moved up a week due to Holidays
- Roll Call (8:05pm)
- Young
- Turner
- Butch
- Tate
- Parker
- James
- Dodge
- Tomsak
- Approve minutes from last call
- Butch: I move we approve.
- Turner: Second
- Tate: Any discussion or objection? None. APPROVED.
- Approve minutes at the end of each call?
- Young: We’ve had some members express frustration about having to wait 30 days; do we want to move to approving at the end of each call or the next week via email?
- Dodge: I think we should seek approval of the minutes via email within a week after conclusion of the board meetings via email, then publish them as soon as approved.
- Tate: I’m OK with a vote via email a week or so later, but would reserve the right to hold this back for policy changes (if needed)
- Turner: No problem from me, as long as it doesn’t put an added burden on Wendy
- Young: I don’t think it it will, I’ll just add a calendar reminder. If everyone reviews and replies quickly, I don’t think it will slow me down.
- Parker: I second Dodge’s motion.
- Tate: Any further discussion or objections? None. APPROVED.
- Young: We’ve had some members express frustration about having to wait 30 days; do we want to move to approving at the end of each call or the next week via email?
- Follow Ups from last call
- Website Redesign
- Ruck Science
- Young: I talked with Tim a bit more and he is totally find with fulfilling his sponsor obligations and then we can pay him for his services. I would recommend the $1499 (enhanced pricing) as we have several forms and a few custom widgets that would need to be replaced.
- Tate: We had $3,000 budgeted for a redesign, so this would be under that and it seems to fit what we would need. Wendy, would this change the hosting provider?
- Young: No, I think we keep the host the same, no need to change that.
- Turner: What was the quote from Dubsalon?
- Young: It was around $6,000 but included a complete content overhaul which we aren’t sure we needed.
- Tate: We had $3,000 budgeted for a redesign, so this would be under that and it seems to fit what we would need. Wendy, would this change the hosting provider?
- Young: I talked with Tim a bit more and he is totally find with fulfilling his sponsor obligations and then we can pay him for his services. I would recommend the $1499 (enhanced pricing) as we have several forms and a few custom widgets that would need to be replaced.
- Ruck Science
- Proposed Budget
- Tate: [reviewed budget in-depth with TRU Board members]. View the variance tab and 2016-2017 is under the “proposed” column.
- Parker: Motion to approve.
- Tomsak: Second.
- Tate: Any discussion? None. Any objections? None. APPROVED. I will finish cleaning that up and then it can be posted to the minutes as an addendum.
- Tate: [reviewed budget in-depth with TRU Board members]. View the variance tab and 2016-2017 is under the “proposed” column.
- CMS
- Tate: Another reminder to make sure that our teams are filling in the required data (scores, conversion, substitutions and disciplinary action). In particular it’s important that subs are filled out for eligibility. This now includes friendlies as well as league matches.
- Young: I had a flurry of emails tonight of teams asking me to keep matches unlocked, so that is good.
- Compliance
- Tate: Looking really good, just 1 pending clubs (OKC for L200 Coaching Cert) and a few unregistered social clubs.
- 4th Official BETA
- Turner: Unfortunately, we weren’t able to make it happen at the OKC vs Ft Worth match due to low numbers.
- Tate: No worries, we can try again.
- Winter/Spring AGM Date (Houston)
- Jan 13-15 – USA Rugby NDS
- Feb 4 – ARC (San Antonio)
- Feb 11 – ARC (Austin)
- Mar 3-5 – Vegas 7s / Gold Cup
- Tate: I was thinking early Feb or in the month of Feb.
- Young: There was a call for an earlier meeting at the last AGM. We’ve been having them in Mar/Apr.
- Tomsak: What about having it on the Sunday after one of the ARC matches?
- Tate: I’m not opposed but it means that Houston loses a regional meeting.
- Dodge: I think it makes a lot of sense because we’ve also asked the teams to move their matches and most will be in town for the ARC match.
- Turner: If the AGM was scheduled around the ARC matches it wouldn’t bother me. It doesn’t really matter if I have to travel to Houston or Austin.
- Tomsak: I would like to motion to move the Spring AGM from Houston to Austin to coincide with the USA Rugby ARC Match. That would put the AGM on Sunday, February 12.
- Dodge: Second.
- Tate: Any further discussion?
- Parker: I’m opposed as I’ve heard some grumblings that Houston didn’t get a USA Test Match. There could be some opposition to also losing a TRU event.
- Young: Yes, if we bump them for the AGM, then we can look at hosting the Summit or the Summer AGM in Houston.
- Tate: Yes, we want to make sure that we are involving all of our constituents.
- Turner: We’ve talked in the past about scrapping the Winter/Spring AGM, would it be better if we held the 7s Round Table that we talked about or just get rid of it?
- Tate: Yes, we’ve brought this up at the last two AGMs and the consensus from the attending members has been that it is valuable to them. Each rep can go to their constituents and ask how they feel about it. I’d like to go ahead and start the process of finding a venue; if the clubs come back and say they don’t see the need of a winter/spring AGM, we can cancel it.
- Tate: Unless there is further discussion, I’d like to call a vote on Tomsak’s original motion.
- Turner: Yes
- Butch: Yes
- Parker: Yes
- James: Yes
- Dodge: Yes
- Tomsak: Yes
- Unanimous. APPROVED.
- Tate: Unless there is further discussion, I’d like to call a vote on Tomsak’s original motion.
- NDS Summit
- Tate: In the past we’ve helped send Wendy and Dave Yeoman as Congress reps. This year Wendy doesn’t have any interest in attending. Would the Board be OK if I went as the TRU representative?
- Turner: I’m comfortable with that.
- Dodge: Yes, that sounds good. Have we required a written report or other feedback?
- Tate: We haven’t required that, but I would be happy to do that. Tate: Any objections? None. APPROVED.
- Tate: In the past we’ve helped send Wendy and Dave Yeoman as Congress reps. This year Wendy doesn’t have any interest in attending. Would the Board be OK if I went as the TRU representative?
- RRRC Updates
- Dallas Diablos replaced Euless III in D3 North
- Tate: Euless III didn’t quite have the numbers to complete their second side schedule. The RRRC approached DARC, Dallas Diablos and Lost Souls about filling the schedule. DARC said no thank you and Dallas Diablos and Lost Souls expressed interest. The RRRC listened to the representatives from each club, then the RRRC discussed, voted and accepted the Dallas Diablos to take over Euless III schedule. They will first work on rescheduling the Nov 19 and Dec 10 matches and will be able to play their Dec 17 match.
- RRRC Playoffs – Call for Bids
- Tate: The RRRC has requested that the TRU put out a call for bids. We will no longer be restricting the bids to a specific region but rather open it up to everyone. We wanted to make sure we got this call for bids out early as we’ve had issues in the past and it’s put undue hardship on some of our members. The RRRC Playoff weekend has already been chosen, May 6-7, 2017. We need to post and pick a deadline date for bids.
- Young: Post to the TRU website the first week of January and then deadline would be Feb 17, so it’s after the Winter/Spring AGM. Announcement of bid winner could be Mar 3.
- Dodge: Do we have a Board call in between deadline and announcement?
- Young: Yes, Feb 20 is a scheduled board call.
- Dodge: We could probably do an announcement mid March, that is still plenty of time.
- Young: That would be a March 20 board call.
- Tate: Or we could schedule an ad-hoc board call or discuss electronically. We do also have a RRRC call on March 13.
- Tomsak: Are we going to have a hosting committee like we did last year?
- Tate: Yes, I think that is wise.
- Dodge: I motion that we post next week, deadline for bids is Feb 17 and announcement no later than March 20.
- Butch: Second.
- Tate: Any objections? None. APPROVED.
- Dodge: I motion that we post next week, deadline for bids is Feb 17 and announcement no later than March 20.
- Tate: The RRRC has requested that the TRU put out a call for bids. We will no longer be restricting the bids to a specific region but rather open it up to everyone. We wanted to make sure we got this call for bids out early as we’ve had issues in the past and it’s put undue hardship on some of our members. The RRRC Playoff weekend has already been chosen, May 6-7, 2017. We need to post and pick a deadline date for bids.
- Dallas Diablos replaced Euless III in D3 North
- Grant Requests
- Nick James – HARC (Winter USA Rugby NASCs)
- T’yara Blades – Texas A&M (Winter USA Rugby NASCs)
- Tate: How do we all feel about an electronic vote on these two grants?
- Dodge: I’m OK with that, but a quick question, are the SWWC teams (Texas A&M) TRU members?
- Tate: Yes, they pay CIPP to the TRU and use TRRA referees, etc. Full TRU members.
- Tate: Any objections to a digital vote for these grant requests? None. Can we have this done by Monday? APPROVED.
- New Business
- OKC vs DARC Dec 3 (un-CIPP’d referee)
- Tate: Their assigned referee for the match had a flight cancellation and could not get to OKC for the match. OKC President called Luke and Butch and was told that they could use another referee that is CIPP’d and if both teams agreed. John White, another representative of OKC also called Wendy and she told him the same thing. OKC then chose a referee that was not CIPP’d and this invalidated the insurance coverage and put all parties including the TRU at an immense laibility. DARC won the match and there is no challenge to that. RRRC also reviewed this on Monday and decided not to levy any competitive sanctions. We have a TRU Policy for non-CIPP’d players but we don’t have anything for un-CIPP’d referees. However, OKC has already taken internal action on some of their players that made this decision and they have also offered to cover the CIPP fees for this referee. I would suggest that at a minimum that we require OKC to become compliant with a L200 coach and help CIPP this individual as a referee.
- Dodge: Who is the current coach?
- Tate: They have two registered coaches currently, both are L100 certified.
- Dodge: My view is that the invalidation of the insurance is the big issue. Do we require that they take the administrative course or?
- Tomsak: I wouldn’t want to have any additional sanctions due to weather.
- Young: They had two certified referees available that were affiliated with each team but they chose a third option.
- Tomsak: Ok, never mind then.
- Tate: I motion that we require that they become compliant with a L200 coach and require that they help CIPP this individual as a referee. We would also require that John White take a referee course.
- Tate: Any objections? None. APPROVED.
- Amend Operating Procedures
- Tate: Do we want to put some teeth behind this or is it just a perfect storm?
- Tomsak: I think it’s just an anomaly.
- Tate: I’ll take a look at it and see if we want to work on some language.
- Tate: Their assigned referee for the match had a flight cancellation and could not get to OKC for the match. OKC President called Luke and Butch and was told that they could use another referee that is CIPP’d and if both teams agreed. John White, another representative of OKC also called Wendy and she told him the same thing. OKC then chose a referee that was not CIPP’d and this invalidated the insurance coverage and put all parties including the TRU at an immense laibility. DARC won the match and there is no challenge to that. RRRC also reviewed this on Monday and decided not to levy any competitive sanctions. We have a TRU Policy for non-CIPP’d players but we don’t have anything for un-CIPP’d referees. However, OKC has already taken internal action on some of their players that made this decision and they have also offered to cover the CIPP fees for this referee. I would suggest that at a minimum that we require OKC to become compliant with a L200 coach and help CIPP this individual as a referee.
- Euless player – Timote Katoa
- Tate: In 2015, Timote was sanctioned at the RRRC playoffs and suspended indefinitely by the TRU Disciplinary Committee. After 1 year he was eligible to reapply for reinstatement and required to disclose the disposition of any legal proceedings. I had conversations with the prosecutor so I know he was charged but wasn’t contacted again so I assume they pled out or charges were dropped. Timote participated in a match with Euless on 12/3 and 12/10. I spoke with Robert Tevi of Euless and he said they did discuss the suspension but assumed he was eligible after a year. I sent him the text with the sanction and we’ve agreed that he won’t play in any other matches. Several issues to cover:
- Euless has played an ineligible player
- TRU Operating Policies indicate a written warning and a fine of $100. We’ve also had USA Rugby mark his CIPP status as “suspended”.
- RRRC will have to determine if the match is forfeited and or additional competitive sanctions. We will notify RRRC of this issue ASAP.
- TRU Operating Policies indicate a written warning and a fine of $100. We’ve also had USA Rugby mark his CIPP status as “suspended”.
- We need to determine if this action was done knowingly by Euless or Mr. Katoa.
- Tate: When I spoke to Robert he was very forthright and took responsibility immediately. He said that he misread the sanction and he will not play in any more matches until if/when he is reinstated.
- Dodge: I would motion that we waive that fine if Robert Tevi and current President of Euless attends the Administrative course or equivalent at the 2017 Summit.
- Tate: We did something similar for a Woodlands issue last year and they met it with no issues. So we could certainly do that if we chose to.
- Tomsak: Second.
- Tate: Any discussion?
- Tomsak: I think it was an honest mistake, I think we should take Robert at his word.
- Turner: Do you remember if Robert was at the RRRC playoffs? That was a hard event to forget.
- Tate: Robert hasn’t forgotten about the incident, I’m sure of that.
- Dodge: The player hasn’t forgotten about the action.
- Tate: Yes and that will be dealt with by the TRU DC.
- Parker: I’ve also talked with Robert and he says Katoa is remorseful. I do feel that he is very honest person though.
- Turner:
- Tate: Let’s do a roll call vote:
- Turner: Yes
- Butch: Yes
- Parker: Yes
- James: Yes
- Dodge: Yes
- Tomsak: Yes
- APPROVED
- Tate: Let’s do a roll call vote:
- Tate: Any discussion?
- Euless has played an ineligible player
- Tate: In 2015, Timote was sanctioned at the RRRC playoffs and suspended indefinitely by the TRU Disciplinary Committee. After 1 year he was eligible to reapply for reinstatement and required to disclose the disposition of any legal proceedings. I had conversations with the prosecutor so I know he was charged but wasn’t contacted again so I assume they pled out or charges were dropped. Timote participated in a match with Euless on 12/3 and 12/10. I spoke with Robert Tevi of Euless and he said they did discuss the suspension but assumed he was eligible after a year. I sent him the text with the sanction and we’ve agreed that he won’t play in any other matches. Several issues to cover:
- OKC vs DARC Dec 3 (un-CIPP’d referee)
- The TRU Disciplinary Committee will need to decide if this “ignorance” plays into his reinstatement if and when Mr. Katoa applies for reinstatement (not a TRU Board issue).
- New World Rugby Laws in effect in January
- Butch: New laws come into effect starting January, stay tuned to the TRU and the TRRA website for details.
- Euless vs Alliance match called early for referee abuse
- Parker: Has anyone heard anything about this?
- Butch: No, I will reach out to Kelly and get the details and share with the Board.
- Adjourned (10:25pm)
- Parker: Motion to close
- Butch: Second.