Rugby union in Australia
Although traditionally most popular in Australia's rugby football strongholds of New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT, it is played throughout the nation.Rugby union holds the match attendance record of any football code in New South Wales (109,874), Western Australia (61,241) and the Australian Capital Territory (28,753).[13][14] A decade after the first club was formed, a body called the Southern Rugby Union was formed as a result of a meeting at the Oxford Hotel in Sydney,[15] a Sydney competition was established, which was administered from the England Rugby headquarters at Twickenham[citation needed].[18] On Saturday 23 June 1877, 3,000 spectators watched Waratah beat Carlton at rugby at the Albert Cricket Ground in Redfern.[18] The first inter-colonial game occurred on 12 August 1882, when players from the four Queensland clubs (who played both rugby and Australian rules football) travelled to NSW.[19] Later that same year, the Southern Rugby Union undertook its inaugural tour of New Zealand, winning four of its seven matches.As a result of the formation of the new body, several prominent grammar schools took up rugby as opposed to Melbourne Rules.In 1892, the rugby bodies in Australia dropped Southern and Northern from their titles, adopting New South Wales and Queensland respectively.[citation needed] In 1907, Australia again played New Zealand, at the same venue as the 1903 match, with crowd numbers reaching 50,000.[citation needed] This figure would not be surpassed again in Australian rugby union until after the game turned professional.An event that was to greatly shape rugby union's future in Australia was the onset of World War I in 1914.Until the late 1940s, the administration of the Australian team, including all tours, was handled by New South Wales, being the senior union.With rugby union becoming an openly professional sport in 1995, after more than a century of a professed amateur status, major changes were seen in both the club and international game.Australia entered three sides into the competition; ACT Brumbies, Queensland Reds and the New South Wales Waratahs.The game attracted a then world record crowd for a rugby union match of 107,042 to see Australia win with its greatest margin over New Zealand by 28–7.Matches were played all across the country, in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth, Townsville, Gosford, Wollongong and Launceston.The Australian Rugby Union said that revenues exceeded all expectations, the tournament surplus was estimated to be at $44.5 million.Soccer is especially popular among Migrants and the Matildas are often considered sporting heroes to many Australians, particularly young girls.[25] Rugby in Australia has enjoyed traditional support within inter-school competitions with the first school match being played by Newington College against Sydney University in 1869.When Australia became one of the world's best sides in the 1980s, the team was largely drawn from the NSW Waratahs and Queensland Reds.Rugby was introduced to other cities and regions at around the same time but Melbourne rules (now Australian football) was preferred in the southern states.The country's previous attempt to launch a national domestic competition came in 2007 in the form of the Australian Rugby Championship (ARC).The aim of the competition, scheduled to run from August finishing in October with the final, was similar to that of the NRC.[39] Within the first year of the new deal, Super Rugby games were regularly gathering more than 120 000 on 9Gem and Stan Sport had more than 250 000 subscribers.The Super Rugby AU Final between Queensland and the ACT pulled more than 1.3 million viewers across all platforms.
2003 Rugby World CupRugby AustraliaAustraliaWallabiesSydneyNew South WalesSuper RugbySuper WShute ShieldQueensland Premier RugbyACTRU Premier DivisionFortescue Premier GradeRugby World CupWomen's Rugby World CupThe Rugby ChampionshipRugby World Cup SevensWorld Rugby Sevens SeriesWorld Rugby Women's Sevens SeriesSydney SevensNew ZealandTelstra Stadiumrugby footballQueenslandWaratahsBrumbiesAustralian Capital TerritoryWestern ForceWestern AustraliaNational Rugby ChampionshipWallarooswomen's sevens team2016 Olympicsmen's sevens teamHistory of rugby union in AustraliaColony of New South WalesColony of VictoriaTom WillsSouth YarraJ. B. ThompsonSydney UniversityNewington CollegeEngland RugbyTwickenhamSouth MelbourneColony of Queensland'Waratah' Rugby ClubAustralian rules footballCarlton Football ClubAlbert Cricket GroundRedferncolonialSydney Cricket GroundMelbourne RulesVictoriaBritish and Irish Lionsnational team of AustraliaBritish IslesNew South Wales Rugby LeagueQueensland Rugby LeagueWorld War IAustralian Imperial ForceNew South Wales Rugby UnionQueensland Rugby UnionGreat Public SchoolsCharles Bathurst, 1st Viscount BledisloeBledisloe CupEden ParkAustralian Rugby Football Unionthe first ever Rugby World CupFrance1991 Rugby World CupSuper 12ACT BrumbiesQueensland RedsNew South Wales WaratahsTri Nations SeriesANZ StadiumJonah Lomu1999 Rugby World Cupfifth Rugby World CupBrisbaneMelbourneCanberraAdelaideTownsvilleGosfordWollongongLauncestonWallaby Team of the DecadeSoccerBasketball2006 Men’s FIFA World CupMatildas2023 FIFA Women's World CupMigrantsRugby unionWorld RugbyACT and Southern NSW Rugby UnionRugby Union Players AssociationGreat Public Schools Association of QueenslandAssociated Southern CollegesAthletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South WalesCombined Associated SchoolsIndependent Schools Association (Australia)The King's SchoolSt Ignatius' College, RiverviewSt Joseph's College, Hunters HillSouth AfricaAustralian Schools Rugby UnionBuildcorp WallaroosSouth AustraliaTasmaniaNorthern TerritoryAustralia national rugby union teamTri NationsAll BlacksSpringboksNorthern Hemisphere2021 French three-test-tourRugby AUAustralia women's national rugby union teamWomen's Rugby World CupsAustralia A national rugby union teamPacific Nations CupAustralia national rugby sevens teamCommonwealth Games