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Rugby union in New South Wales

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Rugby Union in New South Wales
Waratahs vs Brumbies at ANZ Stadium, 2012.
Governing bodyNew South Wales Rugby Union
State teamNew South Wales Waratahs
First played1860s
Registered players35,043[1]
Club competitions
Audience records
Single match109,874 (2000) Australia v New Zealand Stadium Australia, Sydney

Rugby union in New South Wales has been played since the 1860s when it was established in the schools and Sydney University. The first recorded game under rugby rules was played by the Wallaroo Football Club in Sydney in 1870[2]. The code dominated until 1908 when huge gate-takings led to a split over professionalism.[3] The code endured and Sydney hosted the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final.[4][5] In recent decades, Rugby union has struggled to shake its reputation of being a private school game and suffers from the immense popularity of the rival code of Rugby league there.[6][7]

History

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Reports of football being played in the Colony of New South Wales date from at least as early as 1829 in Sydney at what is now Wynyard Park.[8][9] The city's first football clubs were established in 1865 under Australian rules or variants thereof.[10] Between 1865 and 1869 games were occasional and included matches played by soldiers at Sydney's barracks, against the crews of visiting ships, and teams from the Sydney University. The rules were variable and negotiated by the captains before each game.[10][11]

Rugby beginnings

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Football played under versions of the Rugby School rules was brought to Australia by Old Boys of the English public schools.[12][13] Some settlers would have been familiar with earlier forms of the game even before it was formally codified at Rugby School in 1845.[14] The Rugby code was introduced to schools in Sydney from the early 1860s.[12]

Club rugby established and formation of the NSWRU

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Players familiar with the game from the Sydney schools, along with increased arrivals from England and elsewhere, soon led to organised club rugby commencing in Sydney via the arrival of the Wallaroo FC in 1870.[13] The first documented match to have been played under rugby rules was held on 18 June 1870 between Wallaroo FC and combined team of British 'Army & Navy' officers and men played at the Sydney Cricket Ground.[15]

After the Wallaroo FC was founded in 1870 there was a rapid growth in the formation of rugby football clubs across Sydney and NSW's regional towns.[16] The movement that gave birth to the Southern Rugby Football Union (SRFU) and its adoption in toto of England RFU's rugby union laws began with a meeting of clubs held on 5 June 1874 in Sydney at Gannon’s Oxford Hotel.[17] The clubs present at the first meeting were Wallaroo, Goulburn, Waratah FC, Balmain, The King’s School, Newington College, Camden College and St Leonards (North Shore).[17] The SRFU was renamed the New South Wales Rugby Union (NSWRU) in 1892.[17]

New South Wales Rugby Union team, ca. 1883
New South Wales team, ca. 1883

Participation

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Registered players
20192023/24
56,987[18] 35,043[1]

New South Wales state team

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Waratahs colours

The New South Wales Waratahs team is the representative team of the NSWRU. Their debut game was in 1882 against Queensland (now Reds) and the first NSW team captain was James Brodie of the Wallaroo FC.[19][20] The team has traditionally always worn light blue jerseys since 1891.[21] In 1927-28 the Waratahs conducted a world tour encompassing Sri Lanka, Great Britain, France and Canada.[22] The Waratahs have competed in the transnational Super Rugby competition since the start of the professional era of rugby in 1996.[21]

Competitions

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Super Rugby

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The New South Wales Waratahs play in the Super Rugby competition[23] against other professional teams from Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Argentina. The Waratahs team won the Super Rugby title for the first time in 2014,[24] after having previously reached the final in 2005 and 2008.[25]

National Rugby Championship

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New South Wales has two teams in the National Rugby Championship:

Shute Shield

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Premiership Rugby is contested in Sydney across four senior grades and three colts competitions. Club Championship trophies are also contested on overall results. The Shute Shield is the trophy for the first grade premiership competition, and the eleven clubs currently competing for the premiership are:[26][27]

Over the many years of competition for the NSW premiership, a number of formerly notable clubs became defunct. Some of the early ones include: Glebe (Australian Club Champions in 1908),[28] Pirates,[29] The Sydney Football Club (est. 1865),[12] and Wallaroos.[29]

The Tooheys New Cup, which was the other recent first grade competition, ran from 2002 to 2006. An abbreviated Shute Shield competition was played in the latter part of the season during those years. When the Tooheys New Cup competition was disbanded, the Shute Shield competition was expanded again for the 2007 season.[30]

Suburban rugby

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Below the NSWRU grade competition is the New South Wales Suburban Rugby Union (commonly known as Subbies). With over 6,000 players and 55 clubs this is believed to be the largest centrally organised rugby union competition in the world.[31]

Country Rugby

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Cockatoos colours

The New South Wales Country Rugby Union is affiliated with the NSWRU and administers game in the majority of non-metropolitan areas of NSW. The union is split into nine zones with 100 clubs and over 16,000 players. NSW Country is represented by the New South Wales Country Cockatoos team.[32]

Women's Rugby

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Club competitions for women's 15-a-side teams are run in Sydney and Newcastle.[33] A representative team from Sydney is regularly selected to play the NSW Country Corellas and the Australian Army women's team.[34] The NSWRU also sends women's 15-a-side and 7-a-side representative teams to the ARU National Championships each year. The six clubs in the Sydney women's competition, as of 2014, are:[35]

Schoolboy Rugby

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The Waratah Shield is a rugby union knock-out competition for high school teams from New South Wales, Australia. First contested in 1963, it is organised by New South Wales Rugby Union in conjunction with NSW Schools' Rugby Union and NSW Combined High Schools and attracts around 100 entries each year.

Taki Toa Shield

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The Taki Toa Shield is a rugby union tournament played among semi-professional clubs and an invitational New Zealand Māori community team in Sydney which started in 1983.

References

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  1. 1 2 Commission, Australian Sports Commission; jurisdiction=Commonwealth of Australia; corporateName=Australian Sports. "AusPlay results". Sport Australia. Retrieved 5 November 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ Fagan, Sean. "SYDNEY'S FIRST RUGBY GAME". WALLAROOFC1870.com. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  3. ↑ corporateName=National Museum of Australia; address=Lawson Crescent, Acton Peninsula. "National Museum of Australia - The game begins". www.nma.gov.au. Retrieved 19 June 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ "Rugby participation in NSW hits all time high". New South Wales Rugby. 12 December 2012. Archived from the original on 11 May 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  5. ↑ "Football: Four games, one name". Australian Bureau of Ststistics. 12 December 2012. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  6. ↑ NRL holds upper hand in the chase for talent despite Rugby Australia's best efforts in ongoing code war By Luke Pentony for ABC News 6 October 2024
  7. ↑ If Australian rugby wants to thrive in the 'golden decade', it needs to ditch the private schoolboy image By Luke Pentony for ABC News 14 June 2023
  8. ↑ Fagan, Sean (18 July 2013). "FIRST FOOTBALL GAME IN COLONIAL AUSTRALIA". — saintsandheathens.com —. Retrieved 2 October 2026.
  9. ↑ Hickie 1983, p. 14.
  10. 1 2 Fagan, Sean (3 October 2026). "BEFORE WALLAROO: FOOTY BY PUB CRAWL". WALLAROOFC1870.com. Retrieved 2 October 2026.
  11. ↑ Mulford 2005, p. 1.
  12. 1 2 3 Fagan, Sean (18 November 2013). "Sydney University FC – Australia's first rugby club". Saints and Heathens. Archived from the original on 18 December 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  13. 1 2 Fagan, Sean (24 June 2026). "Wallaroo FC founders".
  14. ↑ Horton 1990, p. 44.
  15. ↑ Fagan, Sean (22 August 2026). "SYDNEY'S FIRST RUGBY GAME". WALLAROOFC1870.com. Retrieved 22 August 2026.
  16. ↑ Fagan, Sean (26 November 2010). "NSW Rugby History". Saints and Heathens. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  17. 1 2 3 Fagan, Sean (22 August 2026). "SINCE 1874: WALLAROO'S NSWRU LEGACY". WALLAROOFC1870.com. Retrieved 22 August 2026.
  18. ↑ Rugby Union participation report Ausplay 2019
  19. ↑ Fagan, Sean (22 August 2026). "THE GREAT WALLAROO LAND SWINDLE". WALLAROOFC1870.com. Retrieved 22 August 2026.
  20. ↑ "New South Wales". The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide, SA). 14 August 1882. Retrieved 2 October 2026 – via Trove, NLA.
  21. 1 2 "NSW WARATAHS JERSEYS". — saintsandheathens.com —. 6 August 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2026.
  22. ↑ "The First Golden Age Of Australian Rugby". World Rugby Museum. Retrieved 2 October 2026.
  23. ↑ Mulford 2005, p. 242–244.
  24. ↑ "Waratahs beat Crusaders to win Super Rugby title". Rugby Week. 2 August 2014. Archived from the original on 2 August 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  25. ↑ "New South Wales Waratahs". ESPN scrum. 6 June 2014. Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  26. ↑ "Magners Shute Shield". New South Wales Rugby. 2014. Archived from the original on 6 April 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  27. ↑ "NSW Premiership". Australian Rugby. 6 June 2014. Archived from the original on 15 May 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  28. ↑ Mulford 2005, p. 42.
  29. 1 2 Mulford 2005, p. xv.
  30. ↑ "Stage set for new season of Sydney Club Rugby". ESPN Scrum. 16 January 2007. Archived from the original on 5 June 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  31. ↑ "Annual Report 2005" (PDF 1.1 MB). New South Wales Suburban Rugby Union. 2005. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 May 2013.
  32. ↑ "All About Us". New South Wales Country Rugby Union. Archived from the original on 26 May 2014.
  33. ↑ "Women's Rugby". New South Wales Rugby.
  34. ↑ "2014 Rep Program". Sydney Women's Rugby. 10 April 2014.
  35. ↑ "Sydney Clubs Women Rugby Draws & Results". Sydney Women's Rugby. 2014. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015.
  36. "Football". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 July 1865. p. 5, col. 6. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  37. "The Sydney Monthly Overland Mail". The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 July 1865. p. 5, col. 5. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  38. "Notes of the week from the 30th June to the 7th July". The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 July 1865. p. 3. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  39. "Football". Empire. Sydney. 29 July 1865. p. 4, col. 5. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
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Bibliography

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  • Hickie, Tom V (1983). The Game for the Game Itself; The Development of Sub-District Rugby in Sydney. Sydney Sub-Districts Rugby Union. ISBN 978-0959194104.
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