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Rugby Super League (United States)

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For other uses, see Rugby Super League (disambiguation).
Rugby Super League
SportRugby union
Founded1996
First season1997
Ceased2012
No. of teams8
CountryUnited States United States
Last
champion(s)		New York (state) New York Athletic Club (2012)
Most titlesCalifornia Belmont Shore
New York (state) NYAC (4 titles)
Official websitePremier-Rugby.com

The USA Rugby Super League, usually known as the Super League or RSL, was a national rugby union competition which ran from 1997 to 2012, contested by nine clubs in the United States by its last year. In the 2013 season, it was replaced by the USA Rugby Elite Cup.

USA Rugby, the sport's national governing body sanctioned the Super League competition. It was the premier level of rugby union in the country until its reformation into the Elite Cup.[1][2]

RSL was developed in 1996 due to the increased demand for greater visibility and a higher competitive structure for rugby union in the United States.[3] The management structures of the 14 best rugby organizations in the United States, created RSL and regular competition started in 1997.[3] In 2007 and 2008 the total number of competing RSL clubs peaked at 18. In the 2011 season, the 11 teams competing were divided into two conferences, Red and Blue. The league's 2012 season and final season saw 9 teams, again divided into Red and Blue conferences. Following the 2012 season most of the remaining Super League teams entered the USA Rugby Elite Cup competition.

Teams

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Season # Teams First Season Last Season
1997 14 Belmont Shore
Chicago Lions
Dallas Harlequins
Denver Barbarians
Gentlemen of Aspen
Golden Gate
Kansas City Blues
Life
Old Blue
Old Blues (CA)
OMBAC
OPSB
Potomac Athletic Club
Washington RFC		 —
1998 16 Boston RFC
Philadelphia Whitemarsh RFC		 —
1999 16 — —
2000 16 — —
2001 16 — Old Blues (CA)
2002 17 NYAC
Olympic Club RFC		 Life
2003 16 — —
2004 16 — —
2005 16 — Gentlemen of Aspen
2006 16 St. Louis Bombers Kansas City Blues
2007 18 Boston Irish Wolfhounds
Charlotte Rugby Club
Chicago Griffins
Santa Monica		 —
2008 18 — Philadelphia Whitemarsh RFC
St. Louis Bombers
Washington RFC
2009 16 Life (re-joined) Belmont Shore
Santa Monica
2010 14 — Boston Irish Wolfhounds
Charlotte Rugby Club
OMBAC
Potomac Athletic Club
2011 11 Utah Warriors Chicago Lions
Utah Warriors
2012 9 — Chicago Griffins*
Dallas Harlequins*
*Clubs did play in the 2013 USA Rugby Elite Cup.

History

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Seasons 1997 to 2000

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Rugby Super League formed at a time when there was a need for expansion of the highest level of competitive rugby in the country.[3] The 1997 season was the inaugural season with 14 teams competing into two seven-team divisions, the Western-Pacific Conference and the Midwestern-East Conference.[3]

The original competing sides in the 1997 season were as follows: Belmont Shore RFC, the Chicago Lions, the Dallas Harlequins, the Denver Barbarians, the Gentlemen of Aspen, the Kansas City Blues, Life, Old Blue, Old Blues Rugby Club (CA), Old Puget Sound Beach RFC, Old Mission Beach Athletic Club RFC, the Potomac Athletic Club RFC, Golden Gate Rugby Club and Washington RFC.[3] Aspen won the first championship, defeating Old Blue 22 points to eight in the final which was played in San Diego.[4]

The league expanded in 1998, with two more sides gaining entry into the competition, Boston RFC and Philadelphia Whitemarsh RFC.[3] Both teams joined the eastern conference and Harlequins move to the Western conference.[3] This expansion saw two fifteen-team conferences.

Seasons 2001 to 2007

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In 2001 USA rugby recognized the competition as the premier club rugby union competition in the United States, distinguishing it from USA Rugby Division 1.[3] In 2002, the league expanded again, with the inclusion of New York Athletic Club via promotion from Division and Olympic Club RFC, who gained entry through a merger with the Old Blues Rugby Club (CA).[3]

The 2002 season saw major changes to the competition, with the dissolution of the "East and West divisions" in favor of a national competition.[3] The format reverted to the division-associated fixtures in 2005. Super League celebrated a decade of competition in 2006, with OMBAC defeating Belmont Shore 36–33 in the final in Santa Clara, California. Following the 2006 season Rugby Super League would be expand from 15 teams to 18 for the 2007 season. Santa Monica Rugby and Charlotte Rugby Club accepted invitations to join Super League, as did the 2006 Divisions I and III runner-ups Boston Irish Wolfhounds.[5] In 2008 the Chicago Griffins joined RSL, replacing the Kansas City Blues, who self-relegated to the USA Rugby Division I men's club competition.[3]

2008 to 2012: Contraction and demise

[edit]

In the 2008 season ESPN Classic showed a live broadcast of the RSL final between NYAC and Belmont Shore. It was a hard-fought match with NYAC winning 31–28 in sudden death.

The league contracted and featured 16 teams in two conferences in the 2009 season. The Philadelphia Whitemarsh, Washington RFC, and the St. Louis Bombers did not return to the competition, while Life University returned after a six-season absence.[3] In part due to the Great Recession, longtime RSL powers Belmont Shore decided to only compete in Southern California's Division I competition for the 2010 season. In response to this, Santa Monica also decided to self-relegate, dropping the number of RSL teams to 14. To rebalance the conferences, Dallas was shifted to the Red (West) Conference. In August 2010 the Boston Irish Wolfhounds, and Charlotte RFC also relegated themselves.[3]

In the fall of 2011, PAC Rugby withdrew from the competition and the Utah Warriors, based in Salt Lake City, entered the competition.[3] The Chicago Lions and Utah Warriors withdrew prior to the 2012 season.[6] The Chicago Griffins announced their withdrawal following the 2012 season.[7] With the exit of several teams over a number of years, the 2012 season was the last season for the Rugby Super League.

2013: Relaunch as Elite Cup

[edit]
Main article: USA Rugby Elite Cup

With eight teams remaining in two divisions, the RSL was relaunched as the USA Rugby Elite Cup for the 2013 season. The Elite Cup ran for just one season before folding at the end of 2013.[8]

Teams (2012)

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Team City Stadium Joined Head Coach
Red Conference
Denver Barbarians Littleton, CO Shea Stadium 1997 United States Jason Kelly
Old Puget Sound Beach Seattle, WA Magnuson Park 1997 Australia Evan Haigh
San Francisco Golden Gate San Francisco, CA Rocca Field 1997 United States Paul Keeler
Blue Conference
Boston RFC Boston, MA Franklin Park 1998 South Africa Eugene Mountjoy
Dallas Harlequins Dallas, TX Glencoe Park 1997 South Africa Michael Engelbrecht
Life University Running Eagles Marietta, GA International Sports Complex 1997; 2009 (re-joined) England James Isaacson
New York Athletic Club Travers Island, NY Travers Island 2002 United States Mike Tolkin
Old Blue New York City, NY Pier 40 1997 New Zealand Marty Veale

Championship Results (1997–2012)

[edit]
Year Location Final Ref.
Winner Score Runner-up Final Attendance
1997 San Diego, California Aspen 22–8 Old Blue 1,000 [4]
1998 Boston, Massachusetts Belmont Shore 28–10 Old Blue — [9]
1999 Denver, Colorado Denver Barbarians 22–18 Belmont Shore — [10]
2000 San Diego, California Life 43–21 Aspen — [11]
2001 Rockford, Illinois Aspen 56–21 OMBAC — [12]
2002 Aspen, Colorado Aspen 34–23 Belmont Shore 4,000 [13]
2003 San Francisco, California Belmont Shore 23–15 OMBAC — [14]
2004 Newport, Rhode Island Belmont Shore 24–21 San Francisco Golden Gate — [15]
2005 Rentschler Field
East Hartford, Connecticut 		NYAC 23–19 Belmont Shore — [16]
2006 Buck Shaw Stadium
Santa Clara, California 		OMBAC 36–33 Belmont Shore 750 [17][18]
2007 The Little Q Rugby Field
San Diego, California 		Belmont Shore 27–21 Chicago Lions — [19]
2008 Infinity Park
Glendale, Colorado 		NYAC 31–28 (OT) Belmont Shore — [20]
2009 Infinity Park
Glendale, Colorado 		San Francisco Golden Gate 23–13 Life — [21]
2010 Rocca Field
San Francisco, California 		NYAC 28–25 San Francisco Golden Gate 2,200 [22][23][24]
2011 International Sport Complex
Marietta, Georgia 		San Francisco Golden Gate 20–15 Life — [25][26][27]
2012 Magnuson Park
Seattle, Washington 		NYAC 32–29 Old Puget Sound Beach — [28]

Results by club

[edit]
Team Winners Runners-up Years won Years losing finalist
Belmont Shore 4 5 1998, 2003, 2004, 2007 1999, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008
NYAC 4 0 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012
Aspen 3 1 1997, 2001, 2002 2000
San Francisco Golden Gate 2 2 2009, 2011 2004, 2010
Life 1 2 2000 2009, 2011
OMBAC 1 2 2006 2001, 2003
Denver Barbarians 1 0 1999
Old Blue 0 2 1997, 1998
Chicago Lions 0 1 2007
Old Puget Sound Beach 0 1 2012

References:[29]

Player Statistics

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Top scorers

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Notable players

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "About Rugby Super League". usarugbysuperleague.com. Retrieved 31 August 2006.
  2. ^ Thisisamercanrugby.com. "Rugby Super League President Discusses Elite Cup". Thisisamercanrugby.com.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "USA Rugby SuperLeague - Overview". US Rugby Super League. Archived from the original on 2012-10-10. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Aspen clubs Old Blue for pro rugby crown". SF gate. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  5. ^ "Boston Irish Wolfhounds To Join USA Rugby Super League". rugby-rugby.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2006.
  6. ^ "Utah Warriors dropped from Rugby Super League". DeseretNews.com. Archived from the original on March 11, 2012.
  7. ^ Junior Blaber. "USA Super League Rugby At Cossroads". Rugby Wrap Up.
  8. ^ "The Fallout From The Elite Cup Demise - What Next For D1". Last word on sports. 19 January 2014.
  9. ^ "United States - Major League Rugby". Rugby Archive Net. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  10. ^ "United States - Rugby Super League". Rugby Archive Net. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  11. ^ "Life College crowned Super League Champions". espnscrum. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  12. ^ "United States - Rugby Super League". Rugby Archive Net. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  13. ^ "Gents unstoppable in claiming sixth straight U.S. title". Aspen Times. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  14. ^ "United States - Rugby Super League". Rugby Archive Net. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  15. ^ "United States - Rugby Super League". Rugby Archive Net. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  16. ^ "United States - Rugby Super League". Rugby Archive Net. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  17. ^ "OMBAC rallies for Super League crown". Gainline US. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  18. ^ "OMBAC wins first ever Super League championship". espnscrum. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  19. ^ "Belmont Shore, Hayward Griffins snatch national crowns". Gainline US. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  20. ^ "NYAC outlasts Belmont Shore". Pasadena Star News. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  21. ^ "San Francisco Golden Gate Wins RSL Title". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  22. ^ "New York Athletic Club 28 San Francisco Golden Gate 25 (halftime: NYAC 10-8)". Gainline US. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  23. ^ "Personal Best: Rugby coach sees action on the field, in the home". SF Examiner. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  24. ^ "HSU alumni comes up short in national rugby championship". Times Standard. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  25. ^ "Life Loses in Rugby Championship". Patch. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  26. ^ "SFGG Claims 2011 Super League Title". Rugby America 1. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  27. ^ "Home". www.rugbymag.com. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  28. ^ "USA Star Matt Hawkins Reviews NYAC vs OPSB Super League Final". Rugby Wrap Up. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  29. ^ "Past Champions". Rugby Super League. Archived from the original on 2012-10-10. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  30. ^ a b "2002 Player Stats". Rugby Super League. Archived from the original on 2012-10-10. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  31. ^ a b "2003 Top 10's". Rugby Super League. Archived from the original on 2012-10-10. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  32. ^ a b "2006 Top 10". Rugby Super League. Archived from the original on 2012-10-10. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  33. ^ a b "2009 Top Scorers". Rugby Super League. Archived from the original on 2012-10-10. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
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