Rugby union in Victoria
Encyclopedia
Rugby union in Victoria describes the sport of rugby union
being played and watched in the state of Victoria in Australia
.
The code was first introduced some time between the 1850s and 1880s but failed to gain popular following and has had a potted history.
Official Australian Bureau of Statistics
report of 2007 on sports participation, Victoria has a very low participation in rugby union (less than 1%). The game is played by a small number of amateur senior clubs and in some private schools in Melbourne.
However, international rugby matches are popular with spectators in Victoria. This is evidenced by the large crowds which attended matches at the 2003 Rugby World Cup
, 2006 Commonwealth Games
and overall television ratings for blockbuster internationals.
Victoria are represented in the professional Super Rugby provincial tournament by the Melbourne Rebels
.
claims that Rugby football
was first played in Victoria in the late 1840s and into the 1850s. However, dissatisfaction with how the game was played led to the Melbourne FC in May 1859 adopting its own revised laws of football which was later to become known as Australian rules football.
Club rugby was formally organized in Victoria when the Melbourne Rugby Union (MRU) formed in 1888. Some of the 1888-1889 New Zealand Native football team
matches were played in Victoria and England also sent a touring team which both switched between rugby and Victorian rules (Australian rules football
).
Victoria first played rugby football against New South Wales in Melbourne in 1894 and sent its first team to play in Sydney in 1895 but after 1889 the game more or less disappeared in the state except for the match played in Melbourne in 1899 against Great Britain.
A Victorian Rugby Union (VRU) was restored in 1908 as arrangements were being made for a Victorian team to play the first Wallabies in Melbourne just prior to their departure for Great Britain. The next year,1909 saw the first presentation of the Dewar Shield, an award for first grade premiership teams still retained. Competition lapsed on commencement of the First World War and was not revived until 1926 when five League clubs decided to convert to Union and form the current VRU. During the following twelve years, up until the Second World War, Victoria played thirty matches against international and interstate teams and produced thirteen Wallabies. Club and representative competition did not resume again until 1946.
Melbourne was selected as a venue for the 2003 Rugby World Cup
including finals. The attendances were significant, with the highlights being 50,647 seeing defeat and 50,647 for versus .
Following the success of the Rugby World Cup
, in 2004, the Victorian Rugby Union made a bid for a Super 14
rugby union franchise. The bid had support from backers including the Victorian Government. However it was rejected by the Australian Rugby Union
for a team in Perth which became the Western Force
.
Melbourne hosted the 2006 Commonwealth Games
, which included a component of Rugby Sevens
, of which all of the matches were sold out. Melbourne holds the current record attendance for Rugby Sevens.
The inaugural Australian Rugby Championship
started August 2007, including eight teams, one of which based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was rumoured that the New South Wales Rugby Union
(NSWRU) gave up a fourth club to enable Victoria to participate in the new national competition. and the Melbourne Rebels
were created and played out of Olympic Park Stadium. Although as a one city team they had one of the larger crowd averages in the competition, they finished their first season with a home crowd average of just 3,305 and folded with losses in the millions. The move was a great setback for the Victorian Rugby Union.
However, on 5 January 2010 it was announced by the Australian Rugby Union that it had handed control of the new Melbourne Super Rugby team to the Melbourne Rebels consortium and that Melbourne would join the game's elite when the world'd premier provincial competition expands to 15 teams in 2011 and launches a new-look Conference structure with five teams based in Australia, five in New Zealand and five in South Africa.
governs rugby union in Victoria. Victoria is a member of the overall Australian governing body the Australian Rugby Union
.
These clubs in turn feed the Victorian state representative team, the Melbourne Axemen.
Source: Australian Rugby Union http://aru.rugby.com.au/news/bledisloe_cup_tests_to_return_to_mcg,48327.html
Rugby World Cup 2003 Matches and attendance in Melbourne.
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...
being played and watched in the state of Victoria 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...
.
The code was first introduced some time between the 1850s and 1880s but failed to gain popular following and has had a potted history.
Official Australian Bureau of Statistics
Australian Bureau of Statistics
The Australian Bureau of Statistics is Australia's national statistical agency. It was created as the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics on 8 December 1905, when the Census and Statistics Act 1905 was given Royal assent. It had its beginnings in section 51 of the Constitution of Australia...
report of 2007 on sports participation, Victoria has a very low participation in rugby union (less than 1%). The game is played by a small number of amateur senior clubs and in some private schools in Melbourne.
However, international rugby matches are popular with spectators in Victoria. This is evidenced by the large crowds which attended matches at the 2003 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...
, 2006 Commonwealth Games
2006 Commonwealth Games
The 2006 Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia between 15 March and 26 March 2006. It was the largest sporting event to be staged in Melbourne, eclipsing the 1956 Summer Olympics in terms of the number of teams competing, athletes competing, and events being held.The site...
and overall television ratings for blockbuster internationals.
Victoria are represented in the professional Super Rugby provincial tournament by 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...
.
History
Writer Sean FaganSean Fagan
Sean Patrick Fagan is a Sydney, Australia based sports historian, author and journalist, specialising in early Australian history and particular the origins and local development of the popular football codes in Australia. He has written articles for Australian national daily newspapers, numerous...
claims that Rugby football
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
was first played in Victoria in the late 1840s and into the 1850s. However, dissatisfaction with how the game was played led to the Melbourne FC in May 1859 adopting its own revised laws of football which was later to become known as Australian rules football.
Club rugby was formally organized in Victoria when the Melbourne Rugby Union (MRU) formed in 1888. Some of the 1888-1889 New Zealand Native football team
New Zealand Maori rugby union team
New Zealand Māori is a rugby union team that traditionally plays teams touring New Zealand. A prerequisite for playing in this team is that the player is to have Māori whakapapa or genealogy. In the past this rule was not strictly applied. In the past non-Māori players who looked Māori were often...
matches were played in Victoria and England also sent a touring team which both switched between rugby and Victorian rules (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...
).
Victoria first played rugby football against New South Wales in Melbourne in 1894 and sent its first team to play in Sydney in 1895 but after 1889 the game more or less disappeared in the state except for the match played in Melbourne in 1899 against Great Britain.
A Victorian Rugby Union (VRU) was restored in 1908 as arrangements were being made for a Victorian team to play the first Wallabies in Melbourne just prior to their departure for Great Britain. The next year,1909 saw the first presentation of the Dewar Shield, an award for first grade premiership teams still retained. Competition lapsed on commencement of the First World War and was not revived until 1926 when five League clubs decided to convert to Union and form the current VRU. During the following twelve years, up until the Second World War, Victoria played thirty matches against international and interstate teams and produced thirteen Wallabies. Club and representative competition did not resume again until 1946.
Melbourne was selected as a venue for the 2003 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...
including finals. The attendances were significant, with the highlights being 50,647 seeing defeat and 50,647 for versus .
Following the success of 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....
, in 2004, the Victorian Rugby Union made a bid for a Super 14
Super 14
Super Rugby is the largest and pre-eminent professional Rugby union competition in the Southern Hemisphere...
rugby union franchise. The bid had support from backers including the Victorian Government. However it was rejected by 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...
for a team in Perth which became the 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...
.
2006 Commonwealth Games
The 2006 Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia between 15 March and 26 March 2006. It was the largest sporting event to be staged in Melbourne, eclipsing the 1956 Summer Olympics in terms of the number of teams competing, athletes competing, and events being held.The site...
, which included a component of Rugby Sevens
Rugby sevens
Rugby sevens, also known as seven-a-side or VIIs, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players, instead of the usual 15, with shorter matches. Rugby sevens is administered by the International Rugby Board , the body responsible for rugby union worldwide...
, of which all of the matches were sold out. Melbourne holds the current record attendance for Rugby Sevens.
The inaugural 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...
started August 2007, including eight teams, one of which based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was rumoured that 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...
(NSWRU) gave up a fourth club to enable Victoria to participate in the new national competition. and 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...
were created and played out of Olympic Park Stadium. Although as a one city team they had one of the larger crowd averages in the competition, they finished their first season with a home crowd average of just 3,305 and folded with losses in the millions. The move was a great setback for the Victorian Rugby Union.
However, on 5 January 2010 it was announced by the Australian Rugby Union that it had handed control of the new Melbourne Super Rugby team to the Melbourne Rebels consortium and that Melbourne would join the game's elite when the world'd premier provincial competition expands to 15 teams in 2011 and launches a new-look Conference structure with five teams based in Australia, five in New Zealand and five in South Africa.
Victorian Rugby Union
The Victorian Rugby UnionVictorian Rugby Union
The Victorian Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in the state of Victoria, Australia. The VRU manages 26 clubs in metropolitan Melbourne, regional Victoria,and the border region of NSW which compromises 156 junior, senior mens and women's teams.-History:The Victorian Rugby Union was...
governs rugby union in Victoria. Victoria is a member of the overall Australian governing body 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...
.
Schools
| 1st Division | 2nd Division |
|---|---|
| St Kevins, Melbourne Grammar School Melbourne Grammar School Melbourne Grammar School is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, located in South Yarra and Caulfield, suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.... , Scotch College Scotch College, Melbourne Scotch College, Melbourne is an independent, Presbyterian, day and boarding school for boys, located in Hawthorn, an inner-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.... , Xavier College Xavier College Xavier College is a Roman Catholic, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, with its main campus located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.... , Trinity Grammar, Geelong Grammar Geelong Grammar School Geelong Grammar School is an independent, Anglican, co-educational, boarding and day school. The school's main campus is located at Corio, on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, overlooking Corio Bay and Limeburners Bay.... , Brighton Grammar Brighton Grammar School Brighton Grammar School is an independent, Anglican, day school for boys, located in Brighton, a south-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.... |
Ivanhoe Grammar Ivanhoe Grammar School Ivanhoe Grammar School is an independent, co-educational, day school, located in Ivanhoe and Mernda , both located in the north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.... , Carey Grammar, Marcellin College Marcellin College Marcellin College is a Marist Catholic secondary boys' school situated in Bulleen, Victoria, Australia.The school was founded in 1950 by the Marist Brothers originally in Camberwell... , St Patrick's Ballarat, Mentone Grammar Mentone Grammar School Mentone Grammar School is an independent, Anglican co-educational grammar school in Mentone, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.-History:... , Melbourne High, Haileybury College |
Clubs
| Suburban clubs | Country division |
|---|---|
| Booroondara, Box Hill, Harlequins, Melbourne, Melbourne University, Moorabbin, Powerhouse, Southern Districts, Cerberus, Footscray, Northern, Eltham, Endeavour Hills, Maroondah, Monash University Monash University Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL.... ,Wyndham City. |
Ballarat, Border Army, Cobram, Warnambool, Geelong, Melton, Deniliquin (NSW) |
These clubs in turn feed the Victorian state representative team, the Melbourne Axemen.
Notable players
Victoria has produced a number of top-level rugby players including- Sir Edward 'Weary' DunlopEdward DunlopLieutenant Colonel Sir Ernest Edward "Weary" Dunlop, AC, CMG, OBE was an Australian surgeon who was renowned for his leadership while being held prisoner by the Japanese during World War II.-Early life and family:...
, - Digby IoaneDigby IoaneDigby Ioane is an Australian rugby union footballer playing for the Queensland Reds. He has previously played for the Western Force in their inaugural year in 2006 to 2007, and has been capped 11 times for the Wallabies.-Early life:...
(Queensland RedsQueensland RedsThe 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 Wallabies) - Rocky ElsomRocky ElsomRocky Elsom is a former captain of the Australia national rugby union team. Raised in Noosa on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Elsom is one of Australia's most decorated Rugby players. Elsom has played over 50 times for Australia and has over 80 Super rugby caps with the Waratahs 2003–08 and the...
(ACT Brumbies and Wallabies) - Lloyd JohanssonLloyd JohanssonLloyd Johansson born to Lloyd 'Loiti' Johansson Snr and Maria ' Malia' Johansson, the part Tongan part Swedish is an Australian rugby union player who played in the centre for the Queensland Reds in the Super 14 competition...
(Queensland Reds and Wallabies) - Tamaiti Horua (Western ForceWestern ForceWestern 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...
) - Tom McVerry (Queensland Reds)
- Ole Avei (Queensland Reds)
- John Ulugia (ACT Brumbies)
- Christian Lealiifano (ACT Brumbies)
- David Palavi (ex-ACT Brumbies)
- David Fitter (London Irish RFC, ex-ACT Brumbies, Western Force, and Wallabies)
- Nick Stiles (ex-Queensland Reds and Wallabies).
- Ewen McKenzieEwen McKenzieEwen James Andrew McKenzie is a former Australian Rugby Union prop and now professional coach, currently with the Queensland Reds who won the 2011 premiership...
, former Wallaby, and now the new Queensland Reds coach.
Crowd Statistics
Major test matches and attendance 1997-2003| Year | Opponent | Venue (Capacity) | Attendance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | All Blacks | MCG (100,000) | 90,119 | Bledisloe Cup/ Tri Nations |
| 1998 | All Blacks | MCG, (100,000) | 75,147 | Bledisloe Cup/Tri Nations |
| 2000 | South Africa | Docklands(56,347) | 34,045 | Mandela Plate |
| 2001 | British & Irish Lions | Docklands (56,347) | 56,605 | |
| 2002 | France | Docklands (56,347) | 37,482 | |
| 2003 | England | Docklands, (56,347) | 54,868 | |
| 2003 | Ireland | Docklands (56,347) | 54,206 | RWC2003 |
Source: Australian Rugby Union http://aru.rugby.com.au/news/bledisloe_cup_tests_to_return_to_mcg,48327.html
Rugby World Cup 2003 Matches and attendance in Melbourne.
| Teams | Attendance |
|---|---|
| All Blacks, & Italy | 41,715 |
| Canada & All Blacks | 38,889 |
| England & Samoa | 50,647 |
| All Blacks & South Africa | 40,734 |
| France & Ireland | 33,134 |