Scion Withdrawals From 7s Nationals

Scion, the two-time-reigning USA Club 7s National Champion, issued the following statement regarding its withdrawal from this weekend’s championship (see original):

Scion’s player leadership has made the very difficult decision to not compete in the USA Club 7s National Championship this year and defend our title from the past two years.

Prior to and during the competitive 2023 club 7s season, we confirmed our understanding of the eligibility guidelines surrounding the new professional player maximum rules in writing to ensure that we were fully compliant in our path to nationals. We selected our rosters, made difficult decisions to cut skilled players, and ran the season based on the information we received. This week, after having played with a consistent roster all summer, we were told it no longer met club competition eligibility guidelines.

This is a team of homegrown players who live and train in DC or are long-time Scion players. Our players have committed their time, their finances, and their energy to this club for years, long before they were considered “professional” by any haphazard designation. Our consistency and commitment is our strength and a quality that leads to our success. We wholeheartedly dispute the implication that Scion knowingly violated club 7s regulations, and reject any questions of the integrity of the club, the staff, and Scion players. Scion has always and will always operate with high ethical standards focused on the growth of rugby and women’s rugby as a whole.

We feel strongly as a club that our whole team that has been deemed eligible up until the Tuesday before nationals should be able to play together as we have earned the right and qualified to do. Our decision to withdraw from nationals is based on our club values and stems from our belief in fair competition rules being applied as they were communicated to us as well as our desire to give players the opportunity to play.

We are extremely disappointed in this decision for our team – a team that has worked hard all year in anticipation of this competition – and we are confident in our decision to stick together.

We wish the best of luck to the 7s athletes our friends and competitors) playing in Madison this weekend!