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[Gary Kent]

 

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Midwest schools scotch eligibility change

Posted: 12 Mar 2009 09:23 AM PDT

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

 
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Gary Kent                               Phone -706-324-4924
1342 Buena Vista Road      Fax -      706-324-4924
Columbus, GA  31906