IMPORTANT! All clubs, please read and take appropriate action.

The PRU list serves are the main communication vectors for getting information to our members. There are 200+ subscribers to this list, some from outside the PRU, but the majority from within the PRU (or so we think). Unfortunately, there is no practical way to know which PRU clubs have people subscribed as the e-mail addresses are often cryptic (eg, bagman38@hotmail.com instead of AUMenMatchSecretary@hotmail.com). We must rely on the clubs to be sure that their key people are subscribed, or at the very least, have the PRU e-mail forwarded to them.

Obviously, if you are getting this e-mail, you are already subscribed. Please forward this e-mail to your key club officers and even your entire club and encourage them to subscribe. At the very least, please forward PRU e-mail to your key club officers and members so they are aware of these mailings.

Mailing List Info (also under COMMUNICATIONS at upper right of web site)...
These lists are open to nearly anyone (send and receive,
but you must be subscribed to receive)
potomacrugby@yahoogroups.com for all clubs in general
PRUcolleges@yahoogroups.com for just colleges
PRUHS@yahoogroups.com for just high school clubs
PRUYL@yahoogroups.com for just youth clubs

Additional lists of interests (you can send* mail to these lists only;
the list membership is restricted)
pru-exec@yahoogroups.com (PRU Executive Cmte) (*list has been closed to non-subscribed senders due to spam)
pru-bod@yahoogroups.com (PRU Board of Directors) (*list has been closed to non-subscribed senders due to spam)

The following are examples. To post a message to the group, send an e-mail to:
potomacrugby@yahoogroups.com

To subscribe to this mailing list, send an e-mail to:
potomacrugby-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To take your name off this mailing list, send an e-mail to:
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To send a message to the list owner, send an e-mail to:
potomacrugby-owner@yahoogroups.com

To view the message archive (list subscribers only and must have a Yahoo login):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/potomacrugby/messages

To do the same functions with the any other list group, use the
appropriate e-mail address or URL above but substitute
"PRUcolleges" (for example) for "potomacrugby" before the @ symbol

(president's rant, captured in words for eternity)

Right off the top, a few words about CIPP. It is a requirement, handed down from USA Rugby (of which we're all members, like it or not) through MARFU and accepted by the PRU, that all players must be CIPP registered. It has been this way for more years than most of you have been playing. While many people question what you get for your money, it's for certain that you get liability coverage. (We're like most national governing bodies - you don't get much, and you don't see very much of what the money is spent on.)

Liability coverage, like any insurance, is one of those things you have to pay for even though you just know that you'll never have to cash in on it (it won't happen to me; I'll never be in a bad situation). We hope you don't have to cash in on it either. But you (you meaning you individually and you as a club) still have to CIPP register to get the coverage, whether you think you need it or not. At this point, it should just be a fact of life that you comply with. What kills me is that when some other institutional authority puts a requirement on you (eg, a university requires all players to sign a waiver form, or a university requires the team to have an athletic trainer), you hop to it and get it done. When the PRU or USA Rugby put a requirement on you, it suddenly becomes a game as to how you can avoid complying, and when we (try to) lower the hammer, you want us to be your friend and give you a break.

Unfortunately, while we have many people and clubs that abide by the requirement and dutifully obtain their CIPP early in the year, we also have a lot of people who game the system or just ignore it altogether. They only register some of their players; they register their players late; they register their players only if they're in the playoffs; they register their players only to meet minimum requirements. On top of that, they complain about having to register; they complain the registration system is too hard; they complain that somebody else is causing their registration difficulties; they say their forms were lost (we haven't got "my dog ate it" yet, but I'm sure it's coming one day).

By now, all clubs should have figured out what system they're going to use to get their players registered. Put the onus on the player to get it done; have a registration party at the start of the season; gather info from players and get the club secretary to do it; paper or online; club check or individual check or credit card; separate payment or take it out of player dues or get the university to pay for it; maintain a running account or pay as you go. By the way, the PRU will not do this for you; it's your job.

The days of slow paper registration are coming to an end, and the days of near-instantaneous online registration are here. While the online system could be better, it does work. It is not the PRU's job to do your registration for you, and we're far less patient about accepting excuses why you haven't gotten it done. The hammer will drop if you can't even meet minimum expectations, meaning no referees and forfeiting games. The day is coming when an unCIPPed player or coach or club causes some kind of problem and the legal system brings its full weight to bear against us. When that happens, if you think having to CIPP register is a burden now, the PRU will have to adopt even more stringent rules later.

Okay, please get the CIPP registration done early and for everybody. Thank you.

All players in all games must be CIPPed. You can register a player online at USA Rugby and his registration is effective immediately if you pay by credit card online. It takes 5 minutes to register a player, so there’s no excuse for folks not being CIPPed.

Each club must have a minimum of 15 players CIPP registered by March 1st and September 15th. Clubs that do not have the minimum 15 players registered by these dates will be denied referees and any league/playoff matches will be declared forfeits. These dates are firm and there is little leeway for waivers.

While there is a requirement for a minimum of 15 players to be assigned a referee, it is also a requirement that everyone playing in a game must be CIPP registered.  Sanctions will be levied for any players discovered to be non-CIPPed in a game (eg, via a red or yellow card, or challenge by opposing team). 

Whether your club members register online or send in a paper form, they must sign the waiver form and give it to your club for safekeeping.  The club must keep this form for at least three (3) years in case there is a lawsuit filed against USA Rugby, the TU, and the LAU and proof of the participants having signed the "USA RUGBY PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT AND WAIVER AND RELEASE OF LIABILITY" and USA RUGBY MEDICAL INSURANCE AGREEMENT AND USA RUGBY RULES ACKNOWLEDGEMENT" is required.  See here for an example (click on adult or minor application form or waiver and scroll down).

Appeals for waivers may be made to the PRU Executive Cmte and the divisional director. PSRFR has worked with us in the past on this and we expect they will continue to do so.

Assuming you have registered your club and your players in CIPP, you want to be able to view your CIPP roster (or any other team's roster). To do this, bring up an internet browser window and enter www.usarugby.org On the left side menu, click Membership. On the screen that comes up, there are four links across the page, near the top. Click on LAU/TU Compliance Reports (you could click on View Club Rosters). Then select LAU Club Summary, then select Potomac from the list, and click the Go button. Find your club in the list that comes up and click on your club's name. Scan the list of names and find the player's CIPP number to the left of it.

Note that the status of each club and each player is on the right side of the screen. It should be marked Active for a currently registered player. If it says Inactive, or the player's name doesn't appear, then the player or club needs to be registered. If you think you have properly registered the club or player, then you need to call USA Rugby and figure out what the problem is.

The PRU will maintain a master calendar on the web site. If you have items that should go on the master calendar - meetings of any kind, clinics, camps, matches (other than club vs club), social events of general interest, tournaments (15's, 10's, 7's), anything else you can thing of, please let us know the name of the event and the date and give us a link to more information.

The PRU treasurer sends invoices to all clubs twice a year, roughly February and August, for PRU dues. The PRU prefers that you pay one-half of your annual dues promptly after each billing. All dues are due and payable by the end of the year, after which time they will be past due.

The PSRFR (referees) treasurer has sent out invoices recently for spring games. He advises that these invoices are payable by September 10. Make sure your previous season referee fees are paid on time. Failure to do so means you will not be assigned referees. Contact Mark Handel, PSRFR treasurer, at tigg@erols. com to work out small problems before they become big problems.

The PRU clubs meet four times per year. The AGM is the Saturday before the Super Bowl (may change) then in late April/early May, at the start of the Fall season in late August or early September, and then finally (the budget meeting) in late November or early December.

The PSRFR meets six times per spring and fall season, every two weeks starting the last Wednesday in February or the first Wednesday in September.. Senior men D1 and D2 and senior women D1 are required to send representatives to these meetings to recoup an initial charge of $150 per season (each of spring and fall) ($30/rep/meeting, max 2 reps/meeting). For more information, go to www.potomacreferees.com

Speaking of meetings, the PRU clubs met 8/31/05 Wednesday evening in Laurel and passed several motions, mainly clarifying common PRU policies. Loans are to be repaid with regular payments over the life of loan, normally two years but not longer than five years. The standard interest rate is 4%, with no interest charged during the first 6 months of the loan. Past due loans are subject to penalties and initiate a 6-month mandatory repayment schedule and grace period. Failure to finally settle the overdue debt within the 6-month period puts the club not-in-good-standing with further penalties.

Kenilworth Park has been declared unplayable (both Fields #5 and #6; #5 being the field that is relatively flat and parallels the parking lot, #6 being the furthest field and is somewhat downsloping). The PRU has a remediation plan that was approved by the clubs and which we will implement in concert with the clubs that use the Kenilworth Park fields. Until the fields are repaired, home clubs should find alternate fields and failing that, the visiting club has grounds to refuse to play there.

Match schedules are due to the PRU and the PSRFR by February 1 for the spring season and August 1 for the fall season. Late games can be added, but please give sufficient notice. If you have a late cancellation, then as soon as possible, contact your referee and Skip Vaughn, PSRFR Allocation Sec’y at migratus@hotmail.com so that the referee can be re-allocated. Failure to notify about a cancellation will mean being charged for the referee(s).

Please contact your match referee(s) by Wednesday before the match. Failure to contact your referee by Wednesday may result in him/her being reassigned to another match. If you have any trouble contacting your referee either by telephone or by e-mail, contact Skip Vaughn, PSRFR Allocation Sec'y at migratus@hotmail. com for help (it will be good to have an e-mail trail).

Two contacts you must have for referees. Skip Vaughn migratus@hotmail.com and Kevin Fraser kevin@capedutchbakery.com or fraser75@comcast.net Their phone numbers are on the referees website www.potomacreferees.com, click on Active Referees at the top.

Have you sent your schedules to Skip Vaughn? If not, you need to do that for step one. He wants those schedules by February 1 for the spring season and August 1 for the fall season.

Has Skip posted them on the referees web site? To check that, go to www.potomacreferees.com and click on Show Upcoming Games. Go down the page and look for your team's name (home and away; perhaps your opponent when you are the visitor screwed up; if you submitted your schedule, your home games should be there).

Assuming you're on the list, you should be assigned a referee at least in the week prior to the game. Sometimes, referees are assigned two or more weeks in advance, though the assignments can always change for a lot of reasons. If one has not been assigned at least a week prior, then there is a problem. HS/U19 - You must contact Kevin Fraser by email (paper trail) or phone and figure out what is going on. Senior/College - You must contact Skip Vaughn by email (paper trail) or phone and figure out what is going on.

If you are not on the list as expected or if you have changes to make to your schedule (cancel a game or cancel a lower side, add a game including add a lower side game, change a game), then please contact Skip Vaughn so he can update the list. The later you make changes, the less likely it is that you will be assigned a referee.

Canceling a game at the last minute incurs financial penalties (ie, you pay the referee fee anyhow) in addition to moving you down the priority list. Worse, scheduling a lower side match and having a referee assigned, and then not playing the B side match or playing a very shortened game and on top of that having the referee show up is also bad news. If you have to cancel, cancel as early as possible and allow the referee to be re-assigned.

And keep in mind that we are constantly short of referees. HS games should normally not be a problem if they are played Monday-Friday or Sunday. HS games played on Saturday get lowest priority since senior and college games get highest priority. Senior and college games played on weekdays or Sundays are not normally a problem, either. Scheduling a home game on the weekend of a big tournament (Cherry Blossom or Ruggerfest in particular) could be a problem since the tournaments require a large referee commitment.

Finally, you must contact your referee several days in advance of your game (eg, Wednesday before a Saturday game) to confirm that he/she knows about the game, has directions, and knows the kickoff time. If you leave a phone message, you should get a confirmation phone call or email from the referee. If you send an email, you should get a confirmation email or phone call from the referee. If you do not get a confirmation reply by the next day, you should contact either Skip Vaughn or Kevin Fraser and explain the difficulty. If you are playing lower side matches and don't have an assigned referee for that, ask the referee if he/she can do the lower side(s). Also, tell the referee what color jerseys you and the opponent are wearing so a jersey conflict can be worked out in advance (you should also copy your opponent so they know what colors you are wearing) and so the referee can bring suitable colors to wear.

One game is all they are required to do. Some refs will gladly do the B match but they are not required to do so (and any referee abuse in the first game markedly decreases the likelihood that they will agree to the second match and they might even renege on a prior agreement). I doubt anybody has the legs to do a third match. (That's why we ask folks to have someone on their club to go to a referee clinic or at least come to bi-weekly referee training.)

You are reminded that it is a requirement in all rugby games to install a sideline restraining rope or other effective spectator separation barrier no less than 5 meters from the touchline and extending from goal line to goal line. This restraining rope is to keep spectators from encroaching upon the area adjacent to the touchline. While we're usually satisfied with a rope on one side of the field only where most of the crowd assembles, the rule applies to both sides of the field. This is for the safety of spectators, players, touch judges, and anyone else permitted to be in that 5 meter area.

Failure to provide a restraining rope or other effective spectator separation barrier can lead to the host club being penalized in a variety of ways. Additionally, the referee is empowered to suspend the game until the spectators clear the 5 meter area outside the touch line.

Please make all attempts to comply with this requirement. It is for your enjoyment and protection that this rule exists. If you feel your club needs a waiver, please consult the PRU Executive Committee.

*** ALL CLUBS AND PLAYERS IN ALL DIVISIONS ***

*** PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING ***

If you are the recipient of a red card, PLEASE REMEMBER - You are ineligible to play for at least the next eight (8) days or one match, whichever is LONGER. There is no appeal of this minimum suspension unless you can prove a case of mistaken identity; the burden of proving your case before the next game is on you. If a suspended player plays during this minimum suspension period, the player and his/her club and club officers are liable for further sanctions.

The PRU web site will have a link to complete disciplinary procedures at www.pru.org/pru_disc_proc.htm Until that link is updated, the PRU follows MARFU and USA RUGBY disciplinary guidelines and procedures, www.marfu.org/marfudiscplin.php and www.usarugby.org/playing/disciplinary.html

All red/yellow cards issued by referees will be reported to the PRU Disciplinary Chair, and he will compile the list weekly and the PRU web site will be updated accordingly. There is a link to the web page listing all red/yellow cards and the suspensions/probations that are handed down. www.pru.org/pru_disc_actions.html Effective August 2006, all red/yellow card reports go to a central MARFU reporting page http://www.marfu.org/discipline/refcardreport.php. Names will roll off this list as probations expire. (FYI - All red/yellow card sanctions will eventually be reported on the MARFU web site for all three MARFU LAUs - Virginia, Potomac, and East Penn.)

Please be advised that any resistance and/or inability to provide the referee of your match with any and all reasonable player information requested will result in the most severe penalties possible for the captain of that side, and his/her club.

Clubs, please give this information the widest possible dissemination by sending it to your club members, old boys, high school and youth club parents, and anywhere else.

The PRU is continually adding high school and youth teams through the efforts of volunteers. (High school teams are both single school teams and clubs drawing players from multiple schools. Youth teams are for boys and girls ages 6-16. ) To aid in this on-going effort, the PRU will build a database of people willing to help new high school and youth rugby but who may not already have a team they are working with. If you have rugby experience (player, coach, referee) but don’t have connections to the community or school system which you can engage to create a new team, please contact us. If you have connections to the community or school system but don’t have rugby experience, please contact us. If you have a desire to help with the administration of a high school or youth rugby program (at the league level or the club/team level), please contact us.

We need your name, address, telephone numbers, e-mail address, and area of expertise or area in which you want to be involved. We want to increase the number of boys HS teams, start a girls HS league, and increase the number of youth teams. This year. Next year. Every year. Keep in mind that a background check will be necessary at some point.

There are many communities within the PRU that don’t have high school rugby teams (late winter and spring season) or youth rugby teams (summer season). At the same time, there are thousands of potential players if we consider that a small percentage of the total might play rugby. The potential for increasing the number of clubs, currently about 20-25 in each group, is enormous. Please contact the Potomac Rugby Union by e-mail or telephone, Eric Pittelkau (President) epittelkau@gmail.com 703-587-7462, and either Lee Kelly (HS Director) lee@whgmag.com 301-384-4248, or Pat Walsh (Youth Director) walshpj@erols.com 410-691-9970.

Clubs other than colleges might also think about the following.

While the "Zulu warrior" is, at least to some people, humorous and harmless (harmless in the sense of property or personal damage), please consider the following. Why would a college administration want to think about, let alone move forward, with plans to give college rugby a higher standing than it currently has? The higher standard should be taken to mean more money, more school recognition, field space, privileges, support - in general, some more akin to a varsity sport with serious student-athletes than a club sport for less-than-ordinary students they might rather have nothing to do with or even disband.

Please, invent a new tradition for first-time try-scorers or whatever motivates you, one that is truly harmless and maybe even beneficial to the future of your team and college rugby, one that the public including your club sport or athletic director and alumni family might truly enjoy seeing.

Medical attendance at games - PRU clubs are strongly advised to have a medically-knowledgeable person (MKP) in attendance at all home games for the benefit of the home team and the visiting team. The MKP: could me a doctor (medical doctor/MD, osteopathic doctor/DO, chiropractic doctor/DC), registered nurse (RN, preferably one with experience with sports injuries), emergency medical technician (EMT), or a certified athletic trainer (ATC). (If other medically qualified disciplines are acceptable, please bring these to the attention of the PRU and we'll update this web page.) Serious injuries requiring the attention of a MKP do, unfortunately, occur from time to time, and these injuries are certainly beyond the capabilities of someone with basic first aid knowledge. The PRU can help in locating at ATC; the cost will be about $30/hour (mid-2006). The ATC can provide your team with pre-game taping and stretching/massage and in-game injury management. Other medical disciplines may bring more or fewer services to your athletes, but at a minimum, all of these will be able to manage serious injuries during the game. If cost is a factor in your decision to make a MKP available at your game, keep in mind that there are ways to minimize cost and still get coverage. Think creatively, and if you need help, contact the PRU.

Emergency Action Plan (EAP) - Every club should have an EAP. The EAP should be available to every member of the club. The EAP should be given to the visiting team upon their arrival. Each team should know what to do in case of common injures: concussions (all grades), spinal trauma, broken bones, torn ligaments, severe cuts, asthma attacks. Each team should know how to call for an ambulance and how to get to the nearest hospital and the nearest trauma center. The EPRU has a suitable EAP template at this web page http://www.epru.org/forms/pdfs/safety/EAP.pdf

Concussions - The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) has this very good web page to guide teams in concussion management http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/tbi/Coaches_Tool_Kit.htm Inasmuch as the site is directed toward high school coaches, it is certainly useful for all of our rugby clubs at all levels.

MRSA- Methycillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus is a potentially serious staph infection. It is contagious. It can result in

hospitalization and treatment with IV antibiotics. In the most severe cases, surgery to remove dead tissue, even whole limbs, may be required. For more information, see this CDC web page http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mrsa_ca.html

The Mid-Atlantic RFU has a lightning policy that all teams should adhere to. The PRU is, unfortunately, all too familiar with injury and death from a lightning strike. It is of the utmost importance that all teams adhere to this policy. See this MARFU web page http://www.marfu.org/marfuadverseweather.php