Women's Premier League (WPL Rugby)

The USA Rugby Women's Premier League (WPL or WPL Rugby) is the top annual American women's rugby union competition. It is player-run and operates in partnership with USA Rugby. It involves the top 10 clubs in the country. The league was founded in 2009.

The League initially began from 8 different Division 1 Women's Sides coming together in 2009. In 2017, the League grew to 10 clubs. In 2023, the League reduced their club numbers to 7.

The 2020 Season was canceled on June 1, 2020 due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. The League started up again in 2022.

History

Founding

The WPL was founded in 2009 with 8 of the top Division 1 Women's Teams in the US. The organization was created with the leadership of Kathy Flores, USA Eagle and Head Coach of the USA Women's Team, and Alex Williams in order to grow the Women's game and develop more potential players for the Women's National Team.

The League began with 8 clubs: Beantown Rugby, Berkeley All Blues, New York Rugby Club, Washington DC Furies, Twin City Amazons, Keystone Rugby Club, Minnesota Valkyries, and Oregon Sports Union (ORSU).

Promotion and relegation

In 2010, the league began its promotion/relegation opportunities for Division 1 Teams to join the WPL in 2010, whereby the top-ranked Division 1 Team would challenge the bottom-ranked WPL Team for their position in the WPL. From the end of the 2016 Season until the 2019 season, the WPL stopped its relegation due to their expansion.

Expansion and beyond

For the 2017 Season, the WPL allowed for the Leagues first expansion, growing the League from 8 to 10 teams, adding Beantown RFC and Chicago North Shore Rugby into the competition.

In 2017, the WPL created their Inaugural All-Stars Team, composed of top players from the season who would compete in preparation for the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup. In 2018, the WPL decided to create two All-Star Teams, one for the Eastern Conference and one for the Western Conference, allowing more players to compete at the top level of competition.

On June 1, 2020, the 2020 Season was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The season was later cancelled on July 8, 2020 and the WPL has resumed in 2022.

Professionalism

In 2023, the WPL changed their season schedule outline and moved forward towards a more professional structure. Unfortunately, this led to three teams, the San Diego Surfers, Atlanta Harlequins, and Oregon Sports Union, specifically, to leave the WPL to focus on their club teams. With that, the Conference structure that was in place throughout most of the WPL's timeline was left behind for a cohesive league structure.

Women's Premier League teams

Map

Current teams

Timeline

DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:25
Period = from:2009 till:2023
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:200 left:0 bottom:55 top:5

Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7)
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white

PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s

bar:1 color:black fontsize:M from:12/15/2016 till:01/15/2017 text: Expansion to 10 Teams
bar:1 color:white fontsize:M from:01/15/2017 till:12/15/2019
bar:1 color:black fontsize:M from:12/15/2022 till:01/15/2023 text: Reduction to 7 Teams
bar:1 color:white fontsize:M from:01/15/2023 till:end
bar:2 color:skyblue fontsize:M from:01/01/2009 till:12/31/2013 text: Beantown RFC (2009–2013)
bar:2 color:skyblue fontsize:M from:01/01/2017 till:end text: Beantown RFC (2017-present)
bar:3 color:skyblue fontsize:M from:01/01/2009 till:01/15/2022 text: New York Rugby Club (2009–present)
bar:3 color:skyblue fontsize:M from:01/01/2022 till:end text: New York Rugby Club (2009–present)
bar:4 color:skyblue fontsize:M from:01/01/2009 till:01/15/2022 text: Twin Cities Amazons (2009–present)
bar:4 color:skyblue fontsize:M from:01/01/2022 till:end text: Twin Cities Amazons (2009–present)
bar:5 color:skyblue fontsize:M from:01/01/2009 till:01/15/2022 text: Berkeley All Blues (2009–present)
bar:5 color:skyblue fontsize:M from:01/01/2022 till:end text: Berkeley All Blues (2009–present)
bar:6 color:pink fontsize:M from:01/01/2009 till:12/31/2010 text: Oregon Sports Union (2009-2010)
bar:6 color:pink fontsize:M from:01/01/2014 till:12/31/2022 text: Oregon Sports Union (2014-2022)
bar:7 color:pink fontsize:M from:01/01/2009 till:12/31/2011 text: Minnesota Valkyries (2009-2011)
bar:8 color:pink fontsize:M from:01/01/2009 till:12/31/2012 text: Keystone (2009-2012)
bar:9 color:pink fontsize:M from:01/01/2009 till:12/31/2018 text: DC Furies (2009-2018)
bar:10 color:pink fontsize:M from:01/01/2011 till:12/31/2022 text: San Diego Surfers (2011-2022)
bar:11 color:powderblue fontsize:M from:01/01/2012 till:12/31/2016 text: Glendale Raptors (2012-2016)
bar:11 color:black fontsize:M from:01/01/2017 till:01/02/2017
bar:11 color:powderblue fontsize:M from:01/03/2017 till:12/31/2021 text: Glendale Merlins (2017-2021)
bar:11 color:skyblue fontsize:M from:01/01/2022 till:end text: Colorado Gray Wolves (2022-present)
bar:12 color:pink fontsize:M from:01/01/2013 till:12/31/2022 text: Atlanta Harlequins (2013–2022)
bar:13 color:skyblue fontsize:M from:01/01/2017 till:end text: Chicago North Shore Rugby (2017–present)
bar:14 color:skyblue fontsize:M from:01/01/2019 till:end text: Life West Gladiatrix (2019–present)

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:2009

Promotion/relegation

Former teams

League champions

See also

*Major League Rugby
*2011 Women's Premier League Rugby season
*United States women's national rugby sevens team
*United States women's national rugby union team

References

External links

*

{{Top sport leagues in the United States

Rugby union leagues in the United States
Women's rugby union competitions in the United States
Women's rugby union leagues
Sports leagues established in 2008
2008 establishments in the United States
Professional sports leagues in the United States