USA Rugby and the reorganization task force is busily trying to formulate a way forward, probably due by the end of this month, that will satisfy World Rugby and a bankruptcy court.

World Rugby, as USA Rugby’s biggest creditor, will certainly have a say in whether the plan makes sense and whether Chapter 11 reorganization is the best way forward.

As galling as it may seem, most of the people working on a new future for USA Rugby are doing so for no pay. Some are working pretty much all day to deal with complex financial and legal issues as well as holding down their regular jobs.

And of course it was the paid people, the professionals, who got us into this mess. They were the ones who lost millions of dollars in 2018, and then changed nothing significant in their approach to their stewardship of the membership’s money.

 

 

 

 

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60 seconds on where the bucks (or lack of bucks) stop with the USA Rugby financial sinkhole. Yes we name names.

A post shared by Alex Goff (@goffrugbyreport) on Mar 25, 2020 at 12:18pm PDT

As all of this goes on, here are a few notes about the process and what probably needs to happen. We're hitting these topics quickly but if you want more in-depth, just click the link for explanations and possible solutions or ways forward:

Dismissive Attitudes Toward Costs And Member-Partners

Spending too much, not being careful about controlling costs, and assuming the membership dollars will just keep rolling in remain problematic attitudes in Lafayette. More on this topic here>>

Mischaracterizing Costs

A cost that should be the responsibility of USA Rugby Partners or High Performance is instead charged to USA Rugby's general membership funding ... this helps hide problems within USARP and HP, but has to be addressed. The Rugby World Cup 7s lost way more money than the accounting shows because several costs were actually listed under regular day-to-day USA Rugby activity. More on this topic here>>

National Team Financial Burden

The Men's Eagles are costing way too much, and there are no checks and balances, with both head coaches given far too much leeway to hire and spend money; USA Rugby expects then for someone to pick up the tab, and the Golden Eagles are enabling them by doing just that.

And ... the coaches have an additional mandate they should be following but aren't: build domestic coaching for the future. More on this topic here>>

Insurance

What's going to happen if different constituencies handle their own insurance? More on this topic here>>

The Membership Dues Money-Grab

USA Rugby is desperate to make the numbers show that it needs as much membership dues money as possible. It doesn't, and shouldn't, but everyone has to be vigilant about how hard they are working to keep everything the same. If we end up with a still-bloated national office and most of the dues money going to that office, we'll know the whole reorganization failed and no one learned anything. More on this topic here>>

(Sources include USA Rugby's own financial statements plus interviews with several sources close to the issue.)