1.
Australia national rugby league team
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The Australian national rugby league team have represented Australia in senior mens rugby league football competition since the establishment of the Northern Union game in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League, the Kangaroos are ranked second in the RLIF World Rankings. The team are the most successful in Rugby League World Cup history, having contested all 14 and winning 10 of them, failing to reach the only once. Only four nations have beaten Australia in test matches, and Australia have a win percentage of 67%. Dating back to 1908, Australia are the fourth oldest national side after England, New Zealand, the team was first assembled in 1908 for a tour of Great Britain. The majority of the Kangaroos games since then have played against Great Britain. In the first half of the 20th century, Australias international competition came from alternating tours to Great Britain and New Zealand, on tours to Great Britain, Australia was known as the Kangaroos. Great Britain dominated in the years, and Australia did not win a Test against the Lions until 11 November 1911 under captain Chris McKivat. Australia did not win a series at home against Great Britain until 1920 or abroad until 1958, since 7 July 1994 the teams official nickname has been the Kangaroos, though they had unofficially been referred to as such since 1908. Previously, the Australian team was referred to as the Kangaroos when on tours of Great Britain or France. In 1997 Australia was also represented by a Super League Australia team, Rugby football has been played in Australia since the 1860s. In 1863 Sydney University became the first rugby club to be formed in Sydney, the Sydney Football Club and the Wallaroos followed, and inter-club competition commenced. By 1880, there were 100 clubs across the country, in 1888 an English team visited Australasia, playing rugby rules in Queensland, New South Wales and New Zealand, and Australian rules football in Victoria and South Australia. In 1899, an Australian team was formed for the first time using players from Queensland and they played a series of Tests against a British team. By 1907, Sydney club rugby games were attracting up to 20,000 people, with all going to the Southern Rugby Football Union. This caused discontent among players, and in 1908 the New South Wales Rugby Football League, an Australian national rugby league team was first formed during the first season of rugby league in Australia, the 1908 NSWRFL Premiership season. Later that year the Australian team arranged to go on a tour of its own, the first Kangaroos arrived in England on 27 September 1908, and played their first ever test against the Northern Union in December in London. It finished 22 all in front of a crowd of 2,000, the second test in Newcastle in January 1909 attracted a crowd of 22,000, and the Northern Union won 15–5
2.
Wallaby
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A wallaby is a small- or mid-sized macropod found in Australia and New Guinea. They belong to the taxonomic family as kangaroos and sometimes the same genus. The term wallaby is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been designated otherwise, there are 11 species of brush wallabies. Their head and body length is 45 to 105 cm and the tail is 33 to 75 cm long, the six named species of rock-wallabies live among rocks, usually near water, two species are endangered. The two species of hare-wallabies are small animals that have the movements and some of the habits of hares. Often called pademelons, the three species of scrub wallabies of New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and Tasmania are small and stocky, with hind limbs. They are hunted for meat and fur, a similar species is the short-tailed scrub wallaby, or quokka, this species is now restricted to two offshore islands of Western Australia. The three named species of forest wallabies are native to the island of New Guinea, the dwarf wallaby is the smallest member of the genus and the smallest known member of the kangaroo family. Its length is about 46 cm from nose to tail, the name wallaby comes from Dharug walabi or waliba. Young wallabies are known as joeys, like many other marsupials, adult male wallabies are referred to as bucks, boomers, or jacks. An adult female wallaby is known as a doe, flyer, a group of wallabies is called a court, mob, or troupe. Forest-dwelling wallabies are known as pademelons and dorcopsises, although members of most wallaby species are small, some can grow up to approximately two metres in length. Their powerful hind legs are not only used for bounding at high speeds and jumping great heights, the Tammar wallaby has elastic storage in the ankle extensor tendons, without which the animal’s metabolic rate might be 30–50% greater. It has also found that the design of spring-like tendon energy savings. Wallabies also have a tail that is used mostly for balance. Wallabies are herbivores whose diet consists of a range of grasses, vegetables, leaves. Due to recent urbanization, many wallabies now feed in rural, wallabies cover vast distances for food and water, which is often scarce in their environment. Mobs of wallabies often congregate around the water hole during the dry season
3.
Rugby Australia
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The Australian Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Australia. It was officially constituted in 1949 and is a member of World Rugby and it consists of eight member unions, representing each state and territory. It organises the Australia national rugby team, known as the Wallabies. The original administrative body for rugby in Australia was the Southern Rugby Union, following the first inter-colonial rugby match in 1882 between the New South Wales and Queensland teams, a Northern Rugby Union was formed in Brisbane in 1883. Interest in rugby developed rapidly over the decade as matches between New South Wales and Queensland became annual events and inter-colonial fixtures with New Zealand were also arranged. The first British Isles team toured in 1888 and played 16 rugby matches in Australia, Rugby at that time was the most prominent football code in New South Wales and Queensland, whereas Victorian rules was the main game in the other Australian colonies. The Southern and Northern Rugby Unions became the New South Wales Rugby Football Union, Australias first international rugby match was against the touring British Isles team of 1899, a year and a half before federation established the Commonwealth of Australia. The match was played at the Sydney Cricket Ground and won 13–3 by Australia, the Australian team for the first match consisted of six players from Queensland and nine from New South Wales. New South Wales, as the union, was responsible for administration of the Australian team, including all tours. Additional impetus came in 1948 when the International Rugby Football Board invited Australia specifically, the ACT Rugby Union gained membership in 1972. The Northern Territory Rugby Union joined in 1978, initially as a union before later being granted membership. In 1985 the Australian Rugby Football Union was incorporated as a company and, in 1997, the ACT Rugby Union became the ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union in 2004, after two regions in southern New South Wales switched their rugby affiliation to the Australian Capital Territory. The record for the most international appearances in rugby union is held by George Gregan, the governing structures of the ARU were overhauled in December 2012, following a review authored by the former federal senator and Minister for Sport, Mark Arbib. The ARUs members include the unions representing Australias states and territories, together with the Super Rugby bodies within the country, Members exercise their voting rights at the ARUs annual general meeting. Under the new constitution adopted in 2012, the eight existing member unions, additionally, each of the Super Rugby teams also provide a delegate who has one allocated vote. At this stage, only the Rebels and Waratahs are independently administered so the votes for the three teams are effectively controlled by the respective member unions that own each team. Finally, any delegate from a union with more than 50,000 registered players in their region is granted a second vote. Only the New South Wales and Queensland unions exceed that mark at present, the ARU also has a number of affiliated groups that do not have voting rights
4.
Michael Hooper (rugby union)
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His playing position is openside flanker. Hooper played his rugby at the Manly Roos alongside other Wallabies such as George Smith. Hooper represented Australia under 20 at the 2011 IRB Junior World Championship, where he captained the side at times and was named International Player of the Tournament. After a breakout season for the Brumbies in 2012, he was signed by the New South Wales Waratahs where he begin the 2013 season. In 2013, Hooper played every Waratahs Super Rugby game in the season and he won the Australian Super 15 player of the year award and he led the Waratahs to their 32-5 win over the Reds at ANZ Stadium. On 5 June 2012, Hooper made his debut for the Wallabies. Hooper won Wallabies Rookie of the award at the annual John Eales Medal awards evening event. However, when captain Stephen Moore left the field with an injury in the 5th minute. During the game, he scored a try in the first half, Hooper was rated was one of the best players on the field during the game by Iain Payten of foxsports. com. au and was also labelled the Energizer Bunny of world rugby. Following another strong 2015 Super Rugby season, Hooper was awarded the Peoples Choice - Wallaby of the Year at the John Eales Medal awards night for the year in a row. He also kept his position safe, forcing David Pocock into Number 8 after returning from injury. After Stephen Moore came back from injury, Hooper still held a role as vice-captain. He was also selected in the 31-man 2015 Rugby World Cup squad, in 2016 Hooper was again awarded the John Eales Medal, the 4th player to have won it a second time. His father is from Kent, England
5.
Cap (sport)
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In British sport, a cap is a metaphorical term for a players appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in a match of association football. An early illustration of the first international match between Scotland and England in 1872 shows the Scottish players wearing cowls, and the English wearing a variety of school caps. These to be termed International Caps, the act of awarding a cap is now international and is applied to other sports. Thus, a cap is awarded for each game played and so a player who has played x games, the practice of awarding a physical cap varies from sport to sport. It may be awarded prior to a debut or, particularly for national teams. As an example, the England mens association football teams still awards physical caps, Players are awarded one cap for every match they play — unless they play in a World Cup or European Championship finals tournament. Then they are given a cap for the competition — with the names of all their opponents stitched into the fabric of the cap itself. In mens association football, the record belongs to former player Ahmed Hassan of Egypt, the first footballer to win 100 international caps was Billy Wright of Englands Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wright went on to appear 105 times for England,90 of them he obtained whilst he was a captain, however, it is a players choice to refuse to play for or retire from his or her national team. In cricket, there are two types of caps, firstly, there is the international type, as described above. Some countries also award a domestic type generally known as a county cap, the latter system is most commonly applied in English county cricket. Most counties do not automatically award caps to players on their first appearance, instead, indeed, one can play at the highest domestic level for several years, and have a quite significant career in first-class cricket, without ever winning a cap. The world record for the number of caps in Test cricket is held by Sachin Tendulkar of India, Tendulkar also holds the record for One Day Internationals, with 463 caps. In rugby union,35 players have reached 100 international caps as of 5 June 2012, Players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are eligible for selection to the British and Irish Lions touring squad. Lions matches are classed as full international tests, and caps are awarded, the Pacific Islanders team, composed of players from Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Niue and Cook Islands have a similar arrangement, although no players involved have so far reached 100 caps. Players still active at Test level are in bold type, the record for most caps is held by former Australian Kangaroos player & captain Darren Lockyer with 59 games and second place is former New Zealand Kiwis player & captain Ruben Wiki with 55 games. Players still active at Test level are in bold type, mens Records and Facts FIFA Players with 100+ Caps RSSSF Picture of International Football Cap National Museum of Scotland Gallery of International Caps and Honours Caps
6.
George Gregan
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George Musarurwa Gregan AM is a retired Australian rugby union player, and is currently Australias highest ever internationally capped player. Gregan was born in Lusaka, Zambia and he played Super 12 for the Brumbies from the inception of that competition in 1996 through 2007, helping to lead them to overall victories in 2001 and 2004. He is a foundation Brumbies player and one of the few players whose career spans both the amateur and professional eras and his appearances as Australian captain include a Bledisloe Cup win in 2002 and an extra-time loss to England in the 2003 Rugby World Cup final. As a member of the Wallabies team, Gregan has attained the zenith of the rugby world, Gregan and his longtime Wallabies teammate, fly-half Stephen Larkham, also hold the all-time record for Test appearances by a halfback partnership with 79. Gregan and his wife Erica have three children, Max, Charlie and Jazz, Max was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2004 and George set up the George Gregan Foundation in 2005 after spending time with Max in hospital. The foundation raises funds to build childrens playgrounds at hospitals and train doctors who specialize in epilepsy, Gregan represented Australia at under-19 and under-21 level. He made his first appearance for the Wallabies in 1994 in a match against Italy in Brisbane and he was subsequently capped in the victories over Italy again, and Western Samoa. However, Australia made their exit at the finals, losing 25 to 22 to England at Newlands in Cape Town. The game went professional post-1995 World Cup, and one outcome of this was the formation of the Super 12 and that season Gregan appeared eight times for the Wallabies, including solid wins over both Wales and Canada in Brisbane, scoring a try in the Canadian clash. Another outcome of professionalism was the formation of the Tri Nations Series between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, Gregan played in three of Australias four fixtures at the first ever tournament, scoring a try in the 25 to 32 loss to the All Blacks in Brisbane. He was elevated to the vice-captaincy of the Wallabies in 1997, by the end of the year, Gregan was capped another four times. Australia finished at the top of Pool E, winning all their games, with Gregan playing in the matches against Romania and Ireland, the Wallabies became two-time World Champions after defeating France 35 to 12 in the final. After the international retirement of John Eales in 2001, Gregan became the Wallabies captain, Gregan played in all of Australias 6 matches at the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He landed a drop goal in the 17 to 16 victory over Ireland in the pool stages. He also scored a try in the 33 to 16 win over Scotland in the quarter-finals, Gregan led the Wallabies in defeating the All Blacks in the semi-final. This contest led to a controversy for Gregan when he taunted his opponents after defeating them the comment, Four more years boys, New Zealand would have to wait another 4 years for an attempt at winning the World Cup. Australia lost to England in the final, following Australias loss to the English in the World Cup, Gregan led the Wallabies on a massive winning campaign during the 2004 season. After defeating Scotland twice at home, the Wallabies faced the English in a World Cup replay in Brisbane, under Gregan, Australia lost just three matches in 2004, one against South Africa, one against New Zealand 16-7 in New Zealand and then against France in Paris
7.
Stadium Australia
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Stadium Australia, commercially known as ANZ Stadium and formerly as Telstra Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park, in Sydney, Australia. Every year since the stadium was built, the New South Wales rugby league teams games in the State of Origin series have been played there. Also the stadium has hosted the annual National Rugby League grand final. The stadium also hosted the 2015 AFC Asian Cup final, in 2003 reconfiguration work was completed to shorten the north and south wings, and install movable seating. These changes reduced the capacity to 83,500 for a field and 82,500 for an oval field. Awnings were also added over the north and south stands, which allows most of the seating to be undercover, the stadium was also engineered along sustainable lines for example with the low use of steel in the roof structure in comparison to the Olympic stadiums of Athens and Beijing. The stadium lacked a naming sponsor in its formative years. In 2002, telecommunications company Telstra acquired the rights, resulting in the stadium being known as Telstra Stadium. This change took effect on 1 January 2008, in 2014, ANZ renewed the deal through to the end of 2017. In 1993, Stadium Australia was designed to host the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the attendance broke the old record of 102,569 set at the Odsal Stadium in Bradford, England for the Challenge Cup Final replay between Warrington and Halifax held on 5 May 1954. The first musical act held at the newly built stadium was the Bee Gees, consisting of Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb, on March 27,1999. The band had embarked on what would be their world tour as a group before the death of Maurice. The show was out with an attendance of 66,285. The stadium was not officially opened until June 1999 when the Australian National Soccer team played the FIFA All Stars, Australia won the match 3–2 in front of a crowd of 88,101. The event attracted a capacity crowd of 82,698. The 1999 Bledisloe Cup rugby union match between the Australian Wallabies and the New Zealand All Blacks attracted a record rugby union crowd of 107,042. In 2000 this was bettered when an almost capacity crowd of 109,874 witnessed the Greatest ever Rugby Match when a Jonah Lomu try sealed an All Blacks win over the Wallabies 39–35. The All Blacks had led 24-nil after 11 minutes only to see Australia draw level at 24-all by halftime, an exhibition soccer match between the Socceroos and Premier League team Manchester United was played on 18 July 1999
8.
Rugby union equipment
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A traditional rugby union kit consists of a collared jersey, shorts, jockstrap / compression shorts, long rugby socks and boots with studs. Some modest padding is allowed on the head, shoulders and collarbone, most players also opt to wear a mouthguard to guard against concussion and chipping of the teeth. Traditionally, rugby boots were of a cut above the ankle. Over the years, such boots have become common, although many players still wear mid-cut boots. Additional ankle support was seen as appropriate given the nature of the game, particularly the stresses of forward play, higher cut boots also provided some protection against knocks. Modern boots are now similar to football boots, with a low cut offering less ankle support. It is essential for safety considerations, particularly in the scrum, the studs may be metal or plastic and must conform to Regulation 12 of World Rugby. This regulation dictates the permissible dimensions of the studs and also defines a standard for the hardness of the material, backs would be advised, on most ground types, to wear boots with some form of stud, to ensure adequate grip when changing direction. Referees are required to all players studs before a game. Any studs that are worn down so that the steel fixing is showing must be changed before the player is allowed to join in the game. The intent of the standard and these pre-match checks is to eliminate the potential for a stud to cause a cut if it comes into contact with a players skin, generally there are two types of stud pattern worn, the 8 stud or the 6 stud. The 8 stud is most often worn by the forwards to provide them with extra grip for scrummaging and mauling. The 6 stud is worn by backs as it allows for more agility, plastic blade studs, common in football, are an increasingly frequent choice among backs. Tackle bags are use during training and warm up in rugby union, tackle bags are padded equipment which allows players to tackle without another player being involved. Tackle bags come in two forms, the shield and the tackle bag. The rucking shield is held in the hand of a coach or fellow player, the tackle bag stands on the ground held loosely by another person, it allows the tackler to practice a full tackle
9.
World Rugby Rankings
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The World Rugby Rankings is a ranking system for mens national teams in rugby union, managed by World Rugby, the sports governing body. The teams of World Rugbys member nations are ranked based on their game results, a point system is used, with points being awarded based on the results of World Rugby-recognized international matches. Rankings are based on a performance, with more recent results. The ranking system was introduced the month before the 2003 Rugby World Cup, when the system was introduced England were the top team and maintained that position following victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. New Zealand took the lead from 7 June 2004, after winning the 2007 Rugby World Cup final, South Africa became the third team to achieve first place. New Zealand have been the most consistently ranked #1 team since the introduction of IRB World Rankings, South Africa and England make up the remainder. The point system is calculated using a Points Exchange system, in which sides receive points each other based upon the match result – whatever one side gains. The exchanges are based on the result, the ranking of each team. As the system aims to depict current team strengths, past successes or losses will fade, thus, it is thought that it will produce an accurate picture depicting the actual current strength and thus rank of the nations. The rankings are responsive to results and it is possible to climb to the top from the bottom in fewer than 20 matches, as all matches are worth a net of 0 points for the two teams combined, there is no particular advantage to playing more matches. A rating stays the same until the plays again. Although matches often result in points exchanges, predictable results lead to minor changes. The system ensures that it is representative of the teams performance despite playing differing numbers of matches per annum, Points exchanges are doubled during the World Cup Finals to recognise the unique importance of this event. All other full international matches are treated the same, to be as fair as possible to countries playing a different mix of friendly, matches that do not have full international status do not count. A win against a highly ranked opponent is a considerably greater achievement than a win against a low-rated opponent. Thus match results are more important than margins of victory in producing accurate rankings and this is because when a highly ranked team plays a lowly ranked team and manages to beat them by over 50 points, it does not necessarily indicate how either team will perform in the future. When calculating points exchanges, the side is handicapped by treating them as though they are three rating points better than their current rating. This results in the home side gaining fewer points for winning and losing points for losing
10.
British and Irish Lions
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The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for any of the Home Nations – the national sides of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The Lions are a Test side, and generally select international players, the side tours every four years, with these rotating among Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The 2009 Test series was lost 2–1 to South Africa, while the 2013 Test series was won 2–1 over Australia, from 1888 onwards combined rugby sides from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland toured the Southern Hemisphere. The first tour was a venture, and was undertaken without official backing. The six subsequent visits enjoyed a degree of support from the authorities, before the 1910 South Africa tour. In 1949 the four Home Unions formally created a Tours Committee and for the first time, the 1950s tours saw high win rates in provincial games, but the Test series were typically lost or drawn. The winning series in 1971 and 1974 changed this pattern, the last tour of the amateur age took place in 1993. The multi-nation team that is named the British and Irish Lions first came into existence in 1888 as the Shaw & Shrewsbury Team. It was then primarily English in composition but also contained players from Scotland, later the name British Isles became associated with the team. When the team first emerged in the century, it represented the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The team continued to exist after the Irish war of independence and civil war, from the 2001 tour of Australia, the official name British and Irish Lions has been used. The team is referred to simply as the Lions. As the Lions represent two states, they do not have a national anthem. For more than half a century, the Lions have been synonymous with the red jersey that sports the amalgamated crests of the four unions, however, prior to 1950 the strip went through a number of significantly different formats. In 1888, the promoter of the first expedition to Australia and New Zealand, Arthur Shrewsbury, demanded something that would be good material, the result was a jersey in thick red, white and blue hoops, worn above white shorts and dark socks. The tours to South Africa in 1891 and 1896 retained the red, white and blue theme but this time as red and white hooped jerseys and dark blue shorts and socks. The 1899 trip to Australia saw a reversion to red, white and blue jerseys, but with the used in thick hoops. The shorts remained blue, as did the socks although a white flash was added to the latter, in 1903, the South Africa tour followed on from the 1896 tour, with red and white hooped jerseys
11.
Sydney
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Sydney /ˈsɪdni/ is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australias east coast, the metropolis surrounds the worlds largest natural harbour, residents of Sydney are known as Sydneysiders. The Sydney area has been inhabited by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years, the first British settlers, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, arrived in 1788 to found Sydney as a penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia. Since convict transportation ended in the century, the city has transformed from a colonial outpost into a major global cultural. As at June 2016 Sydneys estimated population was 5,005,358, in the 2011 census,34 percent of the population reported having been born overseas, representing many different nationalities and making Sydney one of the most multicultural cities in the world. There are more than 250 different languages spoken in Sydney and about one-third of residents speak a language other than English at home and it is classified as an Alpha+ World City by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, indicating its influence in the region and throughout the world. Ranked eleventh in the world for economic opportunity, Sydney has a market economy with strengths in finance, manufacturing. Its gross regional product was $337 billion in 2013, the largest in Australia, there is a significant concentration of foreign banks and multinational corporations in Sydney and the city is promoted as one of Asia Pacifics leading financial hubs. Its natural features include Sydney Harbour, the Royal National Park, man-made attractions such as the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Tower and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are also well known to international visitors. The first people to inhabit the now known as Sydney were indigenous Australians having migrated from northern Australia. Radiocarbon dating suggests human activity first started to occur in the Sydney area from around 30,735 years ago, the earliest British settlers called them Eora people. Eora is the term the indigenous used to explain their origins upon first contact with the British. Its literal meaning is from this place, prior to the arrival of the British there were 4,000 to 8,000 native people in Sydney from as many as 29 different clans. Sydney Cove from Port Jackson to Petersham was inhabited by the Cadigal clan, the principal language groups were Darug, Guringai, and Dharawal. The earliest Europeans to visit the area noted that the people were conducting activities such as camping and fishing, using trees for bark and food, collecting shells. Development has destroyed much of the citys history including that of the first inhabitants, there continues to be examples of rock art and engravings located in the protected Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The first meeting between the people and the British occurred on 29 April 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay on the Kurnell Peninsula. He noted in his journal that they were confused and somewhat hostile towards the foreign visitors, Cook was on a mission of exploration and was not commissioned to start a settlement
12.
Namibia national rugby union team
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They are governed by the Namibia Rugby Union. Namibia has been playing rugby since the early 1900s. As well as having competed at the World Cup, Namibia annually competes in the Africa Cup, until independence, players for Namibia were also eligible to represent South Africa, with Namibian-born Springboks including Jan Ellis and, more recently, Percy Montgomery. As of 20 June 2016 they are ranked 21st in the world, Rugby union has been played in Namibia since 1916 when it was introduced by soldiers from South Africa who had invaded the German-run colony. Before Namibia gained its independence in 1990, the team, as South West Africa, played in South Africas domestic club competition, the team achieved their best result in the 1988 season, where they finished third. The Namibia Rugby Union was formed in March 1990, and it joined the International Rugby Board in the same month, independence came too late for Namibia to qualify for the 1991 Rugby World Cup. That year the Welwitschias won all 10 of their Tests, the others being five victories against Zimbabwe, one of Namibias players, Andre Stoop was signed by English champion rugby league club, Wigan. During the international seasons Namibia played six games, the first of which was a 55–23 win over Zimbabwe, following another victory over Zimbabwe, in 1993 Namibia played Wales in Windhoek, losing 23–38. Namibia completed big victories over the Arabian Gulf rugby team, Kenya, russia toured Namibia in 1994, defeating the home team 31–12 in Windhoek. Although Namibia defeated Zimbabwe that year, the team lost to Côte dIvoire, in 1996 Namibia played two matches, losing 13–15 to Zimbabwe, and then defeating them by one point in a subsequent meeting. They played two games in 1997 as well, losing to Tonga and Zimbabwe, during 1998 Namibia took part in the African tournaments for 1999 Rugby World Cup qualification. They started out in Round 3, where they finished second in the pool behind Zimbabwe on points difference, Namibia defeated Côte dIvoire, Morocco and Zimbabwe to qualify for the 1999 Rugby World Cup. This followed criticisms from non-white rugby clubs that the Namibian Rugby Union displayed racist attitudes, ultimately, however, the team were allowed to take part. The 1999 World Cup marked their debut at the tournament and since then they have been Africas second representative alongside South Africa, while they suffered heavy defeats by France, Fiji and Canada, they took pride in scoring an early try and being level with France after 20 minutes. However, with a player base, and lacking frequent or strong competition. Their record in the World Cups has been poor as they have not yet managed a win and their record defeat, 142–0 against Australia in the 2003 tournament, led to some questioning the presence of the minor teams at the tournament. Namibia initially struggled in the qualifiers for the 2007 tournament, suffering a defeat to Kenya, their first ever to the African Great Lakes nation. Following the Kenya loss, the Namibian squad slumped to 28th in the IRB rankings, however, after defeating Tunisia at home, the team was effectively through to two deciding matches against Morocco, to determine which of the two African nations would make it to France in 2007
13.
Adelaide
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Adelaide is the capital city of the state of South Australia, and the fifth-most populous city of Australia. In June 2016, Adelaide had a resident population of 1,326,354 million. South Australia, with a total of 1, the demonym Adelaidean is used in reference to the city and its residents. Adelaide is north of the Fleurieu Peninsula, on the Adelaide Plains between the Gulf St Vincent and the low-lying Mount Lofty Ranges which surround the city. Adelaide stretches 20 km from the coast to the foothills, and 94 to 104 km from Gawler at its northern extent to Sellicks Beach in the south. Named in honour of Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, queen consort to King William IV, Colonel William Light, one of Adelaides founding fathers, designed the city and chose its location close to the River Torrens, in the area originally inhabited by the Kaurna people. Lights design set out Adelaide in a layout, interspaced by wide boulevards and large public squares. Early Adelaide was shaped by prosperity and wealth—until the Second World War, it was Australias third-largest city and it has been noted for early examples of religious freedom, a commitment to political progressivism and civil liberties. It has been known as the City of Churches since the mid-19th century, as South Australias seat of government and commercial centre, Adelaide is the site of many governmental and financial institutions. Most of these are concentrated in the city centre along the boulevard of North Terrace, King William Street. Today, Adelaide is noted for its festivals and sporting events, its food and wine, its long beachfronts. It ranks highly in terms of liveability, being listed in the Top 10 of The Economist Intelligence Units Worlds Most Liveable Cities index in 2010,2011,2012 and 2015. It was also ranked the most liveable city in Australia by the Property Council of Australia in 2011,2012 and 2013, prior to its proclamation as a British settlement in 1836, the area around Adelaide was inhabited by the indigenous Kaurna Aboriginal nation. Kaurna culture and language was almost completely destroyed within a few decades of the European settlement of South Australia in 1836, however, extensive documentation by early missionaries and other researchers has enabled a modern revival of both language and culture. South Australia was officially proclaimed as a new British colony on 28 December 1836, the event is commemorated in South Australia as Proclamation Day. The site of the capital was surveyed and laid out by Colonel William Light. Adelaide was established as a colony of free immigrants, promising civil liberties and freedom from religious persecution. Wakefields idea was for the Government to survey and sell the land at a rate that would maintain land values high enough to be unaffordable for labourers and journeymen
14.
South Africa national rugby union team
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The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks, is governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jerseys with white shorts, and their emblems are the Springbok, the team has been representing South Africa in international rugby union since 30 July 1891, when they played their first test match against a British Isles touring team. The team made its World Cup debut in 1995, when the newly democratic South Africa hosted the tournament, South Africa regained their title as champions 12 years later, when they defeated England 15–6 in the 2007 final. They were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the Laureus World Sports Awards, the Springboks also compete in the annual Rugby Championship, along with southern-hemisphere counterparts Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. They have won this championship on three occasions in sixteen years and they also play Test matches against the various rugby-playing nations. Their position in the World Rugby Rankings has varied between the No.1 and No.7 positions, the first British Isles tour took place in 1891, at Diocesan College. These were the first representative games played by South African sides, the tourists won all twenty matches they played, conceding only one point. The British Isles success continued on their tour of 1896, winning three out of four tests against South Africa, South Africas play improved markedly from 1891, and their first test win in the final game was a pointer to the future. In 1903 the British Isles lost a series for the first time in South Africa, Rugby was given a huge boost by the early Lions tours, which created great interest in the South African press. South Africa would not lose another series—home or away—until 1956, the first South African team to tour the British Isles and France occurred during 1906–07. The team played tests against all four Home Nations, England managed a draw, but Scotland was the only one of the Home unions to gain a victory. The trip instilled a sense of pride among South Africans. The South Africans played a match against a France team while the official French team were in England. It was during this tour that the nickname Springboks was first used, the 1910 British Isles tour of South Africa was the first to include representatives from all four Home unions. The tourists won just one of their three tests, the Boks second European tour took place in 1912–13. They beat the four Home nations to earn their first Grand Slam, by the first World War, New Zealand and South Africa had established themselves as rugbys two greatest powers. A Springbok tour to New Zealand and Australia in 1921 was billed as The World Championship of Rugby, the All Blacks won the first Test 13–5, The Springboks recovered to win the second Test 9–5, and the final Test was drawn 0–0, resulting in a series draw. The 1924 British and Irish Lions team to South Africa lost all four Tests to the Springboks and this was the first side to pick up the name Lions, apparently picked up from the Lions embroidered on their ties
15.
Johannesburg
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Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa and is one of the 50 largest urban areas in the world. It is the capital of Gauteng, which is the wealthiest province in South Africa. While Johannesburg is not one of South Africas three capital cities, it is the seat of the Constitutional Court, the city is located in the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills and is the centre of large-scale gold and diamond trade. In 2011, the population of the city of Johannesburg was 4,434,827, in the same year, the population of Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area was 7,860,781. Some view the surrounding the city of Johannesburg yet more broadly than the metropolitan area, adding Ekurhuleni, West Rand and Lenasia. The land area of the city is large in comparison with those of other major cities, resulting in a moderate population density of 2. The city was established in 1886 following the discovery of gold on what had been a farm, the city is commonly interpreted as the modern day El Dorado due to the extremely large gold deposit found along the Witwatersrand. The name is attributed to one or all of three men involved in the establishment of the city, in ten years, the population was 100,000 inhabitants. A separate city from the late 1970s until the 1990s, Soweto is now part of Johannesburg, Soweto, although eventually incorporated into Johannesburg, had been separated as a residential area for blacks, who were not permitted to live in Johannesburg proper. Lenasia is predominantly populated by English-speaking South Africans of Indian descent, controversy surrounds the origin of the name. There were quite a number of people with the name Johannes who were involved in the history of the city. Among them are the principal clerk attached to the office of the surveyor-general Johannes Rissik, Christiaan Johannes Joubert, another was Stephanus Johannes Paulus Paul Kruger, president of the South African Republic 1883-1900. Johannes Meyer, the first government official in the area is another possibility, precise records for the choice of name were lost. Rissik and Joubert were members of a delegation sent to England to attain mining rights for the area. Joubert had a park in the city named after him and Rissik Street is today a street where the historically important and dilapidated Post Office, since burnt out. The region surrounding Johannesburg was originally inhabited by San people, the Sotho–Tswana practised farming and extensively mined and smelted metals that were available in the area. The most prominent site within Johannesburg is Melville Koppies, which contains an iron smelting furnace, the main Witwatersrand gold reef was discovered in June 1884 on the farm Vogelstruisfontein by Jan Gerritse Bantjes that triggered the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the start of Johannesburg in 1886. The discovery of gold rapidly attracted people to the area, making necessary a name, Johannes Meyer, the first government official in the area is another possibility
16.
Rugby World Cup
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The Rugby World Cup is a mens rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament was first held in 1987, when the tournament was co-hosted by New Zealand, New Zealand are the current champions, having defeated Australia in the final of the 2015 tournament in England. Four countries have won the trophy, New Zealand have won it three times, two teams have won twice, Australia and South Africa, while England have won it once, the tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sports international governing body. Sixteen teams were invited to participate in the tournament in 1987. Japan will host the event in 2019. Qualifying tournaments were introduced for the tournament, where eight of the sixteen places were contested in a twenty-four-nation tournament. The remaining twelve positions were filled by continental qualifying tournaments, positions were filled by three teams from the Americas, one from Asia, one from Africa, three from Europe and two from Oceania. Another two places were allocated for repechage, the second repechage position was determined between the runners-up from the Asia and Oceania qualifiers. The qualification system for the eight places is region-based, with a total eight teams allocated for Europe, five for Oceania. The last place is determined by an intercontinental play-off, the 2015 tournament involved twenty nations competing over six weeks. There were two stages, a pool and a knockout, Nations were divided into four pools, A through to D, of five nations each. The teams were seeded before the start of the tournament, with the seedings taken from the World Rankings in December 2012, the four highest-ranked teams were drawn into pools A to D. The next four highest-ranked teams were drawn into pools A to D. The remaining positions in each pool were filled by the qualifiers, Nations play four pool games, playing their respective pool members once each. A bonus points system is used during pool play, if two or more teams are level on points, a system of criteria is used to determine the higher ranked, the sixth and final criterion decides the higher rank through the official World Rankings. The winner and runner-up of each pool enter the knockout stage, the knockout stage consists of quarter- and semi-finals, and then the final. The winner of each pool is placed against a runner-up of a different pool in a quarter-final, the winner of each quarter-final goes on to the semi-finals, and the respective winners proceed to the final. Losers of the semi-finals contest for third place, called the Bronze Final, if a match in the knockout stages ends in a draw, the winner is determined through extra time
17.
1987 Rugby World Cup
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The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby Union World Cup. New Zealand and Australia agreed to co-host the tournament, New Zealand hosted 20 matches —17 pool stage matches, two quarter-finals and the final. Australia as the junior partner hosted 12 matches — seven pool matches, the event was won by co-hosts New Zealand who were the strong favourites, and won all their matches comfortably. Sixteen teams competed in the inaugural tournament, seven of the 16 places were automatically filled by the International Rugby Football Board members—New Zealand, Australia, England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and France. South Africa was unable to compete because of the sports boycott due to apartheid. There was no process to fill the remaining nine spots. Instead invitations were sent out to Argentina, Fiji, Italy, Canada, Romania, Tonga, Japan, Zimbabwe and this left Western Samoa controversially excluded, despite their better playing standard than some of the teams invited. The USSR were to be invited but they refused the invitation on political grounds, the tournament witnessed a number of one-sided matches, with the seven traditional IRFB members proving too strong for the other teams. Half of the 24 matches across the four pools saw one team score 40 or more points, New Zealand defeated France 29–9 in the final at Eden Park in Auckland. The New Zealand team was captained by David Kirk, and included such rugby greats as Sean Fitzpatrick, John Kirwan, Grant Fox, the tournament was seen as a major success and proved that the event was here to stay. It also led to many countries joining the International Rugby Football Board which in turn led the IRFB to become the authority for the running of international rugby union. There was no qualification for the inaugural World Cup so the tournament comprised the seven then-members of the IRFB, South Africa was excluded due to its pro apartheid policies. Soviet Union were to be invited but declined, Western Samoa was not invited despite having a better record than some of the other invited nations. There was no qualifying tournament to determine the participants, and instead the 16 nations were invited by the International Rugby Football Board to compete, the runners-up of each pool faced the winners of a different pool in the quarter finals. The winners moved on to the finals, with the winners then moving onto the final. Fiji qualified for the highest number of tries France qualify as pool winner having scored three tries while Scotland scored two in their drawn match 20 all, the event was broadcast in Australia by ABC and in the United Kingdom by the BBC. Official Rugby World Cup Site Full Results and Statistics at ESPN Origins of the 1987 World Cup
18.
1991 Rugby World Cup
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Following on from the success of the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup, the 1991 World Cup received increased attention and was seen as a major global sporting event for the first time. This however resulted in one new side qualifying for the tournament. The same sixteen team format was used with just minor changes to the points system. Also notable in pool play was that Canada finished second in their pool to qualify for the quarterfinals in what remains Canadas best performance in the Rugby World Cup, Scotland beat Ireland to top their pool, again both teams qualifying. In the quarter-finals, neither Canada nor Western Samoa proved a match for New Zealand or Scotland, meanwhile, England knocked out 1987 finalist France in a bruising encounter. The World Cup Final was played at Twickenham Stadium in London, the following 16 teams, shown by region, qualified for the 1991 Rugby World Cup. Of the 16 teams, eight of those places were filled by quarterfinalists from the 1987 World Cup. 25 nations competed in a process designed to fill the remaining eight spots. In the event, there was one change from the 1987 tournament. Nations were awarded 2 points for a win,1 for a draw and zero for a loss, the runners-up of each pool faced the winners of a different pool in the quarter finals. The winners moved on to the finals, with the winners then moving onto the final. The event was broadcast in the United Kingdom by ITV who took over the rights from the BBC, official Rugby World Cup Site Full Results and Statistics at ESPN World Cup Referees on RugbyRefs. com
19.
1999 Rugby World Cup
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The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was principally hosted by Wales, and was won by Australia and this was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sports professional era. Although the majority of matches were played outside Wales the opening ceremony, the first match, qualification for the final 16 places took place between 63 other nations. The 1999 tournament saw the introduction of a repechage, effectively a chance for teams that had finished runners-up in each qualifying zone. The tournament began with the ceremony in the newly-built Millennium Stadium, with Wales beating Argentina 23–18. The overall attendance for the tournament was 1.75 million, the following 20 teams, shown by region, qualified for the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Of the 20 teams, only four of those places were automatically allocated and these went to the champions, runners-up and the third-placed nations at the 1995 and the tournament host, Wales. A record 65 nations from five continents were involved in the qualification process designed to fill the remaining 16 spots. Wales won the right to host the World Cup in 1999, other venues in Wales were the Racecourse Ground and Stradey Park. An agreement was reached so that the unions in the Five Nations Championship also hosted matches. Venues in England included Twickenham and Welford Road, rugby union venues, as well as Ashton Gate in Bristol and the McAlpine Stadium in Huddersfield, venues in Ireland included Lansdowne Road, the traditional home of the Irish Rugby Football Union, Ravenhill and Thomond Park. France used five venues, the most of any nation, including the French national stadium, Stade de France, the five pool runners-up and the best third-placed side qualified for the quarter-final play-offs. The unusual format meant that two winners in the quarter-finals would have to play each other. From the quarter-final stage it became a knockout tournament. The semi-final losers played off for third place, the draw and format for the knock-out stage was set as follows. The tournament began on 1 October 1999 in the newly built Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, the Pool stage of the tournament played out as was widely expected with the Tri Nations teams of New Zealand, South Africa and Australia all winning their pools easily without losing a single game. For the then Five Nations Championship teams who all played their matches in their own countries it was a case of mixed fortunes with France winning their pool without losing a game. Host Wales also won their pool, though they suffered 31–38 defeat at the hands of Samoa in front of a crowd at the Millennium Stadium
20.
Rugby union at the Summer Olympics
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Rugby union has been a mens medal sport at the modern Summer Olympic Games, being played at four of the first seven competitions. The sport debuted at the 1900 Paris games where the medal was won by the host nation. It was subsequently featured at the London games in 1908, the Antwerp games in 1920 and the Paris games in 1924. The United States is the most successful nation in Olympic rugby tournaments, shortly after the 1924 games, the International Olympic Committee dropped rugby union as an Olympic sport. Since then there have been attempts to bring the sport back to the Olympic programme. In October 2009 the IOC voted at its session in Copenhagen to include the version of the sport in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The event made its debut in an Olympic programme at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics, the sport was introduced by Pierre de Coubertin, who is famous for reviving the modern Olympics. He also helped to establish rugby in France, refereeing the first domestic French club championship in 1892 and Frances first international, on New Year’s Day,1906, Coubertin formed the IOC in 1894, but rugby union was not featured until the II Olympiad. Three National Olympic Committees, France, Germany and Great Britain, the German and British teams were not national teams in the current sense of the word, Moseley Wanderers RFC represented Great Britain and the Frankfurt Club represented Germany. Rules were also different from todays,3 points, not 5, were awarded for tries and 4, also,4 points were awarded for a goal from mark, which would be reduced to 3 points in 1905 and eliminated completely in 1977. Points for penalties and conversions,3 and 2 respectively, were the same as in the modern game, France won the gold, beating Great Britain 27 points to 8 and defeating Germany 27 points to 17. Other sources list the German team as second, because of the points difference,6,000 people watched the game between France and Great Britain, which was the largest crowd at the games. Constantin Henriquez, a player on the French team, is the first known coloured athlete to compete in the Olympic Games. Rugby union was not played at the 1904 games in St. Louis, nor at the 1906 Intercalated Games, but was included in 1908, the Rugby Football Union was involved in the organization of the sport at this edition of the Olympics. Like the 1900 games, three teams entered, Australasia, France, and hosts Great Britain, France pulled out prior to the commencement of the tournament, being unable to field a representative team. Australasia was represented by the Wallabies, who were already on tour in Britain, the choice of Cornwall was controversial, as only three of their players had ever represented England and the Wallabies had defeated them 18 points to five. As expected, Australasia defeated Great Britain, claiming the gold medal, the match at the White City Stadium was played under poor conditions, in fog and on a slippery field. Two of the Australian team members would win another Olympic gold medal
21.
Rugby union at the 1908 Summer Olympics
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Rugby union at the 1908 Summer Olympics. The event was summarised under the Football heading along with association football, the host Great Britain was represented by Cornwall, the 1908 county champion. Defending Olympic champions France withdrew, leaving Australasia, represented by the Australia national rugby team as the only other remaining entrant. The visiting team competed in the London Olympics in conjunction with the inaugural Wallaby tour of the United Kingdom of 1908-09, the Australian team entered the rugby tournament and were the only other team alongside Cornwall, who were representing Great Britain. Australia had already beaten Cornwall, the British county champions early in the tour - an 18-5 defeat of Cornwall in their tour match at Camborne RFC on 3 October 1908. Scotland and Ireland had turned down the Rugby Football Unions invitation to participate in the Olympic bouts, France were expected to contest the medal, but had withdrawn, leaving just the Australia and Cornwall for England team to play for gold and silver medals. The interest in the Olympic rugby final was only lukewarm with the final being held in the last week of Games that had taken place over six months, in 1908 Twickenham Stadium was still being built. Large mattresses were spread along the rim of the pool to prevent injuries to falling players, one day was allocated to what was called the Olympic rugby tournament. The game was rather a damp squib and took place in a mid week London fog at a virtually deserted White City. Often a kick for touch saw the end up in the pool. Penzance RFC and England international winger Barrie Bennetts had to withdraw with an injury in the morning and was replaced by Barney Solomon - the elder brother of the more famous Bert. The pack which scrummaged on a first up/first down principle in those days included another England man A. J. Wilson who was a student at Camborne School of Mines, Australia outscored Great Britain six tries to one to win the gold medal with a 32-3 victory. Silver was awarded to Cornwall and no bronze was awarded, the Cornish silver olympic medal was drawn for by the players and won by Thomas Chicky Wedge and it has been on display at the St Ives RFC clubhouse ever since. After the match the Cornish players were entertained to dinner by the Cornish Members of Parliament, yesterday the champion England county was practically at full strength, but from start to finish they were outplayed. The ground was slippery and very heavy and as a result of several hours of continuous rain the ball was very greasy. The excellence of the play of the Australian backs therefore surprised the spectators and they gave a display of football which would have done credit to a Welsh international side, at its best. They scored eight tries and so good was the leading up to each of them that it would be hard to say which was the best. The Barbarian players, who wear their club socks, all wore yellow socks to represent Cornwall
22.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
23.
Rugby union
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Rugby union, known in some parts of the world simply as rugby, is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is between two teams of 15 players using a ball on a rectangular field with H-shaped goalposts on each try line. Historically an amateur sport, in 1995 restrictions on payments to players were removed, World Rugby, originally the International Rugby Football Board and from 1998 to 2014 the International Rugby Board, has been the governing body for rugby union since 1886. Rugby union spread from the Home Nations of Great Britain and Ireland, early exponents of the sport included Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France. Countries that have adopted rugby union as their de facto national sport include Fiji, Georgia, Madagascar, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Rugby union is played in over 100 countries across six continents, there are 101 full members and 18 associate members of World Rugby. The Rugby World Cup, first held in 1987, takes place four years with the winner of the tournament receiving the Webb Ellis Cup. The Six Nations Championship in Europe and The Rugby Championship in the Southern Hemisphere are major annual competitions. The origin of football is reputed to be an incident during a game of English school football at Rugby School in 1823. Although the evidence for the story is doubtful, it was immortalised at the school with a plaque unveiled in 1895, despite the doubtful evidence, the Rugby World Cup trophy is named after Webb Ellis. Rugby football stems from the form of game played at Rugby School, Old Rugbeian Albert Pell, a student at Cambridge, is credited with having formed the first football team. During this early period different schools used different rules, with pupils from Rugby. Other important events include the Blackheath Clubs decision to leave the Football Association in 1863, despite the sports full name of rugby union, it is known simply as rugby throughout most of the world. The first rugby football international was played on 27 March 1871 between Scotland and England, by 1881 both Ireland and Wales had representative teams, and in 1883 the first international competition, the Home Nations Championship had begun. 1883 is also the year of the first rugby tournament, the Melrose Sevens. During the early history of union, a time before commercial air travel. The first two notable tours both took place in 1888—the British Isles team touring New Zealand and Australia, followed by the New Zealand team touring Europe, All three teams brought new styles of play, fitness levels and tactics, and were far more successful than critics had expected. After Morgan began singing, the crowd joined in, the first time a national anthem was sung at the start of a sporting event, in 1905 France played England in its first international match
24.
England national rugby union team
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The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy and they are ranked second in the world by the International Rugby Board as of 20 June 2016. England were the first, and to date, the team from the northern hemisphere to win the Rugby World Cup. They were also runners-up in 1991 and 2007, the history of the team extends back to 1871 when the English rugby team played their first official Test match, losing to Scotland by one goal. England dominated the early Home Nations Championship which started in 1883, following the schism of rugby football in 1895, England did not win the Championship again until 1910. England first played against New Zealand in 1905, South Africa in 1906, England was one of the teams invited to take part in the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 and went on to appear in the final in the second tournament in 1991, losing 12–6 to Australia. Following their 2003 Six Nations Championship Grand Slam, they went on to win the 2003 Rugby World Cup – defeating Australia 20–17 in extra time and they again contested the final in 2007, losing 15–6 to South Africa. England players traditionally wear a shirt with a Rose embroidered on the chest, white shorts. Their home ground is Twickenham Stadium where they first played in 1910, the team is administered by the Rugby Football Union. Four former players have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, Englands first international match was against Scotland on Monday 27 March 1871. Not only was this match Englands first, but it proved to be the first ever rugby union international. Scotland won the match by a goal and a try to a try, in front of a crowd of 4,000 people at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh. A subsequent international took place at the Oval in London on 5 February 1872 which saw England defeat Scotland by a goal, in those early days there was no points system, it was only after 1890 that a format allowing the introduction of a points system was provided. Up until 1875 international rugby matches were decided by the number of goals scored, in 1875, England played their first game against the Irish at the Oval, winning by one goal, one drop goal and one try to nil, the match was Irelands first ever Test. England defeated Scotland in 1880 to become the first winners of the Calcutta Cup and their first match against Wales was played on 19 February 1881 at Richardsons Field in Blackheath. England recorded their largest victory, defeating the Welsh by seven goals, six tries, in 1889, England played their first match against a non-home nations team when they defeated the New Zealand Natives by one goal and four tries to nil at Rectory Field in Blackheath. In 1890 England shared the Home Nations trophy with Scotland, England first played New Zealand in 1905. The All Blacks scored five tries, worth three points at this time, to win 15–0, England first played France in 1905, and Australia in 1909 when they were defeated 9–3
25.
Twickenham Stadium
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Twickenham Stadium is a rugby union stadium in Twickenham, south west London, England. Owned by the body of rugby union in England, the Rugby Football Union. The RFU headquarters are based in the stadium and it is the second largest stadium in the UK, after Wembley Stadium, and the fourth largest in Europe. Twickenham is often referred to as the home of rugby union, the stadium, owned and operated by the RFU, hosts rugby union fixtures year round. It is the home of the English rugby union team, who nearly all their home games at the stadium. Twickenham hosts Englands home Six Nations matches, as well as inbound touring teams from the Southern Hemisphere, apart from its relationship with the national team, Twickenham is the venue for a number of other domestic and international rugby union matches. It is also the venue for the final of the Aviva Premiership as well as the season-opening London Double Header, Big Game, anglo-Welsh Cup, Heineken Cup and Champions Cup finals have also been held here in the past. Sold out Tests against New Zealand and South Africa at Crystal Palace saw the RFU realise the benefit of owning their own ground. Committee member William Williams and treasurer William Cail led the way to purchasing a 10.25 acre market garden in Twickenham in 1907 for £5,500 12s 6d, the first stands were constructed the following year. Before the ground was purchased, it was used to grow cabbages, after further expenditure on roads, the first game, between Harlequins v. Richmond, was played on 2 October 1909, and the first international, England v. Wales, on 15 January 1910. At the time of the English-Welsh game, the stadium had a capacity of 20,000 spectators. During World War I the ground was used for cattle, horse, king George V unveiled a war memorial in 1921. In 1926, the first Middlesex Sevens took place at the ground, in 1927 the first Varsity Match took place at Twickenham for the first time. On 19 March 1938, BBC Television broadcast the England – Scotland match from Twickenham, in 1959, to mark 50 years of the ground, a combined side of England and Wales beat Ireland and Scotland by 26 points to 17. Coming into the last match of the 1988 season, against the Irish, the Twickenham crowd had only seen one solitary England try in the previous two years, and at half-time against Ireland they were 0–3 down. During the second half a remarkable transformation took place and England started playing a game many had doubted they were capable of producing. A 0–3 deficit was turned into a 35–3 win, with England scoring six tries and this day also saw the origins of the adoption of the negro spiritual Swing Low, Sweet Chariot as a terrace song. In the 35–3 win against Ireland, three of Englands tries were scored by Chris Oti, a player who had made a reputation for himself that season as a speedster on the left wing
26.
Millennium Stadium
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The Millennium Stadium, currently known for sponsorship purposes as the Principality Stadium, is the national stadium of Wales, located in Cardiff. It is the home of the Wales national rugby team and has also staged games of the Wales national football team. It also hosted six FA Cup finals and several other high-profile football fixtures while Wembley Stadium was being redeveloped, the stadium is owned by Millennium Stadium plc, a subsidiary company of the Welsh Rugby Union. The stadium was designed by a led by architects Bligh Lobb Sports Architecture. WS Atkins were the engineers, and the building contractor was Laing. The total construction cost of the stadium was £121 million, of which the Millennium Commission funded £46 million, with a total seating capacity of 74,500, it is the third-largest stadium in the Six Nations Championship behind the Stade de France and Twickenham. It is also the second-largest stadium in the world with a retractable roof and was the second stadium in Europe to have this feature. Listed as a category four stadium by UEFA, the stadium was chosen as the venue for the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final, due to take place on 3 June 2017. In 2015, the Welsh Rugby Union announced a 10-year sponsorship deal with the Principality Building Society that saw the renamed as the Principality Stadium from early 2016. Until 1969, Cardiff RFC and Wales both played their matches on the same pitch at Cardiff Arms Park, but all this changed in the 1969–70 season. By 7 April 1984 the National Stadium was officially opened, however, in 1994, a redevelopment committee was set up to consider redeveloping the National Stadium, and by 1995 the WRU had been chosen to host the 1999 Rugby World Cup. France was also about to build the Stade de France, which would have a capacity of more than 80,000 for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The original capacity of the National Stadium was 65,000,11,000 of 53,000 capacity was on the East Terrace and the conversion to an all-seater stadium would have reduced the stadium capacity still further to just 47,500. It was only visible from across the River Taff in the west. Access to the ground was very restricted with the main entrance being a narrow opening in Westgate Street to the east which was shared by both vehicles and spectators alike. The options for the new stadium included adding a third tier to the existing National Stadium, the committee eventually chose a new stadium on the same site but with considerable increase in its capacity. It would also involve moving the alignment of the stadium from west-east to north-south and this was the option supported by the Millennium Commission. It would become the fourth redevelopment of the Cardiff Arms Park site and it was also decided that the new stadium should have a sliding roof to accommodate a multi-use venue, with a grass pitch for rugby and football
27.
France national rugby union team
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The France national rugby union team represents France in rugby union. They compete annually against England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and they have won the championship outright sixteen times, shared it a further eight times, and have completed nine grand slams. Eight former French players have been inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame, Rugby was introduced to France in 1872 by the British, and on New Years Day 1906 the national side played its first Test match – against New Zealand in Paris. France played sporadically against the Home Nations until they joined them to form a Five Nations tournament in 1910, France also competed in the rugby competitions at early Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal in 1900 and two silver medals in the 1920s. The national team came of age during the 1950s and 1960s and they won their first Grand Slam in 1968. Since the inaugural World Cup in 1987, France have qualified for the stage of every tournament. They have reached the three times, losing to the All Blacks in 1987 and 2011 and to Australia in 1999. France hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup, where, as in 2003, France traditionally play in blue shirts with white shorts and red socks, and are commonly referred to as les tricolores or les bleus. The French emblem is a golden rooster imposed upon a red shield and their alternative strip is composed of a white shirt and navy blue shorts and socks. Rugby was introduced to France in 1872 by English merchants and students, on 26 February 1890, a French rugby team recruited from the Janson Desailly Lyceum defeated an international team at the Bois de Boulogne. Although France were represented at the 1900 Summer Olympics, their first official test match did not take place till New Years Day,1906 against the New Zealand All Blacks in Paris. France then played intermittently against the Home Nations until they joined them to form the Five Nations tournament in 1910, in 1913 France faced South Africas Springboks for the first time, losing 38–5. France also competed at the 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics, France were ejected from the Five Nations in 1932 after being accused of professionalism in the French leagues at a time when rugby union was strictly amateur. Forced to play against weaker opposition, France went on a winning streak, France was invited to rejoin the Five Nations in 1939 but did not compete until 1947 as international rugby was suspended during World War II. French rugby came of age during the 1950s and 1960s, they won their first Five Nations championship and their first championship was won in 1954 when they shared the title with England and Wales. France won their first outright Five Nations championship in 1959, they won with two wins, a draw and a defeat, France first toured South Africa winning the test series in 1958. The Springboks also visited Paris in 1961, the test was not completed due to fighting amongst the players. France also toured New Zealand and Australia in 1961 losing both tests against the All Blacks but defeating Australias Wallabies and they won their first Five Nations Grand Slam in 1968 by beating all four other competing teams, and won numerous titles in the following years
28.
The Rugby Championship
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The Rugby Championship is an international rugby union competition contested annually by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Prior to the 2012 tournament, when Argentina joined, it was known as the Tri Nations, the inaugural Tri Nations tournament was in 1996, and was won by New Zealand – known as the All Blacks. South Africa won their first title in 1998, and Australia their first in 2000, following the last Tri Nations tournament in 2011, New Zealand had won ten championships, with South Africa and Australia on three titles each. The first Rugby Championship was won by New Zealand, who won all six of their matches. New Zealand, Australia and South Africa have frequently been ranked among the top rugby nations with the two teams winning the Rugby World Cup twice and New Zealand winning it three times. Australia and New Zealand first played each other in 1903, in the 1930s, Australia and New Zealand started contesting the Bledisloe Cup during rugby tours between the two countries. The new union soon announced a deal worth £360 million. The competition was established to create an equivalent to the Five Nations in Europe, in 2012, this competition was extended to include Argentina, a country whose impressive performances in international games was deemed to merit inclusion in the competition. As a result of the expansion to four teams, the tournament was renamed The Rugby Championship, the series is played on a home-and-away basis. From the first tournament in 1996 until 2005, the three played each other twice. Since then, each team has played the three times, except in the Rugby World Cup years of 2007 and 2011 when the series reverted to a double round-robin. For 2015, to provide the teams longer preparation time ahead of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, with the addition of Argentina, in 2012, the format once again reverted to a double round-robin. In addition to the Rugby Championship trophy, the winner of games played between Australia and New Zealand also go toward determining the winner of the Bledisloe Cup each year. Similarly, the Freedom Cup is contested between New Zealand and South Africa, and the Mandela Challenge Plate between Australia and South Africa. The opening tournament of 1996 was dominated by the All Blacks who stormed to victory undefeated, leaving the Springboks, the launch of the Tri Nations was considered a huge success. A similar story unfolded the following year,1997, the All Blacks maintained their dominance over the new competition and again went undefeated. Australia and South Africa found themselves in similar position again with just one win each, the 1998 series was something of a turnaround for all nations with South Africa winning the tournament and Australia finishing second. Two-time winner New Zealand finished at the bottom with no wins, in the following tournament in 1999 New Zealand again became Tri Nations champions and defending champions South Africa fell to the bottom
29.
Argentina national rugby union team
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The Argentina national rugby team, officially nicknamed Los Pumas, represents Argentina in international rugby union matches. The Pumas play in sky blue and white jerseys and they are organised by the Argentine Rugby Union, Argentina played its first international rugby match in 1910 against a touring British Isles team. As of November 2015 they are ranked 5th in the world by the IRB, although rugby union is nowhere near as popular as football in Argentina, Los Pumas impressive results since the 1999 World Cup have seen the sports popularity grow significantly. Argentina has achieved several victories, are tough contenders when playing in Buenos Aires. A surprise victory over the hosts France in the first game of the 2007 World Cup took Argentina to fourth in the IRB World Rankings, the team were undefeated in their pool, and reached the semi-finals for the first time, beating Scotland 19–13 in their quarter-final. They were defeated 37–13 by eventual winners South Africa in the semi-finals, in March 2008 the team reached an all-time high of third in the IRB World Rankings. Argentina officially joined The Rugby Championship in a meeting in Buenos Aires on November 23,2011, in their first tournament in 2012, Argentina secured a 16–16 draw with The Springboks in only their second game. The 2014 Rugby Championship saw the first Championship-match win for Argentina who defeated Australia 21–17, in the 2016 Rugby Championship, the Pumas split the first two games with the Springboks, winning the second game 26-24 at Salta on August 27,2016. The History of the Argentina national team starts with the first international played by an Argentine side v. the British Islands in 1910 when they toured on South America, Argentina gained recognition in 1965, when the team toured South Africa playing a series of friendly matches there. In that tour the team was nicknamed Los Pumas, a name that became an identity mark for Argentina. Argentina has taken part in all the Rugby World Cups since the first edition in 1987, Argentina followed their growing competitiveness in the Rugby Championship with a strong showing in the 2015 World Cup, reaching the semi-finals for the second time. The national side also plays the Rugby Championship since the 2012 edition, Argentina alternated blue and white jerseys during its first international matches in 1910. In 1927 Mr. Abelardo Gutiérrez of Gimnasia y Esgrima de Buenos Aires proposed that Argentina should play against British Lions in a striped white and that request was accepted and Argentina wore the striped uniform for the first time in its history. Los Pumas play in a shirt in the flag colours of light blue and white, white shorts. In 2011, the UAR signed a deal with Nike which became the kit provider for all its national senior and youth teams. On September 1941, Abelardo Gutiérrez suggested a badge with the figure of a lion, the color of the crest was blue. The animal was later replaced by a native to Argentine species, so the jaguar was chosen due to his agility and courage and he tried to devise a catchy nickname for the team similar to existing international team nicknames such as All Blacks, Springboks, and Wallabies. He asked Isak van Heerden, the coach of the Natal Rugby team who was asked by the SARB to assist with the tour
30.
New Zealand national rugby union team
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The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly called the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in mens rugby union, which is regarded as the countrys national sport. The side has won the last two Rugby World Cups, in 2011 and 2015, as well as the tournament in 1987. They have a 77% winning record in test match rugby, and are the international side with a winning record against every opponent. Since their international debut in 1903, they have lost to only six of the 19 nations they have played in test matches, since the introduction of the World Rugby Rankings in 2003, New Zealand has held the number one ranking longer than all other teams combined. The All Blacks are statistically the best side to have played the game, New Zealand competes with Argentina, Australia and South Africa in The Rugby Championship. The All Blacks have won the fourteen times in the competitions twenty-one-year history. As of the end of 2016 competition, they hold the Bledisloe Cup, which is contested annually with Australia, New Zealand have achieved a Grand Slam four times –1978,2005,2008 and 2010. Fifteen former All Blacks have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, All Black coaches have won World Rugby Coach of the Year nine times since the awards 2001 launch. The teams first match was in 1884, and their first international test match was in 1903 against Australia in Sydney, the following year they hosted their first ever home test, a match against a British Isles side in Wellington. This was followed by a 34-game tour of Europe and North America in 1905, New Zealands early uniforms consisted of a black jersey with a silver fern and white knickerbockers. By the 1905 tour, they were wearing all black, except for the silver fern, the team perform a haka – a Māori challenge or posture dance – before each match. The haka performed has traditionally been Te Rauparahas Ka Mate, although since 2005 Kapa o Pango is often performed, the first recorded game in New Zealand took place in May 1870 in Nelson between the Nelson club and Nelson College. The first provincial union, the Canterbury Rugby Football Union, was formed in 1879, NSW did not face a New Zealand representative team but played seven provincial sides – the tourists won four games and lost three. Two years later the first New Zealand team to travel overseas toured New South Wales, a privately organised British team, which later became the British and Irish Lions, toured New Zealand in 1888. No test matches were played, and the only played provincial sides. The British players were mainly from Northern England, but there were representatives from Wales. The first officially sanctioned New Zealand side toured New South Wales in 1893, the following year New Zealand played its first home international game, losing 8–6 to New South Wales. The teams first true test match occurred against Australia on 15 August 1903 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in front of over 30,000 spectators, a representative New Zealand team first toured the British Isles in 1905
31.
History of rugby union
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The history of rugby union follows from various football games played long before the 19th century, but it was not until the middle of that century that the rules were formulated and codified. The code was known simply as rugby football. For most of its history, rugby was an amateur football code. Although rugby football was codified at Rugby School, many rugby playing countries had pre-existing football games not dissimilar to rugby, forms of traditional football similar to rugby have been played throughout Europe and beyond. Many of these involved handling of the ball, and scrummaging formations, the first detailed description of what was almost certainly football in England was given by William FitzStephen in about 1174–1183. He described the activities of London youths during the festival of Shrove Tuesday. The students of school have their own ball, the workers from each city craft are also carrying their balls. Numerous attempts were made to ban football games, particularly the most rowdy and this was especially the case in England, and in other parts of Europe, during the Middle Ages and early modern period. Between 1324 and 1667, in England alone, football was banned by more than 30 royal and local laws, the need to repeatedly proclaim such laws demonstrated the difficulty in enforcing bans on popular games. In 1531, Sir Thomas Elyot wrote that English Footeballe is nothinge but beastlie furie, Football games that included ball carrying continued to be played over the century, right up to the time of William Webb Elliss alleged invention. According to a writing in 1823, Each party has two goals, ten or fifteen yards apart. The parties, ten or fifteen on a side, stand in line, an indifferent spectator throws up a ball the size of a cricket ball midway between the confronted players and makes his escape. The rush is to catch the falling ball and he who first can catch or seize it speeds home, making his way through his opponents and aided by his own sidesmen. At a loss and gain of a snotch a recommencement takes place, the rules had always been determined by the pupils instead of the masters and they were frequently modified with each new intake. Rule changes, such as the legality of carrying or running with the ball, were often agreed shortly before the commencement of a game. The story first appeared in 1876, some four years after the death of Webb Ellis, Bloxam was not a contemporary of Webb Ellis and vaguely quoted an unnamed person as informing him of the incident that had supposedly happened 53 years earlier. The story has been dismissed as unlikely since an investigation by the Old Rugbeian Society in 1895. However, the cup for the Rugby World Cup is named the Webb Ellis trophy in his honour, and a plaque at the school commemorates the achievement
32.
Rugby union in Australia
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Rugby union is a winter sport in Australia with a history dating back to 1864. It is traditionally most popular in Australias rugby football strongholds of New South Wales, Queensland, the principal competition in Australian rugby is Super Rugby, which is a multi-regional competition across the southern hemisphere. The National Rugby Championship was launched as the level below Super Rugby in August 2014. The NRC consists of nine teams – two from Queensland, four from New South Wales, and one each from the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, the Buildcorp NRC will run for 11 weeks from 21 August to 1 November. It will include preliminary rounds, with each playing each other once, one bye week per team. The mens national team are the Wallabies, who have won the Rugby World Cup twice, in 1991, the Wallabies play in Australias traditional sporting colours of green and gold. They are considered one of the top nations, owing to success at the World Cup. The first rugby club to be established in Australia was Sydney Universitys in 1864. In 1869, Newington College was the first Australian school to play rugby in a match against the University of Sydney, the first competition commenced the following year in 1865 with 6 teams. The earliest record of games being played in Queensland was in 1876. The Waratah Rugby Club invited Australian rules football club, the Carlton Football Club to play two matches, one under rugby rules and one under Australian rules, on Saturday 23 June,3,000 spectators watched Waratah beat Carlton at rugby at the Albert Cricket Ground in Redfern. In the return leg, Carlton defeated Waratah under Australian rules, the first inter-colonial game occurred on 12 August 1882, when players from the four Queensland clubs travelled to NSW. NSW won by 28 points to 4 at the Association Ground in front of 4,000 spectators, on 2 November, in 1883, the Northern Rugby Union was formed as the rugby body in Queensland after a meeting at the Exchange Hotel. As a result of the formation of the new body, several prominent GPS schools took up rugby as opposed to Melbourne Rules and that same year, the Southern Rugby Union undertook its inaugural tour of New Zealand. The following year, a New Zealand party went to Australia, in 1888 the Melbourne Rugby Union was formed in Victoria. In 1892, the bodies in Australia dropped Southern and Northern from their titles, adopting New South Wales. That year the first British and Irish Lions tour was carried out, although unsanctioned by official bodies in Europe, the 21-man squad went to both Australia and New Zealand. In 1899, the team of Australia played their first match
33.
New South Wales
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New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south and it has a coast line with the Tasman Sea on its east side. The Australian Capital Territory is an enclave within the state, New South Wales state capital is Sydney, which is also Australias most populous city. In March 2014, the population of New South Wales was 7.5 million. Just under two-thirds of the population,4.67 million. Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as New South Welshmen, the Colony of New South Wales was founded as a penal colony in 1788. It originally comprised a more than half of the Australian mainland with its western boundary set at 129th meridian east in 1825, in addition, the colony also included the island territories of New Zealand, Van Diemens Land, Lord Howe Island, and Norfolk Island. During the 19th century, most of the area was detached to form separate British colonies that eventually became New Zealand. However, the Swan River Colony has never administered as part of New South Wales. Lord Howe Island remains part of New South Wales, while Norfolk Island has become a federal Territory, as have the now known as the Australian Capital Territory. The prior inhabitants of New South Wales were the Aboriginal tribes who arrived in Australia about 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, before European settlement there were an estimated 250,000 Aboriginal people in the region. The Wodi Wodi people are the custodians of the Illawarra region of South Sydney. The Bundjalung people are the custodians of parts of the northern coastal areas. The European discovery of New South Wales was made by Captain James Cook during his 1770 survey along the eastern coast of the Dutch-named continent of New Holland. In his original journal covering the survey, in triplicate to satisfy Admiralty Orders, Cook first named the land New Wales, however, in the copy held by the Admiralty, he revised the wording to New South Wales. After years of chaos and anarchy after the overthrow of Governor William Bligh, macquaries legacy is still evident today. During the 19th century, large areas were separated to form the British colonies of Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria. Responsible government was granted to the New South Wales colony in 1855, following the Treaty of Waitangi, William Hobson declared British sovereignty over New Zealand in 1840
34.
New South Wales Waratahs
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The New South Wales Waratahs (/ˈwɒrətɑːz/ or /ˌwɒrəˈtɑːz/, referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other parts of the state, are represented by the Brumbies. The name and emblem comes from the waratah, the flower for New South Wales. Their home ground is Allianz Stadium in Sydney, some matches are also held at ANZ Stadium. The NSWRU was established in 1874, and the very first club competition took place that year, by 1880 the SRU had over 100 clubs in its governance in the metropolitan area. In 1882 the first New South Wales team was selected to play Queensland in a two-match series, NSW would go on to win both the games. That same year the first NSW touring squad was selected to go, in 1907, several of the New South Wales rugby union teams players defected to play for the New South Wales rugby league team against a visiting rebel New Zealand rugby team. This was essentially the birth of rugby league in Australia, during World War I, the NSW Rugby Unions ceased senior competition. The Queensland body however would not reform until 1929, which saw NSW have more responsibilities for Australian rugby, in 1921 the Waratahs toured New Zealand again, and out of their 10 fixtures, won nine games, including the Test. They won 24 and drew two of their 31 official matches, seven members of this 1927/8 side were from the Drummoyne Rugby Club. Upon returning home, were greeted with a parade through Sydney, matches against Queensland would soon resume also. The 1930s were a successful time for NSW. The height of the success of NSW is best represented by the defeat of the South African Springboks in 1937 at the SCG, in 1963 the Sydney Rugby Union was established for the growth of the game in the city area. The NSW Rugby Union would celebrate its 100th anniversary in 1974, as part of the anniversary celebrations, a match was played at the SCG on 18 May against the All Blacks, though the Waratahs lost nil to 20. In their inaugural Super 12 season of 1996, the Waratahs won just under half of their games, finishing mid table, the following season of 1997 saw the Waratahs end in a 9th place, winning four fixtures. The Waratahs won four fixtures the next season and they won five games in the 2000 season and the Tahs finished their season in 9th place. In 2001 after replicating their 2000 performance, the Waratahs were still out of reach of finals contention, in 8th position. 2002 was a record breaking season for the Waratahs, as the team won eight out of their 11 season games, however, in the final game of the regular season the Waratahs lost 96–19
35.
Home Nations
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The Home Nations, or Home Countries, refers collectively to England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and in certain sports contexts, to England, Scotland, Wales and the whole island of Ireland. The term Home Countries is also used, and is synonymous. The Crown Dependencies are not part of the United Kingdom, but are associated with it. In association football, the Home Nations originally referred to the four national teams of the United Kingdom, England, Ireland, Scotland. The English Football Association, and the media used the term Home Nations to describe the parties to the debate. In the event, a team consisting only of English and Welsh players took part, in 1883, the first Home Nations Championship was played between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. At this point in its history, the competition contained only teams from the UK, in 1910, France officially joined the competition and it was renamed the Five Nations Championship. Since the admission of Italy in 2000, the tournament has been known by its current name, victory by any Home Nation over the other three Home Nations is a Triple Crown. The Home Nations also contribute players to a team known as the British and Irish Lions. Southern Hemisphere teams who beat all four nations in one tour are said to have a Grand Slam Tour. The Amateur Four Nations competition in rugby league, run annually from 2002 to 2007 for the A sides of Wales, terminology of the British Isles Countries of the United Kingdom
36.
Brisbane
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Brisbane is the capital of and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland, and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbanes metropolitan area has a population of 2.35 million, the Brisbane central business district stands on the original European settlement and is situated inside a bend of the Brisbane River, about 15 kilometres from its mouth at Moreton Bay. The demonym of Brisbane is Brisbanite, one of the oldest cities in Australia, Brisbane was founded upon the ancient homelands of the indigenous Turrbal and Jagera peoples. A penal settlement was founded in 1824 at Redcliffe,28 kilometres north of the business district. The city was marred by the Australian frontier wars between 1843 and 1855, and development was set back by the Great Fire of Brisbane. Brisbane was chosen as the capital when Queensland was proclaimed a colony from New South Wales in 1859. During World War II, Brisbane played a role in the Allied campaign. Today, Brisbane is well known for its distinct Queenslander architecture which forms much of the built heritage. It also receives attention for its damaging flood events, most notably in 1974 and 2011. Several large cultural, international and sporting events have held at Brisbane, including the 1982 Commonwealth Games, World Expo 88, the final Goodwill Games in 2001. Prior to white settlement, the Brisbane area was inhabited by the Turrbal and they knew the area that is now the central business district as Mian-jin, meaning place shaped as a spike. The Moreton Bay area was explored by Matthew Flinders. On 17 July 1799, Flinders landed at what is now known as Woody Point, in 1823 Governor of New South Wales Sir Thomas Brisbane instructed that a new northern penal settlement be developed, and an exploration party led by John Oxley further explored Moreton Bay. Oxley discovered, named, and explored the Brisbane River as far as Goodna,20 kilometres upstream from the Brisbane central business district, Oxley recommended Red Cliff Point for the new colony, reporting that ships could land at any tide and easily get close to the shore. The party settled in Redcliffe on 13 September 1824, under the command of Lieutenant Henry Miller with 14 soldiers and 29 convicts. However, this settlement was abandoned after a year and the colony was moved to a site on the Brisbane River now known as North Quay,28 km south, chief Justice Forbes gave the new settlement the name of Edenglassie before it was named Brisbane. Non-convict European settlement of the Brisbane region commenced in 1838, German missionaries settled at Zions Hill, Nundah as early as 1837, five years before Brisbane was officially declared a free settlement. The band consisted of ministers Christopher Eipper and Carl Wilhelm Schmidt and lay missionaries Haussmann, Johann Gottried Wagner, Niquet, Hartenstein, Zillman, Franz, Rode, Doege and they were allocated 260 hectares and set about establishing the mission, which became known as the German Station
37.
New South Wales Rugby League
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The New South Wales Rugby League is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was known as the New South Wales Rugby Football League until 1984. From 1908 to 1994, the NSWRL ran Sydneys, then New South Wales, the organisation is responsible for administering the New South Wales rugby league team. The following clubs are the clubs of the NSWRL. The New South Wales Rugby Football League was responsible for the introduction of rugby league into New South Wales in 1907, since that time the NSWRFL has built a rich tradition at all levels of the game. Great names and great games illuminate the Leagues growth since 1907 up to the present day, key figures in the new movement were James Joseph Giltinan, legendary cricketer Victor Trumper, Alex Burdon, Peter Moir, Labor politician Henry Hoyle, George Brackenreg and Jack Feneley. The first rugby game in New South Wales was played on 17 August 1907. The Sydney premiership was started on 20 April 1908, Nine teams contested the initial season. In 1929 Jersey Flegg was appointed to the position of president of the NSWRFL, at the time of his death in 1960, aged 82, he was still serving in these roles. When NSWRFL president Flegg died in 1960, Bill Buckley replaced him and also became boss of the Australian Rugby League, in 1973 Kevin Humphreys was appointed President of New South Wales Rugby League and Chairman of Australian Rugby League. Under him State of Origin was introduced, in 1983 Humphreys was succeeded in these positions by Ken Arthurson. It does so in conjunction with the NSW Country Rugby League, in a similar way, the rival Queensland Rugby League retained responsibility for that states Origin team and lower tier competitions. The Royal Agricultural Society Shield, or RAS Shield was the New South Wales Rugby League s first premiership trophy and it was presented to each years premiership winning rugby league team, the first to win three successive titles would take permanent ownership of the shield. The Eastern Suburbs club achieved this feat winning premierships in 1911,1912 and 1913, the hand crafted silver and oak designed shield was donated to the NSWRL by the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales in its first year of competition. The club has presented the shield to their captain, Dally Messenger, in 1929 Jersey Flegg was appointed to the position of president of the NSWRFL. Midway through the 1909 season, Edward Larkin was appointed secretary of the NSWRFL. In 1951, the NSWRFL originated the J. J, Giltinan Shield, following his death in 1950. This trophy was awarded to the premiers of the NSWRFL competition, being named one of the founding fathers of the NSWRFL
38.
Dally Messenger
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Herbert Henry Dally Messenger was one of Australasias first professional rugby footballers, recognised as one of the greatest-ever players in either code. Messenger, or The Master as he was dubbed, represented his country in two rugby union tests and seven rugby league tests. Messenger had a build, and while standing only about 172 cm in height, he was a powerful runner of the ball. He was a teetotaller and non-smoker during his career and other than breakfast, Messenger was born in the Sydney waterfront suburb of Balmain, New South Wales, and grew up in another of Sydneys waterfront suburbs, Double Bay, where his father owned a boat shed. He also spent some time living with an aunt in South Melbourne, Victoria, in Sydney, Messenger attended Double Bay Public School in the citys eastern suburbs. It was here that he honed his rugby skills, while also playing cricket and indulging in his other great sporting love. Messenger worked, too, at his fathers boat shed, by this juncture, he had gained the nickname of Dally. Fortunately, little Herbert Henry shed his pot belly as he grew older, together with the e from the spelling of his nickname, Messenger first took up competitive rugby in 1900, playing for a local rugby union club called the Warrigals in a semi-social club competition. In 1905 he finally began playing for Easts in the clubs second-grade team, in that same season, he also purportedly played Australian rules football club in a number of first-grade matches in the Sydney competition. Messenger began the 1906 season in first grade with Easts as a standoff and he swiftly won a following amongst the clubs supporters due to his mesmeric ball skills, cheeky tricks, blistering acceleration and accurate short- and long-kicking game off either foot. Messenger moved to what would become his customary position of following his selection there for the New South Wales team in 1906. By the time of his Wallaby debut in 1907, he had made that position his own, in the book Viewless Winds, the 1906 representative footballer Paddy Moran wrote that Messengers play was full of surprises, unorthodox, flash and directed largely by the unconscious mind. He said that Messenger never became a slave to copybook practices because his instinct enabled him to see, Moran compared him to Bradman in terms of their mutual ability to instantaneously co-ordinate their bodies into the right position in apparently ample time before the ball would arrive. When talk of a rugby competition, or a Rugby League, was being aired. He was approached by a consortium that included Test cricketer, Victor Trumper with friend J. J. Giltinan and he signed on with the new professional code in 1907. As the premier rugby footballer of the time, Messengers signing is considered the moment in the substantiation of rugby league. After he became a league player, Messengers rugby games were struck from the record books of the New South Wales Rugby Union. Messenger played in the series against a professional New Zealand team, the All Golds as they were referred to
39.
Rugby Football League
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The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the league competition run by the organisation. This has since been supplanted by Super League, the Championship, based at Red Hall in Leeds, it administers the England national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, Super League and the Rugby League Championships. The social and junior game is administered in association with the British Amateur Rugby League Association, the Rugby Football League is a member of the Rugby League European Federation and as a senior Full Member has a combined veto power over the Council with France. The RFL is part of the Community Board, which also has representatives from BARLA, Combined Services, English Schools Rugby League, eventually the Northern was dropped from its name at the beginning of the 1980s. The turnover of the RFL was reported as £27m in 2011, two days later, on Thursday 29 August 1895, representatives of 21 clubs met in the George Hotel, Huddersfield to form the Northern Rugby Football Union. Twenty clubs agreed to resign from the Rugby Football Union, the Cheshire club, Stockport, had telegraphed the meeting requesting admission to the new organisation and was duly accepted with a second Cheshire club, Runcorn, admitted at the next meeting. The 22 clubs and their years of foundation were, In 1908 the Northern Unions brand of rugby was taken up in Australia, the Union hosted touring sides from both countries before assembling a Great Britain representative team for a 1910 tour of Australia and New Zealand. These nations, particularly Australia, would go on to excel in the sport, the British Amateur Rugby League Association was created in 1973 in Huddersfield by a group of enthusiasts concerned about the dramatic disappearance of many amateur leagues and clubs. Fewer than 150 amateur teams remained with a mere 30 youth rugby league teams, the breakaway from the RFL was acrimonious and was strongly contested, with a vote 29-1 against recognising BARLA. Thanks to Tom Mitchell, this changed to a vote of approval for BARLA within 12 months. Maurice Lindsay became the Chief Executive of the RFL in 1992, proposing the Super League, Lindsay returned to Wigan in 1999 for his second stint at the club after Sir Rodney Walker, then chairman of the RFL, sacked him after a campaign to unseat him failed. The RFL accumulated losses of £1.9 million at the end of 2001, shortly before a restructuring of the governing body. Within a year of joining the RFL, he oversaw reunification with BARLA after nearly 30 years of division, Lewis left in 2012 to become Chief Executive of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The RFL net value has been every year since 2004. The regional leagues may include winter competitions in addition, in 2012, the Rugby Football League were awarded the Stonewall Sport Award in recognition of their work in embracing inclusivity and tackling homophobia. They also became the first UK sporting organisation to make the top 100 employers in the Stonewall Index that measures attitudes towards lesbian, gay and bisexual staff. The RFL operates a system and is responsible for running the top three professional divisions as well as the National Conference League and various regional leagues below that
40.
Weary Dunlop
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Colonel Sir Ernest Edward Weary Dunlop AC, CMG, OBE was an Australian surgeon who was renowned for his leadership while being held prisoner by the Japanese during World War II. Dunlop was born in Major Plains, Victoria, the second of two children of parents James and Alice and he attended Benalla High School for two years of his education. He started an apprenticeship in pharmacy when he finished school, there, he studied at the Victorian College of Pharmacy and then the University of Melbourne, where he obtained a scholarship in medicine. Dunlop graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1934 with first class honours in pharmacy and in medicine, the nickname Weary was a reference to his last name—tired like a Dunlop tyre. While at university Dunlop took up rugby union commencing as a fourth player with the Melbourne University Rugby Club in 1931. He rapidly progressed through the grades, to state and then to the representative level. He made his representative debut against the All Blacks at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 23 July 1932 as a number 8. In the first Test of 1934 he again appeared for Australia, Australia won the match 25–11, and two weeks later the second and final match of that years Bledisloe Cup series finished in a draw. Although Dunlop missed that match due to injury he stands as a member of the first Wallaby squad to have won the Bledisloe Cup away from New Zealand, in June 2008, he was honoured in the third set of inductees into the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame. To date, he is the only Victorian so honoured, Dunlop had been a school cadet, and he continued his part-time army service until 1929, when his service ceased under pressure from his pharmacy studies. He re-enlisted in 1935 and was commissioned into the Australian Army Medical Corps on 1 July with the rank of Captain, in May 1938 Dunlop left Australia for London on a ship, where he served as her medical officer. In London he attended St Bartholomews Medical School and in 1938 became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. The distinguished medical mentors Dunlop met in London, Professor Grey-Turner and Sir Thomas Dunhill, impressed him with their dedication to their job, during World War II, Dunlop was appointed to medical headquarters in the Middle East, where he developed the mobile surgical unit. In Greece he liaised with forward units and Allied headquarters. His troopship was diverted to Java in an attempt to bolster the defences there. On 26 February 1942, he was promoted to temporary lieutenant-colonel, Dunlop became a Japanese prisoner of war in 1942 when he was captured in Bandung, Java, together with the hospital he was commanding. Along with a number of other Commonwealth Medical Officers, Dunlops dedication, a courageous leader and compassionate doctor, he restored morale in those terrible prison camps and jungle hospitals. Dunlop defied his captors, gave hope to the sick and eased the anguish of the dying and he became, in the words of one of his men, a lighthouse of sanity in a universe of madness and suffering
41.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
42.
Bledisloe Cup
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The Bledisloe Cup is a rugby union competition between the national teams of Australia and New Zealand that has been competed for since the 1930s. New Zealand have had the most success, winning the trophy for the 44th time in 2016, there is some dispute as to when the first Bledisloe Cup match was played. The Australian Rugby Union contend that the one-off 1931 match played at Eden Park was first, the New Zealand Rugby Union believe that the first match was when New Zealand toured Australia in 1932. Between 1931 and 1981 it was contested irregularly in the course of rugby tours between the two countries, New Zealand won it 19 times and Australia four times in this period including in 1949 when Australia won it for the first time on New Zealand soil. The trophy itself was apparently lost during this period and reportedly rediscovered in a Melbourne store room, in the years 1982 to 1995 it was contested annually, sometimes as a series of three matches and other times in a single match. During these years New Zealand won it 11 times and Australia three times, since 1996 the cup has been contested as part of the annual Tri Nations tournament. Until 1998 the cup was contested in a three series, the two Tri Nations matches between these sides and a third match. New Zealand won these series in 1996 and 1997, and Australia won it in 1998. In 1996 and from 1999 through 2005, the match was not played, during those years, Australia. If both teams won one of games, or if both games were drawn, the cup was retained by its current holder. The non-holder had to win the two games 2–0 or 1–0 to regain the Cup,2006 saw the return of the 3-game contest for the Bledisloe Cup as the Tri Nations series was extended so that each team played each other 3 times. The 2007 Cup, however, reverted to the two-game contest because the Tri Nations was abbreviated that year to minimise interference with the preparations for the World Cup. The Hong Kong match, which drew a crowd of 39,000 to see the All Blacks defeat the Wallabies 19–14, even before the match, the two countries rugby federations were considering taking Cup matches to the United States and Japan in 2009 and 2010. Japan hosted a fourth Bledisloe Test match on 31 October 2009, each team is expected to clear at least A$3.8 million/NZ$5 million from the Tokyo match. However a 2010 fourth match was set in Hong Kong and has struggled to attract crowds, the three-match format for the Bledisloe Cup continued in 2012, with the first two matches taking place as part of the 2012 Rugby Championship. Since 1996, Fox Sports has televised it and they jointly televised it with Seven Network between 1996 to 2010, Nine Network in 2011 and 2012 and Network Ten since 2013. History of rugby matches between Australia and New Zealand Laurie OReilly Cup Rugby union trophies and awards
43.
Carisbrook
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Carisbrook was a major sporting venue in Dunedin, New Zealand. The citys main domestic and international rugby venue, it was also used for other sports such as cricket, football, rugby league. Carisbrook also hosted a Joe Cocker concert and frequently hosted pre-game concerts before rugby matches in the 1990s, in 2011 Carisbrook was closed, and was replaced by Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza in North Dunedin. Floodlit since the 1990s, it could cater for day and night fixtures. Known locally simply as The Brook, it has been branded with the name The House of Pain, state Highway 1 also ran close to the northern perimeter of the ground. Carisbrook was named after the estate of colonial settler James Macandrew. Developed during the 1870s, it was first used for cricket in 1883. It hosted rugby union internationals since 1908 and full cricket internationals since 1955, the stadium was home to both the Highlanders in Super Rugby and Otago in the ITM Cup through each sides respective 2011 season. The grounds final regular capacity was around 30,000, but has hosted crowds as high as 42,000 in the past with temporary seating, until 1998 the sides of the Caversham bypass motorway allowed a free view of the ground and was known as the Scotsmans Grandstand. Occasionally trains would slow to a crawl or stop on the track above the stadium to allowing passengers to watch an entire event, in 1998 a new stand and corporate boxes were built that blocked the view. Partly due to Dunedins relatively large number of students, Carisbrook has a unique atmosphere. This is enhanced by the terraces, a concrete embankment at the eastern end of the ground. Construction and ownership of the new $NZ198 million stadium, officially named the Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza, until the new stadium was completed, all international and Super Rugby games were still held at Carisbrook. The last international game was expected to be the All Blacks versus South Africa Tri Nations match on 12 July 2008, however, the All Blacks returned to Carisbrook to play France on 13 June 2009 and finally Wales on 19 June 2010. This game meant that the All Blacks had played every major test-playing nation at Carisbrook, a later test match, destined to be the last at the ground, was scheduled between New Zealand and Fiji as a fundraiser for the Christchurch earthquake appeal on 22 July 2011. On 11 May 2011 the Dunedin City Council decided that Carisbrook would be sold after the 2011 Rugby World Cup, originally the floodlights were to be reused at the University Oval for day/night cricket matches. The turnstile building on Neville Street is a category I historic building, Carisbrook was sold to the Dunedin City Council in 2009 for $7,000,000. It was sold on in 2013 for $4,700,000 and this result appeared to support objections made at the time of purchase, of a decision not based on sound advice, and possibly blurred with non-commercial or personal considerations
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