Rugby union in the United States
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Rugby union in the United States is a growing national sport. It is played at the youth, high school, club, semi-professional, and international levels. The United States is a second-tier rugby nation. The game was first introduced to the United States in the 1870s. The sport gained popularity throughout the late Nineteenth Century, however it started to decline from the early 1900s. It's growth collapsed in the country after the 1924 Olympics, and did not re-emerge until it's renaissance in the 1960s. The United States of America Rugby Football Union (now known as USA Rugby) was formed in 1975.
The United States national rugby team, the Eagles, competed in the first Rugby World Cup in 1987. They compete annually in the Churchill Cup. The semi-professional domestic Super League was established for the countries top clubs. In 2006, the International Rugby Board (IRB) sponsored North America 4 competition was introduced, with two American teams participating. The women's United States national team was established in 1987, and is a world power; winning the Women's World Cup in 1991, and finished runners up in 1994 and 1998.
There are over 60,000 players registered with USA Rugby; including over 20,000 high school students. The 570 clubs in the United States are governed by seven Territorial Unions and 37 Local Unions.
Contents |
[edit] History
- See also: History of rugby union
[edit] 1870-1960
Rugby was first introduced in the United States by English soldiers and colonists in the mid-1800s. To wit, in 1872 rugby clubs were established in the San Francisco Bay Area, which were mainly comprised of British expatriates.
The first recorded rugby match in the United States occurred on May 14, 1874 between Harvard University and McGill University.
In 1876, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, a competition based on the traditional rules of rugby union. Around the same time, the aforemnetioned British rugby players of San Francisco introduced rugby to the University of California, Berkeley.
The unfamiliar and complex gameplay hampered initial growth on the East Coast. Controversy arose in 1905 when photographs of a match between Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania were published. The pictures were used to depict rugby as a "harsh game." Rugby union grew on the West Coast, however, and as many as 26,000 spectators regularly attended matches between the University of California and Stanford University.
In 1908 and 1909, the Australian national team visited the U.S. as part of an international tour. The US-Australia matches marked the United States' first international tests.
In 1910, a combined Universities rugby team comprised mostly of players from Cal, Stanford, and the University of Nevada went on a tour of Australia and New Zealand. The underdog American side upset both Rotorua RFC and Auckland RU, which came as a great surprise to the international rugby community
In 1912, the Wallabies returned to America; this tour was the first and only America-specific tour by Australia to date. The 1912 tour of the United States saw the United States national team play their first international test, which they lost 12-8.
After a pomising start on international stage, the Americans were thrashed a year later by the All Blacks, 51-3. This test was organised by former Cal president Benjamin Ide Wheeler in an attempt to popularize rugby among his students.
The national team won their first test in 1919, defeating Romania. Although rugby had been dropped now on the west coast, there were still many rugby fans, some who campaigned for inclusion in the upcoming Olympics. A response from the IOC stated that "due to the fact that California is the only state playing Rugby in the US, the Committee will give sanction but no financial aid". In 1920, rugby union was a fixture at the 1920 Summer Olympics, and a United States team ended up winning gold after money was raised in San Francisco to send them there. In 1924, rugby union was again included in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. An American side were invitied to participate, and the team surprised spectators by landing a place in the final with the hosts - the French. An estimated 50,000 turned up to Colombes Stadium to watch France defeat the American team. In what is considered one of the biggest upsets in the sport, the United States defeated France for the Gold. 1924, was however the last time rugby was a fixture at the Olympics, making the 1924 United States team, the last to win the medal. It is thought that after the IOC removed the game as an Olympic sport, the game suffered on a massive scale in the United States.
In 1939, a delegate from the Californian rugby league was sent to the rugby football league with the intention of adopting professional rugby rules. An English delegation was to be sent to California in 1940, but WWII prevented this from happenning and the efforts for professional rugby came to nought.
[edit] 1960s-present
In the 1960s, the game started to see some form of growth, with many seeing rugby union as an alternative to American football. In 1975, the United States of America Rugby Football Union was formed.
In 1987, the first Rugby Union World Cup was held, and the United States was invited to participate. The following world cup, the 1991 tournament, saw invitations abolished in favour of a 32-team qualifying tournament, that saw the United States successfully gain entry. They finished at the bottom of their pool (admittedly, they were in a pool with New Zealand, England and Italy -- all relatively strong rugby powers). However, they did not qualify for the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
In 1996, the Rugby Super League was created by the 14 major governing bodies of the sport in the United States, with the intention of creating a competitive and national competition. 1997 saw the inugural season of the competition. There were 14 teams competiting, which were divided into two seven-team divisions; the Western-Pacific Conference and the Midwestern-East Conference. Aspen won the first championship.
After missing out on the 1995 World Cup in South Africa, the national side qualified for the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Wales. They subsequently qualified for the 2003 Rugby World Cup, finishing fourth in their pool, winning one game against Japan. The US recently qualified for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, beating Uruguay home and away to clinch the Americas 2 spot.
[edit] Governing Bodies
Rugby union played anywhere is governed by the IRB, which is based out of Dublin, Ireland. It is the governing and law-making body for rugby globally. There are over 100 member unions of the IRB, with USA Rugby being the member union of the United States. USA Rugby is responsible for overseeing rugby union domestically and training the various national teams that they put on the pitch.
Within USA Rugby, there are seven territorial area unions (TAU's) that are charged with governing a specific region of the country. Within these TAU's, there are also Local Area Unions (LAU's), which are responsible for governing a specific region within their respective TAU's. A complete list of TAU's and their respective LAU's are as follows:
| Territorial area unions | Local area unions | |
|---|---|---|
| Mid-Atlantic | Eastern Pennsylvania | |
| Potomac | ||
| Virginia | ||
| Midwest | Allegheny | |
| Chicago Area | ||
| Indiana | ||
| Illinois | ||
| Iowa | ||
| Michigan | ||
| Minnesota | ||
| Ohio [1] | ||
| Wisconsin | ||
| Northeast | Metropolitan New York | |
| New England | ||
| New York State | ||
| Pacific Coast | Arizona | |
| Northern California | ||
| Pacific Northwest | ||
| Utah | ||
| Northern Nevada | ||
| Southern California | Southern California - North | |
| Southern California - South | ||
| USA Rugby South | Deep South | |
| Florida | ||
| Georgia | ||
| MidSouth — covers the Tennessee Valley | ||
| North Carolina | ||
| Palmetto — covers South Carolina | ||
| West | Eastern Rockies | |
| Great Plains | ||
| Heart of America | ||
| Missouri | ||
| Ozarks | ||
| Rio Grande | ||
| Texas | ||
| Sharpley | ||
| Independent | Alaska | |
| Lopez | ||
| Idaho | ||
| Montana | ||
[edit] Popularity
Over 60,000 citizens are registered with USA Rugby (One needs to be certified by USA Rugby to participate in most matches and tournaments), and 18 teams are entered in the premier domestic competition, the Rugby Super League, for 2007.[2][3] There are 815 referees within USA Rugby.[3]
There are over 1,200 pre-teens currently playing organized rugby union (1,097 male, 197 female).[3] There are over 20,000 high school athletes playing rugby union for their schools or U19 clubs (14,875 male, 6468 female).[3]
[edit] College
[edit] Club and semi-professional
There are 27,488 males and 9,852 females playing senior-level rugby union.[3]
[edit] Competitions
[edit] Rugby Super League
The Rugby Super League is a semi-professional competition that was created in 1996 by the major TAU's within USA Rugby with the intention of creating a competitive national competition. There are currently seventeen teams in the competition. The inclusion of some sub-par clubs and the exclusion of top-performing clubs has been a controversial issue since the inception of the Super League, calling into question whether it is really USA's "premier" competition. USA Rugby Premier Division is another US competition.
[edit] North America 4
North America 4 is an elite-level IRB-financed tournament , which was introduced in 2006. The competition is contested between four teams, two from both the United States and Canada. The 2006 event will take place over two stages; the first in British Columbia and the second in Columbus, Ohio.
[edit] National Teams
[edit] Collegiate All-Americans
The following is the current (as of 7 May 2006) list of Collegiate All-Americans.
| Player | Position | Club | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Jarvis Albury | Flanker | Arkansas State | ||
|
Chris Biller | Lock | California | ||
|
Peter Black | Wing | Utah | ||
|
Andrew Blair | Fullback | California | ||
|
Blake Burdette | Prop | Utah | ||
|
Adam Casias | Outside Centre | Air Force | ||
|
Craig Clark | Flanker | BYU | ||
|
Joseph Connolly | Flyhalf | UCLA | ||
|
Joel DiGiorgio | Scrumhalf | California | ||
|
Ryan Donnelly | Inside Centre | California | ||
|
Cyrus Dorosti | Prop | California | ||
|
Sean Foley | Flyhalf | Truman State | ||
|
Douglas Graves | Lock | Arkansas State | ||
|
Ed Haigh | Flyhalf | Washington | ||
|
Andrew Hanks | Wing | California | ||
|
Mike Hobson | Inside Centre | Air Force | ||
|
Owen "Dutch" Jones | Scrumhalf | Clemson | ||
|
Joe Killefer | Flanker | Dartmouth | ||
|
Jake LeGros | Flanker | Ohio State | ||
|
Brian Lemay | Hooker | Air Force | ||
|
Andrew Lindsey | Number 8 | California | ||
|
Dominic Mara | Flyhalf | Penn State | ||
|
Brian McClenahan | Prop | California | ||
 |
Tim Naylor | Outside Centre | Harvard | ||
|
Scott Nielsen | Flanker | Utah | ||
 |
Mike Palefau | Wing | Southern Utah | ||
|
Mike Petri | Scrumhalf | Penn State | ||
|
Tony Petruzzella | Number 8 | Cal Poly SLO | ||
|
Ed Pitts | Inside Centre | Cal Poly SLO | ||
 |
Rickus Pretorius | Hooker | California | ||
|
Jason Pye | Wing | Utah | ||
|
Salesi Sika | Fullback | BYU | ||
|
Louis Stanfill | Lock | California | ||
|
Tony Vontz | Hooker | California | ||
[edit] USA Eagles
USA Rugby's national team is nicknamed the Eagles. The National Men’s Team first took the field in 1976. Competing in international tournaments like the Churchill Cup and the Pan American Championship, as well as specially scheduled matches against rugby powers such as France and Ireland, the Eagles have qualified for four of the five Rugby World Cups, most recently at the 2003 Rugby World Cup held in Australia. The United States are currently a tier-2 rugby nation, through professionalism the Eagles have been making improvements in coaching, management and player development, and as a result have improved on the field.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] Bibliography
- Ryan, Greg (2005). The Contest for Rugby Supremacy - Accounting for the 1905 All Blacks. Canterbury University Press. ISBN 1-877257-36-2.
[edit] Sources
[edit] External links
- Official site
- US rugby union news from Planet Rugby
- Coverage of all American rugby union at GoffonRugby
| Federation: | USA Rugby |
| National team: | United States national team • United States women's national team |
| International Competitions: | Rugby World Cup • Churchill Cup • Super Cup • North America 4 • Rugby World Cup Sevens • IRB Sevens World Series • USA Sevens |
| Domestic Competitions: | Super League • College rugby • USA Rugby Premier Division |
| NA4 Teams: | USA Falcons • USA Hawks |
| Super League teams: | Belmont Shore • Boston RFC • Boston Irish • Charlotte • Chicago Lions • Dallas Harlequins • Denver Barbarians • Kansas City Blues • New York Athletic Club • Old Blue • Old Mission Beach • Old Puget Sound Beach • Philadelphia Whitemarsh • Potomac Athletic Club • Santa Monica • St. Louis Bombers • San Francisco Golden Gate • Washington |
| First tier Argentina • Australia • England • France • Ireland • Italy • New Zealand • Scotland • South Africa • Wales |
| Second tier Canada • Fiji • Japan • Romania • Samoa • Tonga • United States |
| Third tier American Samoa • Andorra • Arabian Gulf • Armenia • Austria • Azerbaijan • Bahamas • Barbados • Belgium • Bermuda • Bosnia and Herzegovina • Botswana • Brazil • British Virgin Islands • Bulgaria • Burundi • Cambodia • Cameroon • Cayman Islands • Chile • China • Chinese Taipei • Colombia • Cook Islands • Costa Rica • Côte d' Ivoire • Croatia • Czech Republic • Denmark • Finland • Georgia • Greece • Germany • Ghana • Guam • Guyana • Hong Kong • Hungary • India • Israel • Jamaica • Kazakhstan • Kenya • Korea • Kyrgyzstan • Laos • Latvia • Lithuania • Luxembourg • Madagascar • Malaysia • Mali • Malta • Mauritania • Mauritius • Mexico • Moldova • Monaco • Mongolia • Morocco • Namibia • Netherlands • Nigeria • Niue • Norway • Pakistan • Papua New Guinea • Paraguay • Peru • Philippines • Poland • French Polynesia • Portugal • Russia • Rwanda • Senegal • Serbia and Montenegro • Singapore • Slovakia • Slovenia • Solomon Islands • Spain • Sri Lanka • St Lucia • St Vincent & Grenadines • Swaziland • Sweden • Switzerland • Tanzania • Thailand • Togo • Tunisia • Trinidad & Tobago • Uganda • Ukraine • Uruguay • Uzbekistan • Vanuatu • Venezuela • Zambia • Zimbabwe |
