What is CARFU?

The Chicago Area Rugby Football Union (CARFU) is the Local Area Union (LAU) for rugby union teams in the Chicago metropolitan area. CARFU is part of the Midwest Rugby Football Union (MRFU), which is also the governing body for the Allegheny, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin LAU’s. All local and territorial unions are part of USA Rugby. CARFU represents the teams in and around the Chicagoland area. The union works to provide existing CARFU members a competitive and safe environment to play rugby in. The union also works to develop and expand rugby throughout the Chicagoland area.

Structure

CARFU will be governed by the Board of Directors. The membership of the Board will be composed of representatives of Members in Good Standing of CARFU. The President will be the chairman of all Meetings. In his absence, the Secretary will assume this function. The Board delegates the day-to-day administration to the CARFU Management Committee. The actions of the Management Committee are subject to these Bylaws and all directives of the Board.

Membership

A club that desires to join CARFU should send its application to the CARFU Secretary. The application should be submitted prior to the CARFU AGM. The CARFU AGM is usually held in late January or early February. The potential club should also send a copy of its application to the secretary of The Midwest Management Committee. The management committee will decide whether or not the club applying for Membership may compete before the Board acts on its application for Membership.

An application for Membership must be received no fewer than 15 days before the Meeting at which the application will be acted on. All clubs that have applied for Membership in CARFU will be invited to appear at the Meeting at which their application will be acted on. A club whose application for Membership is rejected will be informed of the reasons for the rejection and be invited to reapply once the club has addressed those deficiencies.

Clubs will not be allowed to dissolve and reform to avoid past debts of any sort to the Union, avoid any punishment that has been declared to the club, or to avoid similar adverse action to the union or other entities.

In applying for Membership, a club must give the names and addresses of the officers of the club, the nature of the membership of the club (open, closed to students only, etc.), demonstrate its ability to field a side and complete a schedule, and its agreement to adhere to these Bylaws.

A club will be charged pro-rata dues from the date its application was submitted to the Secretary of CARFU. A new Member may not vote on any matters before the Board until it has paid at least six months dues.

What is a Member in Good Standing?

Good Standing: In order to be in Good Standing with CARFU, a Member must meet all of the following requirements:

  1. Be current in payment of all money owed to CARFU.
  2. Be in compliance with all the membership requirements of the Midwest.
  3. Be in compliance with all the membership requirements of USARFU.
  4. Maintain a fixture fist to the satisfaction of the Board.
  5. Conform to any directives of the Board as to its standard of play, administration or general behavior.
  6. Follow these Bylaws.
  7. Be in compliance with all disciplinary actions taken by CARFU.

A Member not in Good Standing will, until it cures its deficiency, lose its right to:

  1. Vote at Meetings.
  2. Have its members play on any representative side.
  3. Participate in any tournament or matches organized under the auspices of CARFU.
  4. Have any members of CARFU Referee Society officiate its matches.

A Member is designated to be not in Good Standing by the action of the Management Committee or the Board. Any member of the Management Committee can put forward a resolution before the