Sydney is an Australian rugby union team that competed in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). Formerly known as Sydney Rays, the team is one of two sides from New South Wales in the competition; the other being the NSW Country Eagles.
The current team plays as the all-of-Sydney side in the NRC and wears the traditional blue and yellow colours of Sydney's representative rugby teams.[2] It draws on the metropolitan sides that have represented the city for more than a century.[2][3] In 2019 the NRC side adopted as its logo the anchor insignia of the Sydney Rugby Union, which dates back to at least 1970.[4]
The team was known as the North Harbour Rays before 2016. It was renamed Sydney during a consolidation which reduced the number of NRC teams in the city from three in 2014 to eventually just one by 2018.[2] The North Harbour Rays had been formed as consortium of four Sydney clubs; Gordon, Manly, Northern Suburbs, and Warringah in 2014.[5]
North Harbour took its identity from the Central Coast Rays side that played in the earlier national competition, the Australian Rugby Championship (ARC) in 2007. It had been backed by the same four Sydney clubs, along with the Central Coast Waves.[5]
History
In 2007, an attempt was made to form a third tier of rugby in Australia, similar to New Zealand's ITM Cup and South Africa's Currie Cup. The newly formed competition included eight teams and was called the Australian Rugby Championship.[6] Three of those teams were based in New South Wales, including a Central Coast team.[7]
Central Coast: ARC
Central Coast logo 2007.
The Central Coast Rays team was officially launched in March 2007 by the New South Wales Rugby Union (NSWRU). The Rays' emerald and navy colours represented the ocean and bush landscape of the region.[8] The team logo featured a manta ray in navy blue, outlined in white, on a stylised emerald green and white rugby ball.[8]
After finishing second on the league table, the Central Coast Rays came from behind against the Perth Spirit in their semi-final, winning 27 to 19. The Rays hosted the Melbourne Rebels in the inaugural ARC Grand Final and won 20 to 12, becoming the inaugural (and only) champions of the ARC.
The Australian Rugby Championship was terminated at the end of 2007 after only one season of competition, with the Australian Rugby Union citing higher costs than budgeted and further projected financial losses.[12] The Central Coast Rays team was disbanded at the end of the ARC.
North Harbour
North Harbour Rays (left); Sydney Rays (right) logos
The National Rugby Championship was announced in December 2013 to commence in 2014 with expressions of interest open to any interested parties and the accepted bids decided early in 2014.
In March 2014 it was announced that the Rays would be revived as the North Harbour Rays to compete in the new National Rugby Championship.[13] The new Rays team was backed by a consortium of the same four Shute Shield clubs involved in earlier Central Coast Rays team: Manly, Warringah, Northern Suburbs and Gordon.[14]
The team played in a quartered harlequin-style strip composed of blue, red, and two shades of green from the four constituent clubs. The sleeves were gold and black, collar and shorts were white and all four clubs’ colours were featured on the socks.[15]
The Rays secured Macquarie University as their principal partner on a two-year deal, to be officially be known as the Macquarie University North Harbour Rays for the 2014 and 2015 NRC seasons.[16]
Phil Blake was initially appointed as the Rays head coach for the 2014 season, with Scott Fava, Haig Sare and Geoff Townsend as part of the coaching staff,[17] but after Blake accepted a coaching opportunity with Leicester Tigers, Geoff Townsend was promoted to the head coaching position,[18]
Damien Cummins replaced Fava as the forwards coach in 2014,[18] and Greg Peterson was named as captain.[19] In 2015, Townsend was reappointed as head coach,[20] and Luke Holmes was named as captain.
Sydney
Josh Turner kicks ahead for Sydney in 2016
The team was renamed the Sydney Rays for the 2016 season.[21]Southern Districts considered switching allegiance to the Rays in 2016,[21] but remained with the Rams.[22] Damien Cummins was initially named as head coach in 2016 but he stepped down and Simon Cron was appointed to the job.[23] The Rays performed well that year and lost only once in the regular season – to eventual minor premiers NSW Country – before being knocked out in a semi-final by the Perth Spirit, who went on to win the NRC title.
Two wooden spoon seasons followed in 2017 and 2018 under, respectively, Julian Huxley[24] and Chris Whitaker.[25] The Rays' moniker and logo were dropped in 2019, a year after New South Wales Rugby had taken control of the Sydney team. Whitaker was reappointed head coach [26] and Sydney adopted the traditional masoned crown and anchor insignia of the Sydney Rugby Union for the NRC team's logo, although the anchor had been used on the plaquet of the collar [27] and in promotional material the year before.[28] The Sydney Fleet ARC team had a similar crest in 2007.[29]
Team colours
The Sydney team plays in a blue jersey with two yellow hoops on the chest that is based on the traditional design worn by Sydney representative teams for many years.[2] The blue and yellow colours were adopted in 2018, and are the colours featured on the City of Sydney coat of arms.
For the ARC in 2007, the Central Coast Rays played in a predominantly green and blue jersey. From 2014 to 2017, the North Harbour Rays team wore harlequin-style quartered strips in the various colours of its four constituent clubs.[15]
As of 2019[update], Sydney play their home matches at Woollahra Oval No.1. The team has its training base at the University of NSW in Sydney's eastern suburbs, the same facility used by the Waratahs.[1]
With the reemergence of the competition in the form of the NRC, fans from Manly and Warringah rugby heartland - tragic supporters of the game - formed the 'STRAYS'. In the spirit of rugby and the NRC they came together to make sure the new club had support in the local community and to 'enrich the sideline experience'. Its members were drawn to the common cause by the founder, Michael Gordon.[citation needed]
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