Rugby union in Russia
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Rugby union in Russia is a growing sport. Russia is ranked 19th worldwide by the International Rugby Board (IRB) [1] despite having less than 11,000 players nationally.[2] Russia has a professional domestic competition.
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[edit] History
Rugby football was played in Imperial Russia as early as in 1908, however the first official match took place in Moscow in 1923. In 1934 the Moscow Championship was started, and in 1936 the first Soviet Championship took place.
In 1949, rugby union was forbidden in the USSR during the "fight against the cosmopolitanism". The competitions were resumed in 1957, and the Soviet Championship in 1966. In 1975 the Soviet national team played their first match.[3]
[edit] Popularity
Although association football is the most popular spectator sport in Russia, rugby has been growing in terms of player base, spectator interest and media coverage in recent years. Rugby's rise into mainstream media happened a few years ago when the Heineken Cup, a club/province tournament in Europe, was given television coverage on the 7TV sports channel. 7TV also broadcasted the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Subsequently, Russia's domestic championship, the Russian Superleague has earned weekly coverage on the RTR-Sport channel (a number of countries also receive this channel, such as Ukraine), though the games are not shown live. In addition to television coverage, rugby now features in main stream news publications. RTR-Sport have apparently already purchased the rights to cover the 2007 Rugby World Cup. It was recently announced that Russia want to pursue hosting the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens.
[edit] Competitions
The main club competition in Russia is the Russian Superleague, which is a professional league. Crowds vary for these club matches, although 10,000 are usually present for the derby fixtures. The competing clubs are VVA-Podmoskovye from Моnino in Moscow Oblast and Slava from Moscow, Yenisei and Krasny Yar both from Krasnoyarsk, RC Penza, RC Novokuznetsk, and Universitet from Chita Oblast. There also Top League and First League below the Superleague.
The Six Nations B, also known as the European Nations Cup (ENC) is similar to the Six Nations Championship. Russia finished third in 2001 and 2001-2002 competitions. The Nations Cup was introduced by the IRB in 2006, in which Russia, Portugal along with Argentina A and Italy A competed in Portugal.
[edit] National champions
- Krasny Yar 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001
- VVA-Podmoskovye 1993, 2003, 2004
- Yenisey-STM 1999, 2002, 2005
[edit] See also
- Russia national rugby union team
- Rugby Union of Russia
- Professional Rugby League
- Rugby league in Russia
[edit] External links
