PITCH:
BICENTENNIAL PARK
1075 Biscayne Blvd,
Miami, FL 33132

MATCH SCHEDULE:
Schedule – Saturday – 2 fields
Bowl Semi’s played @ 10:00 am
UF v. Tridents B
Gainesville v. Jacksonville

Women’s semi’s played @ 11:45 am
UF v. Naples/Coconut Grove
UCF v. Ft. Lauderdale

Orlando women pulled out of tourney, Naples/Coconut Grove moved up
Women’s schedule subject to possible change

Plate Semi’s @ 1:30 pm
Miami v. Brevard
Tridents A v. Daytona

Cup Semi’s @ 2:45 pm
Orlando A v. Pelicans
Ft. Lauderdale v. Krewe A

Women’s Cup Final @ 4:00 pm
TBA

Schedule for Sunday –
Bowl Final @ 10:00 am
Plate Final @ 11:15 am
Cup Final @ 12:30 pm
Trophies presented @ 1:45 pm

TENTS:
Contact Party City @ (305) 446-0281

HOTELS:
Continental Downtown Bayside – Port of Miami
146 Biscayne Blvd (0.25 miles away)
Miami, FL 33132 – $69.00

Holiday Inn Miami-International Airport
1111 SO ROYAL POINCIANA BLVD,
MIAMI SPRINGS, FL (4.97 miles away)
877-410-6681

Starlite East Motel
135 SW 7th St, Miami, FL (1.23 miles away)
305-857-9416 $65.00

Miami Sun Hotel
226 NE 1st Ave, Miami, FL (0.55 miles away)
305-375-0786 – $60.00

Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay
1633 N Bayshore Dr, Miami, FL (0.50 miles away)
305-374-3900 – $289.00 -

Miami River Inn
118 SW South River Dr, Miami, FL (1.06 miles away)
305-325-0045

SOCIAL:
SATURDAY POST-MATCHES:-
7 to ?PM – Tobacco Road Will need wristband – purchased at the pitch
Directions

NEAREST AIRPORT:
Miami International Airport

NEAREST HOSPITAL:
Highland Park Pavilion Jackson
1660 NW 7th Ct, Miami, FL (1.24 miles away)
305-355-9400

Cedars Medical Ctr
1400 NW 12th Ave, Miami, FL (1.61 miles away)
305-325-5511

University of Miami Sylvester
1475 NW 12th Ave # 4037, Miami, FL (1.61 miles away)
305-243-1000

Jackson Memorial Hosp
1611 NW 12th Ave, Miami, FL (1.64 miles away)
305-585-1111

TENTS:
We will have tents available for rent – if you need one please contact us immediately to reserve on in your team’s name. 10 X 10 tent or 10 X 20’s.

VENDOR:
We do not have a confirmed rugby vendor at the event, but we’re still working on it. Florida Cup Championship T-shirts (listing each team) will be sold for $15.

PITCH CONCESSIONS:
Food and drinks will be available – tickets will be sold for food and drinks (water, Gatorade, chips, hamburgers, hot dogs, fruits, beer).

RESTAURANTS NEAR HOTELS / PITCH:
Bongos Cuban Cafe
601 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL (0.24 miles away)
786-777-2100

Players
30 NE 11th St, Miami, FL (0.25 miles away)
305-375-0202

Miami Arts Cafe
255 NE 14th St, Miami, FL (0.29 miles away)
305-579-9058

Miami Barbecue
401 Biscayne Blvd # S210, Miami, FL (0.39 miles away)
305-373-1855

Chili’s Grill & Bar
401 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL (0.39 miles away)
305-373-0601

Bayside Market Place
More than 10 different restaurants to choose from –
401 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL (0.39 miles away)

SOUTH BEACH SUNDAY LATE NIGHT: Anyone who wants to hit South Beach (Nikki Beach or Mango’s, News Café) Take I-95 North to 395 East (which will turn into 5th Street) to Washington Avenue make a left – go to 7th Street – make a right – parking garage on right – puts you in the heart of South Beach nightlife.

EVENT CONTACTS:
Tournament Director
Gerardo Ferraris
gcferraris@hotmail.com

Ruben Garcia
garcia.rubend@gmail.com

Assistant Directors
Cagney Kobrin
crackercag@aol.com

Louis Carvajal
carv08@yahoo.com

Wade Zacca
wzacca@hotmail.com

Ivan Mihovilovic
usadim@msn.com

Referee Liaison
Jason Nimark
fbama@ix.netcom.com

Webmaster Men

Congratulations to Orlando Women and Naples/Coconut Grove Women – who represented Florida well this weekend in the 2008 DII Women’s National Tournament hosted in Sanford, FL.

Webmaster FRU News, Women

First Game:
Orlando 36 Village Lions 0

Second Game:
Orlando 5 Detroit 7

They’ll be playing Naples/Coconut Grove Sunday, November 11 for 3rd/4th Place. Best of luck today ladies!

Webmaster Women

ORFC is the host for the Women’s Div 2 championships this weekend (11/10 and 11/11) at Sylvan Lake Park in Sanford. All of the Men are expected to attend to help as needed and to cheer on the Women’s team in their quest for a National Championship.

More info can be found here – Women’s Division II Club National Championships

Practice this Thursday night will be at Sylvan Lake Park so that we can get the fields marked.

John “Mini Murph” will be leaving the sunshine state and Orlando Rugby Team to begin a new job in Asheville, North Carolina around November 13. Let’s give him a good ole ORFC send off and wish him a great new start and meet at Casey’s at 8.30pm on Saturday November 10 to give our mate and a loyal ORFC team member friend a send off…

Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.

Webmaster Men, Socials, Women

To all clubs, players & coaches.

In reference to Franklyn Williams’ recent e-mail regarding “On Pitch Violence” I believe we have reached a critical stage for the Florida Rugby Union and it needs to be addressed further.

If you are the original recipient of this e mail as part of the “Groups” then you have a responsibility to make every member of your club aware of its contents. Don’t assume someone else will do it. In particular, Presidents of clubs and club coaches need to act immediately in the dissemination to web sites and their membership e-mail list, it’s that important.

This weekend saw a further three red cards bringing the total to 10 in the first six weeks of the season – already twice the number in the whole of last season.

The offences
Kicking
Kicking a player in the head
Head butting
Fighting
Punching
Aiming a punch at a referee
Referee abuse

This does not take into account the amount of off the ball incidents which were not spotted, but are clearly on the increase (one of which has lead to an impending law suit for assault). Ask yourself, does it have to be a fatal or life altering injury for us to take action? The answer of course is categorically, no!

I have taken it upon my self and with the approval of your board to try and understand why this is happening and what we collectively need to do to stop it. I have talked to Presidents of clubs, the President of the FRRA ( who collaborated with me on this note) and other players and referees in a concerted effort to get to the root causes of our problem as well as watching and officiating at games myself.

I believe the root causes can be defined as follows.
1. Lack of knowledge of the Laws of the Game including coaches, players.
2. Lack of qualified coaches. (We have 4 qualified coaches for 36 teams.)
3. Player Frustration. In particular, as regards to experienced players taking the law into their own hands when rookie players transgress. This is particularly evident in tackle/ ruck situations where persistent infringements such as entry from the side, failure to release tackled players, and tacklers failing to roll away immediately, leads to illegal responses from their opposition.
4. Lack of player self control and self discipline.
5. Lack of respect for referees at all grade levels and experience, by a growing number of players, coaches and spectators.
6. Lack of leadership and understanding of the role of “Captain” by many of the players who are designated to this critical role.
7. Lack of remedial action by club officials for transgressions by their players that were not seen by the referee.
8. Pre conceived and often coached views about opposition teams’ mode of play.
9. Verbal incitement from side lines that encourages unsportsmanlike behavior.

Here is how we are going to address these causes.
1. Referees will adopt “Zero Tolerance” for tackle/ruck offences, offside, foul play and abuse.
2. Coaches to use their next and subsequent sessions to aquaint, or reacquaint themselves and their players with the laws particularly as they apply to tackle/rucks & offside. Referees will be made available on request to teach the laws.Make their squads aware of zero tolerance from referees. Reiterate fair play rules and sportsmanship.
3. Each Club President to immediately commit to address the Union’s concerns with their membership.
4. Club Officials to assure the Union that they will deal appropriately with players that commit offences in a game undetected by the referee.
5. Add a link from the new FRU website to the IRB website for Laws of the Game so that every one has easy access to learn.

I believe that this plan of action will alleviate the current trend. However, an alternative option being considered is for the Union to appoint three officials to each game. This will immediately reduce the number of games played by 50% and triple the cost to each club for match officials. There is evidence from divisional play that this is extremely effective and may well be the long term solution if there is no reduction in offences.

I expect all Club Presidents to respond to this e-mail

Clubs – It is in your hands!

John Devonport
President
FRU
November 2 2007

Webmaster FRU News, Men, Women