Just like the TRU Board, the Red River Competitions Committee will now be releasing their monthly committee call minutes and notes. View all of the archived RRRC minutes** or read on for the most recent:
- Opening of the meeting (8:00pm) and Roll Call – A.Sharpley
- Sharpley
- Kolberg
- Young
- Watson
- Butch
- Tate
- Corrigan
- Hughes
- Turner
- Kurylas
- Iker
- Keuppens
- Watson: Move we approve agenda.
- Kolberg: Second
- Sharpley: Any objections? None. APPROVED.
- USAR report – A.Sharpley (CSC), R.Watson (Congress)
- Revision of Eligibility rule 3.5(c)
- 3.5 (c). Any player that has played in at least 50% of the total number of League/Qualifying/ CR/Recognized matches to be played in the current competitive season by a club’s Upper Division side is not eligible to play for that club’s Lower Division side in the USA Rugby Senior Club National Championship Series.
- The highlighted section was mistakenly added to the section and the correction is removing it. (TRU post: https://texasrugbyunion.com/2016/11/15/attn-coaches-administrators-of-clubs-with-multiple-sides/)
- 3.5 (c). Any player that has played in at least 50% of the total number of League/Qualifying/ CR/Recognized matches to be played in the current competitive season by a club’s Upper Division side is not eligible to play for that club’s Lower Division side in the USA Rugby Senior Club National Championship Series.
- USA Rugby Club Department budget
- The majority of this budget goes to the USA Rugby National Championship Series but it has been cut back.
- Possible dues increase
- USA Rugby is looking at raising dues but Congress will have to approve. Dues haven’t been raised in 6 years but to continue supporting rugby they are looking at an increase.
- Revision of Eligibility rule 3.5(c)
- Texas Rugby Union report – K.Tate, W.Young
- RRRC Fees
- All four teams have paid and are compliant, HEB, Bonobo, HARC and Ft Hood
- USA Rugby Compliance
- We continue to work with teams on their USA Rugby Club Registration, # of CIPP players and requirement to have a Level 200 Coach.
- Two teams are a concern, HEB and Griffins as they haven’t renewed their club registration or CIPP’d any players.
- HEB does have a match this weekend and we are monitoring their registration closely.
- Two teams are a concern, HEB and Griffins as they haven’t renewed their club registration or CIPP’d any players.
- TRU Non-Profit
- The TRU Board has approved creating a Non-Profit Foundation to help further support rugby in our area.
- National Panel Referees
- We will again have NP referees covering our D1 competition in the RRRC.
- Women’s All Star Event this weekend
- Our newly re-formed TRU women’s All Star plays this weekend against CARFU and MARFU.
- We continue to work with teams on their USA Rugby Club Registration, # of CIPP players and requirement to have a Level 200 Coach.
- RRRC Fees
- Referees – Butch
- Recruitment – We’ve been recruiting like crazy but the teams are adding faster than we can cover them. We absolutely need new referees to continue servicing all matches.
- Feedback – Everyone deserves a cooling off period after a match, coaches should not approach referees during a match or directly after a match.
- Abuse – This past weekend we have SIX instances of referee abuse. This is unacceptable and won’t be tolerated, all instances are being sent to the DC for review.
- 4.0 Status of RRRC Competitions
- Women’s D1/D2 – W.Young, H.Iker
- Competition has kicked off and is looking good. Do have some concerns about Little Rock and San Marcos as they are having numbers issues.
- Men’s Div.1 – J.Kolberg, K.Tate
- No matches scheduled until after the first of the year. Griffins are a concern as they haven’t registered as an active club for this competitive cycle.
- Men’s Div.2 – L.Turner, D.Corrigan
- Defer to 6.0 and the discussion in regards to Woodlands D3.
- Men’s Div.3 – J.Kurylas, T.Hughes
- No additional updates at this time (already discussed some compliance issues).
- Women’s D1/D2 – W.Young, H.Iker
- New Business
- Woodlands petition to drop a team
- Philip Devos and Keith Jakupca joined the call at 9:15pm to discuss this petition, they are requesting to drop their D2 side and then only compete in D3. Lack of numbers, player safety (rookies) and an aging roster are the main driving reasons that they’ve requested to move down.
- Discussion –
- Sharpley: In the past the precedent has been to allow the team to move down but they aren’t eligible for USA Rugby Playoffs. The next year they would be required to apply to the RRRC for USA Rugby Playoffs. HURT, Alamo City, San Antonio and Katy would be the remaining teams. Note that if Woodlands drop, that does put these teams below the required match minimums.
- Tate: Looking at their CIPP roster it does tend to lean towards the older end and definitely isn’t enough for two teams. While it isn’t a young team it doesn’t mean that they couldn’t compete in D2.
- Hughes: If they continue in the D2 bracket, they actually have less matches with more recovery time than they would in D3.
- Kolberg: When considering this I want to make sure that we also take into consideration who it affects the most. This adversely affects the entire D2 competition and it would have to be completely blown up and reschedule their entire season. I don’t think that’s fair to those teams.
- Corrigan: I agree, this would be horrible for the D2 competition and would only make it weaker.
- Kolberg: I make a motion that we allow them to drop out of D3 but remain in D2.
- Tate: Second.
- Sharpley: Any additional discussion and in particular if they refuse to play in D2, what do we do? Other options that other CRs have done is the precedent mentioned above (D3 but no advance) or we can disallow them participation in D3 as well.
- Tate: The second option is the only one with teeth in it…
- Kolberg: They waited this long to let us know about this, so we’re forced to make a decision. I agree that we should say that they can participate in D2 or be relegated to D4 (social).
- Corrigan: Looking at travel, if we have to make D2 work without Woodlands than we are putting unnecessary travel burden on the other teams. Since Woodlands requested a removal at such a late notice, we are forced to keep D2 as it is. This could “soften” the blow to Woodlands a bit.
- Kolberg: I amend my motion to be that we allow them to drop out of D3 but remain in D2. If they refuse to compete in D2 than they would be relegated to a social club and have no pathway to USA Rugby Playoffs. If they don’t accept then they have the opportunity to appeal.
- Watson: Second.
- Sharpley: Additional discussion? None.
- Kolberg – Approve
- Young – Approve
- Watson – Approve
- Butch – Approve
- Tate – Approve
- Corrigan – Approve
- Hughes – Approve
- Turner – Approve
- Kurylas – Approve
- Iker – Approve
- Keuppens – Approve
- Unanimous vote – APPROVED
- Sharpley: I will write this up and notify Woodlands.
- Kolberg: I make a motion that we allow them to drop out of D3 but remain in D2.
- Discussion –
- Philip Devos and Keith Jakupca joined the call at 9:15pm to discuss this petition, they are requesting to drop their D2 side and then only compete in D3. Lack of numbers, player safety (rookies) and an aging roster are the main driving reasons that they’ve requested to move down.
- Participation agreements
- Reps are working on gathering these, get them in ASAP.
- Sharpley: I motion that we these are required annually and should be sent out before the schedules are even started. That way we know what teams are participating in each division, etc. Any objections? None. APPROVED.
- Reps are working on gathering these, get them in ASAP.
- Any other business
- ARC Weekends – REFEREE BLACKOUT
- Young: Looking at those weekends again and we still have 40+ matches, these need to be moved. We have to locally support the event with some of our referees and they will want to attend matches.
- ARC Weekends – REFEREE BLACKOUT
- Woodlands petition to drop a team
- Close of the meeting – nlt 10:00pm
- Watson: Move that we adjourn.
- Sharpley: Any objections? NONE.
- Meeting adjourned at 10:18pm
**The RRRC was posting their minutes before this but updates weren’t being pushed out to the members. You can review the minutes before 11/14/16 here: https://texasrugbyunion.com/information/red-river-rugby-conference/rrrc-committee-minutes/