In the fall of 1979, Jennie Redner, a Michigan State player and match secretary, created the
first national women’s team directory. Jennie’s directory was a typed sheet with the names,
phone numbers, or snail mail addresses of team representatives. "As the MSU WRC Match Secretary, I already had contacts for everyone in the Midwest, so it seemed
natural to expand that to every club in the US and Canada," noted Jennie.
In the early days of women’s rugby, teams were spread far and wide, so teams
tended to fill their schedules with tournaments, often playing multiple games over two
days. In addition to cramming a season into two weekends of play, tournaments were the best way to find other women’s teams. As Jennie recalls, "MSU women traveled to big
tournaments like Mardi Gras in New Orleans and the Pumpkin Fest in Philadelphia. So
everywhere we traveled, I got contact information from the tournament organizers
and club match secretaries. I was networking before I knew what it was."
Jennie’s efforts were a boon to the game; she published and distributed the list, allowing
teams to find one another and players to find teams. When Jennie started her directory,
there were approximately 212 women’s teams in the US. Today, there are approximately
1225 women’s teams in the US and keeping track of them is a challenge, but it’s critical to
the growth of women’s rugby.
While there are regional lists through GU’s and local unions, there is no comprehensive
directory of high school, college, and club women’s teams in the US. So, we combed the
internet and compared our lists to USAR, CRAA, NIRA, NCR, and Geographic Unions. The WRCRA directory includes contact information, founding date, divisions in which teams play,
coaches' names, and local and larger union affiliations.
The directory is only available to WRCRA members. You will be prompted to log in to access it. Within the directory, WRCRA members also will be able to submit updates and corrections. Not a WRCRA member? Join today.
Just as Jennie Redner intended, we hope the directory can be used to help teams find
players and players find teams. Recognizing how quickly team information changes, we will
work to update and correct the list regularly. Members can submit updates through an
online Google form. We know this list won’t be perfect, but we’ll be constantly working with
the WRCRA member network to get the directory as close to accurate as we can.