The meeting began at 1105 at the Alexandria Hilton Mark Center in Alexandria, VA.
Roll call:
Officers present: President (Reyn Kinzey), Vice President Eric Pittelkau, Secretary (David Chapman), Treasurer (Jamie Jisa), Director-at-Large (Nigel Willis). LAU Reps present: VRU (3): Kinzey, Kris Kabza, Carl Schmitt. PRU (3): Pittelkau, Pat Costello, Tom Walsh. EPRU (3): Dana Bateman, Elaine Recchiuti, Carl Ostermann. Non-Voting Member present: Mark Koiwai (MARR). Others in attendance: Dawn White (President EPRU), John Dyduck (Disciplinary Committee Chair).
Regular Meeting:
Minutes of the September Meeting.
Elaine moved to accept, Dana seconded. Approved on voice vote.
KO'ed Player Policy.
Quite a bit of discussion started about setting up a general policy to ensure the safety of players who have been knocked out/concussed. It was pointed out that the USA lawbook used to have a clear policy, but, with the "plain language" book now in print, all of the USA edicts are not as evident.
A
motion was made to
make a player sit out for 3 weeks if they were concussed, but no second to the motion was put forward. However, Eric moved that we adopt the policy that appears in the EPRU handbook of "A player who is suffering definite concussion should not participate in any match or training session for a period of at least three weeks from the time of injury and then only subject to being cleared by a proper neurological examination". Approved on voice vote. This will be posted on the web site.
Website Material Needed.
David C mentioned that the majority of "working" material on the MARFU web site was oriented towards Men's Club 15s or 7s, due to the items that he or Eric put out there or work done by the 7s Committee. He also mentioned the Email messages he gets from other sectors (Women's community, colleges) asking where their stuff is; his standard answer is that their coordinators have not provided on-going data or league information. Therefore, David C requested "stuff" from folks (although if "stuff" changed every 15 minutes, he would allocate accounts for coordinators to upload the data themselves).
Review of 2001 Event Applications.
3/31-4/1: College M/W Div I/II Championships. Roanoke (VRU) provided a bid for the event; the only question had to do with the $1,500 field rental fee, but it was pointed out that the entire championship event was being held at a single location and had quite a large number of teams to accommodate; additionally, the quality of the fields was known to a number of the board members from the VRU and PRU. Bid was approved by voice vote.
4/28-29: Men's Club Div II. Two teams bid on the event (Severn River (PRU) and United (VRU)). Severn River's bid was accepted by a vote of 7-6-1 (for Severn River: Eric (2), Nigel, Kris, Tom, Elaine, CarlO; for United: Reyn (2), David C, CarlS, Pat, Dana; abstained: Jamie.
4/28-29: Men's Club Div III. Happy Valley was the only club that bid; the bid was approved by voice vote.
4/7-8: Women's Club. Philadelphia W was the only club to bid on the event, but it was sent back in order to get a firm commitment on the field (the field offered was already known to have been otherwise reserved). Deadline to reply was set at 1/6/01.
Men's 7's Qualifiers: Only two bids for qualifiers were submitted to date (Lehigh Valley on 6/9/01 and Norfolk Blues on 7/14/01). Both were accepted. Two more qualifiers will be awarded and new bids will be examined at the MARFU February BOD meeting.
Men's 7's Championship: Only one bid was received (Norfolk Blues) for the 7/28/01 event. Bid was accepted.
Men's Division I Championship: Clarified that the 4/21/01 match would be the #3 team at the field of the #2 team and that the championship would be on 4/28 with the 4/21/01 winner at the home field of the #1 team. (Note: these teams are the three Div I non-Superleague teams and are the Maryland Exiles, Baltimore-Chesapeake, and NOVA, in no particular order).
It was mentioned that the East Coast High School Championships would be in New England on 5/5-6/01 (although there appeared to be some doubt on the location).
Review of 11/2000 USAR BOD Meeting.
Reyn went over the notes that have already been published in Rugby Magazine and made some additional comments. In particular, there was concern over the coming Strategic Planning Conference and the direction that USAR will be taking over the next 5 years and that the Planning Committee will be stacked to provide a pre-destined outcome. Discussed the proposed/possible changes in Division I play, multiple teams in various levels of playoffs and affects on Major League Rugby.
Note: the issue of Club 3rd Sides in MARFU playoffs will be addressed at the February BOD meeting.
Improper Match Cancellations.
The Disciplinary Committee offered the following policy: "If a club cancels a match without a one-week notice (one week: Saturday-to-Saturday), they will be fined $100.00 plus any incurred referee's fees. Also, reimbursement of any legitimate, fully documented and unrecoverable expense to the aggrieved club by the offending club will be considered." Approved by voice vote.
Review of MARR Expenses for MARFU Events.
David C stated that the report that was asked for by the President and Secretary had not been provided in the requested format (e.g., a true full accounting was not provided; only a roll-up overview was displayed). By voice vote, the BOD requested a full accounting by 1/15/01.
Men's Club Competition for Fall 2001 - Spring 2002.
David C stated that no decisions had been made yet on next year because of the highly likely restructuring that will be made by USAR regarding non-Superleague Div I teams and that we were, basically, hamstrung until a decision was handed down. There are too many scenarios to even consider at this stage.
Eric proposed the following: " All Championship Division teams will complete their league schedule obligations or be subject to sanctions which will include, at a minimum, being barred from any MARFU competition, whether league, non-league, or playoff matches, for the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 season, and will be considered not in good standing for any national championship competition." Approved by voice vote.
Decision On Seeding For The MARFU Collegiate Div. I Men's Playoffs.
Discussion ensued regarding the seedings for the college playoffs since the VRU had gone to only two Div I teams and had earned three slots. Two proposals were made: Jamie's was voted down, but Kris' proposal (the majority Collegiate Men's Committee opinion) was approved by a vote of 8-6 (For: Reyn (2), David C, CarlS, Kris, Dana, Elaine, CarlO; Against: Eric (2), Jamie, Nigel, Tom, Pat) (First Round: Navy/Drexel, Va Tech/Towson St, Penn State/Princeton, Kutztown/JMU).
Policy Concerning About A Player's Eligibility To Play For MARFU If He Or She Does Not Play For His Or Her LAU In The LAU Competition.
Tom proposed that players who fail to play for their LAU would be ineligible to play for the MARFU side unless their LAU is willing to consider the player's request for reinstatement to the MARFU side. Approved by a vote of 10-4 (For: Eric (2), David C, Jamie, Nigel, CarlS, Tom, Pat, Dana, CarlO; Against: Reyn (2), Kris, Elaine).
Policy Regarding Rain Or Wet Condition Problems During MARFU Events.
Kris will help develop a draft policy.
AGM:
Committee Reports
Received various committee reports. Mitch Bernstein has stepped down after his two-year teem as MARFU Senior Men's Select Side Coach; the BOD will be soliciting for applicants. The BOD endorsed the candidates for the Women's Selects. Women's U-23 Committee indicated possible interest in a Collegiate Div I W's league for Fall 2001.
Preliminary Numbers for 2001
For 2001, the VRU, PRU and EPRU reported 32-0-0, 43-1-0 and, 75-5-2 full, associate and LAU-only members, respectively.
Treasurer's Report.
Jamie reported the expenditures for the year and presented the budget that had been previously reviewed. Passed by voice vote.
Election of officers.
Reyn and David pointed out that we had not been following the By-Laws in previous elections; no more than two people from any LAU can occupy an elected seat on the four-five member Executive Committee (the number depends on whether the 5th slot is an elected "At-Large" position or is for the "Past President" (an unelected position by virtue of a past office)). Therefore, several candidates voluntarily dropped out of the running for the elections.
The following are the results (done by secret, weighted ballots):
President: Reyn Kinzey received 91 votes to Eric Pittelkau's 43 to remain as President.
VP: Dawn White won election over the incumbent Eric Pittelkau (91-43).
Secretary: Carl Schmitt ran unopposed and was accepted.
Treasurer: Don Jefferis won election over the incumbent Jamie Jisa (91-43).
At-Large: Nigel Willis ran unopposed and was accepted.