Cottage Grove, WI–In a 9-3 vote following the summer league meeting, teams overwhelmingly supported moving the first round of the playoffs to the Wisconsin Rugby Sports Complex in Cottage Grove. But with cash reserves low after losing last year’s state tournament to the pandemic, the league was not in the position to front money for both a neutral site playoff tournament and a neutra lsite final state tournament.

Luckily coaches Joe Garcia (Bruisers) and Michael Johnson (Madison) offered to donate some start-up money and with some help from Madison United Rugby (MUR), the first round of the playoffs will be held at a neutral site for the first time in league history.

Many coaches have long advocated for this change because it would make travel more equitible, reduce costs for teams (refs/trainers/fields), prevent the headaches of finding fields & refs last minute, and give teams equal access to size-up their competition for the next round. More importantly, the event will be held at the state’s premier rugby facility. Both fields at the complex will be utilized for the event.

The event will be paid for through the donations from Coaches Garcia and Johnson, possible sponsorships acquired by MUR, and gate revenue of $5 per person with no fees for parking.

MUR will run concessions and collect gate revenues and are fully commited to making this a successful event for the WGR.

In order to recruit the state’s best refs to the event, it will be held on a Sunday, October 24th.

Another first for the league, teams will be given free tickets for thier support staff but also for families facing economic hardship to ensure there are no barriers for families who want to support their rugby playing daughters.

The State Finals tournament will be held on 10/31 at the Milwaukee Sports Complex in Franklin.

Championship Field

Event	Time	Teams
State Semi-Finals #1	2:00pm	TO#1 v JN#2
State Semi-Finals #2	4:00pm	JN#1 v TO#2

Back Field

Event	Time	Teams
Developmental Match	11:00am	TBD
Consolation Semi-Finals #1	12:30pm	JN#3 v TO#4
Consolation Semi-Finals #2	2:00pm	TO#3 v JN#4