The Empire Rugby Football Union Geographical Union ("Empire GU") is the governing body for over 100 men's and women's

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

clubs and colleges in

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

Northern New Jersey North Jersey comprises the northern portions of the U.S. state of New Jersey between the upper Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean. The designation of northern New Jersey with a distinct toponym is a colloquial one rather than an administrativ ...

and

Southern Connecticut Greater New Haven is the metropolitan area whose extent includes those towns in the U.S. state of Connecticut that share an economic, social, political, and historical focus on the city of New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven. It occupies the south-cen ...

History

Formation

The Empire GU was created in July 2012 as a result of the merger of three governing bodies in the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...

Northeast Rugby Union The Empire Rugby Football Union Geographical Union ("Empire GU") is the governing body for over 100 men's and women's rugby union clubs and colleges in New York State, Northern New Jersey and Southern Connecticut. History Formation The Empire G ...

, New York State Rugby Conference (NYSRC) and Metropolitan New York Rugby Union (METNYRFU). When formed, Empire GU was one of four pilot Geographical Unions that have been developed by

USA Rugby USA Rugby (officially the United States of America Rugby Football Union, Ltd.) is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. Its role is to achieve and maintain “high levels of quality in all aspects of rugb ...

, and the first in the country to have been created by merging multiple former unions. The creation of these new GUs was carried out with the intention of creating a "more streamlined structure, effectively support growth in the game and provide increased member services in local areas". As of 2013, the GU structure ceased to be seen as a pilot program, being fully adopted as the local governance model for Club Rugby moving forward.

Structure

Empire GU comprises teams from

and southern

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. Some college teams are also included in the union. The GU encompasses the former

, a Territorial Union (TU), and two former Local Area Unions (LAUs): New York State Rugby Conference (NYSRC) and Metropolitan New York Rugby Union (METNYRFU). Upon creation of the Empire GU, NRU, NYSRC and METNYRFU were all dissolved. The last remaining member of the former NRU,

New England Rugby Football Union The New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU) is a Geographical Union (GU) for rugby union teams in New England. Prior to 2013, NERFU had been a local area union ("LAU"), and part of the Northeast Rugby Union (NRU), which is the governing body for ...

(NERFU), was not absorbed into the new union, instead becoming a separate GU in its own right. Some NERFU teams, however, continue to compete in Empire GU's league system, namely in the Senior Men's D1, and the Senior Women's D1, D2 and D3.

Clubs

Senior Men

Senior Women

* denotes a team that is a member of NERFU, not Empire GU

References

External links

Official website

USA Rugby Official Site

IRB Official Site
{{Rugby union in the United States Rugby union governing bodies in the United States