Adult Rugby

Men’s Conference for 2019-2020 Season

We had a call on 8/11 for feedback on division structure for 2019-2020

Based upon that call and the feedback form we had posted here we revised our forfeit policy as well as the structure of the divisions and contacted the administration for each of the clubs. We then received additional feedback and are seeking approval from the South committee on revision to our divisions.

Men Division Structure Changes 

Key Principals 

  • Setting higher club standards and a detailed process to ensure continued club and player growth.
  • Aligning teams by competitive level and club size. Allowing for those teams to better compete, play more competitive matches against similar teams, and drive for success both on and off the field. The goal of Premier and First Divisions should be to be competitive at the final 8 level of the USA National Championship Series.
  • Adding a lower division of competition to allow for gradual development of new clubs and to provide playing opportunities for clubs who are unable to uphold uphold standards required from their Division. This will allow us to create a competitive schedule for these clubs while reducing the risk of forfeit implications and huge competitive mismatches for upper division play. 
  • Creation of promotion and relegation standards  
  • Addition of a forfeit policy with enforcement guidelines
  • Providing pre-season opportunities for teams to choose to participate in 

Promotion & Relegation Policies –Teams may be promoted and/or relegated from their division based on these criteria

Relegation 

  • Failure to uphold and/or meet the required minimum standards for their given division of play, particularly forfeit of matches
  • Average points differential loss of greater than 28 points for two seasons in a row against the top (4) teams within their division of play. 

Promotion 

  • Average points differential wins of greater than 28 points for two seasons in a row against the top (4) teams within their division of play.
  • A team may request to be promoted to the high level before the two year window if they are able to effectively show that their club standards are above and beyond the minimum required amounts for their division of play. 

Appeals – these promotions and relegations are subject to appeal from the clubs, and the FRU board may advise against these measures to balance league competition numbers

Forfeit Policy – full details can be found at this link

  • This policy has been updated with stronger guidelines on what constitutes a forfeit with appropriate penalties outlined as well as details the requirements for second side matches for the various divisions. A fine of $500 applies to most forfeits. A club must pay all fines to resume play/matches and be assigned referees/to be considered in good standing with the Union.

Spring League(s) – THESE ARE NOT THE FINAL SCHEDULES! THESE ARE DRAFTS FOR REVIEW BY THE CLUBS. CHANGES TO THESE SCHEDULES ARE PENDING. Competition feedback form (preferred over email)

Men’s Premier (USA Rugby Division 2) – Men's Division 2 - 2019_20 Schedule - Final Version

  • Each club must have at least one L300 coach, one L200 coach, 2 certified Assistant Referees, and at least one certified touch judge. (This condition deadline will be extended until after the FRU provides L300 course in Nov/Dec and 4 referee courses this fall). These people all must be different people ie the coach cannot also be your AR/touch judge.
  • There is a $500 buy-in which gets distributed to the winners of the various competitions as outlined on the divisional page

Men’s First Division (USA Rugby Division 3) – Men's Division 3 - 2019_20 Schedule update (1)

  • Clubs must have two L200 Coaches on their roster, one certified Assistant Referee, and one certified touch judge. These need to be 4 different people. 

Men’s Orange Cup (USA Rugby Division 4) Men's Division 4 - 2019_20 Schedule - Version 2

  • Matches will be 80 minutes in length. By mutual agreement of the 2 club captains prior to KO, the match may be abbreviated to a 60 minute match. 
  • College men’s sides may compete in D4 as a development pathway to supplement their season
  • Clubs are required to have 15 registered players if an independent club (not a Premier Team’s D4), one Level 200 coach, 1 certified Assistant Referee, and one certified touch judge. These need to be 3 different people. 
  • In regular season matches teams may borrow up to 3 guest players from other teams without the match being declared a forfeit. Players must be of age to play Senior grade rugby and must be registered with USA Rugby. No guest players may be used in the playoff rounds or championships. The borrowing of players also applies for Premier team’s second sides. 
  • No limitations on player movement for multi-side clubs, and games will be played after upper division matches unless by mutual agreement of the captains prior to KO.
  • A player on a D4 club that wishes to transfer to an upper division club mid-season will not be held to the same transfer policies as those competing in higher level matches. This means if a player wants to play at a higher level, their D4 matches will not count in their match count for transfer. Their home club still needs to approve the transfer as is the case for all transfers. A player who is allowed to transfer under this Rule may return and play with his original D4 team and not be treated as a “guest player” under the FRU’s eligibility rules.
  • A match needs to have at least 12 players to start the match to not be considered a forfeit. Matches with under 12 players will be considered a “forfeit played” but will not count towards standings.

Promotion & Relegation for Orange Cup

  • Teams will be promoted from D4 using the guidelines from the upper division play, except college clubs and Premier team second sides will not be promoted (unless a premier team requests to move their second side to D3)
  • A team may request to move to an upper division without meeting the criteria above. This is subject to FRU approval. The FRU may request a challenge match, as outlined below:

If a team from lower division wishes to join a higher division from which no team is supposed to be relegated that year and they did not meet the promotion criteria outlined above, they should win a challenge match against the lowest placed team in that division. The challenge match must meet the following requirements:

    • The challenging team must meet the desired divisional requirements for coaching and refereeing 
    • The challenging team must have a winning record in the previous season (more wins than losses)
    • The team being challenged gets to host the match
    • The match must be completed before the first weekend in June, in the event that the challenging team is still competing in 15s Nationals up until that weekend, that will be extended to until the 1st weekend in July. The FRU will set the date and notify both teams with 1 month advance notice.
  • The winner of the challenge match will take divisional position in the higher division and the losing team will take the divisional position in the lower division.  
  • The team who is being challenged may choose to elect not to play the match and thus will be relegated to the division in which the challenge came from and the challenging team will take their place in the higher division. 

Other promotion/relegation criteria to be incorporated into full policy with sections above.

  • If a team from a division is forced to be relegated to Orange Cup (D4) through a forfeit. Teams from the lower division will be asked to fill the void left. If we have two teams vying for one spot the team with the best record will be chosen to move up. In the event no team wishes to move up to higher division, the division will play with (1) less team that year if able to according to USAR minimum match # guidelines, however the following year we request again that the division be restored to it original size. 
  • Division Sizes will be locked for a period of (2) years 
    • Premier Division (USA Rugby D2) – 8 teams 
    • 1st Division (USA Rugby D3) – 6 teams (8 team maximum)
    • Orange Cup (USA Rugby D4) – Unlimited 
  • The FRU will promote and relegate teams using these policies as a guideline, however, it may be necessary to promote and relegate teams to confirm with USAR match number guidelines. These promotions and relegations are subject to approval by the South Conference Competitions Committee. 

Premier division

In Florida there are eight men’s teams and five women’s team in the premier division. The premier league teams in Florida play in the USA Rugby National Division 2 competition. This brings the opportunity for state championships as well as national championships.  The season is played from January to April, with May being used for the national championships. Below are all the teams in the division click on the team you are interested in to find up to date statistics and standing, follow the contacts button if interested in reaching out to a specific team.

Men

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Women

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[maxbutton id=”46″ url=”http://floridarugby.org/womenspremschedule/” text=”Schedule” ]

 

Men’s 1st division

This division competes for the state championship during the months of January to April. There are 6 teams currently with a maximum of 8 teams in this division currently. These men also compete in the USA Rugby Division 3 when advancing past state play. Below are all the teams in the division click on the team you are interested in to find up to date statistics and standing, follow the contacts button if interested in reaching out to a specific team.

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[maxbutton id=”46″ url=”http://floridarugby.org/mens-1st-division-schedule/” text=”Schedule” ]

Contacts

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