USA Season : 2014

The civil war ended. The AMNRL ceased to function while the USARL prospered. They had competed together for three years. So how did the season unfold?

USARL

Tables: The number of teams participating jumped to ten, up from six. Five new sides joined with the Baltimore Blues being the one departure, the latter had only lasted two years. The five newbies were the Atlanta Rhinos, Brooklyn Kings, Tampa Bay Mayhem, Northern Virginia Eagles (from the AMNRL) and the Central Florida Warriors.

A new arrangement to cope with the expansion was a two conference set up. The Northern and Mid-Atlantic were operated as two divisions (I've called them conferences below) that made up one side of the playoffs draw while the Southern Conference was on the other. The first two had three sides and the other four teams.

I believe the North and Mid-Atlantic divisions played each team in their division twice and the teams in the other division once. The Southern teams played each other twice. This arrangement was a cost saver in travel. The final placings are below.

Playoffs: On the Northern side, the Mid-Atlantic team the Fight progressed to the final, while the Axemen continued their unbeaten season through the two play-off matches. Both finalists were at their third USARL final, for 2014 the same two teams again. The Fight again took the spoils, by just two points

2014
North East Conference			Southern Conference
1	Rhode Island Rebellion	8	1	Jacksonville Axemen	12
2	Boston 13s	7	2	Central Florida Warriors	6
3	Brooklyn Kings	3	3	Atlanta Rhinos	4
			4	Tampa Bay Mayhem	2
Mid-Atlantic Conference
1	Philadelphia Fight	14
2	Washington DC Slayers	12
3	Northern Virginia Eagles	4
Playoffs – Northern			Playoffs – Southern
R1	Boston 13s	42	R1	Jacksonville Axemen	56
	Rhode Island Rebellion	26		Tampa Bay Mayhem	4
R1	Philadelphia Fight	76	R1	Central Florida Warriors	42
	Washington DC Slayers	0		Atlanta Rhinos	26
R2	Philadelphia Fight	52	R2	Jacksonville Axemen	40
	Boston 13s	26		Central Florida Warriors	12
			Grand Final
			N	Philadelphia Fight	30
			S	Jacksonville Axemen	18

AMNRL

Five teams lined up for the season, the Aston Bulls, Bucks County Sharks, Connecticut Wildcats, New York Raiders and New York Knights. The season was cancelled, as mentioned above. It had run since the 1998 season and this would have been its 17th.

The Bulls had been there from the beginning and had been hugely successful so their demise was a shame. The Sharks also started in 1998 and had two seasons in the USARL before folding. The Raiders started in 2002 and they now ended their RL run. The Wildcats and Knights joined the new body and still play today.

For the 2015 season, simply click here.
The 2013 year can be viewed by clicking here.