MEETING MINUTES

Minutes from September 26, 1999:

MARFU Board of Directors Meeting

The meeting began at 1155 on 5/16/99 at Nigel Willis' conference room (thanks, Nigel!) in Alexandria, VA.

Roll call:

Officers present: President (Reyn Kinzey), Secretary (David Chapman), Treasurer (Jamie Jisa), Director-at-Large (Nigel Willis). LAU Reps present: VRU (3): Kinzey, Kris Kabza, Carl Schmitt. PRU (3): Jisa, Tom Walsh (note: Willis had his proxy until Walsh appeared). EPRU (3): Dana Bateman, Elaine Recchiuti, Carl Ostermann). Non-Voting Member present: Mark Koiwai (MARR). Guest at the meeting was Jason Maloni (MARFU 7s Chair). Officer and LAU rep absent: Eric Pittelkau.

Minutes of the February Meeting.

5/99 minutes were approved by voice vote in the form as they were distributed/on-line.

Treasurer's Report.

Jamie passed around expenses to-date and provided a budget report. A question was raised about buying jerseys and delayed billing; if you need an item for next year and have money in the current budget, make the expenditure now. However, if you need to order an item now from this year's funds, make sure that the bill comes in before year-end close out (due to IRS reporting requirements).

A few Year 2000 budget scenarios were proposed for discussion at the December meeting: (1) the status quo, (2) an increase of $25/year for full members, and (3) an increase of $50/year for full members and $25 for associates. Board members are to review and make comments to Jamie and be ready to make a decision in December.

Discussed USA Rugby's cost-sharing proposal for travel to National Events. Consensus (no vote) was that it was not a good idea.

Media has still not come forth with the $1000 that they offered to MARFU for hosting the Spring 1999 Division II and III Men's Club Championships. Various folks are checking this out; it was noted that this could impact Media's bid chances for year 2000.

USA Rugby.

The new guideline for hosting national events has been posted by USA Rugby. A number of the requirements (if strictly applied to all hosts) will exclude many venues.

A new U23 Women's Collegiate All American Committee was announced by USA Rugby.

The group went over continuing problems with the CIPP database, various problems with the processors at Timberline and the frustrations of our TU, LAU and Club administrators who, in spite of all the hassles, are trying to do "the right thing".

Bids for Year 2000.

Bids for Year 2000 MARFU events (including 7s Qualifiers) are due to Eric Pittelkau by 11/30/99.

7s Report.

Jason reported that the Year 2000 MARFU Qualifiers would start no earlier than 6/10 because of potential Superleague and National Championship conflicts. Suggested delaying the actual award of 7's Qs until 1/15/00 to allow teams to get field guarantees. The 7s Committee is still discussing whether to keep the current three (3) Qualifier/12-teams-in-championship setup or to bring back the four (4) Qualifier/8-teams-in-championship system.

Relevant Year 2000 7s dates:

7/22 – MARFU 7s Championship

7/29 – MARFU 7s Select Side Camp

8/12-13 – 7s National Championship

8/26-27 – 7s ITTs

Men's Club League System.

Jason discussed the problem with the current league system. After some bantering between Jason, David C and others, Reyn asked Jason to pursue this matter to pursue
the matter by talking to Eric Pittelkau and asking Eric to communicate directly with
the men's clubs. David C mentioned that the Competitions Committee would be working on a proposal for Fall 2000 during the coming months.

Year 2000 Schedules.

To help all of our teams, administrators and referees for future planning, the following schedule was announced:

3/25-26 - MARFU Women's Clubs Final 4

3/25-26 - MARFU College Men and Women Div I and II Quarterfinals

4/1-2 - MARFU College Men and Women Div I and II Final Four and MARFU College Men Div I Consolations

4/15 - MARFU Men's Clubs Division II Quarterfinals

4/29-30 - MARFU Men's Clubs Division II Final 4 and MARFU Men's Clubs Division III Final 8 tournaments (Note: MARFU Men's Clubs Div I champions will be declared in Fall 1999.)

4/29-30 - PRU High School Championship

4/29-30 - EPRU High School Championship

5/6-7 - "Eastern" High School Championship

5/19-20 - National High School Championship

Men's Select Side.

Discussed dates sent out by Lindy Birch. Carl Schmitt was not happy with the 11/13 date; it was disadvantageous to the VRU because of the Fall season and distances that had to be traveled.

Sun, October 31 - PRU Training, Washington Area

Wed, November 3 - PRU Training, Washington Area

Sun, November 7 - PRU v. EPRU, Philadelphia

Wed, November 10 - PRU Training, Washington Area

Sat, November 13 - MARFU Championships - Washington Area - PRU v. New Zealand Embassy, VRU v. EPRU

Sun, November 14 - MARFU All Day Training, Washington Area

Sat, November 20 - MARFU v. NRU, Monmouth, NJ

Sat, November 27 - MARFU Training or possible match, Baltimore

December 1 - 5 N.A.S.C. - Tampa, Florida (leave Wednesday night, return Sunday night)

MARR.

A conversation ensued concerning the proposed USA Rugby Referees Association (USARRA). Mark stated the changes that some felt needed to be made; he noted that the by-laws for the organization are in draft.

Of the three MARFU-area LAU referees societies, one was for the concept (Potomac), one was against (Virginia) and one was undecided (Eastern Penn).

MARR had asked for a different way in having MARFU expenses paid in Year 2000; they recommended a fee-for-service system. The amount that the MARR proposed was very close to what MARFU had offered. As a result, Jamie and Mark will attempt to negotiate a new system prior to the AGM for the Year 2000 budget submission.

Select Side Conflict.

Steve Cohen had submitted a request to inquire about a conflict between the PRU Men's Collegiate Div II tournament and the MARFU College Select Side weekend. Jamie stated that the PRU had pointed out the conflict to their clubs and the PRU reports that the clubs have no problem with the clash in events.

College Playoff Seeding Structure.

Kris mentioned the yearly problem with properly seeding the Collegiate playoffs. As a result, the College Men's Committee will re-look at seeding procedures; the College Women's Committee will do something in parallel.

It was noted that Becky Snyder is the new EPRU College Women's Coordinator, having taken over from Dawn White, the new EPRU President.

Youth.

Pat Walsh had previously submitted the Youth report via Email to the MARFU BOD. In addition, he has asked the board members who also sit on the USA Rugby board to find out why the Youth website hasn't been posted.

National Voting.

The deadline for voting in the USA Rugby Board of Directors election is 10/15/99 and we should encourage all of our many CIPP registered members to vote and to support MARFU candidates. It was noted that the ballot had been on the USA Rugby web site for a while, but (as of the MARFU meeting) no one other than USA BOD members had received a hardcopy ballot via Touchline.

Division II College Men and Women.

The quarterfinals are on 3/25/99, but a final determination has to be made on priority of host choices (e.g., who has 1st choice between the VRU or PRU or EPRU if teams from those areas bid).

Colleges.

Villanova has asked USA Rugby (under the new USA Rugby guidelines) to be admitted as a collegiate team that does not have the sanction of their university. Their request is pending.

The board watched a video of a DC-area (local) Fox News broadcast concerning an incident revolving around a DC neighborhood and behavior by Catholic Rugby Club players (among others). The board discussed the incident with BOD member Tom Walsh, who is also the coach of Catholic Rugby, as well as the owner of the house where some of the players live. The PRU reps noted to the board that an action was being taken as a result of the incident. It was pointed out that Catholic soccer players and others were involved in the incidents at different locations in the neighborhood (it was not confined to just the Catholic Rugby player's domicile), but, unfortunately, the news crew pointed out the rugby players specifically.

Logo.

Elaine was interested in the MARFU Shark logo used by the Norfolk Blues at their 7s events; David will forward Cathy Wright's phone number to her.

Next Meeting and adjournment:

The next BOD session will be the AGM on December 12. The meeting was adjourned at 1538.