League Info

The Midwest Rugby Union organizes and administers Senior Club Rugby Union competition across the Midwestern United States, serving adult, non-collegiate clubs from western Pennsylvania and upstate New York through eastern North Dakota. As a broad and diverse geographical union, Midwest Rugby provides competitive structures, development opportunities, and championship pathways for men’s and women’s clubs throughout the region.

On the men’s side, the Union supports 15s competition from Division 1, also known as the Midwest Premiership, through Division 4. With a little over 100 men’s teams competing across these divisions, Midwest Rugby offers opportunities for established high-performance clubs as well as developing community-based sides.

The Union also supports approximately 50 women’s teams across multiple competitive levels. Women’s competition includes Division 1, or Premiership-level play, as well as Division 2. In addition, Midwest Rugby offers a unique Women’s Festival (D3) structure designed for new and developing teams that may not yet have the participation numbers to field a full 15s side independently. Through this model, similarly situated teams can come together on a regular basis to play meaningful 15s rugby, build depth, and grow toward sustainable full-side competition.

For clubs competing at higher competitive levels, Midwest Rugby provides a clear pathway to national competition. Men’s teams in Divisions 1 through 3 and women’s teams in Divisions 1 and 2 compete through the Midwest Rugby Union structure with the opportunity to earn berths to the USA Club Rugby National Championship Series (NCS) through the Northern Super Region, which Midwest Rugby shares with the Rocky Mountain and Mid-America Geographical Unions (GUs). Successful clubs then advance to compete against other Super Regional winners at the USA Club Rugby National Championships.

The Union also supports and helps facilitate the Midwest Thunderbirds program, an elite-level all-star initiative designed to provide club rugby players with opportunities to compete at a higher level against professional sides and other Union all-star teams. In addition to its senior representative programming, Midwest Rugby also affiliates the Thunderbirds brand with other age-grade programs, helping create a broader pathway for player development and regional representation.

In addition to 15s, the Midwest Rugby Union supports both men’s and women’s 7s competition and is focused on expanding participation across both. Currently, approximately six to eight men’s sides and four to six women’s sides compete regularly in the Midwest 7s Series. Each year, the Union supports three to four regional tournaments with the goal of helping two to three men’s and women’s teams earn invitations to the USA Club Rugby 7s Championships in August.