Tim Sheridan
President
president@carfu-rs.com

I was first introduced to rugby as a sophomore at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, and continued playing through college at Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT. Following my brother, I joined the Chicago Griffins and competed for two years against our arch-nemesis, the Chicago Lions.

In 1985, I was transferred to Sydney, Australia for work and discovered I was just two blocks from the Northern Suburbs Rugby Club. This is where my real rugby education began. I quickly learned the physicality of the game, earning 15 stitches around my ear. There was no “rolling away” penalty back then, only determined clearing out by the forwards.

I was in Australia in 1987 for the first Rugby World Cup, witnessing teams from all over the world compete. Surprisingly, I was asked to play with the Chicago Lions, who needed players. They even got me tickets to the World Cup final at Eden Park.

After retiring, I had a rugby hiatus until I was invited to help coach a high school team. This led me to register as a club referee, and I’ve been officiating for over 15 years. I’m honored to serve as president of the CARFU Referee Society, committed to developing referees and providing teams with the best on-field experience.

Sydney Ramgolam
Treasurer
treasurer@carfu-rs.com

I came to rugby the roundabout way, not picking up a ball until I started grad school in 2017. I played socially with the UChicago graduate schools and became a club co-chair in my second year, helping to build the first (and maybe, probably, unfortunately, the last) MBA women’s side. After competing under such frankenstein travel teams as “Yal-ooth-ia” (Yale-Booth-Columbia), I graduated and moved to San Jose CA where I started playing in earnest with the San Jose Seahawks. 

I moved back to Chicago in 2021 and after tearing an ACL, decided to take a step back. ARing provided me a way to stay involved with the rugby community and build back my strength and stamina post-surgery. I took the L1 that year, and the rest is history! I became loosely involved with the CARFU-RS board, helping to manage the website and assignments, before officially joining in 2024. 

Amelia Vojt
Referee Recruitment Officer (RRO)
recruitment@carfu-rs.com

I started playing rugby my freshman year of college at the University of Notre Dame, and I instantly fell in love with the sport. When I graduated and moved to Chicago, I took a couple years off from playing, but I couldn’t stay away for too long and ended up joining Chicago Women’s Rugby Club (CWRC) in fall of 2016. I knew I would keep playing for a while at that point, but I also knew I wanted to stay involved with rugby whenever my playing days were to come to an end. So, in spring of 2017, I decided to take the L1 referee course. I then spent five years both reffing and playing, until the end of 2022 when I made the decision to retire as a player and devote my energy exclusively to reffing. I’ve truly loved growing as a rugby referee over the past several years, and I’m excited to be in a role now where I get the opportunity to bring more people to this awesome community!

Dawn McKenzie
Referee Retention and Development Officer (RDRO)
development@carfu-rs.com

My rugby career started at Southern Illinois University, my freshman year of undergrad. I was a student athlete up to the time I left for college so finding rugby was filling a new gap. I instantly fell in love with the sport, it was physical, challenging, and the people I met made it so much more special than any other sport. I played on the Midwest U-23 team so I was recruited by Chicago North Shore and made my way from Southern Illinois up to the windy city. After a long playing career, which included a national championship title, I retired from playing to attend graduate school at Northwestern University.

Throughout my time as a player, I was always being recruited by referees. When I retired from playing, there was a new gap that needed to be filled and refereeing was the answer. I enjoy still being part of the game, it keeps me challenged and pushes me to stay healthy and fit as I age. Refereeing has given me additional opportunities and provided me with new friends around the world.