HISTORY
Youth Rugby in Northern California has a storied history. Our oldest teams started competing in the 70’s at the High School level. After much growth and development, an organization, Rugby California, was created to govern youth and high school rugby in the entire state of California. After two years, it became evident that the State was too large for one organization to govern.
On August 4th, 2010, the Northern California Youth Rugby Association (NCYRA) was formally established at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Dixon, CA. The NCYRA was granted 501(c)3 non-profit, California corporation status in late 2010. It was governed by a Board of Directors (BOD), which is made up of four Officers (President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary) and the various Conference Representatives, including a Referee Society Member.
On October 29th, 2014, the NCYRA Membership voted in favor of restructuring the Organization and adopted new By-Laws. The NCYRA’s new structure includes Seven (7) NCYRA Officers (President, VP-Operations, VP-Discipline, VP-Competitions, VP-Junior Youth, Secretary, and Treasurer) appointed as the Membership Representatives to the Board, and up to Six (6) additional At-Large Directors to be appointed from outside the Organizational Membership. Day to day operations are managed by the NCYRA’s Full-Time Executive Director.
In addition, the NCYRA is comprised of working or Standing Committees, which in consultation with the Executive Director, do the bulk of the work of the association and provide direction and guidance to the BOD on their respective areas. The Committees are made up of between 3 and 7 members and are run by a Chairperson or one of the Vice Presidents. The Committees include: Girls High School, Junior Youth, Public Relations, Disciplinary, Competitions, Referee, Safety, and High Performance (All-Star). The Committees meet (or conference call) regularly and establish their programs with their given budget and Master Schedule parameters.
On February 4th, 2015, the NCYRA officially changed its name to Rugby NorCal.
Rugby NorCal reports directly to USA Rugby and coordinates with the Adult and College clubs association (NCYRFU), Referee Society (NCRRS) and the Pacific Coast Rugby Football Union.
OVERVIEW
As the second most popular sport in the world, rugby is exploding onto the consciousness of mainstream Americans as the sport reentered the Olympics in Rio in 2016. Did you know that the USA won gold medals for Olympic rugby in 1920 and 1924? Here’s video from the 1924 Gold medal game!
Long a hotbed of rugby passion and excellence, Northern California is the largest youth & high school SRO (State Rugby Organization) in the country and we continue to experience rapid growth, with new members, new high school teams and new clubs joining us every year. We are committed to making rugby fun, safe and available to every child in Northern California – come join us!
Rugby NorCal runs an abundance of different leagues, both 15s and 7s, throughout the year, from Chico down to Fresno.
Our Club leagues serve Under 8s to Under 18s and run from January through May, depending on the age.
The summer is filled with the Rugby NorCal Summer 7s Series and the opportunity for all kids to play 7s in a variety of tournaments around the region.
To see our entire year in one view, look at our Annual Calendar on the top navigation bar. In addition, Rugby NorCal sanctions pre- and post-season tournaments.
Finally, Rugby NorCal Club teams travel around the world to play other youth teams and we welcome teams visiting from around the US and the world. Please visit the USA Rugby Tours Page for more information on Inbound and Outbound Tour requirements.
