History
Rugby union was established in the area around what is now the Australian Capital Territory well before it separated from New South Wales on 1 January 1911. [3] Teams playing in the 19th century include Goulburn Rugby Union Club which was formed in 1872 [4] and became a founding member of the Southern Rugby Union in 1874. [5] Cooma played Snowy River as early as 1876, [6] and Queanbeyan played Yass in 1878. [7]
The first match of the 1899 British Lions tour was held at the Goulburn Showgrounds, and the Central Southern RFU put up a strong showing before the visitors prevailed 11–3. [8] Central Southern beat the reigning Sydney premiers Glebe the following year. [9]
Beginnings
A team from Hall was playing rugby by 1907. [2] Royal Military College, Duntroon played the game from the year it was founded in 1911. [10] [11] The Federal City Club also played rugby union prior to the First World War, including matches against a Glenlee team from Bungendore and the Rovers and Warrigal clubs from Queanbeyan. [12] [13] [14]
The dominant rugby code in the region after the first world war was rugby league. [3] Although Royal Military College remained with rugby union, matches had to be arranged with Sydney teams for the college to play the game. [3] [15] A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) branch of the NSW Rugby Union was founded in 1927, [16] [17] but there was not sufficient support for the union code to warrant the establishment of a formal competition. [18] Royal Military College played a series of matches that year against the newly-formed Canberra Rugby Union Club instead. [19] [20] [21] The Canberra club had adopted a black and white strip. [22]
The FCT Rugby Union had to be re-established in 1930, [23] [24] and re-established again in 1937. [25] [26] It was renamed the Australian Capital Territory Rugby Union in 1939. [27] No rugby union matches were played in Canberra for the five years prior to 1936, [28] in the period when the Royal Military College was forced to relocate to the Victoria Barracks, Sydney due to the economic downturn caused by the Great Depression. [29] After returning to Duntroon, the Military College played a re-formed Canberra Rugby Club in 1937, ten years after the teams had first met. [30] [31]
The First Grade competition was started in 1938 with four clubs playing in the inaugural season. [32] The Territory's representative team hosted the All Blacks at Manuka Oval in 1938, [33] with the New Zealanders winning by 57–5. [33]
Growth of amateur rugby: 1946 to 1995
Rugby union expanded quickly after World War II, particularly in New South Wales. [34] The Australian Capital Territory team grew in stature through the 1950s and 1960s as part of the NSW Country Rugby Union. [34] ACT won the Caldwell Cup for the Country Championship for the first time in 1964 and went on to win it three times in a row. [35] [36] In 1966, five Canberra players were chosen in the squad for the Combined NSW Country team that gave the touring British Lions team a physical match, [37] losing narrowly by 6–3 in front of a record crowd at Manuka Oval. [38]
The 1970s was a breakthrough decade. The ACT claimed their first win over an international side, defeating Tonga by 17-6 in 1973. [39] ACT Rugby Union separated from NSW Country after the 1974 season and became directly affiliated to the Australian Rugby Football Union. [40] In 1975 the ACT team won promotion to top division of the Wallaby Trophy, Australia's provincial championship at the time. [41] The triumph was cut short, however, as the tournament was cancelled in that season. [42] [43] In 1978, the ACT defeated the reigning Five Nations champions Wales at Manuka Oval, showing that they could compete with some of the world's best players. [44]
After the ACT team had comprehensively beaten New South Wales in 1994, [45] [34] an invitation was issued for a Canberra club to play in the NSWRU Premiership for the following season. [46] The ACT Rugby Union formed the Canberra Kookaburra Rugby Club in August 1994, [47] with the Tuggeranong Vikings RUC as underwriters. [48]
Professional era
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