Rugby Super League (United States)

For other uses, see Rugby Super League (disambiguation).

Rugby Super League

Current season or competition: 2011 Rugby Super League season
Sport	Rugby union
Founded	1996
No. of teams	11
Country(ies)	United States
Most recent champion(s)	San Francisco Golden Gate (2011)
Official website	usarugbysuperleague.com

The Rugby Super League, usually referred to as simply the Super League, formerly the Michelob Super League, is a national rugby union competition currently contested by 11 clubs in the United States. The competition is sanctioned by USA Rugby, the sport's national governing body, and is the "premier level" of rugby union in the country.

The competition was created in 1996 by the major governing bodies in the USA, in order to create a competitive national competition. The competition has since been contested annually. The largest number of clubs to have competed in the league was 18, in 2007 and 2008; however, during the recent 2011 season, there were 11 teams divided into two conferences, Red and Blue.

History

The Rugby Super League was created in 1996 by the 14 major governing bodies of the sport in the United States. It was intended to create a competitive and national competition. It was created at a time when there was a need for expansion of the code in the country. 1997 was subsequently the inaugural season of the competition. There were 14 teams competing, which were divided into two seven-team divisions, the Western-Pacific Conference and the Midwestern-East Conference.

The original competing sides in the 1997 season were; Belmont Shore RFC, the Chicago Lions, the Dallas Harlequins, the Denver Barbarians, the Gentlemen of Aspen, the Kansas City Blues, Life, Old Blue, Old Puget Sound Beach RFC, Old Mission Beach Athletic Club RFC, the Potomac Athletic Club RFC, Golden Gate Rugby Club and Washington RFC. Aspen won the first championship, defeating Old Blue 29 points to nine in the final which was played in New York.

The following season, two more sides gained entry into the competition, Boston RFC and the Philadelphia Whitemarsh RFC. Both sides joined the eastern conference, which saw the Harlequins move to the Western conference. This expansion saw two fifteen-side conferences. In 2001 the competition became recognized as the premier club rugby union competition in the United States - becoming separated from USA Rugby Division 1. The following season, the league expanded again, with the inclusion of New York Athletic Club, who gained entry through means of promotion and the Hayward Rugby, who formed a merger with Old Blue.

The 2002 season saw major changes to the competition, with the "east and west divisions" format being dissolved to form a national competition. The format reverted back to the division-associated fixtures in 2005. Super League celebrated a decade of competition in 2006, with OMBAC defeating Belmont Shore 36 to 33 in the final which was held in Santa Clara, California. It was announced after the 2006 season that the Rugby Super League would be expanding from 15 teams to 18 for the 2007 season. Santa Monica Rugby accepted an invitation to join Super League, as did the Boston Irish Wolfhounds, who also finished runner-up in both Divisions I and III in 2006. The Chicago Griffins also joined to replace the Kansas City Blues, who self-relegated their club to the USA Rugby Division I men's club competition.

A major event took place in the 2008 season, with the live broadcast on ESPN Classic of the RSL Final between NYAC and Belmont Shore. It was an extremely hard fought match that saw NYAC winning 31-28 in sudden death extra time. The league featured 16 teams in two conferences in 2009. Philadelphia Whitemarsh, Washington RFC, and the St. Louis Bombers did not return to the competition, while Life University returned after a six-season absence.

Because of the ongoing economic crisis, before the 2010 season longtime RSL powers Belmont Shore decided to only compete in Southern California's Division I competition. In response to this, Santa Monica also decided to self-relegate. Because of the uneven conferences, Dallas was shifted to the Red (West) Conference and no new teams were added, dropping the number to 14. In August 2010 the Boston Irish Wolfhounds also self relegated themselves.

Results (1997-present)

Year	Location	Final
		Winner	Score	Runner-up
1997	San Francisco, California	Aspen	29 - 9	Old Blue
1998	Boston, Massachusetts	Belmont Shore	28 - 10	Old Blue
1999	Denver, Colorado	Denver Barbarians	22 - 18	Belmont Shore
2000	San Diego, California	Life	43 - 21	Aspen
2001	Rockford, Illinois	Aspen	56 - 21	OMBAC
2002	Aspen, Colorado	Aspen	34 - 23	Belmont Shore
2003	San Francisco, California	Belmont Shore	23 - 15	OMBAC
2004	Newport, Rhode Island	Belmont Shore	24 - 21	San Francisco Golden Gate
2005	Rentschler Field East Hartford, Connecticut	NYAC	23 - 19	Belmont Shore
2006	Buck Shaw Stadium Santa Clara, California	OMBAC	36 - 33	Belmont Shore
2007	The Little Q Rugby Field San Diego, California	Belmont Shore	27 - 21	Chicago Lions
2008	Infinity Park Glendale, Colorado	NYAC	31 - 28 (aet)	Belmont Shore
2009	Infinity Park Glendale, Colorado	San Francisco Golden Gate	23 - 13	Life
2010	Rocca Field San Francisco, California	NYAC	28 – 25	San Francisco Golden Gate
2011	International Sport Complex Marietta, Georgia	San Francisco Golden Gate	20 - 15	Life

Results by Club

Team	Winners	Runners-up	Years won	Years losing finalist
Belmont Shore	4	5	1998, 2003, 2004, 2007	1999, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008
Aspen	3	1	1997, 2001, 2002	2000
NYAC	3	0	2005, 2008, 2010
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

See also

• Rugby union in the United States
• Americas Rugby Championship
  • North America 4, predecessor to the ARC
• United States national rugby union team

External links

• Official website