A very good report and recommendations........thank you Ed Hughes
Issues have been raised by various parties regarding the eligibility of certain foreign members of the Highland High School Rugby team. At the request of the the USA Rugby Game Development Officer, the chair of the USA Rugby Disciplinary Committee, in conjunction with the USA Rugby Eligibility Committee, conducted an extensive investigation as to whether Highland had violated any USA Rugby regulations and guidelines or Utah State Law with regard to the recruiting and particpation of foreign players and as to the eligibility of four particular members of the Highlands HS team who are citizens of New Zealand.
The findings of the undersigned are that, while there does appear to be a pattern of behavior that is strongly indicative of recruiting of specific non-resident alien, high school age, players by the Highland High School rugby coach, neither the Highland coach, nor any of the players in question, have, in any way, violated either Utah State Law or the existing Eligibility and Disciplinary Regulations of USA Rugby.
As the undersigned has no education in the laws of the State of Utah, I contacted and was educated, advised and assisted by Carol Lear, Esq., Assistant General Counsel for the Utah State Board of Education. Ms. Lear had previously dealt with similar accusations made against past players of the Highlands HS club. Ms. Lear explained that Utah does, under certain circumstances, permit foreign children to attend Utah State public High Schools. Basically, the rules regarding such participation in public education focus on two issues: 1) The parent or court appointed guardian of any minor must reside in the State of Utah and, 2)The student's tuition must be paid to the State of Utah by either the government or by the individual student.
In the instant case, all of the four young men in question are 18 years old. Therefore, there is no issue with regard to the parent of legal guardian as the boys in question are no longer minors. With regard to the issue of tuition, I telephoned the Granite School District in Utah and confirmed that these boys have all paid their own tuition to the State of Utah and, therefore, Utah is not footing the bill for the public education of a foreign national.
The remaining issues as to eligibility are satisfied by the fact that, as per the Principal of Olympic High School, all four of the boys from New Zealand are only 18 and enrolled as full time students as of this past September in Olympic HS, taking a full course load of 6 classes out of 8 periods. Further Olympic has no team, so these boys/men are free to play for the Highlands club.
While these boys are eligible to play, there are some very serious issues that USA Rugby needs to address in changing the existing rules to avoid the type of recruiting and potential exploitation of young foreign men that can easily occur if things remain status quo. The first issue is that each of these young men is presently in the country illegally. All of these men have overstayed their tourist visas and, upon leaving the United States to return home, if they aren't deported first, these boys/men will not be permitted to return. Neither the Utah school system, nor the USARFU Eligibility Regulations place any restriction based on immigration status. While public policy may prevent Utah from prohibiting illegal aliens from getting a public education, USARFU faces no such public policy dilemma.
The second issue deals with what restrictions should USA Rugby place on recruiting of foreign High School Students. The visa/immigration issues may be all that need to be addressed, but it is a bit unusual that particular HS programs seem to aquire the same number of students from the same countries year in and year out and still they deny that their is any active recruiting going on. While I don't disbelieve the coaches who tell me that they do not actively recruit these gentlemen, I find it an awfully amazing coincidence that not only has this coach managed to have the same number of boys from New Zealand fall in his lap every year, but they all seem to opt to attend Olympic High and, it just so happens that the same coach has had himself empowered with power of attorney for each of these lucky men.
I leave it to USA Rugby's Eligibility and Competitions Committees to determine the issue, but I strongly recommend that, current/valid immigration status should be required for participation in any level of USA Rugby and, especially at the High School level where some boys may be naive enough to damage their futures by ignoring the United States Immigration Laws.
Respectfully Submitted,
Edward J. Hughes, Jr.
President, METNYRFU
Director, NRU
Director, USARFU
Chairman, USARFU Disciplinary Committee
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