Joining The Silver League

I am worried about my ability to join The Silver League. At the moment; I am unable to access the chat box at all (the familiar "members only chat" error). I am worried that this means I am going to be unable to join or participate in any of the core "events (gym battles, etc)" that the league has to offer. This begs the questions; 1.) Does one need to access the chat to officially become part of the site, 2.) If question one is true; is there anyway to troubleshoot the aforementioned problem, and lastly 3.) If the problem is not cookies or browser (as I have eliminated those possibilities) and is signing up for xat; how do I do so as every time I click to register the sign in page asks for non-existent sign in info. I would very much like to join this group, but I fear that the plethora of problems (say that five times fast) will deny me access. Can anyone assist me with this when they are free?