Rugby union in Bulgaria

Last updated

Rugby union in Bulgaria
CountryBulgaria
Governing bodyBulgarian Rugby Federation
National team(s) Bulgaria
First played1950s
Registered players3026 [1]
Clubs36
National competitions

Rugby union in Bulgaria is a minor but growing sport. Bulgaria is ranked 90th worldwide by the International Rugby Board (IRB) as of 8 October 2007. [2] There are 3,026 Bulgarian rugby players. [3]

Contents

Governing body

Rugby union in Bulgaria is governed by the Bulgarian Rugby Federation, which was formed in 1962. [4]

History

Bulgarian rugby is centred on the capital, Sofia. [4]

Although rugby was well organised in Bulgaria during the 1960s, the first international was not until 1976, when Bulgaria lost to Czechoslovakia. [4]

Bulgarian rugby has not traditionally enjoyed a high reputation. For example, in 1988, an anonymous French rugby official joked that "one of the FIRA nightmares... is to have Yugoslavia playing Bulgaria refereed by a Soviet." [5]

Rugby union like many other sports, was long to be connected in the public mind with the less savoury aspects of Communism:

"In fact, since the end of the Second World War, the East European (and world communist) sports system was dominated by clubs of the security forces (often in Eastern Europe bearing the Soviet name Dinamo) and the armed forces. Most sports heroes, therefore, have officially been soldiers or police officers, guardians of public order and role models for a disciplined, obedient and patriotic citizenry. So to many people, élite sport was identified with paramilitary coercion." [6]

However, in more recent times, the spirit of Bulgarian rugby has been applauded by none other than England rugby great Will Greenwood:

"In the end we beat Pernik in a hard-fought match that left us all with souvenirs of our trip. And while the bruises will fade, my memory of Bulgaria will not. On a national level they may be miles away from rugby recognition, but far from the spotlight and in among the old towns there are thousands of Bulgarians who absolutely love our sport." [7]

Women's rugby

Although Bulgaria's women have not yet played test match rugby, they have been playing international sevens rugby since 2003. (Current playing record).

Teams

Although Bulgaria as a national side are low in the IRB rankings, Bulgaria has a long rugby tradition, and many of the country's clubs were formed as far back as the 1960s.

The main clubs are :

Other clubs include :

Chimik "Chemical Worker" (Kostinbrod)
Divi Ihtimanski Kotki "Wild Cats of Ihtiman" (Ihtiman)
Granit (Godech)
Sportist (Svoge)
Krakra (Pernik)
Pastra (Petarch)
Vulchedrumski Tigri "Tigers of Vulchedrum" (Vulchedrum/Valchedram)
Nadezhda 2001 (Nadezhda, Sofia)
Beroe (Stara Zagora)
Botev (Bourgas)
Spartak (Pleven)
Orlite "The Eagles" (Svilengrad)
Chorni RFC (Breznik)

Related Research Articles

Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in Fiji. It is divided into over 30 provincial unions. The Fiji Rugby Union is a member of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA), along with Samoa and Tonga. There are approximately 80,000 registered players from a total population of around 950,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PFC Cherno More Varna</span> Association football club

Cherno More is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in the city of Varna, which currently competes in Bulgaria's primary football competition, the First League. Founded on 3 March 1913, as an association football branch of the larger sports society SC Galata, the club has spent the majority of its existence playing in the top tier of Bulgarian football.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Professional Football League (Bulgaria)</span> Association football league in Bulgaria

The First Professional Football League, commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League, is a professional association football league, being the top tier of Bulgarian football league system. Contested by 16 teams, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Second Professional Football League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby union in the United States</span>

Rugby union in the United States is played at youth, high school, college, amateur, professional, and international levels and governed by USA Rugby. There were over 125,000 players registered with USA Rugby as of 2016. Over 2,500 rugby union clubs exist around the country, including those who are part of college rugby. Professional club competition has existed as Major League Rugby (MLR) since 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby union in Russia</span>

Rugby union in Russia is a moderately popular sport. Russia was in 2011 ranked 20th worldwide by the World Rugby, having over three hundred clubs and close to 22,000 players nationally. Russian Rugby Championship is the top-level professional competition held in Russia. Krasnoyarsk, in the middle of Siberia, is traditionally the heartland of Russian rugby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulgaria national rugby union team</span> National rugby union team

The Bulgaria national rugby union team is governed by the Bulgarian Rugby Federation, and has yet to qualify for the Rugby World Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Singapore national rugby union team</span>

The Singapore national rugby union team has yet to make its debut at the Rugby World Cup, though since the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Singapore have been participating in qualification competitions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby union in Armenia</span>

Rugby union in Armenia is a growing sport. The national team is currently unranked in the world rankings, which records only the top ninety-six countries. The governing body for Armenia is the Rugby Federation of Armenia, headquartered in Yerevan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby union in American Samoa</span>

Rugby union in American Samoa is a growing sport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby union in Gibraltar</span>

Rugby union is a popular sport since its introduction by British military personnel in the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby union in Sri Lanka</span>

Rugby union in Sri Lanka is mainly played at a semi-professional and recreational level. It is a popular team sport with a history dating back to 1879. In 2012, according to International Rugby Board figures, there were over 160,000 registered rugby union players in Sri Lanka, making it the second largest rugby-playing nation in Asia, behind Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby union in Lithuania</span>

Rugby union in Lithuania is a moderately popular sport.

Rugby union in Thailand is a significant sport. They are currently ranked 60th, with 16,121 registered players.

Rugby union in Pakistan is a minor but growing sport.

The 2012–13 Bulgarian Cup was the 31st official season of the Bulgarian annual football knockout tournament. The competition began on 13 October 2012 with the matches of the preliminary round and ended with the final on 15 May 2013. Ludogorets Razgrad were the defending champions, but were eliminated by CSKA Sofia in the second round. Beroe Stara Zagora won the title, their second overall, after defeating Levski Sofia in the final by penalties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Samoa Rugby Union</span>

The American Samoa Rugby Union, or ASRU, is the governing body for rugby union in American Samoa. It was established in 1990, and became fully affiliated to the International Rugby Board (IRB) in 2012.

The 1953 season was Cherno More's second consecutive season in Republican Football Group A after being administratively relegated in 1949 and returning to the top flight in 1952. The club competed as VMSStalin after Varna was renamed after the Soviet dictator in December 1949. Cherno more finished in 3rd place which was the club's highest post-war league finish until it was matched in 2008-2009.

The 2019−20 Bulgarian Cup was the 38th official edition of the Bulgarian annual football knockout tournament. The competition began on 4 September 2019 with the preliminary round and finished with the final on 1 July 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria. Lokomotiv Plovdiv successfully defended the cup by winning on penalties against CSKA Sofia and qualified for the first qualifying round of the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020–21 Bulgarian Cup</span> Football tournament season

The 2020–21 Bulgarian Cup was the 39th official edition of the Bulgarian annual football knockout tournament. The competition began on 29 September 2020 with the preliminary round and finished with the final on 19 May 2021. Lokomotiv Plovdiv were the defending cup winners, but were eliminated after extra time by Ludogorets Razgrad in the quarter-finals. After CSKA Sofia missed out on the cup after losing last year's final, this time they won it against Arda Kardzhali for their 21st cup title and qualified for the second qualifying round of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League.

The 2021–22 Third Amateur Football League season was the 72nd of the Bulgarian Third Amateur League. The group is equivalent to the third level of the Bulgarian football pyramid, comprising four divisions based on geographical areas. These divisions are the North-West, North-East, South-East, and South-West. The number of teams in each division varies, similarly to previous seasons.

References

  1. ↑ "International Rugby Board - BULGARIA". Archived from the original on 2011-10-01. Retrieved 2011-09-25.
  2. ↑ Official IRB World Rankings Archived 2006-11-03 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Official Bulgaria Playing Numbers
  4. 1 2 3 Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ISBN   1-86200-013-1) p64
  5. ↑ Thau, Chris Soviet Rugby in Starmer-Smith, Nigel & Robertson, Ian (eds) The Whitbread Rugby World '89 (Lennard Books, 1988 ISBN   1-85291-038-0), p 47
  6. ↑ ed. Brown, Archie; Kaser, Michael & Smith, Gerald S. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Russia and the former Soviet Union (2nd Ed., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1994; ISBN   0-521-35593-1), p493
  7. ↑ article, April 2007


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.