Edmonton Rugby Union Executive Meeting Minutes Wednesday Oct 1st, 2008 Present – Ray Savage, Jo Reinbold, Judy Seddon, Ravic Ahrens, David Bailey, Nikki Cloutier, Mike Dowell, Mike Laporte, Ron Allen, Matt Parrish, Dave Hunter Not Present – Graeme Dawes, Aaron Takel Meeting called to order at 1836hrs Motion to accept agenda as it stands, Seconded by Mike Laporte, All in favour Motion to accept previous meeting minutes, Seconded by Mike Laporte, All in favour. President’s Report- Ray Savage – Ray attended the last RA meeting where it was determined that they are looking into restructuring the management of RA. Due to this, they will not be holding their AGM until late Jan, early Feb. Rugby Canada’s AGM to be held in Jan 09. Rugby Alberta has also decided not to host Nationals in 2009 as previously agreed to due to financial constraints. They also discussed RA employees and the paid positions held within RA. Ray proposed that Dustin’s position be made into 2 separate positions, one for the North and one for the South but was denied. Dustin’s position and role within ERU rugby discussed and his salary. Ray would like an email from each of the ERU executive members stating what they want Dustin to be doing while he is here on his Edmonton travels for improving rugby in Edmonton. New rules and regulations for RA discussed as well and to be further examined at the RA AGM. High Performance Academy has been possibly set for a Calgary location. There is supposedly going to be 1 executive administrator who will oversee the entire process with 4-5 Satellite locations who will do all the pre-emptive work such as scouting, pre-testing and selection. From these satellite locations the top percentage of athletes will be referred to the High Performance Academy. ERU AGM has been set for Sunday Nov 30th from 12-1pm with lunch and ERU awards from 1-2pm. The following positions are up for election – President, Treasurer, Secretary, Discipline. Rugby Canada’s insurance for players will be going up $26/player for the 2009 season. Judy will be sitting in on a meeting with the CRU and RA to determine the best course of action for registration of players for the 2009 season. Edmonton’s registration system worked best out of the province and ensured reliable and consistent registration and payment of player dues. ERURS Report – Mike Laporte The ERURS found the Derek Poole award for Referee of the Year which was lost in the previous years and replaced by the Lynn Davies Award- ERURS to approach the Druids and see if Lynn’s award can be reassigned to the Most Valuable Person in Refereeing for the future. ERURS is to forward 5 names of candidates for these awards to the clubs for feedback. The ERURS participated in CIS seeding tournament, Semifinals and Provincials and all went well on the field. Calgary Saracens are appealing their Division III mens’ game. Mike attended the RAMOA meeting and it was stated that RA wants
RAMOA to take over provincial allocations and renumeration of all referees. They would also like to create a pre-game procedure for checking player cards and ensuring all players are eligible and registered. Oct 2nd there will be a new ref info session for all clubs interested and ERURS is planning on doing monthly sessions for all refs. Oct 29th at 7pm at the Clan will be a session with Trevor Arnold and there will be a team building session in November. ERURS is also looking into developing a mandate for ERURS and they will be attending San Diego on Feb 14, 15th. Treasurer’s Report – David Bailey Budget to Sept 30th, 2008 presented. Matt will be providing his final budget by year end with his hours. He doesn’t think that the Coaching Development position is needed any longer now that Ric Suggit has started with Edmonton Rugby Institute. The U20 casino credits also need to be added in and at the end of October the ERI payments cease. Disciplinary Report – Mike Dowell Men’s Division III appeal of Provincial Final – Suspended 2 female players for 4 games each in final Division II league match. VP Administration Report – Ron Allen – Discussion of IT Sportsnet and what needs to be improved/changed for next year- Judy to update after she attends the meeting with CRU and RA. Fixtures and Standings Report – Matt Parrish Completed sessions with several coaches this year and encourages all coaches to come and watch a few Panda’s practices to gain new drill ideas and flow of play ideas. Website and fixtures went well – There were some defaults this season and we need to reevaluate and FIX some rules and regs within ERU. 75% eligibility rule is a joke and needs to be changed – Idea of if you play 50% or more games in one Division you cannot move down. Also discussed teams defaulting higher division games to play lower division semi-final/provincial games. UofC will be entering the CIS Rugby league which will mean the Panda’s will now move to a league format for playing rather than playing the seeding tournament and Canada West. This will impact the women’s divisions and will need to be discussed before fixtures are set for 2009. Lloydminster and joining ERU league discussed – Ray to get ahold of Lindsay Ryall for confirmation. Secretary Report – Nikki Cloutier Nothing to report VP Ellerslie Report – Judy Seddon – Fields are in bad shape and as such all fields will be closed until May 15th, 2009 to allow them to be repaired so they are not permanently damaged. This means there will be no Ross Shep tournament and they have been advised. Sale of ERP property is in jeapordy due to the City. They have added enormous fees to the Carrington sale and Carrington is now looking to get out of contract. ERP will be in severe financial trouble if this occurs and sale falls through. A breakdown of games held at Ellerslie per club was distributed and shows that teams are just not playing at Ellerslie any more and those that do are not
putting that large of bar revenue in. Rentals are good but utilities and property taxes are going up, making profits less. Dave Hunter replaced all the electrical panels in Ellerslie and a big THANK YOU to him. ERP has decided that if it becomes too much of a financial strain they will not be asking clubs for money but will instead take a line of credit. VP Rugby Report – Jo Reinbold Jo will be looking to hold a wrap up fixtures meeting by end of October to get teams feedback on the 2008 season. The ERI only has funding from ERU until the end of October and Jo presented a possible budget to find funds to continue helping the ERI until it is more established. ERU exec members are to think on this issue and come with ideas to the next meeting. Admin costs are the biggest thing and Ric Suggit will be looking to hire out members to run programs within the Institute. These members will then be responsible for finding alternate funding once settled. Jo makes a motion that the ERU support Matt Parrish in his quest for betterment in coaching through a Rugby Canada program to a maximum of $1000 with the stipulation that on his return he assists with some elite level ERU coaching. Ray Savage seconds – 5 in favour- 1 abstains. Ravic Ahrens – Druids – The Druids are questioning the AJRA fees and where and why the money is spent. They are wondering who else is interested in this and what the AJRA has done for other Edmonton clubs this summer. Discussion of Aaron Takel position and a rude email sent by Aaron regarding the Druids. All executive members agree that Aaron has gotten good feedback in regards the mini’s festivals but NOTHING has been done with U-16-18 age groups in all of Edmonton. Ray moves to adjourn the meeting at 2030hrs Next ERU executive meeting to be held on Wednesday November 12th at 6:30pm at Ellerslie.