Korea Super Rugby League

The Korea Super Rugby league (formally he Korea Rugby League and Korea Spring League) is a semi professional rugby union league based in South Korea. It is run by the Korean Rugby Union.

History
In 2003 with Japan, South Koreas creates rival, having a much larger player pool and the possible liquidation on Koreas largest club, KEPCO, the South Korean rugby federation decides to merge the corporation and university championships to form a single league: The Korea Rugby League. The announcement was made on the 29th of April 2003 with the championship launching in May that year. With 7 teams with a single round robin format Samsung SDI became inaugural champions of the Korea Rugby League.

In 2008 the Korea Rugby League merged with the National Spring League, to for the Korea Spring League. Unfortunately in 2010 Daesim rugby (joined in 2007) filed for bankruptcy causing them to leave the league, POSCO Rugby (formally Pohang Steel) replaced them as the 4th team in the 2010 season.

In January 2015, Samsung SDI decided to dissolve its rugby team after record losses from the parent company. Samsung SDI was the backbone of South Korea's national team and was composed of many professional players.

The club thus had an annual budget of 1.5 million euros. Its loss caused great difficulty for South Korean rugby, which was then on the verge of disappearance. In December 2015 there was the launch of the Hyundai Glovis. The latter will primarily recruit many players from the missing Samsung SDI rugby team. However it was not enough and the league was suspended for 2 years.

The championship returned three years later in 2017 with three teams: KEPCO, POSCO and Hyundai Glovis. KEPCO won its 4th title, the 3rd consecutive. From 2018, the championship renamed back to the Korea Rugby League.

From 2020, South Korean rugby is hit like all of Asia by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Korea Rugby League will be reduced to two games, a semi final and a final since POSCO was forced to forfeit. Hyundai Glovis won its 3rd title.

In 2021 Korean Rugby Union President Choi Yoon decides to create a new league: The Korea Super Rugby League.

The season takes place over six days, with each club playing six games (regular round trip phase). The numbers of the teams increase to at least 30 players (with the reinforcement of university players) to ensure the smooth running of the championship.

The new league will also be able to rely on the mass return from Japan of South Korean internationals such as Na Kwan Young and Chang Yong Heung who signed for KEPCO.

President Choi Yoon announced that the Korea Rugby Union, now with a large budget thanks to nearly 30 major sponsors of major national companies, will issue the package financially in 2023.

Current clubs

 * Note: Capacity listed for rugby union games may differ from official stadium capacity

All time
A total of 12 clubs have been involved in the top-flight since the league's inception in the 2003 season. The most recent club to make its debut in the competition was OK Financial Group Okman, which made their top flight debut in 2023.

Below, the 2024 clubs are listed in bold; ever-present clubs are listed in bold italics.