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 and Roll Call (A.Sharpley)
- Sharpley
- Young
- Kolberg
- Watson
- Butch
- Kurylas
- Turner
- Keuppens
- Tate
- Approval of the Agenda (A.Sharpley)
- Kolberg: I move to approve.
- Watson: Second.
- Approval of previous meeting minutes (W.Young)
- Kolberg: I move to approve.
- Watson: Second.
- National competitions update (A.Sharpley)
- Watson: I attended the Congress meeting over the weekend, our insurance may be changing to where it’s a second insurance instead of catastrophic. There will also be some major changes at the National office. The TRU got a lot of recognition and they were very happy.
- Sharpley: We had the TRU AGM yesterday and Dan Payne, USA Rugby CEO attended and gave the TRU lots of kudos. He confirmed that USAR will be looking to host more International test matches in our area in the near future.
- Divisional updates and CMS Compliance
- Men’s D1 (J.Kolberg, K.Tate)
- Gold Cup
- Sharpley: We may be moving locations of the matches bc we couldn’t get our permit to upgrade our lights approved. But it looks like it will likely be at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.
- Texas Cup
- Sharpley: HARC indicated that they will do be playing the additional required matches.
- Kolberg: I talked with John Dale and he is working on getting 2 games.
- Young: They scheduled one against Kansas City on 3/11 in Tulsa (the Quins).
- Texas Cup
- Sharpley: We may be moving locations of the matches bc we couldn’t get our permit to upgrade our lights approved. But it looks like it will likely be at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.
- Men’s D2 (L.Turner, D.Corrigan)
- Forfeits
- Turner: Ft Worth is working with Little Rock to reschedule their played forfeit. San Antonio v Woodlands is also being rescheduled.
- Turner: Little Rock has had 2 forfeits against them but 12/3 Little Rock vs Euless hasn’t been updated in CMS yet.
- Young: Ok, I will fix that now (http://usarugbystats.com/competition/459/match/11245)
- Turner: Little Rock has had 2 forfeits against them but 12/3 Little Rock vs Euless hasn’t been updated in CMS yet.
- Turner: Ft Worth is working with Little Rock to reschedule their played forfeit. San Antonio v Woodlands is also being rescheduled.
- Forfeits
- Men’s D3 (T.Hughes, J.Kurylas)
- Kurylas: CMS looks good and I’m watching the multiple sides for eligibility as well.
- Women’s Hybrid D1/D2 (H.Iker, W.Young)
- Young: The women have been on a break but action is starting back up again soon. CMS looks good.
- Turner: I didn’t see that the Women’s D2 was included in the RRRC Playoffs?
- Young: Right, the TRU Women’s D2 Championship is on a different weekend. I will also send out a reminder to the D2 teams so they don’t forget that weekend. We don’t have a policy for a host for that, but we could either mimic the RRRC bid process or we go neutral for travel. I will chat with Holly about that.
- TRU update (K.Tate, W.Young)
- Tate: We had the Winter/Spring AGM yesterday and it was light attendance. We talked at length about that and we will be asking the members if they want to keep having this meeting or perhaps we go digital or release an in-depth report? We also talked about that our CIPP numbers are down this year but all of our major communities are growing by leaps and bounds.
- Sharpley: Have you done any analysis to determine if that is regionally based or widespread?
- Tate: I have and you can see the data here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13hZdfN0Rhs2ix5BMbTCgllLHvehwENYSuatxjgDbzBk/edit#gid=940184923
- Sharpley: In the past we’ve had major issues with field policies and that doesn’t seem to be as big as an issue?
- Tate: I wouldn’t go that far, I haven’t had any referee’s report any issues but I’ve heard anecdotally about some fields. My response has been that we need the referees to report this or the teams can.
- Young: Luke mentioned Euless and I was able to go to their home field and offer some suggestions. Mostly it’s issues with multiple color lines and lack of “tall” cones.
- Turner: Yes, I was really nervous from what I’d heard but the field was really nice.
- Watson: Wendy, have you heard anything about Abilene?
- Young: No.
- Keuppens: Univ of Dallas played Abilene College and I believe that’s the same as the men’s teams play. There were no flags, no goal post pads, and a curb in close proximity. I talked to the coach and he mentioned it was an alternate field for them, so maybe it’s not always that way?
- Young: So why did you kick off without goal post pads?
- Keuppens: Because they were in the back of the try zone and we improvised with our hit shields.
- Tate: It’s probably up to our best interest to send them a notice.
- Kurylas: I will send out a notice tonight.
- Young: I will also send out a reminder to the referees as they are our main policing force for this.
- Sharpley: Have you done any analysis to determine if that is regionally based or widespread?
- Tate: We had the Winter/Spring AGM yesterday and it was light attendance. We talked at length about that and we will be asking the members if they want to keep having this meeting or perhaps we go digital or release an in-depth report? We also talked about that our CIPP numbers are down this year but all of our major communities are growing by leaps and bounds.
- TRAA Report (B.Neuenschwander)
- Referee Availability
- Butch: A note about this, we are using a scheduling system and referees mark themselves as available as they can. So we do often know if a referee is available for a weekend and reschedules.
- Referee Assignments
- Butch: We have agreed to contracts for all of our various conferences and competitions. So when referees CIPP they agree to referee those contracted matches and the teams included. Today we had to terminate a referee’s membership because he was officiating matches with a conference that we don’t have a contract with. Now you may be asking why we terminated a referee when we are hurting for numbers, we have to service our contracted teams and members first and foremost.
- Watson: What is the conference that TRRA is not contracted with?
- Butch: Yes, that is D1A Collegiate. They were in contract with USA Rugby originally but were dropped due to referee abuse and a few other issues. They contacted us and we were in contract negotiations but those broke down and it was never established.
- Watson: Who are they getting their referees from then?
- Butch: Various areas, this past weekend a referee from SoCal and also one from NorCal.
- Butch: We have agreed to contracts for all of our various conferences and competitions. So when referees CIPP they agree to referee those contracted matches and the teams included. Today we had to terminate a referee’s membership because he was officiating matches with a conference that we don’t have a contract with. Now you may be asking why we terminated a referee when we are hurting for numbers, we have to service our contracted teams and members first and foremost.
- Field Policies
- Butch: The day that we make technical zones a requirement will be the best day of my life! It makes it so much easier to manage for everyone involved and looks so professional.
- Referee Conversations
- Butch: So referee abuse is down but the amount of “chatter” to referees and ARs is off the charts. It should only be the captain speaking to the referee. We have reserve players that are asking ARs to speak to the referee as well as coaches.
- Advantage Software
- Butch: The USA Rugby High Performance Referee team is releasing a new software that allows any referee to upload a match and get feedback. So we really really need video. We have our solo shots coming but we need to depend on the teams until then. This is only going to help develop our referees and at a faster pace.
- Sharpley: We had a report at the AGM that at the Lonestar vs Galveston match a prop went down (knocked out) and then returned in the second half.
- Butch: That is an issue, we are not doing Head Injury Assessments at our levels and I will check with the referee.
- Young: They claimed that they did a front row sub injury.
- Referee Availability
- RRRC Playoffs venue
- Young: There have been zero bids.
- Turner: Tulsa is sending one in.
- Kolberg: Dodge is preparing one for the Reds.
- Any other business
- RRRC 7s
- Keuppens: Two weeks ago, the 7s directors held a conference call and included David Dodge (TOLA) and Luke Turner. We discussed the competitive level of our series and the fact that teams may struggle with getting players eligible due to lack of tournaments. We’d like to propose the following:
- (TO BE CONFIRMED)
- June 17 – Bloodfest
- June 24 – North (Tulsa/Norman/Little Rock)
- July 8 – South (Austin/San Antonio/Houston)
- July 22 – Central (DFW)
- We will also be working to bring in outside teams to bring up the competition. Points would flow down at that point as Glendale wouldn’t be able to advance in our area.
- Kolberg: Whoa, this is totally unfair for the teams that are in the “pool of death”.
- Keuppens: There is precedent in other areas and we are following their lead. A Lot of other regions encourage this as they feel it prepares their teams for the competition. The fact is that our seeds didn’t perform at Nationals and we have to do something to raise the level.
- Sharpley: Yes, but that is an argument as this is only a proposal. This still has to be approved by the committee.
- Keuppens: Correct, this is a proposal.
- Tate: Can you guys put together a formal proposal? I’m having a hard time following everything.
- Sharpley: Note that we aren’t voting on this tonight. This is just an informal proposal.
- Young: We also wanted to make sure the dates get out there ASAP. While these aren’t confirmed yet, we at least wanted to start the conversation.
- Keuppens: I will have the proposal to the RRRC by the end of the week.
- Will Lyon (Alliance)
- Tate: 1/28/2017, the Alliance Rugby Club fielded a suspended player, Will Lyon CIPP# 2273693, in their match against Grand Prairie. The matter is currently under review by the TRU Board. I’ve spoken with Alliance and they acknowledged that they played him but incorrectly assumed that they were able to play him until the DC ruling came down.
- Sharpley: So they’ve admitted to playing him and it’s been recorded in CMS, so it’s self-fulfilling.
- Tate: Agree, my feeling is that it needs to be marked as a forfeit.
- Kolberg: Second (I agree).
- Sharpley: What was the score of the match?
- Young: Alliance 29 Grand Prairie 12 (http://usarugbystats.com/competition/461/match/11088)
- Sharpley: Any opposition? None. APPROVED.
- Sharpley: Wendy, will you change CMS to indicate the forfeit by Alliance.
- Tate: I will be notifying them on behalf of the TRU, but I didn’t want to speak on the behalf of the RRRC before we chatted.
- Sharpley: I’m happy to let it come from you, just CC me.
- Sharpley: Any opposition? None. APPROVED.
- Tate: 1/28/2017, the Alliance Rugby Club fielded a suspended player, Will Lyon CIPP# 2273693, in their match against Grand Prairie. The matter is currently under review by the TRU Board. I’ve spoken with Alliance and they acknowledged that they played him but incorrectly assumed that they were able to play him until the DC ruling came down.
- RRRC 7s
- Close of the meeting NLT 10:00pm (closed at 10:10pm)
- Watson: Move we adjourn.
- Young: Second.