Rugby union in Russia

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Rugby union in Russia
Russia U19 (in white) playing Georgia U19 in 2009.
CountryRussia
Governing bodyRugby Union of Russia
National team(s)Russia
First played1884, Moscow
Registered players21,670[1]
Clubs365
National competitions
  • European Nations Cup
Club competitions
Professional Rugby League

Rugby union in Russia is a moderately popular sport. Russia was in 2011 ranked 20th worldwide by the World Rugby,[2] having over three hundred clubs and close to 22,000 players nationally.[3] Russian Rugby Championship is the top-level professional competition held in Russia. Krasnoyarsk, in the middle of Siberia, is traditionally the heartland of Russian rugby.[4][5]

Governing body

The

International Rugby Board in 1990.[6]

History

Medieval times

Since the

soccer was adopted and spread throughout the late Russian Empire.[citation needed
]

Pre-Revolutionary Russia

Russian Revolution by a number of years, but it was only played sporadically. It appears to have been the first (non-indigenous) football code to be played in Russia, around a decade before the introduction of association football.[7] Mr Hopper, a Scotsman, who worked in Moscow arranged a match in the 1880s; the first soccer match was in 1892.[7] In 1886, however, the Russian police clamped down on rugby because they considered it "brutal, and liable to incite demonstrations and riots"[7] Condemnation by the tsar's police probably deterred many people from playing, and records of rugby over the next thirty years are sparse. Some rugby union was still being played in 1908, however the first "official" match took place in Moscow in 1923.[citation needed
]

Soviet period

Main article: Rugby union in the Soviet Union

Because of the

Russian Revolution, some Soviet/Russian players emigrated and/or ended up playing for foreign sides, a notable example being Prince Alexander Obolensky (Александр Сергеевич Оболенский) who played for Oxford and England in the 1930s. His noble birth precluded him from playing in his home country and his family had fled the country when he was only a year old.[citation needed
]

In 1934 the Moscow Championship was started, and in 1936 the first Soviet Championship took place.[citation needed]

The game was more or less banned for a number of years in the Soviet Union because of an incident in a final in Moscow, when supporters of Llanelli and a Bucharest team were involved in a brawl.[6]

According to popular myth, in 1949 rugby union was forbidden in the USSR during the "fight against the

Soviet Cup and the Soviet Championship, rugby never became a major sport in the USSR. Union was the bigger of the two codes though - rugby league only really took off in the former Soviet Union after the collapse of Communism.[citation needed
]

Post-Soviet Russia

When the Soviet Union broke up, there were two main consequences - firstly the loss of a much larger pool of players and fans, and secondly, the defection of many players to rugby league, which had previously been frowned on by the Soviet authorities. The two main areas for Russian rugby were to be Moscow and Siberia, and to a lesser extent, Leningrad/St Petersburg.[6]

The most notable Russian player perhaps is Igor Mironov who played for the

English Premiership
.

Russian rugby terminology

Russian language terminology for Rugby union positions

1 - форвард первой линии открытой стороны (left prop or loosehead prop) 2 - отыгрывающий (хукер) (Hooker) 3 - форвард первой линии закрытой стороны (right prop or tighthead prop)
4 - форвард второй линии (2nd row or lock) 5 - Форвард второй линии (2nd row or lock)
6 - Левый крыльевой (blindside flanker) 8 - Стягивающий (восьмерка) (number 8) 7 - Правый крыльевой (openside flanker)
9 - Полузащитник схватки (девятка) (halfback or
scrum-half
)
10 - Блуждающий полузащитник (десятка) (first five-eight or
fly-half
)
12 - Центральный трёхчетвертной (second five-eight or
inside centre
)
13 - Центральный трёхчетвертной (center or
outside centre
)
11 - Левый крайний трёхчетвертной (left wing) 14 - Правый крайний трёхчетвертной (четырнадцатый) (right wing)
15 - Защитник (замок) (fullback)

Climate

In 1978, Russia set the record for one of the coldest matches ever to be played, when Krasnoyarsk played Polyechika Alma at -23' C. Because Krasnoyarsk had travelled over 2,000 km to be there, the game was not called off. Instead, players resorted to wearing balaclavas, gloves, and several pairs of tracksuits to combat the cold.[9] Nonetheless, the extreme climate of Russia remains a problem, with winter sometimes being a split season, or the game of snow rugby being played.

Popularity

Although

Professional Rugby League, has earned weekly coverage on the RTR-Sport channel (a number of countries also receive this channel, such as Ukraine), though the games are not shown live. In addition to television coverage, rugby now features in mainstream news publications. In early 2006, RTR-Sport purchased the rights to cover the 2007 Rugby World Cup. In 2007 Moscow made an unsuccessful bid to host the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens. It was announced in February 2009 that the Rugby Union of Russia would again bid to host the Rugby World Cup Sevens, in 2013. After two other bidders (Brazil and Germany) withdrew, leaving Russia the only country with an active bid, Russia was officially named as host in May 2010.[10] Russia also hosted the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy, the IRB's second-tier international competition for under-20 men's teams, in 2010.[citation needed
]

Competitions

The main club competition in Russia is the

Professional Rugby League, a fully professional competition. The competing clubs are VVA Saracens from Monino in Moscow Oblast and Slava from Moscow, Enisei-STM and Krasny Yar both from Krasnoyarsk, RC Penza, RC Novokuznetsk, and Universitet from Chita Oblast.[citation needed
]

2013 Professional League teams

Club City Stadium Capacity
VVA Saracens
 Monino Gagarin Air Force Academy stadium 5000
Yenisey-STM Krasnoyarsk Avangard Stadium 5000
Krasny Yar Krasnoyarsk Krasny Yar Stadium 3200
Slava Moscow Moscow Slava Stadium 2000
Spartak GM Moscow Moscow Rugby Academy Stadium ~1000
Fili Moscow Moscow Fili Stadium 2000
RC Novokuznetsk Novokuznetsk Rugby Stadium ~1000
Strela-Agro Kazan Kazan Tulpar Arena 3000
RC Bulava Taganrog Raduga Stadium ~1000
RC Kuban Krasnodar Trud Stadium ~1000

2013 Top League Teams

Club City
Imperia Penza Penza
Narva Zastava
St Petersburg
Dynamo-Energy Kazan
RC Zelenograd Zelenograd
VVA Academy Monino
Enisey-STM Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk
Strela-Agro Kazan Kazan
Maryino Moscow
Zelenograd Moscow Moscow
Mai Yuzhny Tushino Moscow Moscow
Varyag Novgorod
Novgorod

Locations of Top 2 Tier Teams 2013

class=notpageimage|
Locations of the 2013 Professional Rugby League & Super League teams

National champions

Year Team Year Team Year Team
1992
Krasny Yar
 2002 Yenisey-STM 2012 Yenisey-STM
1993
VVA-Podmoskovye
 2003
VVA-Podmoskovye
 2013
Krasny Yar
1994
Krasny Yar
 2004
VVA-Podmoskovye
1995
Krasny Yar
 2005 Yenisey-STM
1996
Krasny Yar
 2006
VVA-Podmoskovye
1997
Krasny Yar
 2007
VVA-Podmoskovye
1998
Krasny Yar
 2008
VVA-Podmoskovye
1999 Yenisey-STM 2009
VVA-Podmoskovye
2000
Krasny Yar
 2010
VVA-Podmoskovye
2001
Krasny Yar
 2011 Yenisey-STM

International

The

Argentina A and Italy A competed in Portugal.[citation needed
]

Super Powers Cup

The Super Cup was an annual international

United States. It was previously known as the Super Powers Cup.[citation needed
]

The Super Powers Cup was first launched in 2003. It was planned that China, Japan, Russia and the United States would play each other once. However, because of the SARS outbreak the Chinese team were forced to withdraw. Russia won the inaugural competition, defeating the United States 30–21 in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.[11] For the 2004 competition Canada replaced China.[citation needed]

European Challenge Cup

In 2015 Russian club Yenisey-STM was included for the 2015–2016 season of the European Challenge Cup. The first fixture was against Irish club Connacht at their home stadium. During the match temperatures got close to -20 °C and the field was covered in ice. Yenisey-STM lost 14–31 against Connacht.[citation needed]

National team

Main article: Russia national rugby union team
Russia playing Georgia

Russia previously played as part of the

combined CIS team. Since 1992 however, they have been playing as Russia. The team qualified for its first Rugby World Cup by tying Romania 21-21.[citation needed
]

Russia competes regularly in the European Nations Cup, and more recently, in the Nations Cup.[citation needed]

Russia succeeded in qualifying for the 2011 Rugby World Cup and for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.[citation needed]

See also

External links

Wikinews has News related to this article:

References

  • Cotton, Fran (Ed.) (1984) The Book of Rugby Disasters & Bizarre Records. Compiled by Chris Rhys. London. Century Publishing.
    ISBN 0-7126-0911-3
  • Richards, Huw A Game for Hooligans: The History of Rugby Union (
    ISBN 978-1-84596-255-5
    )
  • Riordan, James Sport in Soviet Society — development of sport and physical education in Russia and the USSR (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1977)
  1. ^ "International Rugby Board - RUSSIA". Archived from the original on 2007-10-21. Retrieved 2011-09-25.
  2. ^ {{[name= World Rugby Rankings|url= https://www.world.rugby/rankings/mru?lang=en%7Cdate=2011-08-10]}}
  3. ^ Official Russia Playing Numbers Archived 2007-10-21 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Dymock, Alan (2019-11-12). "Russian Standards: A look at the state of rugby in Russia". Rugby World.
  5. Irish Times
    .
  6. ^
    ISBN 1-86200-013-1
    ) p74
  7. ^ a b c Riordan (1977), p22
  8. ^ Rugby union in Russia and USSR (in Russian)
  9. ISBN 978-0-470-03537-5
  10. ^ "Russia to host Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 2010-05-12. Archived from the original on 2014-10-20. Retrieved 2010-05-13.
  11. ^ Scrum.com : Russia take Super Powers Cup
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