Midwest schools scotch eligibility change

Statewide high school leagues in the Midwest have unanimously voted that scholastic competition should exclude college-age players, rejecting USA Rugby's updated eligibility regulations.

In an email ballot that closed earlier this month, Midwest Youth Rugby Association representatives determined that 'All high school rugby in the Midwest will be played by students enrolled in high school.' The resolution targets the Boulder's decision to allow any player who was not 19 before the school year started, including graduates and collegians, to compete in the national championship's so-called community division.

The stance opens a new front for the union's embattled guidelines, amended earlier this year. To date, controversy has focused on watering down the single-school category by allowed up five players from outside the student body, or the planned elimination of the national high school championship.

'It is hard enough for me to explain to school officials that we will be playing community sides. Imagine the difficulty in explaining to school officials that we will be playing collegiate sides,' Bob Cronquist observed in the March edition of the Midwest Youth Rugby Newsletter, referring to the possibility that universities could field frosh-soph teams which conform to the guideline.

'There is also the issue of safety. There is no way a college freshman or sophomore should be on the pitch playing against a 14-year-old. Think of our liability,' Cronquist wrote.

In a January statement issued in response to sour community reception, USARFU said its intention is to 'permit players to play rugby based on what is common practice for many interscholastic sports that lack overall interest, trained staff and overall funding.'

Formally recognized by the territorial union, the three-year old Midwest Youth Rugby Association comprises more than 250 schools and 6,000 players (not counting middle schoolers), according to Cronquist. Its constituent members are Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin plus Allegheny (which covers western Pennsylvania and West Virginia). Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois are formally acknowledged as by USARFU as state-based rugby organizations (SBROs).

Indiana's affirmative vote appears somewhat ironic, in that eRugbyNews previously reported that a Hoosier state official promoted at least one of loosened guidelines.

Related: On HS eligibility: quality not quantity

Comments

[all hale the Mid-West]

Right f*cking on Mid-West Rugby Football Union.

Finally some guts on the horizon!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, fight back now or forever say goodbye the the best HS growth window of our lifetime.

The MWRFU has shown us all how to deal with the foreign takeover of US rugby...just ignore them! Do whats right for American rugby. Connect rugby to the US sport/education system.

[Anon]

This is called leadership.

[ed schram, sr.]

How could any of the "decision makers" in Boulder possibly have a clue as to the right course of action for Midwest youth rugby?

Someday, they may discover that successful youth rugby works differently from community to community and its success is due to those working on the grass, not from those dictating from the carpet.

Ed Schram, Sr.

[Yank]

Mr Schram:

It's not just the carpet verses grass argument which is relevant, it's the fact that not one member of the USAR leadership has any experience in American sports. They don't understand how high school or college sports work in America. They don't understand the potential we have by including rugby in the HS sports curriculum.

I say this because there are plenty of carpet rugby administrators that do. However, they've somehow been muzzled by the foreign boys.

[Marty Bradley]

Decisions like this and efforts like the one outline with the Maverick league are going on all over the US.

The plain, harsh reality is that Boulder needs the youth movement much more than than the youth movement needs Boulder. Over the past 5 years, most of these local youth organizations have shown a much higher level of organization and productivity than our national organization.

[question]

Marty,

Do you think the South will publicly follow the MWRFU's lead?

[Flynn Hagerty]

I can't think of anything more pigheaded than trying to shoehorn graduates into HS rugby.

[Marty Bradley]

In my opinion, no.

[rugby educator]

georgia already has!
However what happens to the odd player who is 18 and graduated and has no club to play for. Especialy when people his age are allowed to play?

[rugby educator]

its ironic that all our competions are u19 based,but we dropped our u19 national team because "other countries" don't have one.

[MWRFU fan]

It's important for all those having a clear vision of HS rugby to follow MWRFU's lead.

If congress won't protect us, it must be left for those in the LAU's, TU's and those on local youth/HS committees.

[em]

It blows my mind that this is even a topic of discussion. The US has the absolute best "pathway", as these idiots always call it, already built in. You play HS (with other high school aged kids attending high school), College, then Pro/National honors. So for rugby a player would move from HS, to college or a club if they don't attend college and then on to a pro contract/national team if they're good enough. Why try to re-invent the wheel when this format has worked in every other sport in the US. Ridiculous to have 19 year old graduates playing in HS. This only goes to illegitamize our sport even more.

[Silvio Dante]

The only thing missing in that equation is what is between Collegiate and National team.
A 22 year old is unlikely to become an Eagle or sign a pro contract.

The SL needs a push forward, not the shove off that our present and past leadership offered. USA Rugby has the opportunity to improve the player pool and upgrade the SL without spending a dime. Or they could make it a whole lot better by just moving some HP around.

[what budget?]

Silvio,

It would be better spending money on the SL than wasting millions trying to beat Canada.

Who gets to look at the budget? Has anyone ever met anyone who even got a glance at the USAR budget?

[Flynn Hagerty]

"However what happens to the odd player who is 18 and graduated and has no club to play for. Especialy when people his age are allowed to play?"

Where are there high school rugby teams without the presence of clubs? In Norcal the two are very close, and school teams often have local club players as their coaches.

[guest]

oh so its fine for hs age players to play against men,just not against kids their own age . And not for 18 year old hs players to play against 18 year old collegiates? This is getting ridiculous.Clubs are going to have to step up and provide alternate teams. Let the hs have its own domain and they can play touch so no-one gets hurt, or have teams graded by size,or weight or hair color! Nobody seemed to care when Hanno Dirksen age 17 played against munster.

[K-Fraud]

Flynn,
I have coached teenagers at the club level. They are given a wristband at the social. At 19 that "kid" is physically developed enough to play club rugby at any level in the USA.

One thing that is not fair is a fully developed 19 year old playing against children.

Maybe this decision was based on Kevin Roberts, who passed on College so he could plunder the pitch against 16 year olds?

[USArFU keeps pissing in the wind]

guest,
In all of my life, I have never seen a 19 year old rugby player that couldn't play at the club level.

There is a reason why the U-19 program folded. Next is the U-17 program. Then I hope they will revamp the AA program (AA on paper)and use objective testing in the developmental program (USA A, U-25).

[ed schram, sr.]

Mr. Yank,

Well stated.

Agreed....the carpet vs. the grass is an old addage which fails to fully address the root of the problem with the leadership out of Boulder.

It is apparent that none of the current foreign import carpet dwellers have shown the slightest understanding of (or interest in learning) how our most popular / main stream team sports are structured within American society.

Eddie O'Sullivan certainly has a better working knowledge of American rugby than any of the others, but Eddie's charge is to coach the national team, which is but a small part of what needs to be addressed, given the role of US Rugby (the entity) is to grow and improve American rugby.

During their reign, the current executive leadership and the board have done nothing of any note to improve the game in America. However, they have spent a considerable amount of time and money chasing National Team victories with little success. For both, they need to be sent packing.

Ed Schram, Sr.

[Flynn Hagerty]

"Flynn,
I have coached teenagers at the club level. They are given a wristband at the social. At 19 that "kid" is physically developed enough to play club rugby at any level in the USA.

One thing that is not fair is a fully developed 19 year old playing against children."

Oh I don't disagree. In fact, without any question my first year in senior rugby was the best rugby I ever played for SFGG. And I was 17/18 years old.

[P. Kane]

High School rugby should be for kids who are in high school. End of discussion. I understand the idea behind letting a small number of players from a neighboring high school that doesn't have a team play for a different school and still qualify for the "single school" competition. Having graduates and college players playing for a "single school" team is absurd.

By this logic, the next step will be that "college rugby" eligibility guidelines will be modified so that a college team can field a certain number of players under the age of 27 (can't go too much younger than that or else we'll run into trouble with certain schools that tend to have an older player base), regardless of if they attend that school or not. Because if the idea is that we just want to make sure everybody who wants to can play rugby, then who cares if the kid actually goes to the college or could play club rugby somewhere else. Let him play for the local "college team."

This just continues to push us further and further away from the mainstream.

Following the release of this post, I proposed that the South consider following the Midwest's lead. Like Marty, I don't expect much to come of it.

[keep up the good work]

Marty/Pat, that's too bad, because we count on you guys to deliver.

Keep up the good work, but this national leadership moments was needed.