Rugby Super League (US)
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| Sport | Rugby union |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1996 |
| Inaugural season | 1997 |
| Ceased | 2012 |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Country | United States |
| Last champion(s) |
New York Athletic Club (2012) |
| Official website | Premier-Rugby.com |
The USA Rugby Super League, usually known as the Super League, is a defunct 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.
The Super League competition was sanctioned by USA Rugby, the sport's national governing body, and was the premier level of rugby union in the country until it was reformatted into the Elite Cup.
Created by the management of 14 of the best rugby organizations in the United States, the league's goal was to create a high level, national rugby competition in the country. The competition was contested annually starting in 2007, with the largest number of clubs to have competed in the league being 18, in 2007 and 2008. In the 2011 season, the 11 teams competing were divided into two conferences, Red and Blue. The league's 2012 and last season had 9 teams, again divided into Red and Blue conferences. Most of the remaining teams after the final Rugby Super League season in 2012 entered the USA Rugby Elite Cup competition.
The Rugby Super League was created at a time when there was a need for expansion of the highest level of competitive rugby 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, Old Blues Rugby Club (CA), Golden Gate Rugby Club and Washington RFC. Aspen won the first championship, defeating Old Blue 22 points to eight in the final which was played in San Diego.
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