Hi Everyone,

It was an enthusiastic turnout Friday night at the Britannia Arms for our informal rugby gathering. Great to see everyone and listen to all those fluid opinions!

From the various discussions I believe the general consensus for next season is as follows:

1.       A south bay league would make a lot of sense (including EPA, Peninsula, Cupertino, Los Gatos,  San Jose, Santa Cruz) – travel to east bay was a significant handicap last season

2.       There is a lot of administration work required to run a league successfully. We need:

a.       Volunteers and resources

b.      To make an early start with formal meetings, an agreed organization structure, roles/responsibilities etc

3.       Start a significant recruitment campaign soon. (upcoming events: Stanford Collegiate  (May 1 & 2) and Eagles v Ireland at SCU (May 31))

So… as discussed a formal meeting is hereby arranged for next week to drive planning for next season.

The meeting is scheduled for Thursday 6:30pm, April 23^rd at the Yahoo Santa Clara building where I work. Please RSVP me as soon as possible so I have numbers, please also send me your cell phone number and preferred email address. In the event I do not get permission from Yahoo I will try to arrange the meeting at either a public library or community center, any other ideas? 

I will send out the exact meeting location once it is known.

Proposed Agenda:

·         Introductions

·         South Bay league organization structure, roles/responsibilities, elect members, volunteer assignments etc

·         Recruiting preparation for upcoming rugby events

·         Subsequent  meeting arrangement

·         Recap & Summary

Please feel free to comment on the agenda.  I think the primarily focus for the first meeting should be agreement on a league organization, roles/responsibilities and assignments. For seeding this discussion I will present a SB league concept based on Friday’s input, ideas from other sports, and any other ideas you would like to email me.

I would like to encourage you to bring along your own proposals however. I by no means have all the ideas. My ideas are limited only to last season, exposure to central valley youth soccer and growing up in New Zealand a million years ago playing some youth rugby.

I am happy to chair the meeting unless someone else would like to do it (beware I am a loud voice good only for scrums!). Neil MacDonald has graciously agreed to take minutes.

The meeting will be limited to two hours max.

I’ve cc’ed all of Chris Fisher’s contacts on this email in case of interest. Please feel free to extend this invitation to others and have them RSVP me. Important people are probably missing from this email.

Look forward to seeing you!

Regards,

Steve

Attachment: Neil MacDonald’s notes from Friday night.