USA Rugby League

USA Rugby League
Current season or competition: 2015 USARL season
Sport	Rugby league football
Instituted	2011
Inaugural season	2011
CEO	Ryan McGough
Number of teams	14
Country	United States
Champions	Boston Thirteens (1st Title) (2015)
Most titles	Philadelphia Fight (3 titles)
Website	usarugbyleague.com

The USA Rugby League (USARL) is a semi-professional rugby league football competition based in the United States. The league was founded in 2011 by clubs that had broken with the established American National Rugby League (AMNRL), plus expansion franchises. The USARL began its inaugural season in 2011. In November 2014, the USARL was granted affiliate membership of the RLIF and RLEF and is now the official governing body for the sport in the USA.

History

The formation of the USA Rugby League was announced on January 12, 2011. Seven teams that had previously competed in the American National Rugby League, the United States' established rugby league organization and recognized governing body for the sport, announced they were breaking with the AMNRL to form a new league. The stated reason for the split was dissatisfaction with the governance of the AMNRL; the departing teams were unhappy with the lack of club involvement in the league's decision making, and the new league was founded with the principle of including its member clubs in its administration.

The departing AMNRL teams were the Boston Thirteens, the Washington, D.C. Slayers, the Fairfax Eagles, the Jacksonville Axemen, the New Haven Warriors, the Philadelphia Fight, and the Pittsburgh Vipers; they were to be joined by two new teams, the New Jersey Turnpike Titans and Kodiak Rugby from New York City. Before the season Pittsburgh and Fairfax became "developmental" teams in the new league outside of the top-tiered competition; Fairfax subsequently suspended operations. The New York team was unable to find a suitable stadium in the city, and instead became the Rhode Island Rebellion. One additional team, Oneida FC, joined the top-tiered competition for the 2011 season.

On January 13, 2011, the USARL announced that Peter Illfield, chairman of the Philadelphia Fight, would be the league's first Chairman. The league's first event was a rugby league nines tournament in the Philadelphia area on May 28–29, 2011. Round 1 of the regular season championship kicked off on June 4; the Jacksonville Axemen won the minor premiership with the best regular season record. In the inaugural Grand Final on August 27, the Philadelphia Fight defeated the New Haven Warriors to win their first ever national championship.

In 2013 the USARL and AMNRL increased their focus on reunification, particularly after the United States' encouraging showing at the 2013 Rugby League World Cup. An independent commission assembled to lead negotiations, however the USARL clubs eventually pulled out. USARL commissioner Peter Illfield blamed apparent dysfunction and disorganization in the AMNRL organization for this decision. The USARL subsequently invited AMNRL clubs to join their ranks as full members and initiated a four-team expansion.

In 2014, the USARL expanded to 10 teams, adding expansion squads Atlanta Rhinos, Central Florida Warriors, and Tampa Mayhem. In addition, the Northern Virginia Eagles withdrew from the AMNRL and joined the USARL. To reduce operating costs, the competition was split into two conferences. Meanwhile the AMNRL suspended its 2014 season.

In 2015, the AMNRL folded, leaving the USARL as the undisputed top-level rugby league competition in the United States. Three former AMNRL clubs joined the USARL; Bucks County Sharks, Connecticut Wildcats, and New York Knights. The Delaware Black Foxes also joined as an expansion squad.

Structure

Pre Season

The first event of the season is the rugby league nines tournament.

Regular Season

The USARL is split into two conferences, North and South. The North Conference is further split into two divisions, the Northeast Division and the Mid-Atlantic Division. All teams in the South Conference are part of the South Division. In the South Conference, teams play a double round-robin schedule of 6 games. In the North Conference, each team plays 8 games, primarily within their own division. Teams qualify for the playoffs based on point differential, with a win counting for 2 points, a draw for 1, a loss for 0, and a forfeit for −2. The regular season runs through June and July.

Play-offs

For the 2015 season, the USARL further extended the division and conference playoff structure introduced in 2014. In the South Conference, the teams with the best and worst records, and the second- and third-best records, will play each other in the South Conference Semi-Finals. The winners will meet in the South Conference Final. In the North Conference, the teams with the second- and third-best records in each division will play each other in the North Conference Division Semi-Finals. The winners will play the teams with the best records in their respective divisions in the North Conference Divisional Finals. The winners of the Divisional Finals will play in the North Conference Final. The winners of the Conference Finals will meet in the Championship Final.

Teams

North Conference
Northeast Division
Colors	Club	Foundation	City	State	Stadium	Titles (Last)
	Boston Thirteens	2009	Boston	Massachusetts	Irish Cultural Center/ MIT Steinbrenner Stadium	1 (2015)
	Brooklyn Kings	2014	Brooklyn	New York	Randalls Island Field 10	0 (N/A)
	Connecticut Wildcats	2003	Greenwich	Connecticut	Cardinal Stadium	0 (N/A)
	New York Knights	2001	New York	New York	The Castle Pier 40	0 (N/A)
	Rhode Island Rebellion	2011	Providence	Rhode Island	Marvel Field	0 (N/A)
Mid-Atlantic Division
Colors	Club	Foundation	City	State	Stadium	Titles (Last)
	Bucks County Sharks	1998	Bucks County	Pennsylvania	Falls Township Park	0 (N/A)
	D.C. Slayers	2003	Washington	Washington, D.C.	Duke Ellington Field	0 (N/A)
	Delaware Black Foxes	2015	Wilmington	Delaware	Eden Park Stadium	0 (N/A)
	Northern Virginia Eagles	2007	Nokesville	Virginia	Grizzly Sports Complex	0 (N/A)
	Philadelphia Fight	1998	Conshohocken	Pennsylvania	A. A. Garthwaite Stadium	3 (2014)

South Conference
Colors	Club	Foundation	City	State	Stadium	Titles (Last)
	Atlanta Rhinos	2014	Atlanta	Georgia	Atlanta Silverbacks Park	0 (N/A)
	Central Florida Warriors	2014	DeLand	Florida	Spec Martin Stadium	0 (N/A)
	Jacksonville Axemen	2006	Jacksonville	Florida	Hodges Stadium	1 (2012)
	Tampa Mayhem	2014	Tampa Bay	Florida	Tampa Catholic High School	0 (N/A)

Premiership Winners

For the first three seasons, the USARL was a single-division competition. In 2014 the teams were split into two conferences and three divisions.

Season	Grand Finals			Minor Premiership
	Premiers	Score	Runners-up
2011	Philadelphia Fight	28 – 26	New Haven Warriors	Jacksonville Axemen (14 points)
2012	Jacksonville Axemen	28 – 22	Boston 13s	Jacksonville Axemen (16 points)
2013	Philadelphia Fight	28 – 22	Jacksonville Axemen	Philadelphia Fight (14 points)
2014	Philadelphia Fight	30 – 18	Jacksonville Axemen	N/A
2015	Boston 13s	44 - 12	Atlanta Rhinos	N/A

Development programs

The USARL has supported the establishment of the American Youth Rugby League Association (AYRLA), a clinic and game program for juniors run through high schools in Rhode Island and as of 2012 Philadelphia.

Mikhael Shammas of the Boston 13s has also endeavored to establish a North American Match Officials Association to improve officiating quality of the game within North America.

The 2013 season has seen substantial growth of the game with the establishment of a New England 9s tournament and an under 23's competition, as well as regular school competitions in Rhode Island and Boston under the ARLYA banner.

Developmental teams

As part of the 2011 season, a former AMNRL team, the Pittsburgh Sledgehammers, participated as a "developmental team", playing a more limited schedule while developing the club for future seasons. Several other clubs have registered "developing" teams: these include the Denver Wolverines, the Los Angeles Raiders, the Orange County Outlaws, the Seattle Force and Texas Rugby League (which will field two teams, the Dallas Dragons and the Houston Hornets). Several of these are established developing teams that were previously aligned with the AMNRL; the USARL has committed to support them in their development. Another team, the Utah Avalanche, were formerly affiliated as a developmental team, and participated in the 2011 USARL 9s tournament.

In 2011 the Jacksonville Axemen also launched a reserve grade competition, the "Firehouse Subs" Southeastern Rugby League Championship, which acts as a feeder club system for the Axemen to further develop players. The competing teams are the Daytona Gearheads, the Jacksonville Hatchets, and the Orlando Adrenaline. A fourth team, the Tampa Inferno, joined the championship in 2013. From 2014, Daytona and Orlando will form a joint venture Central Florida side and compete in the USARL Southern Conference.

Representative sides

New England Immortals

The New England Immortals RLFC were founded in 2010 and consisted of the top players from the 3 New England based AMNRL clubs.They played their inaugural match against the Canadian National Team, on July 31, 2010, defeating the Canadians 12-8 in a tightly contested match. After the AMNRL/USARL split in 2011, the immortals were transferred to the USARL and became the only form of representation for USARL clubs due to the RLIF regulation that USARL-based players could not represent the Tomahawks. The Immortals took to the field for their second match since their inception, and despite putting up a hard fight, they were out classed by the more experienced Marines, losing by a score of 68-12. As of 2014, due to budgetary cuts and restructuring of the USARL competition, the Immortals have not played a match since their loss to the Royal Marines.

USA Pioneers

In 2014, the league established a touring developmental side, the USA Pioneers, to play friendly matches against foreign nations. They completed a two match tour in Jamaica in April 2014, winning their first game against a Jamaican domestic outfit, but fell short to the semi-professional Hurricanes Rugby League whilst still proving to be strong opposition for the Jamaicans. The Pioneers played a friendly against a touring New Zealand Police squad the following August, losing 6-62 against very strong opposition.

Presidents Barbarians

The USARL established another team to play a second match against the New Zealand Police and to 'curtain-raise' the 2014 USARL National Championship between the Philadelphia Fight and the Jacksonville Axemen. This representative considered of overseas-imports from Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and France; similar to Super League's Exiles. They were beaten by the Kiwis 16-46.

See also

• Rugby league in the United States
• Rugby League World Cup
• American National Rugby League

External links

• Official website