Tennessee High School Rugby

Rugby Magazine and ERugbyNews recently completed an in depth survey of High School / Under 19 Rugby Clubs in the United States. Our findings indicate that there are now a total of 779 HS/U-19 clubs, an increase of 222 (+ 40%) over the 557 that were listed in Rugby’s 2004 National Directory.
 
 The number of Boy’s clubs increased by 143 (+ 33%), from 436 to 579, while Girls clubs showed a gain of 79 (+ 65%), from 121 to 200 clubs.
 
 Total HS / U-19 Clubs:
  (Ranked by Territorial Union)
 The Midwest RFU, with a total of 212 clubs (27.2 %), has by far the largest number of Boys and Girls HS / U-19 Clubs in the US. The South, Pacific, Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and West are all pretty even in club numbers, ranging from 116 to 97.
 
             Territorial         All
             Union               Clubs   %
 1)         Midwest            212       27.2
 2)         South                116       14.9
 3)         Pacific               111       14.2
 4)         Northeast          105       13.5
 5)         Mid-Atlantic       100       12.8
 6)         West                  97         12.5
 7)         S California         27         03.5
 8)         Independents      11         01.4
             Total                779       100
 
 Boys HS / U-19 Clubs
  (Ranked by Territorial Union)
 The Midwest RFU also ranks first in the number of Boys clubs with 147 (25.4%). The South (91) and Pacific (88) rank second and third.
 
             Territorial         Boys
             Union               Clubs     %
 1)         Midwest            147         25.4     
 2)         South                 91         15.7     
 3)         Pacific                88         15.2     
 4)         West                  81         14.0
 5)         Northeast            76         13.1     
 6)         Mid-Atlantic         66         11.4     
 7)         S California         19         3.3       
 8)         Independents      11         1.9       
             Total                579       100.0
 
 Girls HS / U-19 Clubs
 (Ranked by Territorial Union)
 With 65 Girls HS / U-19 clubs, the Midwest RFU has 31 more Girl’s clubs than the second place Mid-Atlantic RFU (34).
 
            Territorial         Girls
             Union              Clubs   %
 1)         Midwest            65         32.5
 6)         Mid-Atlantic       34         17.0
 5)         Northeast          29         14.5
 2)         South               25         12.5
 3)         Pacific              23         11.5
 4)         West                16         8.0       
 7)         S California         8          4.0
 8)         Independents       0          0.0
             Total                 200       100
 
 South RFU: 80 New HS / U-19 Clubs Since 2004
 While lagging behind other Territorial Unions in the development of club, college and 7s rugby, the South has outstripped all of them in the growth of HS / U-19 clubs. According to Rugby Magazine’s research, the South RFU has added 80 new HS / U-19 clubs since 2004 (116 v 36). The Northeast RFU, with 49 new clubs, is second in terms of growth (105 v 56).
 
             Territorial                                 New
             Union               2008     2004     Clubs
 1)         South                 116         36       + 80
 2)         Northeast           105         56        + 49
 3)         Midwest             212       186        + 26
 4)         Pacific               111         90        + 21
 5)         Mid-Atlantic       100         80        + 20
 6)         Independents       11         -           + 11
 7)         S California         27         18          + 9
 8)         West                  97         91         + 6   
             Total                  779       557       + 222