Brevard Old Red Eye Rugby Football ClubOur very well attended Fall meeting was held on Thursday, August 12 at Coach Tyrone's house. After about an hour of socializing - and to allow some guys who wanted to run first, time to get there - and after all 10 pizzas were gone - the meeting was called to order at 7:30PM.
Additions, subtractions and corrections were made to the roster (which was updated and has been sent out separately) and the e-mail distribution list. Eight new players were added.
We then discussed USARFU CIPP (Club and Individual Player Participation) registration for the 2010-2011 season. CIPP registration, which costs $35 for Senior Men, runs from Sept. 1 to Aug 31 each year and opened on August 13th - the Men's club is now registered (Brevard Old Red Eye Rugby Club). You must be CIPP registered before you can play in a rugby match. Also, as part of our club registration (and a minimum of 15 registered players) we can obtain a liability insurance certificate from the USARFU that we are required to have by Brevard County Parks and Rec in order to use their facilities - so please get CIPP registered ASAP.
We then recapped the Spring season and discussed our plans for the fall. Although we won the 2010 FRU Div 3 Championship, we felt we should have beat Hilton Head and are not content with just repeating as FRU champs again. However, this will be more difficult with the addition of some new teams to Div 3 - including at least 1 former Div 2 team (Gainesville). We need to order some new balls and and kicking tees and to check the status of the scrum sled, but it was not felt that any other new equipment was needed - other than the possibility of new sideline ropes per FRU requirements. Games for the fall season are still being worked on, but the FRU Cup will be Oct. 16/17 in a tournament format.
Next we discussed sponsorship and fundraising. Our major fall fundraiser is the golf tournament which will be held November 13th at Sebastian Golf Club. We also brought up easy fundraisers like “Basket of Booze”, auctioning off the old jerseys, yard sale, etc. A fundraising committee will be formed to coordinate activities.
Stu and Neil had some possibilities for sponsorship that they were willing to pursue. One of the things that we need is a new ice maker for the concession stand and Terry has a possible lead on one. We also need to do some work on the concession stand and get the scoreboard working. Staffing for the fall season will probably have to be run by the Men as the Youth do not have any matches (but Ray will check on the possibility of Youth or parents running it). Recruiting was the next topic and Dewayne will lead handling BCC. Matt Henderson and Alan will handle FIT and everyone will be responsible for handing out flyers and putting up posters. Neil is going to have some new posters designed. Corkey will have new recruiting business cards printed up. We also need to re-establish contacts at the newspapers and get some PSA's on local radio (any volunteers?).
Next, the preliminary budget was presented. The major piece of it was estimated to be lights, which could increase from $15 to $30 per hour. Ray is going to look into buying 50 hours worth of lights prior to the increase. Because of this, and the as yet unknown costs of referee/touch judge fees, finalizing the budget was tabled and dues temporarily set at $50/player (first season players are exempt from club dues). If we can't buy light cards in advance, dues might have to be increased. We also voted to do away with the hotline to save $13/month.
A field committee, headed up by Stu and assisted by Nick, to set up the field prior to games and a clean-up committee for after games and practices, headed up by Matt Swist, were also established. Rookies will be required to help out with these.
It was also noted that this is the club's 35th Anniversary and we have been tentatively planning some events for the fall. A thought was to wrap something around a U-20 match against New South Wales U-18 team on Dec. 9th. More details soon.
Lastly, Coach Tyrone (Terry Mulreany) gave a rousing motivational speech that fired up the players and hopefully kicked off the season on a high note. The meeting was called to a close at 9:15.
If there are any corrections or addtions that need to be made, please let me know.
In closing, my thanks to everyone who turned out and actively participated to make it a great meeting. And special thanks to Coach Tyrone for making his house available to us.
Corkey Newman
President
Brevard Rugby Club