USA Rugby (formally the United States of America Rugby Football Union, Ltd.) is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. Its role is to achieve and maintain “high levels of quality in all aspects of rugby."[1] USA Rugby is responsible for the promotion and development of the sport in the U.S., and promotion of U.S. international participation.[2]
USA Rugby was founded in 1975 as the United States of America Rugby Football Union, and it organized the first U.S. national team match in 1976. Today, USA Rugby has over 130,000 members, the largest segment being college rugby with over 32,000 members. USA Rugby oversees 1,200 high school teams, 900 college teams, 700 senior club teams, and 400 youth teams.[3] It administers all United States national teams: senior men's and women's teams, sevens teams for both men and women, and under-20 national teams for both sexes. The organization also sponsors college rugby for both sexes, although since the 2010–11 academic year the NCAA has designated women's rugby an emerging varsity sport.
USA Rugby is governed by an 11-member Board of Directors and four National Councils across Youth & High School, College, Senior Club and International Athlete, and its CEO is Ross Young. It is a member of World Rugby through membership with Rugby Americas North, and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The headquarters for USA Rugby is located in Glendale, Colorado.
The U.S. men's national team, the Eagles, won the Gold Medal in Olympic rugby in 1920 and 1924. After that time, rugby in the U.S. stagnated while continuing to grow in other parts of the world.
Beginning in the 1960s and continuing through the 1970s, the sport of rugby union enjoyed a renaissance in the US. This created the need for a national governing body to represent the United States. On June 7, 1975, four territorial organizations (Pacific Coast, West, Midwest, and East) gathered in Chicago, Illinois, and formed the United States of America Rugby Football Union (now known as USA Rugby). USA Rugby then fielded its first national team on January 31, 1976, in a match against Australia in Anaheim, California, which Australia won, 24–12.
In 1993, the Southern California RFU, a local area union of the Pacific Coast RFU, applied to become a separate territory. This was an impetus for others around the country to do the same, changing the make-up of USA Rugby, which now has seven territories (Pacific, Southern California, West, Midwest, South, Northeastern, and Mid-Atlantic).
USA Rugby lobbied for several years for participation in the IRB Sevens World Series. It was finally awarded the annual USA Sevens tournament, beginning in 2004 with Los Angeles as the venue for the initial USA Sevens tournaments. In summer 2006, the tournament was moved to Petco Park in San Diego. Since 2010, the tournament has been held every year at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas Valley and has been broadcast live on NBC.
USA Rugby is a Founding Sports Partner of the Sports Museum of America, joining more than 50 other single-sport Halls of Fame, national governing bodies, museums, and other organizations across North America, to celebrate the history, grandeur, and significance of sports in American culture. Opened in New York City on May 7, 2008, the Sports Museum of America showcases USA Rugby in its Hall of Halls Gallery, in return for their support of the creation of the nation's first all-sports museum experience.
In 2014, USA Rugby created Rugby International Marketing, a for-profit company that is responsible for promoting the sport of rugby.[4]
Recent achievements
In the 2009–10 Sevens World Series, the men's sevens team finished the season ranked 10th in the world, their highest ranking to date at that time.
In 2011, the International Rugby Board, now known as World Rugby, gave its Development Award to USA Rugby for its Rookie Rugby program that introduced over 100,000 new children to youth rugby.[6]
In 2014:
the U.S. Women's Sevens finished 4th in the World Rugby Women's Sevens World Series, their highest finish to date.
the U.S. vs New Zealand match sold out Soldier Field in Chicago, drawing over 60,000 fans and setting a U.S. attendance record.
the Women's U.S. National Team finished 4th at the Women's Rugby World Cup in Ireland. Their second highest finish since winning the 1991 tournament.
the U.S. Men's Sevens team finished fifth in the 2016-17 World Rugby Sevens Series, their highest-ever finish.
In 2018:
the U.S. Men's National Team won the America's Rugby Championship (ARC) for the second consecutive year.
the United States hosted its first ever Rugby World Cup event with the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 in San Francisco at AT&T Park. The event welcomed more than 100,000 in attendance, setting the mark for highest attended Rugby World Cup Sevens to date.
In October 2021, the U.S. vs New Zealand (All Blacks) match at FedEx Field in Washington DC. The final score was 104-14 to the All Blacks.
Governance and leadership
USA Rugby is governed by its board of directors and its congress. The board is composed of 11 members: 4 independent directors, 4 international athletes, and 3 representatives from USA Rugby's National Councils across Youth, College ,and Adult Club. Board members as of 2020 were:[8]
Gary Gold began his tenure as the head coach of the men's national team on January 1, 2018.[9]Mike Friday is the head coach of the men's national sevens team. Rob Cain was appointed as the Women's Eagles head coach in May 2018. Chris Brown is the head coach of the Women's Sevens team, who ranked 2nd in the world through the 2018-19 Women's World Rugby Sevens Series.
International representation
USA Rugby became a member of the International Rugby Football Board in 1987. The worldwide body would become the International Rugby Board (IRB) in 1998 and World Rugby in 2014. USA Rugby does not hold a vote on WR's 28-member Executive Council—the majority of votes are held by the 8 founding nations—although NACRA members collectively hold one vote on the Executive Council.[10] In December 2011, for the first time, USA Rugby placed a representative on the 10-man executive committee. Bob Latham, in his role as chair of Rugby Americas North (RAN; known as NACRA before 2016), represents RAN on the executive committee.[11]
USA Rugby also has relationships with international multi-sport organizations. USA Rugby is a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee and interacts with the International Olympic Committee. USA Rugby also interacts with the Pan American Sport Organization, and rugby has been a sport at the Pan Am Games since 2011.
Financials
USA Rugby generally earns between $8 million to $16 million in annual revenues, with the majority of the revenue coming from: (1) membership dues, (2) event revenue, (3) grants, and (4) sponsorship. Their principal expenses are: (1) High Performance, (2) Men's National Team, and (3) Marketing and Fundraising.[1] In 2010, USA Rugby paid over $200,000 each to its CEO Nigel Melville and its then head coach Eddie O'Sullivan.[1] As of 2012, Nigel Melville's compensation was $250,000.[12] USA Rugby experienced a financial crunch in 2016–17, due to the bankruptcy of kit sponsor BLK and currency exchange rates that affect grants received from World Rugby.[13]
USA Rugby lost more than $4.4 million in 2017, and $4.2 million in 2018. Most of the losses were attributed to USA Rugby Partners, formerly known as Rugby International Marketing (RIM), which was the majority owner of The Rugby Channel which was sold in 2018 to FloSports.[14] In early 2020, with the outbreak of coronavirus, USA Rugby filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to develop a financial restructuring plan.[15] USA finished the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process as the Delaware Bankruptcy Court approved USA Rugby's debtor plan and the sport's National Governing Body.[16] On September 1, 2020, USA Rugby was reorganized and started paying back creditors.[16]
USA Rugby annual revenues are below, along with the components that generated the majority of revenue:[17]
Year
Total Revenue
Member dues
Grants
Sponsors
Event revenue
International comparisons (annual reported revenue)
Grants come mainly from World Rugby and from the United States Olympic Committee.
Board performance
In a February 2017 assembly, Board Chair Will Chang called for a vote of confidence in the board from USA Rugby's Congress, which passed by a vote of 43–1. Steve Lewis, the sole Congress member who voted no confidence in the board, cited three issues — RIM's performance, the sanctioning of the PRO Rugby competition, and overspending by the high performance department.[45] With RIM's financial performance continuing to deteriorate, in August 2017, Lewis proposed what was effectively a vote of no confidence in the board, this time getting seven votes and a similar number of abstentions.[46] RIM's product “The Rugby Channel”, which was supposed to be a money maker for USA Rugby, finished 2017 with $4.2 million in losses for the year.[46]
Bankruptcy
On March 31, 2020, the board of USA Rugby voted to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a result of "insurmountable financial constraints" in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic crisis.[47] On August 31, 2020, the Delaware Bankruptcy Court approved USA Rugby's plan to reimburse its bankruptcy debts owed to creditors over five years effective the following day, allowing the governing body to exit bankruptcy and enter the post-bankruptcy phase.[48][49]
National teams: The Eagles
USA Rugby is responsible for organizing the various US national teams:
U.S. women's national rugby union team — (Women's Eagles) competes every four years in the Women's Rugby World Cup. The national women's team had early success in the World Cup, reaching the finals in each of the first three tournaments (1991, 1994, 1998), but has not reached the semifinals since then.
The Professional Rugby Organization, known as PRO Rugby, was an American professional rugby union competition that played in 2016. This was the first professional rugby competition in North America.[50] PRO played only the 2016 season, before it ceased operations as of January 2017.
Major League Rugby, another professional competition, was founded in late 2017. It began play in 2018 with seven teams, all in the U.S., and expanded to nine teams for the 2019 season, with one of the new teams in Canada. 2020 was expected to see 12 teams with East and West divisions.
Premier Rugby Sevens, a professional rugby sevens competition, was officially sanctioned in 2021 and has played two seasons thus far in 2021 and 2022.[51]
While not yet professional, the top domestic competition for women's rugby in the US is the Women's Premier League (WPL) with 10 teams. The league completed its 10th season in 2020.[52]
Club competitions
USA Rugby hosts two national championships in the club space. The Club National Championships in early June along with the Club 7s National Championship in mid August.[53]
Rugby Super League, organized and sanctioned by USA Rugby, was the premier national level of men's club competition in the US.[54] It was founded in 1996, but ended play as of 2012 following the Great Recession.[55] Following the demise of the Super League, the Pacific Rugby Premiership was formed in 2013, and began play in 2014 as the top level of men's club competition in the U.S.
The USA Rugby club structure sees the United States divided into two leagues: West and East.
Within each league there are four conferences, with the winners of each conference's division advancing to the league semifinals, and the two league champions competing in the national championship.[56]
West: Pacific North, Pacific South, Frontier, Red River
College rugby
USA Rugby hosts 5 total championship competitions annually. The Men's Division 1-A, Women's D1 Elite, Spring College, Fall College and College 7s Championships.[57]
The Collegiate Rugby Championship is a rugby sevens competition that has been held every year in June since 2010.[58] The tournament is the highest profile college rugby tournament in the U.S., and is broadcast live on NBC every year from PPL Park in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Every year, the number of spectators increase, and in 2015 the College Rugby Championship broke an attendance record at over 24,000 spectators, which shows how the popularity of the sport is expanding.[citation needed]
State Governing Bodies
State Governing Bodies are responsible for developing an administrative structure with the objective of promoting the development of youth rugby within their state. They are also responsible for day-to-day governance, including organizing league structures, collecting dues, implementing a state championship, and conducting rugby outreach. USA Rugby has 44 state rugby organizations.[59]
To date, 68 individuals and three teams who have made a lasting impression on rugby in the United States, have been inducted into the U.S. Rugby Hall of Fame. For full bios of all the inductees and for more information about the U.S. Rugby Hall of Fame, visit: usrugbyhalloffame.org.
Founded Rugby Magazine (originally known as Scrumdown) in 1968. Purchased the USA Sevens tournament in 2005. Created the Collegiate Rugby Championship in 2010 in partnership with NBC.
Dick Smith
2013
Founding member and Director of the U.S. Rugby Football Union (USA Rugby) in 1975.
Former U.S. national team player, former head coach of the U.S. national team, and the current head coach at the University of California, Berkeley, where he became the sixth coach in team history in 1984.
Kevin R. Swords
2014
Former U.S. national team player and captain who represented the U.S. at the 1987 and 1991 Rugby World Cups.
Jay Hanson
2014
Earned seven caps for the U.S. national team and toured with the Eagles on their first three international tours to England, Australia and Japan.
Tom Selfridge
2014
Played in the first three matches for the United States in the Modern Era: Australia, France and Canada. Is a past president of the Eastern Rugby Union.
Richard Aldo Donelli
2014
Had a profound influence on the game as a leader, innovator, coach and administrator, and was one of the best players of his era.
Terry Fleener
2014
First president of the Eastern Rockies Rugby Football Union and a former president of the United States RFU.
Coached the Old Blues to the first five National Club Championship titles. Coached the U.S. National team from 1972 thru the first ever Rugby World Cup in 1987.
Anne Barry
2014
Served USA Rugby as its president from 1998 to 2002 and as treasurer from 1990 to 1998. She continued serving on the USA Rugby Board until 2005.
Mickey Ording
2015
Started at tighthead prop for the United States against Australia in the first game of the Modern Era. He went onto play in three of the next four U.S. matches.
Don Morrison
2015
Was an international referee from 1981 to 1990. Was Chairman of USA Rugby's Referees and Laws Committee from 1990 to 1998 and concurrently, was Chairman of the Evaluation Committee from 1990 to 2002.
Dick Poulson
2015
Former president of the Washington Rugby Club. Founded the Washington 7s and Cherry Blossom tournaments; and later, the Potomac Rugby Union and the Potomac Referee's Society.
Jeff Lombard
2015
Became the first person in U.S. rugby history to play and manage the U.S. national team when he managed the Eagles at the 1987 Rugby World Cup.
Bill Fraumann
2015
Was a reserve for the United States against Australia in the first match of the Modern Era. Scored the first two tries for the U.S. in their next match against France.
Played for the United States at the first ever Rugby World Cup in 1987 and scored the first try for the United States in RWC history. Captained the U.S. 7s team to the Plate Championship in 1986.
Bob Watkins
2015
Founding Director of the United States of America Rugby Football Union in 1975 and was a three-term president of USA Rugby. Was instrumental in the formation of the U.S. Rugby Super League and served as its chairman for the first five years.
Scored 38 tries during her 40-test match career for the United States national team. Played in five Rugby World Cups for the U.S., including the 1991 victorious team.
Was heavily involved as a player and administrator on both the 1920 and 1924 U.S. Olympic Gold Medal winning rugby teams. Played his last game of rugby in 1979 at age 83.
Was captain for the United States at the first ever Rugby World Cup in 1987. Was an assistant coach for the U.S. at the 1991 Rugby World Cup.
Steve Gray
2016
Was part of the U.S. men's national team that played the first match of the Modern Era in 1976. Was capped for the U.S. in both 7s and 15s and went onto coach the U.S. Men's 7s team.
Former captain of the U.S. men's national team who starred in both 7s and the 15s for the United States. Following his playing career, he has working as a rugby broadcaster and is currently the Director of Rugby for AEG Worldwide.
Dave Sitton
2016
For many years, was the voice of rugby in the United States. He also coached the University of Arizona for over 35 years and mentored over 1,600 student athletes through the years.
Played for both the U.S. national 7s and 15s teams. He played in the first two 15s Rugby World Cup and the first 7s RWC. He is the current president of the United States Rugby Foundation.
Brad Andrews
2016
Played for the United States national team from 1977 to 1979 and captained the team in 1979. He was on the U.S. team that won their first international in the Modern Era.
In 1935, became the first winner of the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy (the following year the award was renamed the Heisman Trophy). He started playing rugby in 1939 and starred on a Chicago team that won 19 straight matches, including a victory over New York in front of 10,000 spectators at Soldier Field.
George Betzler
2016
Former head coach and assistant coach of the United States national team. He also held many other head coaching positions, including with the Eastern Penn All Stars, USA East, Marine Corps All Service Team and the USA Maccabi Team.
Former U.S. national team player and a member of the victorious 1991 Rugby World Cup U.S. team. She also coached the United States Women's national team from 2002 to 2010 and coached the Eagles at the 2006 and 2010 RWC.
Jim Russell
2017
After a long playing career, made his mark in U.S. rugby as a referee. During his 26 years as a referee: was an A Panel ref, earned an appointment at the 1987 Rugby World Cup and the 1990 Hong Kong 7s, and more recently, served as a World Rugby Judicial and Appeal Officer.
Ed Schram Sr.
2017
Former chairman of the National Team Selection Committee from 1986 to 1991. Was also named U.S. National Team Manager and served in that role in 33 test matches, including at the 1991 Rugby World Cup.
Named to the All-Time, All-World 20th anniversary team for the Hong Kong Sevens Tournament. Won the Best and Fairest Award at the 1986 Hong Kong Sevens, the only American to win the award.
Has played on various representative sides, and served in various coaching and administrative positions with different clubs and unions throughout the country for over 50 years.
Played on the first U.S. Men's Rugby World Cup team in 1987. Also played for several years on the U.S. 7s team and would later head coach the U.S. Men's 7s team, including at the first ever 7s Rugby World Cup in 1993.
Earned 53 caps over an eight year career with the U.S. Men's national team and was captain of the team in more than half of those matches. He held many positions with USA Rugby and was general manager of the U.S. men's national team at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Dr. Lyle Micheli
2017
Was a prop for over 40 years for several clubs in the East and Midwest before finally hanging up his boots his boots at 60 years of age. He was Chairman of USA Rugby's Medical and Risk Management Committee and was inducted into the USA Rugby Sports Medicine Hall of Fame in 2013.
Represented the United States in both 15s and 7s. Won national championships as a player for both Cal and the Old Blues, and as a head coach at St. Mary's College of California.
Former U.S. national team player and a member of the victorious 1991 Rugby World Cup U.S. team. She also played on the 1994 and 1998 U.S. Women's RWC teams and was an assistant coach for the US women's team at the 2006 and 2010 RWC.
Mike Saunders
2018
Captained OMBAC to four national championship titles. Was a former captain of the United States national team and played in the first ever Rugby World Cup. Played and coached the U.S. men's 7s team and coached the Snake River Rugby Club for over 20 years.
Denis Shanagher Sr.
2018
The pioneering referee in Northern California, the Pacific Coast and the USA from 1957 to 1987.He was the first referee to handle an international match, refereeing the U.S.-Canada match in 1977.
Played 11 years for the United States women's national team and played in the 1994, 1998 and 2002 Rugby World Cups. A brilliant leader by example, she captained every rugby team she played on.
Dr. John Chase
2018
Served as the U.S. Men's National Team's on the team's first international tour (to England) of the Modern Era in 1977, the first time a medical specialist traveled with an international team. Subsequently, all international teams traveled with their own physician.
Reldon "Bing" Dawson
2018
Was one of the premier props in the country during his playing days. Coached OMBAC to six National Club titles and one Rugby Super League crown, and the Pacific Coast Grizzlies to numerous territorial titles. Was an assistant coach for the U.S. at the 1991 Rugby World Cup.
Don Haider
2018
Started his rugby career at Stanford University and played his last game, for the Stanford Alumni in 2014. In between, he played and served for several East Coast based teams. He is a Founding member of the U.S. Rugby Foundation.
Starred for the United States in both 7s and 15s. Was capped 18 times in 15s, played in the first Rugby World Cup and was selected for two World XVs teams. He played for the U.S. 7s team from 1982 to 1991 and played in the Hong Kong Sevens on eight occasions.
USA Rugby oversees coaching and referee development of the game. USA Rugby requires coaches and referees to register and complete a number of certification courses depending on the level of play.
Geographical unions
USA Rugby organizes amateur registered rugby teams into thirteen geographical unions at the senior club level.[60] High school and youth teams affiliate with State Rugby Organizations while college teams register with either Geographical Unions or College Conferences.
In June 1987, the position of Chairman of the Board was added to the executive committee, and Bob Watkins was named to that position.[63] Effective June 1989, that position was retitled Post of Past President, and remained an appointed post until the position was dropped in 1996.
Effective January 1996, an executive vice president was added.
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