Florida Youth Rugby will be unveiling its Boys HS schedules soon, and there have been some significant changes.

In Boys DI, gone are the four pools of four teams each, which provide competitors with a fairly unsatisfactory three-game schedule (and one pool had only three teams).

Replacing that system is ten-team DI competition.

Of the 15 teams in DI in the 2015 season, six have moved down to DII: Mavericks, Cardinal Gibbons, St. Thomas Aquinas, Boca Raton, Pompano Trojans, and Miami.

Those teams 4-23-2 in league play last year. Weston, which won their pool with a 4-0 record in 2015, has merged with the West Pines to create the West Pines Wolfhounds, and the Wolfhounds will remain in DI.

The only new team in DI is the Okapi Wanderers.

According to FYR Executive Director, the divisions were decided by the teams themselves. Teams nominated themselves into DI.

The teams will play each other once, four home, four away, and with one game in a neutral location on a special festival weekend.This ensures all teams get an even number of home and away games. But more importantly, said Haigh, the season is more interesting, and more challenging.

“Previously, teams like Naples, Orlando and Weston (now the Wolfhounds) never played each other during the regular season,” said Haigh. “Basically meaning that we did not get to see best teams play each other. They have wanted a DI for a few years. We just did not have the critical mass to ensure everyone gets enough games.”

FYR’s boys competition has expanded to 18 teams now with eight in the DII, which is split along geographic lines to help with travel issues.

FYR has also instituted a JV league.

“Our long-term aim is to make a condition of being a DI club is that you have JV squad as well,” said Haigh. “We currently have seven out of the 10 teams with JV squads.”

The Wellington Wizards, a DII team, also will field a JV squad to round out the JV league to eight.

FYR will also field three Middle School divisions: U10, U12, and U14. 

“I am really excited to be adding the U10 bracket to what we are doing. Most of our MS clubs are based in South Florida, but this year we have Sarasota Starting up and Cape Pirates beginning Junior Juice and U12s,” said Haigh. “This is the future of rugby in Florida. A lot of our teams have developed strong partnerships with Youth Football clubs, which has seen their number grow significantly. Last year we grew 75% in the Youth and MS age groups. I believe we will grow that much again.”