In attendance:

President - Reyn Kinzey

Vice-President - Pat Costello

Treasurer - (Pat Costello acting)

East Penn Rep - Dana Bateman (replaces Kristin McCarthy)

East Penn Rep - Sean Conroy

East Penn Rep - Carl Ostermann

Potomac Rep - Ed Gaffney (replaces Tom Walsh)

Potomac Rep - Tom Lyons

Potomac Rep - Eric Pittelkau

Virginia Rep - David Chapman

Virginia Rep - Kris Kabza

HS Coordinator - Nigel Willis

Guests: 

Paul Rozensweig, President Potomac Referee Society (for Mark Koiwai)

Alan Matas (East Penn)

Absent

Secretary - Carl Schmitt

At- Large - Elaine Recchiuti

EPRU - Kristin McCarthy

PRU - Tom Walsh

Call to order at 11:20

Kris Kabza will keep minutes in Carl Schmitt’s absence

MARFU High School Tournament Issues Nigel Willis

Nigel reported on the "new" playoff system versus the "old".  The old system had "east" representatives, whereas the "new" system would have MARFU representatives.  The hosting of the MARFU competition would rotate between the East Penn Rugby Union and the Potomac Rugby Union.

There were concerns about some of the clubs not having a certified coach.  Pat Costello suggested that a requirement should be passed that required these clubs to have a coach within 2 years.  The discussion was tabled for the reason that a similar proposal was on the agenda.

Nigel reported that there are some safety concerns in regard to the level of the referees that been assigned to some of the playoff matches.  A number of referees are believed to be C3 level certified.  Nigel expressed that because of the level of competition in the playoffs, a higher-grade referee should be assigned to the match.  While many of the board members expressed support for Nigel's comments, Paul Rozensweig replied that "many scheduling conflicts due to multiple events" led to lower level referees receiving the assignments.  Paul said he would relay the board's concerns to the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Referees Society.

Treasurer's Report  (Patrick Costello)

Pat presented a written summary of the year. The report was broken into 5 sections.

1.   A history of Pat's job since his appointment in April 2002.

2.   Original reports, prior to Pat investigating our 2001 budget, indicated that MARFU would be approximately $4700 under budget.  However, after paying off several debts and obligations, Pat discovered that the MARFU 2001 budget was approximately $5100 over budget.

3.   For 2002, it was reported that MARFU would exceed its budget by approximately $2000.  Overages mainly fell in four categories:  Internal Championships, Trophies, National Event Grants, and Jerseys.

4.   The only outstanding bills were for men's and women's all-star programs, which was in progress the same weekend as the meeting.

5.   To make up for the budget deficits, the funding to the 2003 all-star programs has been reduced.  Pat proposed that the union dues be increased for 2004.

Pat presented a list of MARFU's spending.  The list included all MARFU spending from January 1, 2002 through December 6, 2002.  For this period, the inflow for MARFU was $80,577.03.  The outflow for the same period was $70,245.58 - a difference of $10,331.45.  Giving an overall balance of $17,348.47.  It was noted that there would still be additional spending through the end of the year since the ITT’s were not yet completed.

Pat presented a summary breaking down the amounts MARFU would receive if union dues were increased.  The summary included the total amount MARFU receives under its current structure, and what the union get receive with increases of $25, $35, $50, $75, and $100 per team.  Under the current structure MARFU receives $59,775.  With a $100 increase, this would lead to a total of $75,575

Pat presented the amount he felt could be saved by having one permanent MARFU CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY per division, instead of issuing trophies each year for the divisions.  The cost for ten trophies, plus shipping would be approximately $800.  For reference, the amount spent on trophies in 2002 was $1385.90.

Pat presented the budget for 2003.  The budget was reviewed.  It was proposed modifications were as follows.

1.   The $1200 allocated for Awards was reduced to 50.

2.   The $100 allocated to the Director at Large was reduced to $50

3.   The $100 allocated to the Handbook was reduced to $0

4.   The $500 allocated to the Men's Club Committee was reduced to $250

5.   The $500 allocated to the Men's College Committee was reduced to $0.  The $500 was reallocated to a category "Special Grants".

6.   The $100 allocated to the President was reduced to $50

7.   The $100 allocated to the Vice-President was reduced to $50

8.   The $500 allocated to the Women's College Committee was reduced to $250.

Motion (Reyn Kinzey):  The MARFU 2003 budget be accepted as proposed with revisions made by the MARFU Board.

Second:  Pat Costello

Motion passed unanimously

Select Side Roster Proposal  (Pat Costello)

Motion (Pat Costello):  Starting in calendar year 2003, the men's and women's select side fifteens teams will include on its roster, at the minimum, two college side players and one under 19 player.

After some discussion, Pat decided to withdraw his motion.

Certified Coach Proposal  (Pat Costello)

Motion: (Pat Costello):  By the beginning of 1 January 2004, all high school, youth, and college sides, whether they are playing for a national championship or not, will have at least one coach who has been level 1 qualified.

Second:  no immediate second

This produced a lot of discussion.  Most of the Board members favored the idea, but felt the wording of the motion should be modified.  Eventually, the following was put forth:

Motion: (Pat Costello):  By January 1^st, 2004, all high school, college, and clubs must have at least one coach who has been USA Rugby level 1 qualified.  If a team does not have a certified coach, they must have a certified coach no later than the next available MARFU clinic.  If a team does not have a coach, they will be suspended from play.  The MARFU Board of Directors will review for approval exceptions to this policy.

Second:  Reyn Kinzey

Motion Passed

Status of IUP  (Sean Conroy)

Some concerned had been expressed that IUP was not formally released from the Midwest RU and Allegheny RU and that IUP was not correctly accepted according to MARFU bylaws, specifically that no documentation of the release was filed with the Secretary of the MARFU Territory).  The history of IUP joining MARFU was discussed.  There were no objections by the Board as to the way IUP was released from the Midwest and was accepted by MARFU.  It was noted that all future transfers into and out of the Territory must be documented completely with the MARFU Secretary for the Territories files.

Vacancy of Chair of Collegiate Men’s Committee  (Reyn Kinzey)

The Board was formally informed that Steve Cohen has resigned as the men's collegiate committee chair.  No replacement has yet been named.

Resolution of MARFU Collegiate Seeds  (Kris Kabza)

The men's collegiate committee presented the following playoff setup.

Div 1

PRU 4 Seeds

EPRU 2 Seeds

VRU 2 Seeds

Pool A

QF1 - Penn State (PRU1) hosts West Chester EPRU2)

QF2 - Va Tech (VRU1) hosts Towson (PRU4)

Pool B

QF3 - Princeton (EPRU1) hosts IUP (PRU3)

QF4 - Navy (PRU2) hosts James Madison (VRU2)

Second Round

Pool A

Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2

Loser QF1 vs. Loser QF2

Pool B

Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4

Loser QF3 vs. Loser QF4

Final Round

1st Place - Pool A #1 v Pool B #1

3rd Place - Pool A #2 v Pool B #2

5th Place - Pool A #3 v Pool B #3

8th Place - Pool A #4 v Pool B #4

Div 2

PRU 3 Seeds

VRU 3 Seeds

EPRU 2 Seeds

QF1 - Georgetown (PRU1) hosts Mary Washington (VRU3)

QF2 - UVA (VRU2) hosts Temple (EPRU2)

QF3 - Radford (VRU1) hosts Johns Hopkins (PRU3)

QF4 - York (EPRU1) hosts Salisbury (PRU2)

Semis (no consolation round)

Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2

Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4

1st Place Winners of semis

3rd Place Losers of semis

Motion (Reyn Kinzey):  Accept both bids.

Second:  Eric Pittelkau

Motion passed by voice vote

Collegiate Men's All-Star Coach  (Kris Kabza)

The Board was informed that Steve Guiffre has stepped down as the men's collegiate all-star coach.  Kris said he would conduct a search to replace Steve.

Hosting 2003 MARFU Collegiate Events  (Kris Kabza)

Penn State University submitted a bid to host the Div I Collegiate Playoffs, March 2003.

St. Mary's submitted a bid to host the Div II Collegiate Playoffs, March 2003.

Motion (Reyn Kinzey):  Accept both bids based upon financial approval of the treasurer.

Second:

Motion passed unanimously

Bids for Additional MARFU Events  (Chapman)

Two bids were submitted to host the Men's Div III Playoffs.  The bids were submitted by Newport News and South Jersey.  Date of event is April 26-27, 2003.

Motion (Reyn Kinzey):  Accept Newport News' bid.

Second?

Motion passed 8-3

Two bids were submitted to host the Men's Div II Playoffs.  North Penn and Norfolk submitted the bids.  Date of event is April 19-20, 2003.

Motion (Reyn Kinzey):  Accept North Penn's bid.

Second?

Motion passed 7-4

Three clubs submitted bids to host a MARFU 7's Qualifier.  The bids were submitted by Norfolk (July 12), Lehigh Valley (June 7), and NOVA (date TBD).

Motion (Reyn Kinzey):  Accept Norfolk and Lehigh Valley's bid.

Second:  Sean Conroy

Motion passed by voice vote

Note:  Without a date for Nova’s bid, the Board chooses to delay voting to accept or reject the bid.

A bid was submitted by Washington to host the MARFU Men's 7s Finals.  Date of event is July 26.

Motion (Reyn Kinzey):  Accept Washington's bid based upon financial approval of the treasurer.

Second:  (??)

Motion passed unanimously

A bid was submitted by Philly Women to host the MARFU Women's Club Championship.  Date of event is April 5 - 6.

Motion (Reyn Kinzey):  Accept Washington's bid based upon financial approval of the treasurer.

Second:  Sean Conroy

Motion passed unanimously

A bid was submitted by the PRU & Wilmington (EPRU) to host the MARFU High School Championship.  Date of event is May 3 - 4. It was determined that in the rotation, it is currently the PRU's turn to host in 2003. EPRU will host in 2004.

Motion (Eric Pittelkau):  We review the bid from the PRU.  By December 15, MARFU would vote between the PRU & Wilmington.

Second?

Motion passed by voice vote

MARFU Medical Policy (Eric Pittelkau)

The Board discussed the presence of medical personnel at games.  Additionally, the IRB concussion law was reviewed.  No actions were taken.

LAU Team Declarations

For 2003, the LAU declared the following number of clubs:

East Penn         78 Full 1 Associate      6 LAU

Potomac           44 Full 0 Associate      1 LAU

Virginia             39 Full 0 Associate      0 LAU

TOTAL:           161 Full            1 Associate      7 LAU

New Business

Keystone - Eric Pittelkau felt that MARFU should have made a greater effort to keep Keystone from leaving the territory.  Reyn Kinzey replied that the issues with Keystone were LAU issues - that East Penn did not treat Keystone unfairly.  Reyn stated that East Penn treated Keystone like another other EPRU team.

The meeting minutes from the previous MARFU meeting were delayed until the next MARFU meeting.

Officer Elections  (Reyn Kinzey)

Votes for officer elections are weighted.  The distribution was as follows:

EPRU - 73 votes

PRU - 44 votes

VRU - 32 votes

The election results were as follows:

President - Alan Matas (EPRU) ran unopposed

Vice-President - Tom Lyons (PRU) defeated Eric Pittelkau (PRU)

Secretary - Carl Schmitt (VRU) defeated Carl Ostermann (EPRU)

Treasurer - Pat Costello (PRU) ran unopposed

At-Large - Reyn Kinzey (VRU) as past president, accepted the position.

2003 Meetings

The following dates were chosen for MARFU meetings in 2003:

February 16 (Sunday)

May 4 (Sunday)

September 7 (Sunday)

December 13 (AGM) (Saturday)

Adjournment