2021-22 League Competition Updates

CLUB & PLAYER REGISTRATION 2020-21 registrations for clubs, players, referees, admins, and coaches all expire on August 31, 2021. All of these parties must register once again in order to participate in the 2021-22 Competitive Cycle after this date. For matches this weekend (August 28, 2021), all players registered and “ACTIVE” are eligible including those from the 2020-21 cycle. Clubs should utilize this link: https://usarugby.sportsmanager.ie/maint.php and log in with their club credentials. Most clubs should have received their login credentials last cycle. If you do not have your club’s credentials, please contact your club administrator from last year or your LAU administrator. After you’ve logged in, you’ll want to navigate to “Purchase Events” and then add “USA Rugby Team Registrations Fees” to your cart and complete the transaction. The cost is $50. Players, coaches and admins should utilize this link: https://usarugby.sportlomo.com/. If you registered last year, you can log in and renew your membership from your individual profile. If you haven’t registered before, then you’ll need to choose your club and then create a profile. When finding your club, you’ll want to select “Senior Club’ – “Midwest GU” and then your specific LAU. After you’ve done that, you can enter the first three or four letters of your club’s name and it will pop up. Players costs are as follows for 2021-22: USA Rugby – $35, Senior Club Council – $15, Midwest GU – $20. Some LAUs have also added their fees directly to Sportslomo in which case you’ll see that fee added as well. If you are having trouble, you can watch a video on how to register here: https://youtu.be/T56VZV4cxms. If this is the first time you are registering for your club and you’ve played with another club in the past, you may be forced to register with your old club and then transfer to the club that you wish to play for this year. This transfer is approved automatically, but you still need to initiate it. You can see how to do this here: https://youtu.be/8MlGq1oP4Fk. COMPETITION MANAGEMENT For the start of the 2021-22 Competitive Cycle, a nationally-based online Competition Management System (CMS) will not be available. Both Sportslomo and the old USAR CMS are not available for our use at least at this point. For this reason, the Midwest is quickly working to develop an online CMS for the Midwest, however this will not be available immediately. In the meantime, and likely throughout the entire fall season, we are asking all clubs to utilize the attached paper 2021-22 MWRFU Match Report to track rosters, player movement, scoring and discipline at all league matches. The following process should be followed:

• The HOME SIDE is required to complete and electronically submit the MWRFU Match Report to their appropriate League Coordinator/ Manager. The documents should be submitted via email or text message shortly after the conclusion of the match, but no later than the Monday following the match by 6:00 PM Eastern/ 5:00 PM Central.
• Prior to kickoff, each side is required to disclose a written and completed match roster to the opposite side. Failure to properly disclose a roster is subject to match protest and/or administrative forfeit.
• Each side should track scoring, player movement, and discipline infractions. At the conclusion of the match, each side and the referee should agree upon all of these elements. Once agreed upon, each side and the referee should sign the first page of the MWRFU Match Report for submission.
• Home Sides should retain the paper copies of the Match Reports for at least the entire cycle and be made available to league officials upon request.

MIDWEST COMPETITION COMMITTEE Each competitive league that clubs compete in is managed by a League Coordinator or Manager. This person is a club’s direct contact for issues that arise during league competition. Below is the listing of all competitions administrators and their email addresses:

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS The Executive and Competition Committees are currently working on formally updating our Union and Competition’s Covid-19 Safety Protocols. Given the rapidly changing environment and lack of clear guidance from the CDC as related to potential exposures to vaccinated persons, we have not been able to make concise updates to this point. In the meantime, as games are scheduled to kick off this weekend, we are mandating all clubs to follow the following two protocols: All participants of the match must sign the Midwest Waiver of Liability. This document must be then retained by each Club’s Compliance Coordinator and made available upon request. All participants of a match must adhere to all Regional Health Mandates for the location where the match is taking place. For example, if the match is being held in the City of Chicago and there’s a Regional Health Mandate in effect requiring all persons to wear a mask outdoors, then the game must be played with all players wearing masks, regardless of where the traveling team is from and what mandates are in place there. Updates to the protocols will be posted online at: https://midwest.rugby/covid-19-safety/. It should be noted that non-compliance with required protocols will result in disciplinary sanctions. All clubs have had ample time to understand what is required of them and what the procedures are. Discipline sanctions for non-compliance are listed on the web page above. DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURES The MWRFU is finalizing Disciplinary Procedures. Once complete, the procedures will be published here: https://midwest.rugby/compliance-discipline/. All on and off the field discipline issues should be reported immediately to your local Disciplinary Official. Their names and email addresses are below:

OTHER ITEMS OF NOTE Here are the updated Club Rugby Eligibility Regulations. Please make sure that your club is familiar with the changes in the regulations. One important update is related to clubs fielding multiple sides. In short, a player only becomes ineligible for lower side competition once they’ve competed in 66% of a higher side’s matches. For more details on this regulation, please refer to the document. Additionally, World Rugby recently implemented a number of Global Law Trials. These will be in effect for the league competition this cycle. Please make sure you’re aware of these changes. Here’s a link for more information: https://www.world.rugby/the-game/laws/global-law-trials.