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This has been one of the most difficult articles that I have ever written. Not because of some sort of writer’s block. Not because of some deep seeded emotional barriers (although I have a lot of emotions about this subject). Not because of a lack of credible information.
Why then do you ask?
Because I had to write it twice. Nah. Almost three times. After seeing the results from the most recent Congress vote, I immediately began to think through the direction I wanted to take with the piece. An angry response? A timeline of events showing a pathway for the misery of RIM?
Just when I began to wrap my head around where I wanted to go with the story… BAM! Heads started to roll and I changed the article to match them. Then a few more chips fell and I found myself in the midst of another re-write. I then sat on it for a few weeks waiting for more changes to befall USA Rugby and RIM. Not only to save from another re-write, but to give the dust a chance to settle before I chimed in. More changes will no doubt follow. Along with it the ultimate dismantling of RIM. The ill conceived and poorly delivered marketing company that was going to increase revenue for USA Rugby. While the final number is yet to be made public, there are many that have placed it up near $7-$8 million in losses for RIM. Absolutely shocking.
For those of you that have paid any attention to the comings and goings of the USA Rugby and RIM debacle (yes, it is a debacle). The moves over the past month were well overdue. Before we start getting too excited, more moves are needed. RIM will limp along at least until the 7s World Cup is over. An event that, at the very best, is likely to still lose money for RIM. Breaking even would be a big victory for RIM and USA Rugby. That’s the state that we’re currently in. Breaking even on a World Cup event is a win. For fear of derailing this article, we won’t get into how much money they are going to lose on the South Africa/Wales match in June.
I’ve heard the trumpets heralding progress and “waking the sleeping giant” for the better part of two decades. I get nauseous every time that I hear it. It’s condescending to those that are in the trenches and have been there for years plugging away. However, the recent moves made within RIM and USA Rugby were tangible progress and dare I even say it? Accountability driven? Something that our Congress has been harping on for years, but failing to deliver.
With a sliver of light, I began to walk down an entirely new path for this editorial. It is not without references to the previous incarnation though. I’ll get those out of the way first so that we can finish on a high note. Some hope for the future.
I’d like to congratulate our Congress members that continue to fight the good fight and are calling for change. Even if it took some firebrands to get into Congress to make it happen. That said, their vote to oust Chad Keck from the USA Rugby Board fell short of the needed votes. The writing is on the wall though. It won’t be much longer.
However, there are still a lot of people that were sitting on our Board and as members of Congress when RIM was rubber stamped into existence. They all need to go. At the very least all of the ones that voted in favor of it and then did nothing as it began to hemorrhage money. Some of them may even be good people that thought RIM was going to be our financial savior. The whole thing went sideways in a remarkable amount of time and they are responsible, so it is time to be held accountable. The first step towards fixing USA Rugby is accountability and transparency.
These moves leave us with a massive opportunity to create real change. Not any of the BS change that we’ve been fed for the past 15 years. Real, overarching change to the entire way that USA Rugby is governed and operated. That is, if the rugby community has the stones to go out and force that change. The timing is right. USA Rugby has wide open wounds and there are people working hard to close them up.
They need your help. They need us to come together as a community and right this ship. USA Rugby has a governance issue. No doubt about it. The way the Board is structured. The power (or lack of) that the CEO holds. The way Congress operates and the seemingly endless number of committees that are filled with the same people that have been keeping this union at a standstill for ages. They can make all of the changes that they want, but until our governance and balance of powers is sorted out it will all be for naught. There may be a short spell of revolution, but we’ll slowly slip back into the old ways. The comfort zone.
If ever there was a time to invoke systemic change, now is it. If there was ever a time to start over. We have that chance right now. It’s hard for our union to sink any lower. This isn’t a challenge by the way. I don’t want to see them prove me wrong. Proclamations without providing solutions are worthless, so I’m not here to stand on my soapbox and spew a bunch of rhetoric. I certainly don’t expect anyone to pay heed to these ideas or suggestions, but I’m going to do it anyways. They aren’t perfect by any means. They aren’t fleshed out as I’m trying to keep this piece just under novel size. That said, they are a stance and I believe in it enough to share.
Want change USA Rugby? Then it is time to trust in the people on the ground floor as opposed to those that position themselves to rub elbows at International matches. Half of the battle is fixing their governance issues. Righting that ship and putting someone who knows how to lead in front of the entire group will go a long way. Once that is sorted out, then comes the really hard part.
They need to let go.
For years, I’ve stood by the notion that one of USA Rugby’s biggest problems is that it tries to be everything for every sector of the game. Stretching themselves razor thin for the sake of trying to make everyone happy. They fail at it. No matter what they do. It is an impossible task. They try really hard too. Trying hard doesn’t always guarantee success though. Especially if that energy is spread out insufficiently.
In the process of trying to be everything, nothing ever gets their full attention. That’s why we always see ideas or initiatives come out and then never get any follow through. Good concepts on the surface, but the lack of resources behind the ideas kill them before they ever fully develop. They simply don’t have the bandwidth to pull it off. USA Rugby is focused on National teams, competitions, coaching development, player development, high performance, community development, youth rugby, club rugby, college rugby… the list goes on and on. That is a lot on the plate of a cash strapped union that doesn’t have the resources or manpower to give it all proper respect.
USA Rugby needs to let go. Let go of all of the oversight. Let go of the desire to be everything for everyone. It’s time for them to trust in the people at the grassroots to make this happen. USA Rugby needs to go all in on promoting the growth of the sport from the grassroots and they need to focus on our National Teams. That’s it. Everything else needs to go to the states and each state needs to be run as if it were its own little nation. After all. Most of the states in the USA are comparable in size to many rugby nations.
It is time to merge the remaining TU’s and GU’s with the SBRO’s. We don’t need two separate bodies to govern both youth and club rugby. The fact that we have multiple groups doing much of the same work, in the same regions, is absolutely insane. In many states this work is being done by a lot of the same people, but being done for two separate organizations. A complete waste of time and resources. Of which no one is flush with. People love to talk about the silos that abound in American rugby. Well, they exist because USA Rugby pushed everyone into those silos.
We need one organization for each state. Each state then pays an affiliation fee to USA Rugby based on their registration numbers. The rest of the dues money goes into creating professionally run governing bodies that have paid staff in charge of running rugby competitions, providing education, and growing the sport of rugby in their own states. USA Rugby remains as the official governing body of the sport of rugby union in the United States, but the state organizations (SBRO’s for lack of a better term) operate everything else within their borders. They do it in the best way possible for their state and members. Not using a blanket solution that is meant to cover every competition across a massive nation.
After all, who better knows the needs of a region? Someone at the USA Rugby office in Colorado? A committee? Or people that are on the ground in their respective states? There are some great people running GU’s and SBRO’s all around this country. Let’s get them working on the same team with the same goals. Instead of purposely dividing them. Let’s knock down some silos.
Please note that this does not cover College Rugby. I firmly believe that college rugby is an entirely different beast that deserves a governing body all to itself. As with each of the state organizations that I proposed, the collegiate governing body would pay the same tithe to USA Rugby and then provide all of the expected services to their teams and conferences.
At the root of it all, this is a trust issue. USA Rugby needs to engage their members by empowering them with their trust. We’ve got an apathetic membership. Why is that? Is it because no one feels connected to USA Rugby and our leadership? We’ve spent almost two decades with a top down approach to growing the sport of rugby in the USA. It is time to see how a bottom up approach works. Put the ball in the people’s court and see what happens. Set the standards and then let the states work it out for themselves. It may not be any better than it is now, but the people in charge are going to be a lot closer to their constituents and a lot closer to the the real needs of their states.
There is hope here. Real hope. I’ve repeatedly thought about pulling away from being involved in rugby outside of my own community. I keep getting drawn back in and maybe I am a glutton for punishment. I do it because we are all caretakers and stewards of this great sport. I can’t turn my back on it knowing there are future generations of players that could be forced to repeat our same mistakes or even worse continue to pay for the mistakes we let happen. We need to leave the sport in a better place than when we found it. I’m not sure that can be said right now in the USA as a whole, but that doesn’t mean we stop trying.
We need this change USA Rugby. We needed it two years ago just as we need it now. The window is open. If we miss this opportunity, who knows if it will ever come around again. Start by clearing out every last person that oversaw the worst deal in the history of USA Rugby. Board Members, Congress… all of them. Rebuild the governance of USA Rugby from the bottom up. Then get out of the way and let your members run with the ball.
