Victorian Rugby Union
The Victorian Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in the state of Victoria, Australia. The VRU manages 26 clubs in metropolitan Melbourne, regional Victoria,and the border region of NSW (Denniliquin RFUC participate in VRU competitions) which compromises 156 junior, senior mens and women's teams.[1]
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[edit] History
The Victorian Rugby Union was first instituted after provincial sides were formed to play touring English by the Melbourne Rugby Club in 1888. In 1894 the fledgling union opened official dialogue to begin intercolonial matches against NSW. Victoria won the first game 3-0.[2]
The VRU union became defunct in the late 1890s but was re-established in 1908 to play a practice match against the Wallabies departing for an English tour.[2] The representative Victorian side wore blue and gold, and lost 26-6 in front of 1500 people at the MCG.
The VRU administers the oldest club rugby competition in Australia. The 102-year old Dewar Shield, comprising 10 teams, was donated by scotch whisky manufacturers John Dewar & Sons in 1909, to commemorate the Union's inauguration.
The ten teams that play for the Shield in the domestic Premier League are:
- Melbourne (based in Prahran)
- Power House (Albert Park)
- Harlequin (Ashwood)
- Booroondara (Hawthorn)
- Melbourne University
- Box Hill
- Endeavour Hills
- Moorabbin
- Southern Districts (Frankston)
- Footscray
An additional eight teams play in lower divisions:
- Cerberus/Navy
- Wyndham City (Werribee)
- Northern (Reservoir)
- Eltham
- Maroondah (Croydon)
- Geelong
- Monash University
- Warnambool
[edit] The Melbourne Rebels
For an in-depth description of their SANZAR bids see:Melbourne Rebels
The Union un-successfully bidded the fourth Australian Super 14 licence, which eventually went to the Western Force. The NSWRU gave up a fourth franchise for the Australian Rugby Championship that allowed the VRU to field the Melbourne Rebels in that competition.
In November 2009, SANZAR announced that Australia had won the 15th Super rugby franchise, and the ARU awarded the licence to the Melbourne Rebels consortium led by media magnate Harold Mitchell. The VRU do not own or run the Melbourne Rebels, they share a CEO (Ross Oakley, former CEO of the Australian Football League) and have representatives on the board.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ [vicrugby.com.au "Clubs Online"]. Victorian Rugby Union website. vicrugby.com.au. Retrieved 2010-09-30.
- ^ a b http://www.vicrugby.com.au/
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