Collegiate club rugby (a collegiate version of rugby union) is played throughout universities in the United States of America. Unlike most university sports, collegiate club rugby is not administered by the National Collegiate Athletic Association or university athletic departments and is instead regulated by USA Rugby and club rec departments. Although 15's rugby is clearly stressed in the league, the 10's and 7's variants can be routinely seen. For all intents and purposes, collegiate club rugby represents this first level competitiveness in the US's relatively small system. The University of California at Berkeley has won 23 of 28 Division I club championships since tournament play began in 1980.
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Organization
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Similarities between NCAA athletics and collegiate rugby essentially stop with the names of the divisions. In the NCAA, a school's division determines its recruiting abilities, while in collegiate rugby teams are assigned to divisions based on the strength of the team. Thus, small schools with a very successful rugby program can be found in Division I, while large schools with a young program or poor team could be found in Division III. Division and conference placement is based on the club's success from the previous year. Each Local Area Union (LAU) has its own rules of governance, but in most cases, the team that wins its division or conference has the right to advance to the next highest division or conference. Conversely, the club with the least success that year might be relegated to competing in the next lowest division or conference. Sometimes winning clubs choose not to exercise this right to advance, instead preferring to stay in their club division. As a result of this mentality, it is not uncommon to see Division III teams defeat Division II club or even Division I club teams (the latter being much rarer). See also Promotion and relegation.
National Club championships
This section contains a list of the last ten Division I national champions.
Men's Club
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- Before 1997:
YEAR CHAMPION RUNNER-UP 1980 University of California, Berkeley, runner-up United States Air Force Academy 1981 University of California, Berkeley, runner-up Harvard University 1982 University of California, Berkeley, runner-up Life College 1983 University of California, Berkeley, runner-up United States Air Force Academy 1984 Harvard University, runner-up Colorado 1985 University of California, Berkeley, runner-up Maryland 1986 University of California, Berkeley, runner-up Dartmouth 1987 San Diego State University, runner-up United States Air Force Academy 1988 University of California, Berkeley, runner-up Dartmouth 1989 United States Air Force Academy, runner-up Long Beach State 1990 United States Air Force Academy, runner-up Army 1991 University of California, Berkeley, runner-up Army 1992 University of California, Berkeley, runner-up Army 1993 University of California, Berkeley, runner-up United States Air Force Academy 1994 University of California, Berkeley, runner-up Navy 1995 University of California, Berkeley, runner-up United States Air Force Academy 1996 University of California, Berkeley, runner-up Penn State
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- 1997 onward:
YEAR CHAMPION RUNNER-UP 1997-University of California, Berkeley 41 Penn State 15 1998-University of California, Berkeley 34 Stanford University 15 1999-University of California, Berkeley 36 Penn State 5 2000-University of California, Berkeley 62 University of Wyoming 16 2001-University of California, Berkeley 86 Penn State 11 2002-University of California, Berkeley 43 Utah 22 2003-United States Air Force Academy 45 Harvard University 37 2004-University of California, Berkeley 46 Cal Poly 24 2005-University of California, Berkeley 44 Utah 7 2006-University of California, Berkeley 29 Brigham Young 26 2007-University of California, Berkeley 37 Brigham Young 7
Women's Club
1997- Penn State University 1998- Radcliffe College 1999- Stanford University 2000- Penn State University 2001- Chico State University 2002- United States Air Force Academy 2003- United States Air Force Academy 2004- Penn State University 2005- Stanford University 53 Penn State University 6 2006- Stanford University 15 Penn State University 12 2007- Penn State University 22 Stanford University 21
Division 2 Club
Men's Club
2000- Sacramento State 49 Claremont College 3 2001- Baylor University 29 Arkansas State University 16 2002- Stanford University 26 University of Northern Iowa 15 2003- Radford University 32 University of Northern Colorado 22 2004- Salisbury State 43 Arkansas State University 24 2005- University of Northern Colorado 24 Humboldt State University 22 2006- United States Coast Guard Academy 17 University of Northern Colorado 12 2007- Middlebury College 38 Arkansas State 22
Women's Club
2006 - UC Santa Cruz 22 Plymouth State 10 2007 - Iowa State University 26 UC Santa Cruz 19
