Rugby Union in Australia
Rugby union is a popular sport in Australia .
There are five Australian teams competing against New Zealand and South African teams in the international super rugby tournament . These are the Brumbies from the Australian Capital Territory , the Reds from Queensland , the Waratahs from New South Wales , the Western Force from Western Australia and the Melbourne Rebels from Victoria .
The national team is called the Wallabies and has twice won the title at the World Championships.
history
Australia's rugby history began in the early 19th century. The army played a few games against the crews of the adjacent ships. The first club, the Sydney University Club, was founded in 1864. Ten years later there were enough clubs to host a small league in Sydney . At the same time, the Southern Rugby Union was formed, the first rugby federation in Australia, which was organized by the English equivalent Rugby Football Union . In 1881 the administration of the game was left to the Australians, in 1892 the Southern Rugby Union and the Northern Rugby Union merged.
The newly formed association organized the first games of an Australian national team against a British team in 1899. Australia won the first game of the four-game series at the Sydney Cricket Ground 13-3 , the other games went to the British. At that time, the team did not yet play in the national colors, but instead wore blue (in New South Wales) and brown (in Queensland) jerseys. In 1903 they met New Zealand for the first time in front of 30,000 spectators . The duel against the New Zealand "All Blacks" developed into one of the most important and exciting in rugby union. Four years after they first met, 50,000 people came to Sydney to watch the two teams play against each other.
In 1908 the "Wallabies" went on tour for the first time and toured the United Kingdom , Ireland and North America. Due to the popularity of the New Zealand Haka , the association was forced to choose a similar ritual for the Australian team. The players were supposed to perform an Aboriginal war dance before the start of the game , but this was not as impressive as the performance of the All Blacks, so this custom was soon put aside. The tour ended with the Olympic Games in London , where the Australians were allowed to participate. They won the gold medal by defeating a selection of Cornwall that competed for Great Britain. Eleven players from the gold medal winners then switched to the newly formed rugby league , where the players were paid in contrast to rugby union.
With the beginning of the First World War , the league operation ended as a number of young men were drafted. The break in the game lasted until 1928. During this period, the Waratahs were the only remaining team. They toured Great Britain, France and North America and showed a new, as yet unknown style, which was mainly characterized by attractive offensive play. In 1931 the Governor General of New Zealand , Lord Bledisloe , donated the Bledisloe Cup named after him , for which Australia and New Zealand have been playing since then. The Waratahs continued to represent Australia until 1947, when the association set itself the goal of establishing a central national team. A year later, the world governing body, the International Rugby Board , took Australia into its ranks. In 1949 the states founded the Australian Rugby Union (ARU). The Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory did not join in until the 1970s.
In 1987 the first world championship was held. The idea of introducing such a tournament came from Australia and New Zealand, which also organized this World Cup together. In 2003 Australia hosted another World Cup .
Competitions
The main competition for Australian club teams is international super rugby , in which they meet teams from New Zealand and South Africa. Australia currently has five teams, the Brumbies won the title in 2001 and 2004 and came second twice. The Waratahs reached the finals in 2005 and 2008, but were defeated there by the record champions Crusaders from New Zealand. At the beginning, the teams competed in the so-called Super 10, which also included teams from Samoa and Tonga . In this league, the Queensland Reds could win the championship twice. The Super 12 and Super 14 followed later, in which South African franchise teams also participated.
In 2007 the Australian Association introduced the Australian Rugby Championship (ARC), in which teams below the Super 14 competed against each other. It was based on the Air New Zealand Cup , in which the New Zealand provinces participate. In Australia, however, this model was unsuccessful and had to be discontinued after just one year due to financial difficulties.
Below the provincial leagues, there are leagues for clubs in the major cities and larger regions. The competitions in Sydney and Brisbane are the oldest and most popular of these kinds. In New South Wales the so-called Shute Shield is held.
National team
The Australian national team "Wallabies" won the title at the world championships twice, in 1991 and 1999 . The shirt colors are green and gold, the traditional colors of the Australian national teams. The team won their first official international match in 1899 against the British Isles 13: 3. Every year it plays against New Zealand for the Bledisloe Cup . This duel is one of the oldest and most competitive in rugby. In 2000, the two rivals met 109,874 spectators. This is still the record number of viewers worldwide. In addition to New Zealand, Australia also meets South Africa every year as part of the Tri Nations . The "Wallabies" traditionally have an intense rivalry with England . The Australians were able to defeat the hosts in the final of the 1991 World Cup in England. The English retaliated twelve years later when they won the title in 2003 . In addition, Australia was eliminated prematurely two more times against their rivals at a World Cup tournament.
Australia also has a successful 7-a-side rugby selection , having made it to the World Cup finals twice but losing each time. The national team's reserve is called Australia A and competes in the Pacific Nations Cup . The women's national team "Wallaroos" has been playing on international terrain since 1994. So far, she has participated in three women's world championships.
popularity
Along with cricket , Australian rules football , soccer and rugby league, rugby union is one of the most popular team sports in Australia. With the introduction of the World Championships in 1987, the interest of the population increased almost steadily until the World Cup in 2003 was held.
According to the IRB, there are 66,395 registered players in Australia, spread over 752 clubs. There are also 4821 referees.
See also
References and comments
- ↑ Guinness Book of Records
- ↑ IRB ( Memento of the original dated February 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
