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Rugby union in the United States is a growing national sport. Rugby union is played at the youth, high school, club, and international levels. All rugby union played in the United States is governed by USA Rugby. There are over 450,000 players registered with USA Rugby, including over 67,000 high school students and 329,000 pre teen players.〔International Rugby Board, USA http://www.irb.com/unions/union=11000012/index.html〕 The 2,588 clubs in the United States are governed by USA Rugby through Geographical Unions and Local Unions. The semi-professional domestic Super League was established for the country's top clubs. College rugby is popular, with rugby being the largest club sport on college campuses. Rugby union was first introduced to the United States in the mid nineteenth century and gained popularity throughout the late nineteenth century. However, it started to decline from the early 1900s.〔 The U.S. won the gold medal in rugby at the 1920 Olympics and again at the 1924 Olympics, but rugby collapsed in the country after the 1924 Olympics. Rugby did not re-emerge in the US until its renaissance in the 1960s and 1970s. The United States of America Rugby Football Union (now known as USA Rugby) was formed in 1975. There are several high-profile rugby competitions in the U.S. The USA Sevens is held every February at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, and draws over 60,000 fans and is broadcast on NBC. The U.S national team hosts international matches every June, with attendances around 20,000. The Collegiate Rugby Championship is held every June at PPL Park in Philadelphia, and draws around 20,000 fans and is broadcast on NBC. The United States men's national rugby team, the Eagles, has competed in all but one of the Rugby World Cup tournaments held every four years since 1987. The U.S. national team plays home matches every June, both in the Pacific Nations Cup and international test matches. The United States is a Tier 2 rugby nation, which means that it is not currently competitive at the elite level of the sport, but is one of the IRB's key development markets.〔(IRB Strategic Plan, November 2004, page 2 )〕 The U.S. also fields a team in the Americas Rugby Championship, with a USA "A" national team participating. USA Rugby fields other national teams. The men's national rugby sevens team has been a "core team" that has participated in every tournament since 2008 of the annual IRB Sevens World Series. The women's national team has reached the quarterfinals of every Women's Rugby World Cup, and won the inaugural Women's Rugby World Cup in 1991. The women's national sevens team is one of the core teams in the IRB Women's Sevens World Series, which includes a tournament in Houston. == Governing bodies == Rugby union played anywhere is governed by the IRB, which is based in Dublin, Ireland. It is the governing and law-making body for rugby globally. There are over 100 member unions of the IRB. USA Rugby is the member union of the United States within the IRB. USA Rugby is responsible for overseeing rugby union domestically and training the various national teams that they put on the pitch. The game of rugby started to see some form of growth in the United States in the 1960s. In 1975, the United States of America Rugby Football Union was formed. The US Union dates from 1975, and joined the IRB in 1987.〔Bath p77〕 Within USA Rugby, there are several Geographical Unions (GU's) that are charged with governing a specific region of the country. Within these GU's, there are also Local Area Unions (LAU's), which are responsible for governing a specific region within their respective GU's. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rugby union in the United States」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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