I want to hear from USA Rugby’s Chairman of the Board, Will Chang – on his assessment on the “State of USA Rugby”. I would think such a piece would be found in AGM notes, but nothing is available as there haven’t been any AGM’s in recent memory.  Again, refer to the By Laws.

Regardless, I think it’s time to hear from the leadership. Specifically I would like to hear about the following:

• Vision for the future of our teams, both Men and Women in both codes and age grades (specifically U/20)
• What priorities they are placing on creating ‘places to play’ for all the youth coming through (i.e. quality coaching, refereeing, playing conditions, etc..) such that we can compete at U/20 level which clear as day is extremely important moving forward. Club system still in disarray regardless of MLR.
• I want to hear about RIM and how that ‘for profit’ entity (which has only created competition to those USAR actually would want to partner with i.e., NBC, UWS, AEG, etc…) actually works on behalf of USA Rugby. N.b., there is a well grounded argument that RIM actually acts to the detriment of USA Rugby.
• Why USA Rugby’s Board, and its ‘financial arm’ Rugby International Marketing (aka RIM) are so poor at executing their fundraising/revenue streams that a significant portion of our coaches and senior high performance managers are funded by private donors/benefactors?

Why not hear from the CEO, Dan Payne?

Normally, I would request such a ‘State of USAR’ piece to be done by the CEO. However, as should be well known by now – he has no authority/responsibility/accountability over RIM or any of the revenue piece of USA Rugby (other than being forced to put his hand out and beg for money from an already tapped out membership).

Here are my thoughts on the USA Rugby Organization Chart and how it is IMPOSSIBLE for Payne to succeed unless he has authority and accountability over RIM

How can the USA Rugby membership request such a statement from Chairmen Chang (USAR) and Chairman Keck (RIM).

P.S. Is this piece too operational in nature? Not under purview of a Director? Too divisive? #marni

Other Articles I have written on this topic:

• A thought on USA Rugby: Does mediocre Board performance ultimately effect on field performance?
• On USA Rugby Vision, Strategy 2020, RWC 2018/2027, Age Grade, HP audit, & more on the Board/RIM
• On USA Rugby, John Mitchell, RIM, The Rugby Channel, & the Board.