Rugby union in Australia
Encyclopedia
Rugby union
is the third most popular winter sport in Australia
, with its history dating back to 1864.
The principal competition in Australian rugby union is Super Rugby, which is a multi-regional competition across the southern hemisphere. With the competition expanding from 14 teams to 15 for 2011, Australia entered five regional franchises—the Reds
of Queensland
, the Waratahs
of New South Wales
, the Brumbies of the Australian Capital Territory
, the Force
of Western Australia
and the competition's newest team, the Melbourne Rebels
of Victoria
. The Australian Rugby Championship
was introduced as the next level below the Super 14 in 2007, before its demise the same year due to lack of interest. Traditional capital city competitions, such as the Shute Shield
of Sydney and the Queensland Premier Rugby
of Brisbane are currently the highest level of domestic competition.
The national team are the Wallabies
, who have won the Rugby World Cup
twice, in 1991
and in 1999
. The Wallabies play in Australia's traditional sporting colours of green and gold. They are considered one of the top rugby nations in the world, due to their success at the World Cup, and consistently high world ranking.
, a Sydney competition was established, which was administered from the England Rugby
headquarters at Twickenham
. The first competition commenced the following year in 1865 with 6 teams.
The earliest record of rugby games being played in Queensland was in 1876.
The 'Waratah' Rugby Club invited Australian rules football
club, the Carlton Football Club
to play two matches, one under rugby rules and one under Australian rules. On Saturday 23 June, 3,000 spectators watched Waratah beat Carlton at rugby at the Albert Cricket Ground
in Redfern
. In the return leg, Carlton defeated Waratah under Australian rules. A week later over 100 footballers formed the New South Wales Football Association (NSWFA) to play the Australian game. With its origins, image and administration anchored in England, supporters of rugby saw the code as a symbol and reminder of their Englishness.
The first inter-colonial
game occurred in 1882, when players from the four Queensland clubs (who played both rugby and Australian rules football) travelled to NSW
. NSW won by 28 points to 4 at the Sydney Cricket Ground
in front of 4,000 spectators.
On 2 November, in 1883, the Northern Rugby Union is formed as the rugby body in Queensland after a meeting at the Exchange Hotel. As a result of the formation of the new body, several prominent GPS schools took up rugby as opposed to Melbourne Rules
. That same year, the Southern Rugby Union undertakes its inaugural tour of New Zealand
, the following year, a New Zealand party comes to Australia and the first club competition is held in Queensland. In 1888 the Melbourne Rugby Union is formed in Victoria
. In 1892, the rugby bodies in Australia drop Southern and Northern from their titles, adopting New South Wales and Queensland respectively. That year the first British and Irish Lions
tour was carried out, although unsanctioned by official bodies in Europe, the 21-man squad went to both Australia and New Zealand.
In 1899, the national team of Australia
played their first match. The Hospital's Cup becomes an annual competition in Queensland. In 1903, Australia played its first test against the All Blacks
, in front of a crowd of 30,000 at the Sydney Cricket Ground
. In 1907, Australia again played the All Blacks, at the same venue as the 1903 match, with crowd numbers reaching 50,000. This figure would not be surpassed again by rugby union at the ground after the start of rugby league
in 1908 (the SFS commenced as the Sydney rectangular venue for rugby league and union in 1988).
By the time of the 1910 British Lions rugby league tour, rugby league was well entrenched as the major winter sport in all of Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, surpassing rugby union. This was a position from which rugby union would never recover in Australia.
An event that was to greatly shape rugby union's future in Australia was the onset of World War I
in 1914. While rugby league
, which had been introduced to Australia in 1908, continued to play in the form of NSWRL
competitions, rugby union competitions were suspended due to an overwhelmingly high percentage of rugby union players enlisting to serve in the Australian Imperial Force
.
The enlistment of rugby union players was so quick and extensive, that by 1915, a Sydney newspaper reported: "According to figures prepared by Mr W. W. Hill, secretary of the New South Wales Rugby Union
, 197 out of 220 regular first grade players are on active service, or 90 percent."
Weakened by the loss of its players to the war effort, the Queensland Rugby Union
was dissolved in 1919. In the aftermath of the war, a large number of national representatives would defect to rugby league, giving rugby league a strong position in the states of New South Wales and Queensland, which it continues to maintain to this day.
In 1928 the QRU
reformed, and the GPS
and major clubs returned to rugby union. In 1931, the governor of New Zealand donated a sporting trophy called the Bledisloe Cup
, named appropriately after Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe
, for competition between Australia and New Zealand. The first game was held that year at Eden Park
, though the official start of the competition is disputed between that game and the 1932 New Zealand tour to Australia.
The late 1940s saw the construction of a national governing body, as opposed to the NSWRU
being the main organisation. In 1949, the Australian Rugby Union
joined the International Rugby Board
. In 1987, the first ever Rugby World Cup
was held in both Australia and New Zealand, as a result of both the respective rugby bodies putting forth the idea to the IRB
. Australia was defeated by France
in the semifinal stage.
With rugby union becoming an openly professional sport in 1995, after more than a century of a stricly-enforced amateur code, major changes were seen in both the club and international game. The Super 12
rugby competition was born that year. The tournament involved 12 provincinal sides from three counties; New Zealand, South Africa and Australia. Australia entered three sides into the competition; ACT Brumbies, Queensland Reds
and the New South Wales Waratahs
. The year also saw the Tri Nations Series, between the three Super 12 countries.
In 1999, the Bledisloe Cup match between Australia and the New Zealand All Blacks was staged at the Homebush Olympic Stadium, now known as ANZ Stadium. The game attracted a then world record crowd of 107,042 for a rugby union match. In 2000 this was bettered when a crowd of 109,874 witnessed the 'Greatest ever Rugby Match' when a Jonah Lomu
try sealed a 39–35 All Blacks win over the Wallabies. The All Blacks had led 24-nil after 11 minutes only to see Australia draw level at 24 all by half time.
The Wallabies were champions of the 1999 Rugby World Cup
in Wales
, claiming their second Webb Ellis Cup trophy. In doing this, Australia became the first multiple winners of the tournament.
The year 2003 saw the staging of the Rugby World Cup in Australia. Prior to the tournament, three high profile Kangaroo
rugby league players switched codes; Wendell Sailor
, Mat Rogers
and Lote Tuqiri. The fifth Rugby World Cup
was held in various Australian cities from October to November in 2003. Matches were played all across the country, in Sydney
, Brisbane
, Melbourne
, Canberra
, Adelaide
, Perth
, Townsville, Gosford, Wollongong and Launceston
. The tournament was hailed as a huge success, an estimated 40,000 international spectators travelled to Australia for the event, some estimations said that a $100 million may have been injected into the Australian economy. The Australian Rugby Union said that revenues exceeded all expectations, the tournament surplus was estimated to be at $
44.5 million. The hosting of the World Cup in Australia also saw an increase in Super 12 crowds and junior participation. In 2005, to celebrate a decade of professional rugby union in Australia, the Wallaby Team of the Decade
was announced.
Rugby union
in Australia is governed by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) which is a member of the International Rugby Board
(IRB). There are constituent state and territory unions with the New South Wales Rugby Union
and Queensland Rugby Union
traditionally being the dominant members, reflecting the games higher status in these states. However, every state and territory in Australia is represented by their respective union, and in recent years, the ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union
has elevated itself to competitive equality with NSW and Queensland—though not in governance, as NSW and Queensland have more representatives on the ARU board than the other state and territorial unions. The ARU was formed in 1949 and before this time the NSWRU was responsible for international fixtures for Australian teams.
In NSW, major support comes from the private schools who still maintain Union over league. In Sydney there are three major private school associations contributing the most support. These are the GPS, CAS
and ISA, the major of these being the GPS which includes St Ignatius' College, Riverview
and St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill whose game against each other is broadcast on the ABC
every year.
It is these private schools that continue the participation of rugby union, but lead to the sport being seen as an elitist sport and a game made for upper class Australians.
on an annual basis. The biggest crowd for a Bledisloe match was 109,874 in Sydney. The Wallabies play in the Southern Hemisphere's principal international competition. From 1996 through 2011, this was the Tri Nations, also involving the All Blacks and the Springboks
from South Africa. Beginning in 2012, the tournament will be rechristened The Rugby Championship and will also feature the Pumas
of Argentina.
Other rivalries that Australia once held such as games against England, Wales and France are now considered less relevant, aggravated by under-strength northern hemisphere teams touring Australia during Rugby World Cup years. This practice of sending grossly under strength national sides on tour during the lead up to a Rugby World Cup was addressed by the IRB during the 2007 Rugby World Cup following formal complaints from the three major Unions from the southern hemisphere including the ARU.
, Rugby World Cup Sevens
and the Commonwealth Games
. They have won the Hong Kong Sevens
event on five occasions.
The country has hosted one leg of the IRB Sevens World Series in each season since 2006–07. From 2007 through 2011, the Adelaide Sevens
was held in that city
in March or April. Starting with the 2011–12 season
, the Australian leg moved to the Gold Coast
and was renamed the Gold Coast Sevens
. In addition, the event moved to November, becoming the first tournament of each season.
s.
, New Zealand
and South Africa
. As of the 2011 season, Australia has five sides in the now 15-team competition: the previously existing Queensland Reds
, New South Wales Waratahs
, Brumbies (playing out of Canberra
) and Western Force
and the expansion Melbourne Rebels
. Prior to the creation of professional Super Rugby in 1996, there were a number of other Oceania-African competitions that featured representative teams from both Queensland and New South Wales, such as the Super 10 competition, which Queensland actually won twice. Before that there was the Super Sixes competition. State teams have been playing each other since the late 1800s, when Queensland took on New South Wales in Sydney. The Brumbies have won the competition twice and the Reds once, and the Waratahs have made the finals. The Australian Provincial Championship
(APC) was also played in 2006, featuring the Australian Super 14 teams.
(ARC) was introduced. It included three teams in NSW, two in QLD and teams in Canberra, Melbourne and Perth. The aim of the eight team comp was to bridge the gap between Super 14 and club rugby. The competition was scheduled to run from August finishing in October with the final.
The Australian Rugby Union decided to scrap the competition for the 2008 season due to the union suffering a A$4.7 million loss.
, the highest level in New South Wales along with also running the NSW Country Championships played by regional representative teams from country areas in NSW. Similarly the QRU runs the Queensland Premier Rugby
competition, which is the top Brisbane club competition, as well as the Queensland Country Championships
for representative teams in the major regions of greater Queensland. All other states also run their own club competitions of varying strength but NSW and Queensland competitions are generally regarded as the major domestic competitions below Super Rugby.
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
is the third most popular winter sport 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...
, with its history dating back to 1864.
The principal competition in Australian rugby union is Super Rugby, which is a multi-regional competition across the southern hemisphere. With the competition expanding from 14 teams to 15 for 2011, Australia entered five regional franchises—the Reds
Queensland Reds
The Queensland Reds represent Queensland in the sport of rugby union in the Southern Hemisphere Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996 they were a representative team selected on merit from the rugby union club competitions in Queensland...
of Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, the Waratahs
New South Wales Waratahs
The New South Wales Waratahs are an Australian rugby union football team, representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super 15 Super Rugby competition...
of 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...
, the Brumbies of the Australian Capital Territory
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...
, the Force
Western Force
Western Force is a rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia playing in the international Super Rugby competition. They first competed in the 2006 season and finished with the wooden spoon in that year, however their performances greatly improved in 2007. In 2008 they finished in 8th...
of Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
and the competition's newest team, the Melbourne Rebels
Melbourne Rebels
The Melbourne Rebels are a professional rugby union team based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They are the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia...
of Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
. The Australian Rugby Championship
Australian Rugby Championship
The Australian Rugby Championship, often abbreviated to the ARC , was a domestic Rugby union football club competition in Australia which ran for only one season in August–October 2007...
was introduced as the next level below the Super 14 in 2007, before its demise the same year due to lack of interest. Traditional capital city competitions, such as the Shute Shield
Shute Shield
The Shute Shield is a rugby union competition in Sydney, New South Wales. It is the premier grade rugby trophy in NSW rugby. The Shute Shield is awarded at the end of the Sydney Club Rugby season to the team that wins the Grand Final...
of Sydney and the Queensland Premier Rugby
Queensland Premier Rugby
Queensland Premier Rugby is a club rugby union competition in Queensland, Australia. Ten clubs compete in the competition, eight of which are from Brisbane, with a club each from the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast also competing. The competition has been contested in its present form since 1929...
of Brisbane are currently the highest level of domestic competition.
The national team are the Wallabies
Australia national rugby union team
The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...
, who have won the Rugby World Cup
Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup is an international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board and held every four years since 1987....
twice, in 1991
1991 Rugby World Cup
The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France; at that time, the five European countries that participated in the Five Nations Championship making it the first Rugby World Cup to be staged in the...
and in 1999
1999 Rugby World Cup
The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, and the first to be held in rugby union's professional era. The principal host nation was Wales, although the majority of matches were played outside the country, shared between England, France, Scotland and Ireland...
. The Wallabies play in Australia's traditional sporting colours of green and gold. They are considered one of the top rugby nations in the world, due to their success at the World Cup, and consistently high world ranking.
History
The first rugby union club that was established in Australia was at Sydney University in 1864. A decade after the first club was formed, a body called the Southern Rugby Union was formed as a result of a meeting at the Oxford Hotel in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, a Sydney competition was established, which was administered from the England Rugby
Rugby Football Union
The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...
headquarters at Twickenham
Twickenham Stadium
Twickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...
. The first competition commenced the following year in 1865 with 6 teams.
The earliest record of rugby games being played in Queensland was in 1876.
The 'Waratah' Rugby Club invited Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
club, the Carlton Football Club
Carlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
to play two matches, one under rugby rules and one under Australian rules. On Saturday 23 June, 3,000 spectators watched Waratah beat Carlton at rugby at the Albert Cricket Ground
Albert Ground, Sydney
The Albert Ground was a cricket ground located in the Sydney suburb of Redfern between 1864 and 1877.-History:Cricket had been played in NSW since 1803, first in Hyde Park and then in the Domain. Neither were satisfactory facilities mainly because they were open grounds on which spectators walked...
in Redfern
Redfern, New South Wales
Redfern is an inner-city suburb of Sydney. Redfern is 3 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney...
. In the return leg, Carlton defeated Waratah under Australian rules. A week later over 100 footballers formed the New South Wales Football Association (NSWFA) to play the Australian game. With its origins, image and administration anchored in England, supporters of rugby saw the code as a symbol and reminder of their Englishness.
The first inter-colonial
Self-governing colony
A self-governing colony is a colony with an elected legislature, in which politicians are able to make most decisions without reference to the colonial power with formal or nominal control of the colony...
game occurred in 1882, when players from the four Queensland clubs (who played both rugby and Australian rules football) travelled to NSW
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...
. NSW won by 28 points to 4 at the Sydney Cricket Ground
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...
in front of 4,000 spectators.
On 2 November, in 1883, the Northern Rugby Union is formed as the rugby body in Queensland after a meeting at the Exchange Hotel. As a result of the formation of the new body, several prominent GPS schools took up rugby as opposed to Melbourne Rules
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
. That same year, the Southern Rugby Union undertakes its inaugural tour of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, the following year, a New Zealand party comes to Australia and the first club competition is held in Queensland. In 1888 the Melbourne Rugby Union is formed in Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
. In 1892, the rugby bodies in Australia drop Southern and Northern from their titles, adopting New South Wales and Queensland respectively. That year the first British and Irish Lions
British and Irish Lions
The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...
tour was carried out, although unsanctioned by official bodies in Europe, the 21-man squad went to both Australia and New Zealand.
In 1899, the national team of Australia
Australia national rugby union team
The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...
played their first match. The Hospital's Cup becomes an annual competition in Queensland. In 1903, Australia played its first test against the All Blacks
All Blacks
The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....
, in front of a crowd of 30,000 at the Sydney Cricket Ground
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...
. In 1907, Australia again played the All Blacks, at the same venue as the 1903 match, with crowd numbers reaching 50,000. This figure would not be surpassed again by rugby union at the ground after the start of rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
in 1908 (the SFS commenced as the Sydney rectangular venue for rugby league and union in 1988).
By the time of the 1910 British Lions rugby league tour, rugby league was well entrenched as the major winter sport in all of Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, surpassing rugby union. This was a position from which rugby union would never recover in Australia.
An event that was to greatly shape rugby union's future in Australia was the onset of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in 1914. While rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
, which had been introduced to Australia in 1908, continued to play in the form of NSWRL
New South Wales Rugby League
The New South Wales Rugby League is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and is a member of the Australian Rugby League. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was known as the New South Wales Rugby Football League until 1984 when forward thinking marketing managers decided...
competitions, rugby union competitions were suspended due to an overwhelmingly high percentage of rugby union players enlisting to serve in the Australian Imperial Force
First Australian Imperial Force
The First Australian Imperial Force was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during World War I. It was formed from 15 August 1914, following Britain's declaration of war on Germany. Generally known at the time as the AIF, it is today referred to as the 1st AIF to distinguish from...
.
The enlistment of rugby union players was so quick and extensive, that by 1915, a Sydney newspaper reported: "According to figures prepared by Mr W. W. Hill, secretary of the New South Wales Rugby Union
New South Wales Rugby Union
The New South Wales Rugby Union is the organisation responsible for the sport of rugby union in most of the state of New South Wales, Australia...
, 197 out of 220 regular first grade players are on active service, or 90 percent."
Weakened by the loss of its players to the war effort, the Queensland Rugby Union
Queensland Rugby Union
The Queensland Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in Queensland. It is a member and founding union of the Australian Rugby Union.-See also:*Queensland Reds*Australian Rugby Union*The Wallabies*Rugby union in Queensland...
was dissolved in 1919. In the aftermath of the war, a large number of national representatives would defect to rugby league, giving rugby league a strong position in the states of New South Wales and Queensland, which it continues to maintain to this day.
In 1928 the QRU
Queensland Rugby Union
The Queensland Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in Queensland. It is a member and founding union of the Australian Rugby Union.-See also:*Queensland Reds*Australian Rugby Union*The Wallabies*Rugby union in Queensland...
reformed, and the GPS
Queensland Great Public Schools
The Great Public Schools Association of Queensland Inc. is an association of nine south east Queensland secondary schools established in 1918. With the exception of Brisbane State High School, GPS schools are all-boys schools. GPS competition is open to male competition only...
and major clubs returned to rugby union. In 1931, the governor of New Zealand donated a sporting trophy called the Bledisloe Cup
Bledisloe Cup
Rugby Union's Bledisloe Cup is contested by the Australia national rugby union team and New Zealand national rugby union team. It is named after Lord Bledisloe, the former Governor-General of New Zealand who donated the trophy in 1931. The trophy was designed in New Zealand by Nelson Isaac, and...
, named appropriately after Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe
Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe
-External links:*...
, for competition between Australia and New Zealand. The first game was held that year at Eden Park
Eden Park
Eden Park is the biggest stadium in Auckland, New Zealand. It is used primarily for rugby union in winter and cricket in summer . The ground also occasionally hostts rugby league matches. To accommodate all three sports, the cricket pitch is removable...
, though the official start of the competition is disputed between that game and the 1932 New Zealand tour to Australia.
The late 1940s saw the construction of a national governing body, as opposed to the NSWRU
New South Wales Rugby Union
The New South Wales Rugby Union is the organisation responsible for the sport of rugby union in most of the state of New South Wales, Australia...
being the main organisation. In 1949, the Australian Rugby Union
Australian Rugby Union
The Australian Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Australia. It was founded in 1949 and is a member of the International Rugby Board the sport's governing body. It consists of eight member unions, representing each state and territory...
joined the International Rugby Board
International Rugby Board
The International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...
. In 1987, the first ever Rugby World Cup
1987 Rugby World Cup
The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. New Zealand and Australia agreed to co-host the first ever tournament with New Zealand hosting seventeen pool stage matches, two quarter-finals and the final with Australia being the junior partner hosting seven pool matches, two...
was held in both Australia and New Zealand, as a result of both the respective rugby bodies putting forth the idea to the IRB
International Rugby Board
The International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...
. Australia was defeated by France
France national rugby union team
The France national rugby union team represents France in rugby union. They compete annually against England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales in the Six Nations Championship. They have won the championship outright sixteen times, shared it a further eight times, and have completed nine grand slams...
in the semifinal stage.
With rugby union becoming an openly professional sport in 1995, after more than a century of a stricly-enforced amateur code, major changes were seen in both the club and international game. The Super 12
Super 14
Super Rugby is the largest and pre-eminent professional Rugby union competition in the Southern Hemisphere...
rugby competition was born that year. The tournament involved 12 provincinal sides from three counties; New Zealand, South Africa and Australia. Australia entered three sides into the competition; ACT Brumbies, Queensland Reds
Queensland Reds
The Queensland Reds represent Queensland in the sport of rugby union in the Southern Hemisphere Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996 they were a representative team selected on merit from the rugby union club competitions in Queensland...
and the New South Wales Waratahs
New South Wales Waratahs
The New South Wales Waratahs are an Australian rugby union football team, representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super 15 Super Rugby competition...
. The year also saw the Tri Nations Series, between the three Super 12 countries.
In 1999, the Bledisloe Cup match between Australia and the New Zealand All Blacks was staged at the Homebush Olympic Stadium, now known as ANZ Stadium. The game attracted a then world record crowd of 107,042 for a rugby union match. In 2000 this was bettered when a crowd of 109,874 witnessed the 'Greatest ever Rugby Match' when a Jonah Lomu
Jonah Lomu
Jonah Tali Lomu, MNZM is a New Zealand rugby union player. He had sixty-three caps as an All Black after debuting in 1994. He is generally regarded as the first true global superstar of rugby union. He has had a huge impact on the game...
try sealed a 39–35 All Blacks win over the Wallabies. The All Blacks had led 24-nil after 11 minutes only to see Australia draw level at 24 all by half time.
The Wallabies were champions of the 1999 Rugby World Cup
1999 Rugby World Cup
The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, and the first to be held in rugby union's professional era. The principal host nation was Wales, although the majority of matches were played outside the country, shared between England, France, Scotland and Ireland...
in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, claiming their second Webb Ellis Cup trophy. In doing this, Australia became the first multiple winners of the tournament.
The year 2003 saw the staging of the Rugby World Cup in Australia. Prior to the tournament, three high profile Kangaroo
Australian national rugby league team
The Australian national rugby league team have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of the game in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League, the Kangaroos' are ranked number one in the RLIF World Rankings...
rugby league players switched codes; Wendell Sailor
Wendell Sailor
Wendell Jermaine Sailor is an Australian former professional rugby football player who represented his country in both rugby league and rugby union – a dual code international. He is an Australian Torres Strait Islander.Sailor's large frame and bullocking style changed the way wingers played rugby...
, Mat Rogers
Mat Rogers
Matthew S. "Mat" Rogers is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. He also played rugby union at the highest levels, becoming a dual-code international. The son of the late Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks legend and CEO Steve Rogers, Mat played for the Sharks...
and Lote Tuqiri. The fifth Rugby World Cup
2003 Rugby World Cup
The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and Rugby World...
was held in various Australian cities from October to November in 2003. Matches were played all across the country, in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Townsville, Gosford, Wollongong and Launceston
Launceston, Tasmania
Launceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...
. The tournament was hailed as a huge success, an estimated 40,000 international spectators travelled to Australia for the event, some estimations said that a $100 million may have been injected into the Australian economy. The Australian Rugby Union said that revenues exceeded all expectations, the tournament surplus was estimated to be at $
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
44.5 million. The hosting of the World Cup in Australia also saw an increase in Super 12 crowds and junior participation. In 2005, to celebrate a decade of professional rugby union in Australia, the Wallaby Team of the Decade
Wallaby Team of the Decade
To celebrate 10 years of professional rugby union, Australian Rugby celebrated the occasion with the announcement in 2005 of the Wallaby Team of the Decade...
was announced.
Organisation
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
in Australia is governed by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) which is a member of the International Rugby Board
International Rugby Board
The International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...
(IRB). There are constituent state and territory unions with the New South Wales Rugby Union
New South Wales Rugby Union
The New South Wales Rugby Union is the organisation responsible for the sport of rugby union in most of the state of New South Wales, Australia...
and Queensland Rugby Union
Queensland Rugby Union
The Queensland Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in Queensland. It is a member and founding union of the Australian Rugby Union.-See also:*Queensland Reds*Australian Rugby Union*The Wallabies*Rugby union in Queensland...
traditionally being the dominant members, reflecting the games higher status in these states. However, every state and territory in Australia is represented by their respective union, and in recent years, the ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union
ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union
The ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in the Australian Capital Territory and southern regions of New South Wales. The union is represented by one team in the Super 14 competition, the Brumbies...
has elevated itself to competitive equality with NSW and Queensland—though not in governance, as NSW and Queensland have more representatives on the ARU board than the other state and territorial unions. The ARU was formed in 1949 and before this time the NSWRU was responsible for international fixtures for Australian teams.
Rugby Union Players Association
Past and present professional Australian rugby players are represented by the Rugby Union Players Association.Participation
In 2009, IRB figures show there are just over 38,000 registered adult rugby union players in Australia, of which the states of New South Wales and Queensland account for 82.3% of all senior players. The highest participation rate is 0.8% in the Australian Capital Territory.In NSW, major support comes from the private schools who still maintain Union over league. In Sydney there are three major private school associations contributing the most support. These are the GPS, CAS
Combined Associated Schools
The Associated Schools of NSW Inc, most commonly referred to as the Combined Associated Schools , is a group of six independent schools located in Sydney, Australia which share common interests, ethics, educational philosophy and contest sporting events between themselves...
and ISA, the major of these being the GPS which includes St Ignatius' College, Riverview
St Ignatius' College, Riverview
Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview is a Roman Catholic, day and boarding school for boys, located in Riverview, a small suburb situated on the Lane Cove River on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
and St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill whose game against each other is broadcast on the ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
every year.
It is these private schools that continue the participation of rugby union, but lead to the sport being seen as an elitist sport and a game made for upper class Australians.
Wallabies
The Wallabies are Australia's national rugby union team. Australia has won the World Cup on two occasions, in 1991 against England at Twickenham, and then again in 1999 in Wales against France. The team plays in green and gold, which have traditionally been Australia's sporting colours. Australia has been playing internationals since 1899, when they played the visiting British Isles team on 24 June. They won their first outing, defeating the British team 13 to 3. The rivalry with the New Zealand All Blacks is considered the marquee rivalry for the game of Rugby Union in Australia and the teams contest the Bledisloe CupBledisloe Cup
Rugby Union's Bledisloe Cup is contested by the Australia national rugby union team and New Zealand national rugby union team. It is named after Lord Bledisloe, the former Governor-General of New Zealand who donated the trophy in 1931. The trophy was designed in New Zealand by Nelson Isaac, and...
on an annual basis. The biggest crowd for a Bledisloe match was 109,874 in Sydney. The Wallabies play in the Southern Hemisphere's principal international competition. From 1996 through 2011, this was the Tri Nations, also involving the All Blacks and the Springboks
South Africa national rugby union team
The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...
from South Africa. Beginning in 2012, the tournament will be rechristened The Rugby Championship and will also feature the Pumas
Argentina national rugby union team
The Argentina national rugby team, nicknamed Los Pumas, represents Argentina in international rugby union matches. The team, which plays in sky blue and white jerseys, is organised by the Argentine Rugby Union .Argentina played its first international rugby match in 1910 against a touring British...
of Argentina.
Other rivalries that Australia once held such as games against England, Wales and France are now considered less relevant, aggravated by under-strength northern hemisphere teams touring Australia during Rugby World Cup years. This practice of sending grossly under strength national sides on tour during the lead up to a Rugby World Cup was addressed by the IRB during the 2007 Rugby World Cup following formal complaints from the three major Unions from the southern hemisphere including the ARU.
Sevens
Australia also has a successful sevens team which competes in the IRB Sevens World SeriesIRB Sevens World Series
The IRB Sevens World Series, known officially as the HSBC Sevens World Series as of the 2010-11 season, through sponsorship from banking group HSBC, and also sometimes called the World Sevens Series, is a series of international rugby union sevens tournaments organised for the first time in the...
, Rugby World Cup Sevens
Rugby World Cup Sevens
The Rugby World Cup Sevens is the premier international Rugby sevens competition. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Rugby Board , and is contested by the men's national sevens teams every four years. The inaugural tournament was held in 1993 in Scotland, the...
and the Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....
. They have won the Hong Kong Sevens
Hong Kong Sevens
The Hong Kong Sevens is considered the premier tournament on the IRB Sevens World Series in rugby sevens—a variant of rugby union....
event on five occasions.
The country has hosted one leg of the IRB Sevens World Series in each season since 2006–07. From 2007 through 2011, the Adelaide Sevens
Adelaide Sevens
The Adelaide Sevens is a rugby union sevens tournament, part of the IRB Sevens World Series. The competition is currently held at the Adelaide Oval, South Australia. The inaugural competition, the 2007 Adelaide Sevens, took place on 7 and 8 April and replaced the Singapore Sevens...
was held in that city
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
in March or April. Starting with the 2011–12 season
2011–12 IRB Sevens World Series
The 2011–12 IRB Sevens World Series, known for sponsorship reasons as the HSBC Sevens World Series, will be the 13th annual series of rugby union sevens tournaments for full national sides run by the International Rugby Board since 1999–2000....
, the Australian leg moved to the Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
and was renamed the Gold Coast Sevens
Gold Coast Sevens
The Gold Coast Sevens is an annual rugby union sevens tournament held in Gold Coast, Australia. It´s held at the Robina Stadium since 2011 and is part of the IRB Sevens World Series.-Results:-External links:*...
. In addition, the event moved to November, becoming the first tournament of each season.
Australia A
Australia A is a team of players who are being developed as future Wallaby players. They plays matches against touring teams as well as compete in the Pacific Nations Cup.Wallaroos
The women's team, the Wallaroos have been playing international rugby since 1994, and have competed at three Women's Rugby World CupWomen's Rugby World Cup
The Women's Rugby World Cup is the premier international competition in rugby union for women. The tournament is organised by the sport's governing body the International Rugby Board...
s.
Age level representation
Australia also has an under 21 side, an under 20 side, an under 19 side and a schoolboys team.Rugby World Cup
Australia co-hosted the first Rugby World Cup, along with New Zealand in 1987. It acted as host to the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Australia has won twice, in 1991 and 1999.Bledisloe Cup
The Bledisloe Cup was a trophy introduced by the Governor General of New Zealand Lord Bledisloe, in 1947 to honour the rivalry between New Zealand and Australia. The Cup is awarded to the winner of each annual series of test matches played. Matches played at Rugby World Cups do not count towards the competition.Tri Nations Series and The Rugby Championship
The Tri Nations Series was an annual tournament held between Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa from 1996 through 2011. With Argentina's entry into the tournament in 2012, the competition has been renamed The Rugby Championship.End Of Year Tests
The Australian rugby team annually plays a test series against other squads, either at home acting as host nation to visiting teams, or touring overseas.Super Rugby
Super Rugby, previously known as Super 12 and Super 14, is a multi-regional rugby union competition that involves teams from three nations across the southern hemisphere; AustraliaAustralia
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...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. As of the 2011 season, Australia has five sides in the now 15-team competition: the previously existing Queensland Reds
Queensland Reds
The Queensland Reds represent Queensland in the sport of rugby union in the Southern Hemisphere Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996 they were a representative team selected on merit from the rugby union club competitions in Queensland...
, New South Wales Waratahs
New South Wales Waratahs
The New South Wales Waratahs are an Australian rugby union football team, representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super 15 Super Rugby competition...
, Brumbies (playing out of Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
) and Western Force
Western Force
Western Force is a rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia playing in the international Super Rugby competition. They first competed in the 2006 season and finished with the wooden spoon in that year, however their performances greatly improved in 2007. In 2008 they finished in 8th...
and the expansion Melbourne Rebels
Melbourne Rebels
The Melbourne Rebels are a professional rugby union team based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They are the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia...
. Prior to the creation of professional Super Rugby in 1996, there were a number of other Oceania-African competitions that featured representative teams from both Queensland and New South Wales, such as the Super 10 competition, which Queensland actually won twice. Before that there was the Super Sixes competition. State teams have been playing each other since the late 1800s, when Queensland took on New South Wales in Sydney. The Brumbies have won the competition twice and the Reds once, and the Waratahs have made the finals. The Australian Provincial Championship
Australian Provincial Championship
The Australian Provincial Championship, often abbreviated to the APC, is a now defunct Australian national Rugby union tournament that commenced for just one season in 2006...
(APC) was also played in 2006, featuring the Australian Super 14 teams.
Australian Rugby Championship
In 2007 the Australian Rugby ChampionshipAustralian Rugby Championship
The Australian Rugby Championship, often abbreviated to the ARC , was a domestic Rugby union football club competition in Australia which ran for only one season in August–October 2007...
(ARC) was introduced. It included three teams in NSW, two in QLD and teams in Canberra, Melbourne and Perth. The aim of the eight team comp was to bridge the gap between Super 14 and club rugby. The competition was scheduled to run from August finishing in October with the final.
The Australian Rugby Union decided to scrap the competition for the 2008 season due to the union suffering a A$4.7 million loss.
Club
Each major city and many country areas support club rugby competitions in Australia. The club competitions in NSW and Queensland are the oldest and most prestigious. The NSWRU runs the Shute ShieldShute Shield
The Shute Shield is a rugby union competition in Sydney, New South Wales. It is the premier grade rugby trophy in NSW rugby. The Shute Shield is awarded at the end of the Sydney Club Rugby season to the team that wins the Grand Final...
, the highest level in New South Wales along with also running the NSW Country Championships played by regional representative teams from country areas in NSW. Similarly the QRU runs the Queensland Premier Rugby
Queensland Premier Rugby
Queensland Premier Rugby is a club rugby union competition in Queensland, Australia. Ten clubs compete in the competition, eight of which are from Brisbane, with a club each from the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast also competing. The competition has been contested in its present form since 1929...
competition, which is the top Brisbane club competition, as well as the Queensland Country Championships
Queensland Country Championships
The Queensland Country Championships is a representative rugby union competition in Queensland, Australia. Six teams compete in the competition including both the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast who also compete in Queensland Premier Rugby-Teams:...
for representative teams in the major regions of greater Queensland. All other states also run their own club competitions of varying strength but NSW and Queensland competitions are generally regarded as the major domestic competitions below Super Rugby.
Free-to-air
- The Rugby Championship (formerly Tri Nations)
- Cook CupCook CupThe Cook Cup is a rugby union trophy that is contested between Australia and England. Australia won the first ever Cook Cup match against England. The cup was established in 1997 when the Wallabies and England contracted to play each other bi-annually for a decade, playing matches on a home and...
- Lansdowne CupLansdowne CupThe Lansdowne Cup is a rugby union trophy. Established in 1999, the cup was donated to the Australian Rugby Union by the Lansdowne Club of Sydney as a perpetual trophy between Australia and Ireland. Like the Lansdowne Club, the cup is named after Dublin's famous rugby ground and was designed and...
- Rugby World CupRugby World CupThe Rugby World Cup is an international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board and held every four years since 1987....
- Shute ShieldShute ShieldThe Shute Shield is a rugby union competition in Sydney, New South Wales. It is the premier grade rugby trophy in NSW rugby. The Shute Shield is awarded at the end of the Sydney Club Rugby season to the team that wins the Grand Final...
- Queensland Premier RugbyQueensland Premier RugbyQueensland Premier Rugby is a club rugby union competition in Queensland, Australia. Ten clubs compete in the competition, eight of which are from Brisbane, with a club each from the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast also competing. The competition has been contested in its present form since 1929...
- Australian Rugby ChampionshipAustralian Rugby ChampionshipThe Australian Rugby Championship, often abbreviated to the ARC , was a domestic Rugby union football club competition in Australia which ran for only one season in August–October 2007...
Foxtel
- Super Rugby
- ITM Cup
- Currie CupCurrie CupThe Currie Cup tournament is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring , featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces...
- Heineken CupHeineken CupThe Heineken Cup is one of two annual rugby union competitions organised by European Rugby Cup involving leading club, regional and provincial teams from the six International Rugby Board countries in Europe whose national teams compete in the Six Nations Championship: England, France, Ireland,...
- The Rugby Championship (formerly Tri Nations)
- Winter internationals (Southern)
- Summer internationals (Northern)
- IRB Sevens World SeriesIRB Sevens World SeriesThe IRB Sevens World Series, known officially as the HSBC Sevens World Series as of the 2010-11 season, through sponsorship from banking group HSBC, and also sometimes called the World Sevens Series, is a series of international rugby union sevens tournaments organised for the first time in the...
Setanta Sports
- Aviva Premiership
- LV= Cup
- Six Nations ChampionshipSix Nations ChampionshipThe Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....
- RaboDirect Pro12Celtic League (rugby union)The Celtic League is an annual rugby union competition involving professional sides from Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....
External links
- rugby.com.au
- FOX Sports Australia Rugby section
- rugby.net.au - NSW Suburban Rugby Union