College rugby

rdf:langString College rugby

rdf:langString California Golden Bears v Saint Mary's Gaels match in March 2010

rdf:langString Rugby union

rdf:langString College rugby

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rdf:langString NIRA

rdf:langString NCR

rdf:langString USA Rugby

rdf:langString College rugby, more specifically rugby union, is played throughout universities in the United States of America. Between 2004 and 2010, rugby was the fastest growing sport in the United States when its popularity increased by roughly 350% (when the estimated active participants increased from 18,500 in 2006 to 65,000 in 2010).. College rugby is governed by USA Rugby, and does not fall under the auspices of the NCAA, except for 27 NCAA women's programs. Women's rugby has been classified as an NCAA Emerging Sport since 2002. College rugby is the fastest growing college sport in the USA. Rugby union is also the fastest growing sport in the USA in general. Major League Rugby implemented its first collegiate MLR Draft in 2020. Players are eligible for the draft after 3 years in college at 21 years old. Free agents can try to join teams at 18 years old. There are over 900 college teams—male and female—registered with USA Rugby.There are over 32,000 college players registered with USA Rugby, making college rugby the largest section of USA Rugby's membership. Rugby has been played in universities since as early as the 1800s, but it was the 1960s when rugby really found a foothold in colleges, led by the Catholic colleges such as Notre Dame and particularly the Jesuit universities such as Boston College and St. Joseph's in Philadelphia. Today, college rugby continues to grow in popularity, and rugby is one of the fastest growing club sports across college campuses. The 32,000 registered college players in 2010 marked a 14% increase from 28,000 college players in 2008. Over 180 college rugby clubs started between 2010 and 2014.The National Small College Rugby Organization grew from 85 teams in 2007 to 151 teams in 2011 and to over 200 men's teams for 2012.Several schools have increased their investments in men's and women's rugby programs, by creating rugby programs with varsity or quasi-varsity status and funding for scholarships, and Notre Dame and Texas have upgraded their rugby programs from "club" status to "Olympic" status. There has been increased interest in college rugby (particularly in rugby sevens) from TV since the International Olympic Committee's announcement in 2009 that rugby would return to the Summer Olympics in 2016. The highest profile college rugby sevens competition is the Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC), which began in 2010. College club rugby includes a national championship competition (since 1980). California has won the most men's titles, with Air Force and BYU also winning multiple championships. In 2011 a new Division 1-A was created with approximately 30 schools forming the new division.

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rdf:langString Champions Cup

rdf:langString Collegiate Championship

rdf:langString Division 1-A

rdf:langString Ivy Championship