Rugby union in Yugoslavia
Rugby union in Yugoslavia | |
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Country | Yugoslavia |
National team(s) | Yugoslavia |
National competitions | |
IRB Sevens World Series | |
Club competitions | |
Rugby union in Yugoslavia was a moderately popular sport. It was most popular in the Croatian SR (especially Zagreb), and to a lesser extent in the Serbian and Slovenian SRs (especially Belgrade and Ljubljana), with some presence in the Bosnian SR as well.
Governing body
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History
1950s and 1960s
Some people date the start of Croatian rugby to the 17th of January 1954 when the Mladost team from Zagreb was formed to become Croatia's first rugby union club.
In 1953, the rival code of rugby league was introduced into Serbia, rather than rugby union played in Croatia and the authorities demanded that Serbian clubs switch to rugby union to unite Yugoslavia under one form of rugby football in 1964.[1]
1970s and 1980s
Yugoslav rugby did not enjoy high reputation. For example, in 1988, an anonymous French rugby official joked that "one of the
Yugoslavia was not invited to the first Rugby World Cup in 1987, and did not qualify for the second in 1991.
The former All Black scrum half Chris Laidlaw, writing at the end of the 1970s, saw rugby as a positive force in east-west relations at the time:
- "Rugby has become the ping-pong of outdoor sports in its capacity to spread goodwill between East and West. Over the last 30 or 40 years it has spread through Eastern Europe, establishing itself strongly in Rumania and Yugoslavia, Hungary and into the USSR. The fact that a Russian team [sic] has finally played a full-scale, if unofficial Test match against France speaks for itself."[3]
Yugoslavia affiliated to the
Due to the links between many Yugoslav (mostly Croat) and New Zealand families, the side also toured there.[4]
Break up of Yugoslavia
1. Bosnia and Herzegovina,
2. Croatia,
3. Macedonia,
4. Montenegro,
5. Serbia,
5a.
In the early 1990s, former Italian cap, Dr Giancarlo Tizanini was a major driving force in Austrian rugby. Before his death in 1994, he tried hard to establish a Central European equivalent of the Six Nations between Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia.[5]
Popularity
Rugby union was a moderately popular sport in
Domestic competition
National team
The SFR Yugoslavia side was, strictly speaking, a multinational side, consisting as it did of representatives of all the various nations within the SFR Yugoslavia.
See also
- Rugby union in Kosovo
- Rugby union in Bosnia
- Rugby union in Croatia
- Rugby union in Montenegro
- Rugby union in Serbia
- Rugby union in Slovenia
References
Sources
- Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ISBN 1-86200-013-1)
- 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)
Footnotes
- ^ Cotton, p17
- ISBN 1-85291-038-0), p 47
- ^ Laidlaw, p52
- ^ a b "Yugoslav Rugby - The Story of a Forgotten Union At The Museum of Rugby until February 10th". Archived from the original on 2008-08-28.
- ISBN 1-86200-013-1) p63
See also
- RK Nada
- RK Zagreb (rugby union)