Rugby union in Australia

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Rugby union in Australia
Governing body	Australian Rugby Union
National team	Australia
Nickname(s)	Qantas Wallabies
First played	25 July 1839[1], Sydney, New South Wales
Registered players	165,219 (total) 42,100 (adult)
Clubs	752
Competitions
National
- Rugby World Cup
- Tri Nations
- Pacific Nations Cup
- Rugby World Cup Sevens
Club
- Super 14
- Australian Rugby Championship
- Shute Shield
- Tooheys New Cup
- Queensland Premier Rugby
- ACTRU Premier Division
Audience records
Single match	109,874 Australia v New Zealand, (Telstra Stadium) 15 July 2000

Rugby union is a popular team sport played in Australia, with its history dating back to 1864. Rugby union, also known as just rugby, is one of Australia's most popular winter sports, and is played on a professional and recreational level.

The principal competition in Australian rugby union is the Super 14, which is an international provincial competition. Australia enters four franchise in the competition, the Reds, Waratahs, Brumbies and Force. There is currently no national club competition below the Super 14, but state competitions, such as the Shute Shield and the Queensland Premier Rugby. A national competition has always been talked about since the advent of professionalism, and in 2007, a National Rugby Competition will be introduced.

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 greatest rugby nations in the world, due to their success at the world cup, and consistently good world ranking.

Contents 1 History 2 Organisation 3 Participation 4 Competitions 4.1 Super 14 4.2 Club 5 Popularity 6 The Wallabies 7 Other representative teams 8 Television coverage 8.1 Free-to-air 8.2 Foxtel 8.3 Setanta Sports 9 References 10 See also 11 External links

[edit] History

See also: History of rugby union

There are reports of early games of rugby between the army and the crews of visiting ships being played at Barrack Square in Sydney in the 1820s. ^{[verification needed][1]} The first recorded game of Rugby in Australia was on 25 July 1839 and involved members of the military.^[2] However the game was firmly established in Sydney where it developed a strong following.

The first rugby football club that was established in Australia was at Sydney University in 1864. A decade after the first club was formed, the body called the Southern Rugby Union is formed as a result of a meeting at the Oxford Hotel in Sydney, a Sydney competition was established, which was apparently administered from the England Rugby headquarters at Twickenham. 1876 is when the first games of rugby were played in Queensland.

But the new competition suffered a blow in 1877 when '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 23rd 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.^[3]

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 November 2, 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 play their first match, and 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.

In 1908, rugby league is formed in Australia. This had a major impact on rugby union in New South Wales and Queensland - particularly in the country. The QRU was dissolved in 1919. A large number of national representatives would defect to the rival code. Although 1908 is famously remembered for the formation of league, an Australasian team, the only thus far, competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, winning gold, defeating Great Britain - although 11 members of the squad would join rugby league.

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 International Rugby Board. Australia was defeated by France in the finals.

With the onset of professionalism into Australian rugby union, major changes began to 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.

Prior to the World Cup being staged in Australia, four high profile Kangaroo rugby league players switched codes; Andrew Walker, Wendell Sailor, Mat Rogers and Lote Tuqiri. The fifth Rugby World Cup was held in Australia from October to November in 2003. Matches were played all across Australia, in cities such as 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.^[4] 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.

[edit] Organisation

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 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 equality with NSW and Queensland. The ARU was formed in 1949 and before this time the NSWRU was responsible for international fixtures for Australian teams.

[edit] Participation

In 2000, there were just over 42,100 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.^[5]

[edit] Competitions

[edit] Super 14

Super 14 is an international rugby union competition that involves 14 teams from three nations; Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Australia has four sides in the competition; Queensland Reds, New South Wales Waratahs, Brumbies Rugby and the Western Force. Prior to the Super 12/14, 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. Although the state teams were launched as franchise in 1996, state teams have been playing each other since the late 1800s, when Queensland took on New South Wales in Sydney. The competition has been some what dominated by the New Zealand franchise, but the Brumbies have managed to win it, and both the Reds and Waratahs have made the finals, the Reds even finished first in the inaugural season, and the Waratahs have been runners-up in the past. The Australian Provincial Championship (APC) is a national competition that will commence in 2006 involving the four Australian sides represented in the Super 14. However, the competition will likely not be played there-after, with the new national competition starting the following season.

[edit] Club

2007 will see the launch of the National Rugby Competition, an eight team national competition aimed at bridging the gap between Super 14 and club rugby. There will be three teams from NSW, two from QLD and one each from the ACT, Victoria and Western Australia. It will run from the end of July until mid October. All players outside of the Wallaby squad will be eligible for the competition. Launching a national club competition has been on the agenda for years in Australia, but ultimately always failed to become a reality. When brought up again in 2006, it was met with much opposition, particularly from some of the club sides in New South Wales. However, the competition will be going ahead in 2007. Two of New South Wales' three teams will be in Sydney, with one on the Central Coast, whilst both of Queenslands' teams will be Brisbane based. Canberra, Perth and Melbourne also have one team each.

The Shute Shield is a rugby union competition in Sydney, New South Wales. The club competition was first contested in 1922. The Tooheys New Cup (TNC) is a rugby union competition established by the New South Wales Rugby Union (NSWRU) in 2002 as a stepping stone between the existing grade rugby (see Shute Shield) and Super 14 competitions. The Queensland Premier Rugby competition evolved out of the Brisbane club competition. The competition acts as a stepping stone to the Queensland Reds. The Australian Rugby Shield is an eight team competition involving teams from ACT, Adelaide, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth, Tasmania, NSW Country and QLD Country. First contested in 2000, it is intended to unearth players and foster the game outside of its traditional strongholds.

[edit] Popularity

The popularity of rugby union largely took off after it turned professional in 1995. The pre-2003 Rugby World Cup annual Sweeney Sports Report survey, found that 37 per cent of all Australians are interested in the sport of rugby union. The sports closest rival, rugby league, was at 39 per cent, the same report noted that Aussie rules was the most dominant, having 52 per cent. The director of the company that conducted the survey, attributed the rise in popularity of rugby union to professionalism, Australia winning the World Cup on two occasions, sponsorship income had multiplied, defection of rugby league stars and grass roots development.^[6]

The 2005 winter survey puts rugby union at 40 per cent, down 2 per cent from 2004, noted because of poor international performances.^[7] The report noted that the most popular rugby union event was the Bledisloe Cup, which had a 5 per cent interest (behind AFL Grand Final, Melbourne Cup, Australian Open, State of Origin and the NRL grand final.)^[7] There are 750 rugby union clubs within Australia that support 165,219 registered players.^[8]

The Australian national rugby union team are one of the most supported national sides in Australia. The side usually plays at Telstra Stadium (stadium record 109,874 v All Blacks)^[9] in Sydney, Telstra Dome (stadium record 54,868 v England)^[10] in Melbourne, Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane and Subiaco Oval in Perth. The ground record for Telstra Stadium is also the world record attendance for rugby union.

[edit] The 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 June 24. They won their first outing, defeating the British team 13 to 3. The rivalry with the All Blacks is considered one of the biggest in the sport. The teams contest the Bledisloe Cup on an annual basis, an event which attracts huge interest within the Trans-Tasman fans. The Springboks are also a big rival for Australia, the South Africans being the other team in the Tri Nations. England has also in recent years become known as 'the old enemy', mostly due to the 2003 World Cup final when Jonny Wilkinson landed a last-minute drop goal to defeat Australia at Telstra Stadium in Sydney.

[edit] Other representative teams

Australia also has a successful sevens side which competes in the World Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games. They have won the Hong Kong Sevens event on five occasions. Australia A also plays matches, usually used as a stepping stone up to the full Wallabies squad, though they now compete in the Pacific Nations Cup. The team will often play during inbound tours, though they currently have no full time competition, there have been talks of them playing in the Pacific Five Nations though. The womens team, the Wallaroos have been playing international rugby since 1994, and have competed at three Women's Rugby World Cups. Australia also has an under 21 side, a under 19 side and a schoolboys team.

[edit] Television coverage

[edit] Free-to-air

• Tri Nations Series
• Cook Cup
• Lansdowne Cup
• Rugby World Cup
• Tooheys New Cup
• Queensland Premier Rugby

[edit] Foxtel

• Super 14
• National Provincial Championship
• Currie Cup
• Heineken Cup
• Tri Nations Series
• Winter internationals (Southern)
• Summer internationals (Northern)
• Rugby Sevens

[edit] Setanta Sports

• Guinness Premiership
• EDF Energy Cup
• Six Nations Championship
• Celtic League

[edit] References

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rugby union in Australia

• rugby.com.au
• FOX Sports Australia Rugby section