Rugby union in Victoria. Victoria gained a professional rugby union with the arrival of the short-lived Melbourne Rebels in 2007.

History

The Melbourne Rugby Union formed (MRU) in 1888 and international rugby was played in Victoria a year later. Although rugby was continued to be played from this point, it was played only at amateur level by a small number of players as it suffered intense competition for support and players from the sport of Australian rules football (see also - Barassi Line).

Victorian Rugby Union

The Victorian Rugby Union governs rugby union in Victoria. Victoria is a member of the overall Australian governing body the Australian Rugby Union.

Popularity of Victorian Rugby Union

Melbourne was selected as a venue for the 2003 Rugby World Cup including finals. The attendances were significant, with the highlights being 50,647 seeing Australia defeat Ireland and 50,647 for England versus Samoa.

Following the success of the rugby world cup, in 2004, the Victorian Rugby Union made a bid for a Super 14 rugby union franchise. The bid had support from backers including the Victorian Government. However it was rejected by the Australian Rugby Union for a team in Perth which became the Western Force.^[1]

Melbourne hosted the 2006 Commonwealth Games, which included a component of Rugby Sevens, of which all of the matches were sold out. Melbourne holds the current record attendance for Rugby Sevens.

The inaugural Australian Rugby Championship started August 2007, including eight teams, one of which based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was rumored that the New South Wales Rugby Union (NSWRU) gave up a fourth club to enable Victoria to participate in the new national competition.^[2] and the Melbourne Rebels were created and played out of Olympic Park Stadium. Although as a one city team they had one of the larger crowd averages in the competition, they finished their first season with a home crowd average of just 3,305 and folded with losses in the millions. The move was a great setback for the Victorian Rugby Union.

Notable players

Victoria ha produced a number of top-level rugby players,including Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop , Digby Ioane (Queensland Reds and Wallabies), Rocky Elsom (NSW Waratahs and Wallabies), Lloyd Johansson (Queensland Reds and Wallabies), Tamaiti Horua (Western Force), Tom McVerry (Queensland Reds), Ole Avei (Queensland Reds), John Ulugia (ACT Brumbies), Christian Lealiifano (ACT Brumbies), David Palavi (ex-ACT Brumbies), David Fitter (London Irish, ex-ACT Brumbies and Wallabies), and Nick Stiles (ex-Queensland Reds and Wallabies). Also hailing from Melbourne is current New South Wales Waratahs coach and former Wallaby Ewen McKenzie.