With heavy hearts, the MRDA Board of Directors has made the decision to cancel our planned MRDA postseason. In making this decision, the MRDA Board has consulted with our member leagues and taken into account the most recent advice on COVID-19 we have from governments and the WHO. Due to the complexity involved in returning not just to full-contact sport, but normal life, the MRDA Board doesn’t believe teams can adequately prepare for post-season tournaments and we don’t feel Champs will truly be representative of the best the MRDA has to offer.
All is not lost though, and we aren’t ready to completely write-off 2020 and have come up with an alternate plan to finish out the year and hopefully set up 2021 with some great sanctioned play.
The current format we are planning and moving forward with will include two tournaments on consecutive weekends, Dec 5 & 6 in Newcastle, UK and Dec 12 & 13 in Austin, TX, USA. Each event will be a 10 team, 2 day tournament featuring the top 10 teams from each region, North America and Europe. The bracket will follow our former 10 team Champs bracket.
As with everything, this is subject to change based on developing advice regarding Covid-19, but we will be moving forward with these plans until that time.
We will be releasing the officiating and announcing applications for both events within the coming weeks.
For the 2021 season, we are excited to announce the Tyne and Fear will still be able to host MRDA Champs and we are (still) excited to share our 10th Championship with them.