List of the Combined Services Chairmen
1980 - 1984 Harry F. Laws II, Col, USAF
1984 - 1991 Richard Battock, Col, USAF
1991 - 1996 Pat O'Connor, USA
1996 - 2001 Mark Neice USAF
Then rugby became an Olympic sport and thus, more acceptable to the DoD as an official sport, the responsibility for Service rugby was transitioned to the Armed Forces Sports Committee. USA Rugby continued with a rugby service member on their board who in 2001 was Mike Malone. At some point during the transition, USA Rugby ceased funding the Combined Services Committee. Air Force's Larry Grant was our Combined Services representative from 2001-2002. USA rugby eventually concluded that the Armed Forces Sports Council should have that board seat, rather than someone from the Combined Services Committee. This decision dissolved the Combined Services Committee in 2002 essentially dissolved the Combined Services Committee and the AFSC took over managing the DoD rugby programs.
DRAFT HISTORY:
1975. With the formation of USA Rugby, the new leadership put a Combined Services Committee (CSC) into the organizational structure, but the chairman was not a military person and the committee was inactive.
1979. Reacting to an article in Rugby Magazine about the UK Combined Services match in Boston, LtCol Harry Laws was appointed CSC Chairman and soon thereafter, an all military committee structure was put in place and the organization flourished. Communication was continuous with USA Rugby, and they began to fund the committee’s communication expenses and later, were more generous in their support. This communication was between the CSC Chairman and an appointed link within USA Rugby.
Late 1990s. Air Force Rugby Service Director Larry Grant was the first service chairman to truly get the attention of his service's sports officials. He worked very hard to get funding for his side, created a tryout system with an outside coach, got funded orders for his players, and funded kit. Air Force won Interservice Championships for several years as a result. Larry was generous with his knowledge of how to make these things happen in the military and shared his expertise with the other service leaders to the benefit of all.
1996 January – USA Rugby decided to offer an official board seat to the CSC. Mike Malone was elected and sworn in to the USARFU board in this newly created Military Representative seat. He was re-elected by the CSC to successive terms starting January 1998 and January 2000 When several of the services began working to get Armed Forces Sports Council (AFSC) funding for their programs in the 1999-2000 timeframe, the AFSC informed them that its funding of military rugby would not allow the continued involvement of players on the USCS team who were not on active duty. Also, that reservists and guard members not on active duty, even though serving inactively as a reservist or guard member, and retired members would no longer be permitted to play for the team.
2000 July 18h. Mike Malone and Paul Capasso Col, USAF, CSC vice-chairman appeared before the AFSC, at the behest of the USCS Committee, to appeal the AFSC decision not to allow inactive reserve and guard members on the military teams, requesting the waiver of that requirement as allowed by AFSC regulations. They were informed that the waiver would not be granted. They were further informed that at some point the AFSC would seek to have its representative seated on the USARFU board of directors.
2000 November 10th. Two members of the AFSC appeared at the November meeting of the USARFU board and they informed Mike Malone that they were present to make a pitch to the board for one of their choosing to replace him as the elected Military Representative. They made it clear this was a prerequisite to any funding being given by the AFSC in support of the each of the individual service teams, as well as the USCS teams. When this pitch was made at the session of the board meeting, there was opposition voiced by some of the board members to the seating of the board member not elected by the constituency that was represented by the board member. No decision was made that day.
In order to avoid the board possibly voting against the seating of an appointed AFSC representative to the elected Military Representative seat and thereby potentially blocking of funding of each of the service teams by the AFSC, Mike Malone informed LtCol. Mark Neice, USAF, the USCS Committee chairman, of his intention to resign his position on the USARFU board.
2000 November 11th – Mike Malone, the CSC representative to the USARFU board of directors, resigns.
The Combined Services Committee continued to function.
2000 . Larry Grant was appointed to be the Armed Forces Sports Council’s representative to USA Rugby. When he retired in 2003, Mr. Steve Brown, Air Force Sports Director, took over as the representative at the direction of the AFSC (because the Air Force was the first Service to fund rugby two years prior to it becoming an Armed Forces Sport).
2002 June 27. USA Rugby Board agreed that the military seat on the board would be tendered to the AFSC. This decision appeared to have dissolved the Combined Services Committee but in reality, it only announced that it was the consensus of the USARFU Executive Committee to propose to the full board at 2002 November’s meeting that the military seat on the board would be tendered to the AFSC. The USCS Committee would continue to chair the Military Rugby Committee under USARFU by-laws.
2009 October. "At the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen in October 2009, IOC members voted overwhelmingly in favour of Rugby Sevens inclusion on the Olympic Games Sports Programme for 2016 and 2020, 81 votes in favour with only eight against." https://www.world.rugby/olympics/history
Once rugby became a varsity sport in enough Services to be declared an official DoD sport, the responsibility for funding and managing fell to the Services via decisions made by the Armed Services Sports Council.
The first DoD 7's tourney was in 2012, as a result of the Armed Forces Sports Council (AFSC) voting to switch formats (I think about six months prior). LtCol Gary Helfeldt, USAF, was the planning officer for the 2012 Armed Forces Championship (AFC) 15's tourney in 2011/2012 and had to make the switch to 7's sometime in early 2012. That also drove the decision to nest the Armed Forces Championship inside a bigger 7's tourney, because a 5-team 7's tourney was not very viable.
The DoD made rugby an official sport when either two or three of the Services made rugby a varsity sport, which triggered it as a DoD official sport, and that happened around 2000 or so when there were both the last CSC Interservice tourney and the first AFC tourney (LG should recall the details).
The Olympic winds caused the the AFSC to drop 15's for 7's prior to the 2012 tourney, which came after several years of some of the Services wanting to change the format to 7's to conserve funds (dating back to the mid 2000's -- It was after one of the AFC tourney's in 2006 or 2007 that we were asked to re-deploy to a 7's tourney immediately after the AFC at Camp Lejeune, -- Doc should recall those details). The USAF Sports office was a hold-out to keep 15's until the very end when the AFSC ruled that they would only support Olympic sports.
