Rowing Australia is the governing body

Sport governing body

A sport governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sport governing bodies come in various forms, and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule infractions and deciding on rule changes in the sport...

 for the sport of rowing

Rowing (sport)

Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...

 in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Established in 1925, it is the only organisation recognised by the Federation Internationale des Societies d’Aviron

International Rowing Federation

The Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d'Aviron, or FISA for short, is the International Rowing Federation which is the governing body for international Rowing. Its current president is Denis Oswald...

 (FISA), the Australian Sports Commission

Australian Sports Commission

The Australian Sports Commission is the governing body responsible for distributing funds and providing strategic guidance for sporting activity in Australia. It is an agency of the Government of Australia within the portfolio of Health and Ageing...

 (ASC), and the Australian Olympic Committee

Australian Olympic Committee

The Australian Olympic Committee is the National Olympic Committee in Australia for the Olympic Games movement. It is a non-profit organisation that selects teams, and raises funds to send Australian competitors to Olympic events organised by the International Olympic Committee .-Background:The...

 (AOC), to conduct rowing activities in, and on behalf of Australia.

History

RA was initially established on 1st May 1925 as the Australian Amateur Rowing Council. It was incorporated on the 15th of November 1982, changed its name to Australian Rowing Council Inc in 1984, changed its name to Rowing Australia Inc on 2nd March 1996 and finally became a public company in January 2007 and so became Rowing Australia Ltd.

Prior to 1925, the Interstate Championships and representation at the Olympic Games

Rowing at the Summer Olympics

Rowing at the Summer Olympics has been part of the competition since the 1900 Summer Olympics. Rowing was on the program at the 1896 Summer Olympics but was cancelled due to bad weather. Only men were allowed to compete until the women's events were introduced at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal...

 were managed by the State

States and territories of Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a union of six states and various territories. The Australian mainland is made up of five states and three territories, with the sixth state of Tasmania being made up of islands. In addition there are six island territories, known as external territories, and a...

 Associations. A proposal to form the Australian Amateur Rowing Council failed at the 1909 inter-state conference, in favour of the continuation of the conference system.

Regulations were brought into effect for the conduct of the Intercolonial and Interstate Championships well prior to the formation of RA. Whilst there were many debates over rules from the very first race, the first request for a conference came from New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 in February 1887, in order to discuss the possibility of sending a combined crew from all colonies

Colony

In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....

 to compete in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Members

Rowing Australia and its affiliates represent in excess of 15,000 active members ranging from young rowers at school through to those at universities and in the wider community right through to veterans rowing.

Rowing Australia member associations operate in seven states with over 185 schools and 156 clubs offering rowing programs.

Competition

RA is responsible for selection of representative Australian teams for the Olympic Games, World Championships

World Rowing Championships

The World Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA . It is a week long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non-Olympic years is the highlight of the international rowing calendar.The first event was held in Lucerne, Switzerland in 1962...

, World Under 23 Championships, Trans Tasman teams and Junior World Championships

Junior World Rowing Championships

The World Rowing Junior Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA . A rower or coxswain shall be classified as a Junior until 31st December of the year in which he reaches the age of 18. After that date, he shall be classified as an Under 23 rower...

. Rowing Australia also organises four regatta

Regatta

A regatta is a series of boat races. The term typically describes racing events of rowed or sailed water craft, although some powerboat race series are also called regattas...

s which are conducted in Australia at the national level:

• Australian Rowing Championships
  Australian Rowing Championships
  The Australian Rowing Championships is an annual rowing event that determines Australia's rowing champions and the rowers who will make up Australia's rowing teams at the Olympic Games...
  
  
• Australian Masters Championships
• Youth Cup
• Australian Youth Olympic Festival

External links

• Rowing Australia website