Rugby Union in New South Wales - History of Rugby Union in NSW

History of Rugby Union in NSW

Conducting its inaugural meeting in 1865, the now defunct Sydney Football Club holds the honour of being Australia's first rugby club. The first 'inter-club' match took place between Sydney F.C. and a team placed in the field by the Australian Cricket Club. Held in Sydney's Hyde Park on 17 June 1865.

It has been thought that University formed a football club in 1863 or '64, however, it is now clear there is no evidence to support this. Newspaper reports record no matches amongst the University students or inter-club matches until after the arrival of Sydney F.C. in the winter of 1865.

In Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, a set of local rules had been adopted in 1859 (based on a mix of rugby, soccer and other English and local variations). In 1866 a move to introduce 'Victorian rules' (now called Australian Rules) to Sydney caused a rift between the clubs. It ultimately only left the University club, and a team placed in the field by the Military and Civil Cricket Club, playing any football at all (which was primarily rugby). Inter-club football practically disappeared over the late 1860s, with only a handful matches played between the University, a new Sydney F.C. and teams from visiting English naval ships.

The largest obstacle to growth of Rugby Union was a lack of common agreement on what form of football rules ought to be observed. The Wallaroo F.C. was formed in 1870 to play "according to the rugby rules" by William 'Monty' Arnold with his older brother Richard, who (apparently) had been a student at Rugby school in England.

New gentlemen's clubs and private schools followed including Newington College, playing at Newington House and The King's School, playing on the Parramatta Domain, along with St. Leonards, Lyndhurst College, Camden College, Sydney Grammar School, Waratah F.C., and a handful of others. The increase in interest in rugby was primarily in the rapidly growing private schools, under the guidance of schoolmasters who had come from England. It coincided with the population of Sydney increasing by almost half through the 1860s, from 96,000 to just under 138,000 (in 1871). The inaugural Sydney club competition was in 1874, competed by the Balmain Rugby Union Football Club, Newington College, Sydney University Football Club and The King's School.

Along with the private schools, the Wallaroo club was also instrumental in ensuring the amateur ideals of refined English society were followed in Sydney sport. Concepts in rugby such as a club competition structure, defined player positions, team training sessions (other than for fitness), the use of a coach, compensating for lost travelling expenses and attracting paying crowds were directly foreign to the amateur ideal.

Arguments over the differences in the playing rules followed by each club or school reached a head by 1874. The Wallaroo club proposed a football conference of all teams to decide on a codified set of on-field rules - unsurprisingly the Wallaroo members pushed for the adoption of rugby rules, without any alteration. Ultimately, this led to the formation of the Southern Rugby Football Union (later renamed as the New South Wales Rugby Union / NSWRU).

By 1877 the SRFU had thirteen member clubs from the twenty-three known to be playing rugby football in colony of New South Wales. To tighten its grip on the rugby game, the Union adopted a rule that its clubs could only play other member clubs - proposed matches against 'non-subscribing' clubs had to receive prior approval.

The NSW team (later called Waratahs) played its first inter-colonial game in 1882, against Queensland (later called 'The Reds'). A British team toured Australia and New Zealand in 1888. The exchange of visits led to the continued growth of rugby, and by the 1890s the code had taken hold in the colony, thwarting attempts by Victorian rules and soccer to gain the ascendancy. The game continued to grow becoming the most popular code of football in NSW until the issue of professionalism led to the schism in 1908 and the formation of the New South Wales Rugby Football League. The amateur status of rugby and the severe restrictions placed those who played league meant the NSWRU lost many players including the great Dally Messenger to the professional code. This loss of professional players to rugby league continued until rugby union became a professional sport in 1995.