The Soviet Championship was a rugby union club competition between the domestic teams of the Soviet Union era. It was first contested in 1936, and was last held in 1990. [1]
Historically rugby union had been banned in the Russian Empire due to Tsarist authorities thinking it liable to cause a riot. When the Soviet Union was established, rugby was encouraged within Soviet educational institutions. The growth led to the creation of the Rugby Federation of the USSR in 1936 with the Soviet Championship being established in the same year. [1] Despite interruption as a result of the Second World War, the Soviet Championship resumed until 1949 when the Soviet Union politburo ruled that rugby was: "a game not relevant to the principles of the Soviet people" and banned it. [1] It was unbanned in 1957 with a game between the Welsh club Llanelli RFC and Romanian club Grivita Rosa. The Soviet Championship resumed in 1966 following an increase in sports participation following Joseph Stalin's death. [2]
In the 1970s, 20 teams were playing in the Soviet Championship, with a growing popularity within Siberia. [3] Originally, the Soviet Championship was dominated by teams from the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic. [4] By the 1980s, clubs from the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic became the stronger region in the Soviet Championship until its dissolution. [5] Despite rugby union officially being strictly amateur, in the Soviet Championship, a number of clubs paid players professionally by giving them paper jobs with Soviet companies while playing rugby. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, four former Soviet Championship clubs went out of business due to a lack of funding as state sports sponsor money was prioritised for Olympic sports. [6]
| Republic | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total top 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Russian SFSR | 26 | 24 | 19 | 63 |
 Georgian SSR | 3 | 2 | 5 | 10 |
 Ukrainian SSR | 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 |
 Kazakh SSR | - | 1 | 1 | 2 |