Rugby union in Victoria

Rugby union in Victoria

Melbourne Rebels versus Sharks, 2011
Governing body Victorian Rugby Union
State team Melbourne Rebels
First played 1878, Melbourne
Registered players 6,237(total): 3,274 (adult), 2,963 (junior)
Clubs 26
Club competitions
Audience records
Single match 90,119 (1997). Bledisloe Cup - Australia vs New Zealand (MCG, Melbourne)

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.

Official Australian Bureau of Statistics report of 2007 on sports participation, Victoria has a very low participation in rugby union (less than 1%).[1] The game is played by a small number of amateur senior clubs and in a small number of secondary 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 is represented in the professional Super Rugby competition by the Melbourne Rebels.

History

Writer Sean Fagan 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 established in Victoria when the Melbourne Rugby Union (MRU) was formed in 1888.[2][3] The touring 1888 British team played matches in Victoria, as did the 1888–89 New Zealand Native team, and both teams switched between rugby and Victorian rules (Australian rules football).[4]

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.[5] 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 Australia defeat Ireland and 50,647 for England versus Samoa.

Following the success of the Rugby World Cup, in 2004, the Victorian Rugby Union made a bid for a Super Rugby 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.[6]

Rugby sevens being played at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, which was held at Melbourne's Docklands Stadium.

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.[7] and the Melbourne Rebels were created and played out of Olympic Park Stadium. Despite having one of the larger crowd averages in the competition, they finished their first season with a home crowd average of just 3,305 and the league folded with losses in the millions, with the ARU openly blaming the Victorian franchise's larger costs of operation for the failure. The move was a great setback for the Victorian Rugby Union.

On 5 January 2010, it was announced by the Australian Rugby Union that it had awarded 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's premier provincial competition expanded to 15 teams in 2011. The Melbourne Rebels played their first match of Super Rugby at AAMI Park against the NSW Waratahs on 18 February 2011, losing 43-0. The team only had to wait another week before registering their first victory, claiming a thrilling 25-24 win against the ACT Brumbies at AAMI Park in Round 2.

On 24 March 2014, the ARU officially announced a new professional national competition, the National Rugby Championship. The inaugural season started in August 2014. Victoria is represented by the Melbourne Rising, which plays out of AAMI Park.[8]

Victorian Rugby Union

Main article: Victorian Rugby Union

The Victorian Rugby Union governs rugby union in Victoria. Victoria is a member of the overall Australian governing body the Australian Rugby Union.

Schools

1st Division 2nd Division
St Kevins, Melbourne Grammar School, Scotch College, Xavier College, Trinity Grammar, Geelong Grammar, Brighton Grammar Ivanhoe Grammar, Carey Grammar, Marcellin College, St Patrick's Ballarat, Mentone Grammar, Melbourne High, Haileybury College

Clubs

Premier clubs Second Division Country division
Box Hill, Harlequins, Melbourne, Melbourne University, Moorabbin, Powerhouse, Southern Districts, Footscray, Endeavour Hills. Kiwi Hawthorn, Cerberus, Northern, Eltham, Maroondah, Monash University,Wyndham City, Warnambool, Geelong, Melton, Ballarat. Border Army, Cobram, Shepparton, Bendigo, Pukapunual (army), Deniliquin (NSW).

These clubs in turn feed the Victorian state representative team, The Victorian Country (pre 2008), the Rebel Rising, a joint program between the Victorian Rugby Union and the Melbourne Rebels established in 2011.

Notable players

Victoria has produced a number of top-level rugby players including

Crowd Statistics

Major test matches and attendance 1997-2003

Source: Australian Rugby Union

Rugby World Cup 2003 Matches and attendance in Melbourne.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Participation in Sports and Physical Recreation Activities - South Australia". 1345.4 - SA Stats, Jul 2007. Australian Bureau of Statistics. 27 Aug 2007.
  2. ↑ "About VRU". Archived from the original on 18 January 2013. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  3. ↑ "Rugby Union Football". The Argus. Melbourne. 11 June 1888. p.9, col.8.
  4. ↑ Grainger, Ron (1 November 2013). "Rugby union in Victoria: The Early Years". A History of Rugby in Victoria. Archived from the original on 30 December 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  5. ↑ Grainger, Ron (1 November 2013). "Rugby union in Victoria between the Wars (1919-39)". A History of Rugby in Victoria. Archived from the original on 30 December 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  6. ↑ Lost opportunity for Melbourne and rugby union from theage.com.au
  7. ↑ "New national rugby comp for 2007". news.com.au. Retrieved 2006-06-03.
  8. ↑ "ARU Board approves nine team National Rugby Championship to start in August 2014". rugby.com.au (Press release). 24 March 2014. Archived from the original on 24 March 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
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