On May 16, the following letter was sent to women’s collegiate conference commissioners around the country. It announces the return of the American Collegiate Rugby Association (ACRA) and asks commissioners to declare their intentions as planning for the 2020-21 season looms.In 2013, rugby coaches, administrators and players who cared deeply about women’s collegiate rugby and who were dissatisfied with the national championship structure formed the American Collegiate Rugby Association (ACRA). This organization brought in former Bowdoin College Athletic Director Jeff Ward to act as a lead administrator and with unprecedented cooperation between conference commissioners, coaches and teams, ACRA coordinated a Fall Championship catering to 14 Conferences and a total of 121 teams. In 2014 ACRA did the same again and was able to turn a profit at the Fall 15s Championship and the Spring 7s Championship. In 2015 ACRA partnered with USA Rugby as the national office came to realize that there would continue to be Fall 15s and Spring 7s Championships. ACRA stepped aside after this year feeling that the best interest of the players had been served. USA Rugby has continued the Fall Championship with input and work from former ACRA administrators.
The recent events at USA Rugby threw the college game into chaos with conferences and teams concerned as to how the game and championships would be administered. Issues such as player eligibility, player registration, medical insurance, dues, 3rd party liability coverage, international recognition, player pathways, coach certification and sport safety re: minors, all suddenly became a concern should USA Rugby, the governing body, have to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Last Saturday, May 9, 2020, USA Rugby began to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will remain the national governing body.
As you all know, over the past few months, conferences and teams have weighed the above issues and sort to organize. Two organizations, the College Rugby Association of America (CRAA) and [National Collegiate Rugby, NCR], emerged as potential umbrella administrations. A group of former ACRA people solicited information from these two organizations as well as USA Rugby and after considerable debate have determined to reconstitute ACRA and provide the necessary support that women’s collegiate rugby teams in the country need and deserve. ACRA will recognize teams that wish to play a Fall or a Spring Championship (15s & 7s) and intend to delineate those competition pathways.
ACRA will be run by members of our rugby community (Conference Commissioners, college coaches and the players) and it will be status quo as team registration, player eligibility, player registration, insurance and 3rd party liability coverage is obtained through USA Rugby. This ensures representation and voting rights within USA Rugby as well as referee assignment.
Women’s Collegiate Rugby – The Landscape – Fragmentation
- NIRA – Varsity teams. Separate organization, self-governing but affiliated with USA Rugby
- Women’s DI Elite CRAA
- Women’s DI (Fall & Spring) CRAA with some conferences NCR
- Women’s DII (Fall & Spring) ACRA with some conferences NCR
- NCR – Open Division & Small College Division
The purpose of this letter is to establish if your Conference wishes to be a member of ACRA.
N.B. A Conference may well decide that its Div. I members are a part of CRAA and the Div. II members are a part of ACRA. There is no doubt that where we can partner with Div. I for events be it a Championship, Player Development, Coach Development or Referee Development we will be happy to do so.
We invite you to join ACRA as we intend to work tirelessly to help the teams in your conference, not only providing a competition structure but also helping you grow your squads and develop your players ensuring a passion for the game.
Given the extraordinary economic situation there will be a nominal membership fee for 2020-21 of just $100 dollars per team and please know that this revenue will go back into obtaining referees, hosting championships and team development. We will have a talented group of administrators who understand the needs of the club sport team and they will address you specific requests.
Please contact Tony Brown at tobrown@vassar.edu (845) 380-9052 and Samantha Hoegle at samantha.hoegle@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.
Please let us know what your conference intends to do for 2020-21.
Sincerely,
Tony Brown
(845) 380-9052
Committee members
Sam Hoegle
Marybeth Matthews
Charles Cisco
Olivia Benzan-Daniel
Christopher St. Onge