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Top of the League introduces our newest staff member, Intern Dom! 

We plucked the below statement from the comments section of our hidden post regarding our recent hiatus.

We thought it would be better shared as a general statement on this episode. 
We have heard questions and concerns regarding our podcasting processes, score reporting requirements, and the fees associated with certain podcast services. In particular, some fans  have asked how these measures contribute to growing the game. Those are fair questions, and they deserve a clear response…


Listen to find out!

We are back again for more banter and rugby coverage. 

Stay tuned for more this season!

3/3 Colin Devlin South Pittsburgh Hooligan President joins the pod

2/3 Colin Devlin South Pittsburgh Hooligan President joins the pod

1/3 Colin Devlin South Pittsburgh Hooligan President joins the pod

Topics covered this week include: 
General banter and updates
Rugby Recap and Preview
Midwest Rugby Championship predictions
Some more banter!

After taking a week off due to the league wide bye, the boys are back to bring you the hard hitting coverage you deserve. 

Topics covered this week include: 
General banter and updates
Rugby Recap and Preview 
Midwest Rugby Semifinal playoff picks 
Some more banter!

Episode 121 - Fighting Words

Disclaimer: Any views or opinions represented in this podcast are personal and belong solely to Top of the League podcast hosts and do not represent those of people, institutions, or rugby clubs that the hosts may or may not be associated with in professional or personal capacity.

Ah yes, the yearly event of Mossy returning to the podcast after being gone for several weeks. Strap in folks, you’re in for a doozy. 

Topics covered this week include: 
General banter and updates
Rugby Recap and Preview
Midwest Rugby quarterfinal playoff picks
Some more banter!

Episode 120 - It’s Too Hard

Disclaimer: Any views or opinions represented in this podcast are personal and belong solely to Top of the League podcast hosts and do not represent those of people, institutions, or rugby clubs that the hosts may or may not be associated with in professional or personal capacity.

Just Gator and Producer Kress for this episode since Mossy is yet again missing from the podcast studio. Maybe he’s been snatched up by an Etsy Witch

Topics covered this week include: 
General banter and updates
Rugby Recap and Preview
Midwest D3 Round 1 predictions
Some more banter!

Unfortunately last week we were cursed by an Etsy Witch who corrupted the BEST EPISODE EVER. Even recording this episode we thought the Etsy Witch struck again, but luckily she didn't! 

Just Gator and Producer Kress for this episode since Mossy was making his ESPN+ debut covering the Robert Morris University vs Duquesne University match

Topics covered this week include: 

General banter and updates

Rugby Recap and Preview 

Some more banter!

Episode 118 - Rainy Days

Last week we had some audio issues, and we can all blame Producer Kress for that since he wasn’t in the studio. Luckily this week he is back and we are sounding as good as ever!  

Topics covered this week include: 
General banter and updates
Pittsburgh Rugby Fab Four (This time with better sound quality)
Rugby Recap and Preview
 Some more banter!

Fab Four of all hall of fame.
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Episode 116 - Gator Day Care (ft. Jacaré Bebê) 


Mossy couldn't make it but luckily we were able to be joined by a special guest, Jacaré Bebê AKA, Baby Gator. We tried to get his insights on the Midwest rugby scene and this baby sure did have some hot takes!

 


Topics covered this week include: 


General banter and updates

Rugby Recap and Preview 

Some more banter!

Episode 115 - The Logarithmic Algorithim

Is it a logarithim, is it an algorithim? Tune in to find out, I guess we are mathematicians now. 

Topics covered this week include: 

Fab Four of rugby social foods 
Rugby Recap and Preview 
Some light Midwest power rankings discussion 

Episode 114 - The Professional Era

Contrary to some of the rumours you my have heard, the boys are most definitely back again for another season. 

Topics covered this week include: 

Men's mental health
Fab Four of World Rugby (Definitely NOT Mount Rushmore)
Rugby Recap and Preview 

Some people say that once a television show resorts to a clip show they have jumped the shark. Well the long awaited followup to our Celebrity Backyard Rugby 15 is finally here. Tune in this week to hear our Celebrity Backyard Rugby 15 back picks .


As always, we appreciate the support, and like, subscribe, and share the pod!

What started off as a cultural misunderstanding between Gator and Mossy turned into a season-long segment where each week we selected Celebrities for our Celebrity Backyard Rugby 15. We even inspired our friends over at the B-Side Bois to create their own celebrity rugby squad.

Instead of making you go back to those episodes we have made a compilation of all of those segments. This week you will have the pleasure of hearing our Celebrity Backyard Rugby 15 forward picks.

As always, we appreciate the support, and like, subscribe, and share the pod!

It only took us 111 episodes, but we have finally made it to the TOP OF THE LEAGUE.
Hear from Gator as he recaps an electric Midwest Championship weekend where he captained the South Pittsburgh Hooligans to their first Midwest Championship.
We also preview the upcoming college men's playoffs, and finally round out our Celebrity XV with our fullbacks.

As always, we appreciate the support, and like, subscribe, and share the pod!

The 2024 Fall Midwest Rugby Union season is coming to an end. Tune in to hear about the Midwest semi-final recaps, our previews of the Midwest Championship matches this weekend in Chicago.
Also, our Celebrity Rugby 15 is almost complete as this week we pick our 2nd wings.

Tune in to Top of the League Episode 109 this week to learn about…

Gator’s Gaze on unfortunate and funny injuries
Celebrity Rugby 15 - Wing
Match Review
Match Preview

As always please share and subscribe on any and all platforms.

Tune in to Top of the League Episode 108 this week to learn about…

Gator’s Gaze on Halloween
Celebrity Rugby 15 - Outside Center
Match Review
Match Preview

As always please share and subscribe on any and all platforms.

The crossover that everyone has been waiting for!

This week we are joined by Mr. Gray of B-Side Bois fame. We speak with Mr. Gray about his beginnings in rugby, why he started an Iowa rugby podcast, and he also helps us out with previewing the west side of the Midwest D3 playoff bracket.

We also continue on with our Celebrity Rugby 15 and make our Inside Center picks, and as always we do some match reviews and previews.

As always please share and subscribe on any and all platforms.

Tune in to Top of the League Episode 106 this week to learn about…

Gator’s Gaze on Listener Q&A
Celebrity Rugby 15 - Fly Half
Match Review
Match Preview

As always please share and subscribe on any and all platforms.

Tune in to Top of the League Episode 105 this week to learn about…

Gator’s Gaze on Rugby Drama and Scandals
Celebrity Rugby 15 - Scrum Half
Match Review
Match Preview

As always please share and subscribe on any and all platforms.

Tune in to Top of the League Episode 104 this week to learn about…

Gator’s Gaze on injuries
Celebrity Rugby 15 - 8 Man
Match Review
Match Preview

As always please share and subscribe on any and all platforms.

Tune in to Top of the League Episode 103 this week to learn about…

Gator’s Gaze on Gen Z
Celebrity Rugby 15 - Flankers
Match Review
Match Preview

As always please share and subscribe on any and all platforms.

Tune in to Top of the League Episode 102 this week to learn about…

Gator’s Gaze on Government
Celebrity Rugby 15 - 2nd Row
Match Review
Match Preview

As always please share and subscribe on any and all platforms.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions of Gator do not directly reflect the ideals of Top of the League Podcast. Listen at your own risk.

Tune in this week to learn about…

Gator’s Gaze on 1984
Celebrity Rugby 15 - Tighthead Prop
Match Review and Preview

As always please share and subscribe on any and all platforms.

Tune in to our one hundredth episode which inlcudes things like...
Gator's Gaze on Music
Celebrity Rugby 15 - Hooker edition
Match Review and Preview

As always please share and subscribe on any and all platforms.

After a summer of rumors that Top Of The League is going away, we are happy to say that the boys are back and are up to the same old shenanigans.
We catch up on what we have been up to this summer, as well as pose an interesting question to the listeners.
With the recent announcement of the Backyard Sports revival, we discussed who would be the best Backyard Rugby players. And then we have started to build our own celebrity rugby 15. Feel free to chime in on which celebrity you think would make the best loosehead prop and hooker.

After a brief hiatus from the podcast, we welcome the return of Gator back to the pod. A pretty light episode with some classic banter between the boys. Producer Kress was at the “Gun Dog” Dan’s Ruck ALS 7’s tournament hosted by the Presque Isle Scallywags in Erie, PA last weekend and gave a general recap. The Midwest has announced the schedule for the 2024 fall season, and while we did not make any way too early predictions, we look forward to speculating about the upcoming season.

Stay tuned in as we are closely approaching EPISODE ONE HUNDRED, and have some exciting things in store.

As always, we appreciate the support, and like, subscribe, and share the pod!

On this episode of Top of the League, the tables were turned as in an unlikely turn of events Gator was missing and it was just Mossy and Producer Kress. The boys engaged in a wide-ranging conversation about Producer Kress’ rugby journey. They also discussed last weekend's Midwest Thunderbird Cup where Producer Kress represented the region with the Allegheny Rugby Union men's select side.

As always we hope you enjoy, and stay tuned for some big things we have in store, especially our upcoming episode 100!

“3 cheers for the Mother F#cking Rock” today the lads are joined by Chase Nething and Zach Herrington from Slippery Rock who celebrated winning the Small College 7's National Championship this past weekend. Tune in to find out what motivates these national champions, where they go next and was it really apple juice in the cup???

On this episode of Top of the League, we speak to former Akron players Casey Koza and Will Walmsey. In their rugby retirement these two have become "trail ultrarunners". We talk a bit about running, as well as Will's brother Jim who is a professional ultramarathoner. Then we get into a bit of rugby talk as our guests reminisce on the glory days.
Check out Casey's podcast "The Hobby Jogger" which can be found on all platforms.

The boys are back from Nashville, but yet again, our Irish co-host Mossy is missing. We do a little recap of the trip to Nashbash and cover some rugby news.

We are headed to Nashville this weekend for the 40th edition of Nashbash. A light week of news and our Irish host was missing, but we were joined by Mr. Manager Bear from Husky Bois Incorporated RFC to talk all things Husky Bois and this upcoming trip to Nashville.

If you will be at Nashbash this weekend, slide into our DMs and maybe you'll get on the pod!

Spring has spring and that means rugby and of course Top Of The League. To kick off the new season the boys are joined by Nathan Mosey. Big Nate talks with the boys about Sobriety, his fitness journey and rugby in his life. Follow @moseyandson0826 on Instagram

After an exciting weekend of Midwest Championships we review the outcomes of those games.
With the Midwest club season behind us, we look at an exciting weekend of college rugby where this weekend will see teams in National Collegiate Rugby in the Sweet 16 and hopefully the quarterfinals.
We are joined by long time listener, Dom Gralia of Slippery Rock Rugby as he is currently in St. Louis with a Sweet 16 rematch against St. Johns on the docket.

Well after a long fall, it all comes down to this weekend at the Midwest’s cornerstone event, the Midwest Championships.

We look at the results from the semi-final round and preview the matchups for this weekend’s final matchups. Good luck to all teams involved especially the Pittsburgh Forge women who we have been covering extensively.

Also we look at the Allegheny Rugby Union championship results, as IUP and Slippery Rock now move on and have their eyes set on the NCR Quarterfinals.

The regular season has wrapped up across the Midwest. The podcast boys faced a humbling defeat last week in the D3 quarterfinals, but we’re back in the studio, albeit a few days later than our usual posting.

All divisions of the Midwest Rugby Football Union are now into the semifinal round and we are previewing those games and making our predictions for who will make the Midwest Championships.

On the college side of things, it is an exciting weekend for the Allegheny Rugby Union men’s college teams as the ARU championships are on Saturday November 4th.

Oh, we almost forgot to mention that Mossy is back in the studio after his podcast sabbatical and the banter is definitely back!

Playoffs are continuing to heat up! Most Midwest divisions are wrapped up with a few final matches to determine playoff seeding in the Midwest Premiership and Men's D2.

We also preview the quarterfinal round for Mens D3, Mens D4 and Womens D2

Playoff season is here! Tune in this week as we cover one of the most exciting weekends of rugby with those intense Rugby World Cup Quarterfinal matches.

We check in on the other divisions as they are wrapping up their regular season and hoping to make the playoffs.

Most importantly, we preview the Midwest D3 playoff round of 16, and Mossy, Gator, and producer Kress all make their predictions for the first round.

If you would like to make your own predictions, hit up our Linktree and complete the D3 Round of 16 Prediction form!

We had to phone in a friend who seems to be missing from the studio all too often...

More Midwest rugby scores and standings. Gator is still learning about international rugby with the World Cup.
Next week should be a doozy with D3 playoffs starting up!

Welp, we had to do it this week. Mossy was missing YET AGAIN, so we had Midwest referee Patrick Feitt filling in as a guest host this week.
We check in on the world cup and the results in the Midwest and local college scene this past weekend.
Things are starting to heat up in the league as we are looking towards playoffs starting up in a few weeks.

Episode 84 - The One With The Cold Open

This week we learned about some other rugby podcasts in the Midwest. Shoutout to the B-Side Bois in Iowa, and The Podcastaways in Columbus. Show them some love and check em out!

Being 5 weeks into the Midwest fall competition, there was a lot to recap and some more to look ahead to.

Touched base on some of the college competition, and we are looking forward to some of these exciting matchups coming up!

Thank you to everyone for your support. Please like, follow, rate, and share the pod with anyone and everyone!

How often do YOU think about the Roman Empire? It's been the hottest question on the internet in the past week or so. Anyways, your favorite fake news rugby podcast is back again with another week of Midwest rugby recaps and previews. Unfortunately not much World Cup chat because Gator forgot to watch the matches last weekend, oh and Mossy is missing again. I guess our DMs are open for applications.

Guess who's back? Everyone's favorite Irish amateur rugby pundit, Mossy!
With the whole gang back together, we discuss the 3rd week of competition in the Midwest Rugby Union, as well as talk about the opening weekend of the Rugby World Cup.

For a second week in a row, Gator and producer Kress were on their own to recap and review games in the eastern conferences of Midwest rugby, as well as the greater Pittsburgh college rugby scene.

Where is the beloved Mossy? Did he get fired from the pod? Is he on a sabbatical? Maybe he's lost at sea? Tune in and listen to find out.

Our dear host Mossy unfortunately couldn't make it this week, but fear not! Producer Kress and Gator recap the Week 1 matches and preview some matchups for a light week 2!