Auckland Rugby Union
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Sport | Rugby union |
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Jurisdiction | Auckland Region |
Abbreviation | ARU |
Founded | 1883 |
Affiliation | New Zealand Rugby |
Headquarters | Auckland |
President | Fiao'o Fa'amausili[1] |
Chairman | Stu Mather[1] |
Director | Brent Metson[1] |
Sponsor | Barfoot & Thompson |
Official website | |
www | |
The Auckland Rugby Union is a
History
The Auckland Rugby Football Union (ARFU) was officially formed in 1883, when it joined the
Auckland has been the most successful union in New Zealand rugby history, having won a record 16 ITM Cup (and predecessor competition) titles. Auckland also holds the record for the most Ranfurly Shield wins (16), successful defences (148), and longest streak of successful defences (61).
In 1996, with the advent of professional rugby union, Auckland became the host, and primary feeder, to the Blues, known from 1996–99 as the Auckland Blues.
Golden eras
Auckland went undefeated for six seasons from 1897, with victory over the
Ranfurly Shield years
Auckland were the first holders of the Ranfurly Shield in 1902 and have won 153 out of 194 shield matches – the most successful record of any provincial union. Notable periods include from 1905 to 1913, when they defeated 23 successive challenges, 1960 and 1963, when 25 challenges were defeated, 1985 to 1993, when a record 61 were defeated. Auckland most recently held the shield between 2007 and 2008, when 5 challenges were defeated. Players like Andy Haden, Sean Fitzpatrick, John Drake, Olo Brown, Zinzan and Robin Brooke, Gary and Alan Whetton, Michael Jones, Steve McDowall, Grant Fox, Bernie McCahill, Grant Dickson, Mark Carter, Joe Stanley, John Kirwan and Terry Wright were important in Auckland's success in that last period.
In 1993, Auckland defeated the
With six titles in the 1990s and four in the 2000s, Auckland's domination of the New Zealand rugby landscape continued. The 2007 team was the first since the 1990 side to remain unbeaten in a season and win the Ranfurly Shield and the provincial championship. Players like Kees Meeuws, Keven Mealamu, Ali Williams, Justin Collins, Xavier Rush, Steve Devine, Brad Mika, Ben Atiga, Doug Howlett, Daniel Braid, Brent Ward and Angus Macdonald contributed to that success.
Auckland' fortunes collapsed when New Zealand Rugby moved to being a
Honours
- National Provincial Championship/Air New Zealand Cup/ITM Cup/Mitre 10 Cup (17):
1982, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2018
- South Pacific Championship/Super 6/Super 10 (4):
1987 (shared with Canterbury), 1988, 1989, 1990
- Ranfurly Shield
1902–04 (0), 1905–13 (23), 1934–35 (1), 1952 (0), 1959 (2), 1960–63 (25), 1965 (3), 1971 (1), 1972 (0), 1974–76 (10), 1979 (6), 1985–93 (61), 1995–96 (3), 1996–97 (6), 2003–04 (2), 2007–08 (5)
Other representative teams
In addition to the Men's 1st XV, the ARU has a number of other representative teams for both Men and Women. Their women's team, known as the Auckland Storm, are the most successful women's team in New Zealand.
Club rugby
Among the earliest founding clubs in Auckland were Grafton (1874), Ponsonby (1874) and College Rifles (1897), Marist (1908), University (1888), Grammar (1914) and Suburbs (1918). The premier competition's championship round was renamed the Gallaher Shield in 1922, in memory of Ponsonby, Auckland and New Zealand player Dave Gallaher who captained the 1905 All Blacks, known as The Originals, before retiring after the tour. He became the sole selector to the Auckland team, leading the side to eight successive Ranfurly Shield wins, before he served on the All Blacks selection committee from 1907 to 1914. He then joined the army at a relatively late age, and was killed in the Passchendaele offensive in 1917 aged 43. His Ponsonby side has dominated the Gallaher Shield, winning it 33 times.
Structure
The Auckland Rugby Football Union consists of 20 clubs from the Auckland isthmus. The premier competition runs from March to August and is split into three segments: the Waka Nathan Challenge Cup from March to May (primarily a pre-season tournament), the Alan McEvoy Round-Robin, and the Championship Round (finals series).
- The Waka Nathan Challenge Cup and Pollard Cup
The Waka Nathan Challenge Cup is contested at the beginning of the season in a knockout style competition. Teams play for the cup and a winners prize of $2500. Eight teams compete for the Waka Nathan Cup while the bottom seven teams from the previous year's competition contest the Pollard Cup.
- The Alan McEvoy Round-Robin
The 15 teams entered into the Premier Competition play a 15-week round-robin, played on Saturdays. The team with the highest competition points at the end of this round will be awarded the Alan McEvoy Memorial Trophy which commemorates Alan McEvoy an Auckland rep and All Black Trialist who drowned tragically at Baylys Beach in the early 1950s. To determine this, the
- Championship Round
In the Championship Round the sixteen teams are split into the top and bottom eight. It is played over three weeks. The top eight compete for the Gallaher Shield, named after former Auckland and All Blacks player Dave Gallaher, while the bottom eight compete for the Portola Trophy. The first week is a quarter-finals style format where the top seeded team play the bottom seeded team and the second seeded team play the second to last seeded team etc. The four losers from each group of eight go on to play for the Jubilee Trophy (Gallaher Shield Losers) and the President's Cup (Portola Trophy Losers). The next week is semi-finals and the two winners compete for the four trophies mentioned, with the overall champion being the winner of the Gallaher Shield Final.
Affiliated clubs
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Gallaher Shield
The Gallaher Shield is awarded to the winner of the senior premier club rugby competition, for overall club records see Gallaher Shield page.
School competition
The union are one of three organisations (the others being Collegesport and the Secondary Schools Executive Committee) responsible for administering the local
Supporters
The Auckland Rugby Union Supporters Club (ARUSC) was established in 1976 after a meeting between ARFU administration and a group of supporters. The club's emblem is the "Flying Elephant", which was agreed upon after a competition to find a mascot was found. The winner of the competition was Mr J.E. Hannan. The supporters club is currently located under the North (ASB) Stand at Eden Park.
The ARUSC also has the Junior Rugby Foundation (JRF) to provide education, assistant and support for the promotion and development of participation by young people in rugby within the areas governed by the ARFU.[3] Recent JRF bursary recipients include Liaki Moli, Sean Polwart and Tyrone Ngaluafe.
Stadium
Auckland play their home matches at Eden Park, and have done so since 1925. The ground opened in 1900 and also is used for cricket. Eden Park has the largest crowd capacity of any New Zealand sporting venue, with a capacity of 50,000 for rugby matches.
Bunnings NPC
All Blacks
This is a list of players who have represented
1880–1899
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1900–1919
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1920–1939
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1940–1959
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1960–1979
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1980–1989
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1990–1999
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2000–
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References
- ^ a b c Board & Staff on ARU site
- ^ "THE AUCKLAND-BRITAIN MATCH. A PLAYER'S VIEWS". Star (8095). 22 August 1904. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
- ^ "JRF helping hold onto young Auckland rugby talent". The New Zealand Herald. 2017.
External links
- Official Site
- Supporters Club
- Auckland Rugby (NZHistory.net.nz)