The Central Florida Warriors were a

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a conside ...

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

team based in

DeLand, Florida DeLand is a city in central Florida. It is the county seat of Volusia County. The city sits approximately north of the central business district of Orlando, and approximately west of the central business district of Daytona Beach. As of the 2020 ...

United States. They competed in the

USA Rugby League The USA Rugby League (USARL) is the official governing body for rugby league, a code of rugby football, in the United States. The organization also runs the national amateur competition for club teams in the US. The league consists of six te ...

(USARL) in the Southeast Rugby League Conference. They play their home games at

Spec Martin Stadium Spec Martin Stadium is a 6,000 seat football stadium located in DeLand, Florida. Spec Martin Stadium currently hosts Stetson Hatters football, DeLand High School Bulldog football and was the host of the Central Florida Warriors rugby league team ...

History

The Warriors were founded in March, 2014 as part of an expansion by the

USARL The USA Rugby League (USARL) is the official governing body for rugby league, a code of rugby football, in the United States. The organization also runs the national amateur competition for club teams in the US. The league consists of six ...

to represent the Central Florida area from Daytona to Orlando in the sport of rugby league. Along with fellow new clubs the

Atlanta Rhinos The Atlanta Rhinos are an American professional rugby league team based in Atlanta, Georgia. 2014 was their inaugural season in the USA Rugby League. Starting in 2021, the club turned professional, and became founding members of the North Am ...

and

Tampa Mayhem The Tampa Mayhem are an American rugby league team based in Tampa, Florida. 2014 was their inaugural season in the USA Rugby League. Current 2022 Squad * Mike Stoeling * Bart Longchamp * Josh Heath * Jethro Hauser * Justin Branca * Cody Blac ...

they joined The

Jacksonville Axemen The Jacksonville Axemen are a semi-professional rugby league team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They currently play in the USA Rugby League (USARL). They play their home games at the North Practice Soccer Fields at the University of North F ...

to form the USARL South Conference. The Warriors name was used as a way to pay tribute to all the military men and women who have served the United States. After winning their inaugural game against fellow newcomers the Atlanta Rhinos in the opening round in the 2014 season, the team went on to finish second in the Southern Conference. In the playoffs they again defeated the Rhinos before being eliminated by the Jacksonville Axemen in the Southern Conference championship. 2015 saw the Warriors enter the season with newfound confidence after what many thought was a successful first season in the USARL. The team finished the regular season 3-3, again finishing second in their conference. This time in the playoffs they defeated the Axemen in the Conference semi-final before going down to the Atlanta Rhinos in the Conference championship round.

USARL season summaries

Jerseys and sponsors

2017 Central Florida Warriors Jersey (Red is Primary, Grey is Alternate

The Central Florida Warriors' 2017 Primary jersey is predominantly red, with the team's alternate jersey being the Grey. The main sponsors for the team are the Volusia Rugby Foundation along with the

Black Rifle Coffee Company Black Rifle Coffee Company (BRCC) is a coffee company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It gained national attention in 2017, when it employed about 50 people, after pledging to hire 10,000 veterans to protest Starbucks's pledge to h ...

. Other sponsors include The Folding Sliding Door Company, the Brickhouse, Sampson Collaborative Law and Central 28 Brewary.Central Florida Warriors Sponsors
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Stadium

The warriors play their home games at

in DeLand, Fl approx. 25 miles south of

Daytona Beach Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County near the Atlantic coastline, its population was 72,647 at the 2020 census. Daytona Beach is approximately nort ...

. The stadium underwent significant renovations recently, including a new press box, handicapped and premium seating areas, and new locker room facilities, establishing the venue as one of the premier stadiums in the USARL competition.

Honors

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

- USARL Conference Finalists *

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

- USARL Conference Finalists

References

External links

Official website
{{Florida Sports USA Rugby League teams Rugby clubs established in 2014 Central Florida Sports teams in Florida DeLand, Florida 2014 establishments in Florida Rugby league in Florida