NCR’s goal is to grow collegiate rugby and support our teams to create well-run, sustainable clubs that compete in both 15s and 7s rugby. The Emerging Team Grants provide new and early-stage clubs with fee discounts that enable greater investment in recruiting, equipment, and general club administration.
The application deadline is December 31, 2024. NCR has approximately 10 Spring 2025 Grants available.
The grants are awarded as a 50% discount on both the club and player registration fees as follows:
To be eligible for the grant, a team must be:
- in its first or second season (or re-forming after a three-year hiatus), OR
- Playing in a developmental or challenge league while building towards a full 15s roster
In addition, the team must have:
- Had 14 or fewer registered players in the previous 23-24 season; and
- Been a team in good standing and met all registration requirements (or received a waiver).
Grants will be awarded based on criteria set by NCR. Grants are not necessarily monetary-need based. All teams are considered regardless of the amount of funding provided by their universities.
Teams must adhere to the terms of the grant including attendance at two training sessions provided by NCR's Growth and Development Director, registering a team, a coach, and players, implementation of a club operations manual (template provided by NCR), and providing an end-of-year progress report to NCR.
Grand awardees will be notified by January 8th and teams need to be registered with an eligible coach by January 16, 2025, or risk losing the grant. Teams will receive codes to register the team, coach, and players.
All questions and inquiries about this program should be sent to NCR's Growth and Development Director, Christine Varga - christine@ncr.rugby.