College Rugby - Organization and Conferences

Organization and Conferences

American college rugby is governed by the International Rugby Board and USA Rugby. Within the US, college rugby has historically been governed by the respective Territorial Unions (TUs) and Local Area Unions (LAUs).

Organization of college rugby has been evolving, however. Since 2009 many schools have been organizing into conferences similar to the traditional NCAA conferences. In November 2010, USARFU's college management committee set out a plan for transitioning universities to NCAA style groupings. The purpose of the realignment is for college rugby to be able to capitalize on the marketability of major college conferences. Playing in traditional conferences capitalizes on traditional rivalries, and brings in more sponsorship.

The Ivy Rugby Conference was formed in 2009. The IRC was formed to foster better competition among rugby teams from the Ivy League schools and to raise the quality of play. The IRC has had consistent success in attracting commercial interests. The IRC formed committees to manage the league, independently of the LAUs and TUs. Prior to formation of the IRC, clubs from the eight Ivy League schools had competed in the Ivy Rugby Championship Tournament since 1969.

In March 2010, nine of the twelve schools that participate in the NCAA's Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) announced that they had formed the Atlantic Coast Rugby League (ACRL) that would begin play in spring 2010. The ACRL quickly gained commercial success, announcing in February 2011, before it had even begun its inaugural season, that it has partnered with Adidas as its corporate sponsor. In addition to its early commercial success, the ACRL expects to improve rugby in the ACRL universities by capitalizing on traditional ACC rivalries, increasing the number of fans, and attracting talented high school rugby players.

In December 2010 a core group of founding schools formed the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference (SCRC). By April 2010 the SCRC had expanded to 12 schools composed of the NCAA's Southeastern Conference (SEC). Tennessee won the 2010 Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Sevens Championship beating LSU 19-17, and repeated in the 2011 SCRC Olympic Sevens Championship, beating Florida 26-14 in the final. Similar to other conferences, the SCRC has also enjoyed commercial success, announcing in fall 2010 that the SCRC had formed commercial partnership agreements with Adidas and the World Rugby Shop.

In 2011 the East Coast Rugby Conference was founded, consisting of seven schools. The conference began play in fall 2011.