MEETING MINUTES

 

Minutes from May 6, 2001:

Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes From: Sunday, May 6, 2000, 9:00 AM
The Sportsplex, Virginia Beach, VA.

Call to Order: 9:00 am
Roll Call: Officers present:
President Reyn Kinzey,
Vice President Dawn White,
Secretary Carl Schmitt,
Treasurer DJ Jefferis,
Director-at-Large Nigel Willis.
LAU Reps present:
VRU (3): Kinzey, Kris Kabza, David Chapman.
PRU (3): Eric Pittelkau, Pat Costello, and Jamie Jisa (for Tom Walsh).
EPRU (3): Dana Bateman, Elaine Recchiuti, and Carl Ostermann.
Appearances by Mark Koiwai and Dave Harwood (both of MARR).

February 4, 2001 Meeting Minutes - Approved with exception.

Treasurer's Report:
MARFU has (approx) $20,955 in cash, with $45,000 due from the LAU's. The MARR has spent $5,120 of their $9000 budget. MARR did provide a detailed breakdown of charges from the Collegiate Men's and Women's Division I & II 2001 Championships. DJ. requested (which was provided by the Secretary) a copy of MARR's budget estimate, to compare with the actual costs.

Proposal Requirement: That MARFU require each Senior Men and Women's Club
to have at least one accredited referee in its membership.
It was decided that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to enforce this requirement at the MARFU level. The PRU has and attempted to enforce this policy, the PRU has this policy but does not attempt enforcement, and the VRU reports that they had this requirement for a few years, but could not enforce it, so repealed it at a later day. Carl S. floated a suggestion that MARFU begin a Touch Judges Corp of trained, certified and paid touch judges for use at MARFU Championships, All-star Events, and major League matches in all divisions. This would help relieve the burden of having refs touch judge at these events, and provide a subtle way to introduce skilled players and old boys to the society of Referees. It was generally, (but not completely) agreed that MARFU needed to wait for the MARR to develop a touch judge certification program. Ultimately no motion was made on this agenda item, and it was decided that this issue was best dealt with at the LAU level.

Policy on Full, Associate, LAU-only teams:
 The numbers and classification of clubs reported by the LAU'S (for voting and tax dues purposes) was revised as follows. It was noted the Happy Valley must be listed as a full member because they participated in, and hosted, a MARFU Championship event.

            EPRU    PRU     VRU
Full        73      43      32      = 148
Associate    7       0       1      =   8
Local LAU    2       2       0      =   4
            82      45      33      = 160
Clubs desiring to enter teams in multiple Divisions:
 This issue was tabled until USARFU reaches a determination on what USARFU's policy on the subject will be. It was noted that while USA bases its revenue source on number of players (CIPP registration), MARFU determines its dues based on number of clubs competing. An example would be if a club has teams in a Men's and a Women's division, do they count as two clubs for dues purposes?. What if a club has a Men's Division I team and a Men's Division III team? The argument might be made that both are using the same amount of resources as two individual clubs.

Collegiate Men's Division III (EPRU vs VRU) Challenge Match:
It was reported that for the Spring 2002 Championship Season the VRU and the EPRU would schedule a Men's Collegiate Division III playoff. It was requested that if this initial fixture went well that MARFU consider initiating a formal Men's Collegiate Division III Championship in 2003.

MARFU Collegiate Men's Consolation Round:
The MARFU Collegiate Men's Committee recommended no change at this time.

Collegiate All-star Championships; 2001:
The date and venue (November 17 and 18, 2001, at Dorey Park in Richmond, Virginia) had previously been set by the MRFU Collegiate Committee. Competing in a round robin format will be the EPRU, PRU and VRU Men's All-stars, and the EPRU, PRU and VRU Women's Under-23 sides.

Set the date, seeding, format for 2002 Collegiate Championships:
Motion was made by Carl Schmitt, seconded by Jamie Jisa, that the Collegiate Men's Committee provide the LAU seed allotment for the 2002 Championships prior to the beginning of the Fall 2001 League Season. A roll call vote was requested, and the motion failed (For: Costello, Jisa, Schmitt, Pittlekau, and Chapman; Against: Kinzey, Bateman, White, Ostermann, Recchiuti, Kabza, and Jefferis; Abstain: Willis).

Update on Men's and Women's All Stars/ ITT's:
Reyn Kinzey and Elaine Recchiuti reported on the USARFU ITT plans for 2001. The Men's ITT's are currently scheduled for the weekend prior to Thanksgiving, possibly due to the USA/South Africa match scheduled for December. When this was announced, Reyn reports that he told Anne Barry (USARFU President) that MARFU would more than likely not send a team. Reyn also reported that Anne assured him we would not be fined or sanctioned for not participating. The MARFU Board agreed that there is no way can support this schedule, due to the fact that league play in MARFU is ending around this time, and there was no time left to assemble and prepare a competitive MARFU side. Pat Costello made the motion, seconded by Jamie Jisa, that MARFU will not provide a side to compete in the 2001 ITT's. The motion passed by voice vote. It was noted that this did not mean that MARFU would not assemble a squad and play several fixtures. The president was charged with appointing an Ad Hoc Committee to develop MARFU All-star Goals and Policies. Elaine reports that the Women's ITT's dates are still up in the air, but that MARFU will be competing intends on competing.

Pending Announcement of Fall Men's Club Schedules:
Chapman and Pittlekau report that very few clubs paid the deposit required by USARFU to begin the National Division I league. MARFU has three (maybe four) teams that submitted money: Brandywine, Schuylkill, and Maryland Exiles, and possibly Media. There seems to a problem in some clubs with the split season, and the fact the SL teams need fall matches. In any event, USA has not made a final determination what the league structure will be as of this date, and so MARFU cannot finalize its leagues and schedules.

The meeting was completed and adjourned at 11:30 AM., and all parties moved to the bleachers to enjoy the 2001 Collegiate Men's Championship Matches.