With Girls HS rugby rising in popularity in Southern California, driven in part by the increase in varsity college programs, the expansion of the Southern California Interscholastic Rugby Federation for the 2021-2022 season went into effect earlier this month. 

The SCIRF has been operating as a boys league only—the teams following California Interscholastic Federation rules in order to drive the campaign to get rugby officially into California schools. With there being so many collegiate opportunities for girl rugby players coming out of high school, the SCIRF decided now is the time to expand to girls teams. 

"The opportunity to expose rugby to those girls who otherwise would be playing soccer or basketball during the CIF Winter season could not be ignored," said SCIRF Executive Director Glenn Irvine.

Already girls from some schools have lobbied to get involved, and it's likely the SCIRF will announce some joining teams in short order.

SCIRF has adopted a model in which the girls all play in a single location on a rotating basis to allow for teams to miss a tourney when required, such as for homecoming or SATs, and that would minimizes referee travel and allows for new teams to join as they organize.

There is no planned end date for the season, and, once again, SCIRF sponsorship has allowed the majority of costs to be covered.