Rugby union in South Africa

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Rugby union is a popular sport in South Africa. In the past rugby union was considered a bastion of Afrikanerdom; the sport is also popular with English-speaking white South Africans but they sometimes opt to represent other countries (examples include Stuart Abbott and Mike Catt for England and Clyde Rathbone for Australia). It is still a sport which is much more popular with white South Africans than with black South Africans, who in turn have thrown more of their support to football.

In the past the system of apartheid prevented non-whites from playing against whites and from representing South Africa at rugby union. Post-apartheid the issue of race is still a very sensitive issue in South African rugby. Various competitions operate racial quotas whereby a specified number of each team must be non-white. Though there is no official policy regarding race with the national team, the suspicion is that race has been a factor in the selection of some players.

Contents

[edit] History

When Canon George Ogilvie became headmaster of Diocesan College in Cape Town in 1861, he introduced the game of football, as played at Winchester School. This version of football, which included handling, is seen as the beginnings of rugby in South Africa. Soon, the young gentlemen of Cape Town joined in and the first match in South Africa took place between the "Officers of the Army" and the "Gentlemen of the Civil Service" at Green Point in Cape Town in 1862 and ended as a 0-0 draw. The local press reported a series of football matches between scratch sides "Town v Suburbs" or "Home v Colonial-born".

In around 1875 rugby began to be played in the Cape colony, the following year the first rugby (as opposed to Winchester football) club was formed. Former England international William Henry Milton arrived in Cape Town in 1878. He joined the Villagers club and started playing and preaching rugby. By the end of that year the Cape Town had all but abandoned the Winchester game in favour of rugby. British colonists helped spread the game through the Eastern Cape, Natal and along the gold and diamond routes to Kimberley and Johannesburg. British troops would also play a key role in spreading the game throughout the country.

In 1883 the Stellenbosch club was formed in the farming district outside Cape Town, rugby was enthusiastically adopted by the young Boers. The game was strong enough in the Western Cape for the Western Province Rugby Football Union to be formed that same year; Griqualand West followed in 1886; Eastern Province in 1888; Transvaal in 1889 and in 1889 the South African Rugby Board was founded.

In 1889 the first nationwide tournament was held at Kimberley, with the Western Province (rugby team) prevailing over Griqualand West, Eastern Province and Transvaal.

On the 23rd of March 1992 the non-racial South African Rugby Union and the South African Rugby Board were merged to form the South African Rugby Football Union. The unified body changed its name in 2005 to the current South African Rugby Union.

SA Rugby celebrated 100 years of test rugby in 2006 and unveiled a new logo at a function at ABSA Stadium in Durban, celebrations will continue later on in the year, with two tests against England at Twickenham.

[edit] Present

According to the IRB South Africa has 434,219 registered players broken down into: 157,980 pre-teen males; 121,879 teen males; 143,722 senior males (total male players 423,581); 1,653 pre-teen females; 5,504 teen females; 3,481 senior females (total female players 10,638).

There are 4,074 referees.

[edit] Governing body

Main article: South African Rugby Union

The South African Rugby Union are the governing body for rugby union in South Africa.

Prior to 1992 the South African Rugby Board were the governing body.

[edit] National team

Main article: South Africa national rugby union team

The national team are known as the Springboks.

[edit] Domestic Competitions

[edit] Super 14

Main articles: Super 14 and Super 14 franchise areas

The Super 14 is an international provincial competition featuring teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. The competition, governed by SANZAR, was formed in 1996 as Super 12 after the game turned professional. The current format is five teams from both New Zealand and South Africa and four teams from Australia. Each team plays each other team once in a round robin format followed by a knockout finals series featuring the top four finishers.

The South African Super 14 teams are as follows:

A sixth team, the Southern Spears, was formed and initially admitted to the 2007 Super 14, but the SARU backed out of the original plan after allegations of financial mismanagement and concerns about the team's competitiveness. The Spears won the first round of a legal battle that would restore them to Super 14 for 2007, but eventually abandoned their case and will not be a part of Super 14 in the foreseeable future.

The competition has never been won by a South African team.

[edit] Currie Cup

Main article: Currie Cup

The Currie Cup tournament is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces.

[edit] Other competitions

Craven Week is the main schools competition in South Africa.

The Vodacom Cup is similar to the Currie Cup with the 14 provinces competing. It is, however, designed to give opportunities for young players, and especially black players, to prove their talent and go on to play rugby union at a higher level.

[edit] International Competitions

[edit] Rugby World Cup

South Africa did not take part in the first two World Cups, held in 1987 and 1991, as they were still under an international boycott due to apartheid. South Africa however did play an important role in the first world cup; despite knowing that they would not be able to participate the delegates voted in favor and proved to the swing vote for the World Cup. Since then South Africa have won the world cup once, in 1995 when they hosted the event. The tournament concluded with then President Nelson Mandela, wearing a Springbok jersey and matching baseball cap, presenting the trophy to the South Africa's captain Francois Pienaar. The moment is seen as one of the most emotional in the sport's history. The victory was not without controversy however, the majority of the New Zealand team was struck down by food poisoning the day before the final and it is alleged that this was done on purpose.

[edit] Tri Nations

The Tri-Nations is an annual competition involving New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. Previously this involved each country playing one home and one away game against both other countries. From 2006 the competition has been expanded with each nation playing both the other nations three times.

The Freedom Cup (against New Zealand) and the Mandela Challenge Plate (against Australia) are competed for as part of the tri-nations.

[edit] Notes

    [edit] External links

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