The Illinois Collegiate Women’s Rugby Conference has joined the National Collegiate Rugby Organization (NCRO) Open Division for the fall 2020 season. NCRO was born from the National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO) in response to USA Rugby’s bankruptcy and uncertain future.
Illinois oversees six teams:
Illinois State
Univ. Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Northern Illinois Univ
Southern Illinois Univ
Univ. Southern Indiana
Western Illinois Univ
Five of the six teams had competed in USA Rugby’s Division II fall season; however, Northern Illinois had previously aligned with the Midwest DI conference. NIU will now compete in the NCRO Open division, which thus far, contains teams that were previously considered Division II. The NCRO leadership structure – commissioner and committee – are still being formed but NSCRO women’s commissioner Bryn Chivers offered this update.
Illinois is the fourth conference to join NCRO, joining the non-NSCRO teams from Great Waters, Northern Lights and Upstate New York conferences in the new Open Division this fall. The following map tracks those conferences that have committed their non-NSCRO teams to NCRO, but will update to reflect the existing NSCRO-only conferences: