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

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby union</span> Team sport, code of rugby football

Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is played between two teams of 15 players each, using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch. The field has H-shaped goalposts at both ends.

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

The Andorra national rugby union team, nicknamed Els Isards represent Andorra in international rugby union competitions. They play most of their home games in Andorra la Vella, the country's capital, though have had some matches in Foix, which is in France.

<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 March 3, 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, also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league, located at the top of the 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">Russia national rugby union team</span> National rugby union team

The Russia national rugby union team, nicknamed Medvedi, represented Russia in men's international rugby union international competitions. The team is administered by the Rugby Union of Russia (RUR). The RUR is considered the official successor union of the Soviet Union by World Rugby and the combined CIS team which played in the early 1990s. Since 1992, the team has played as Russia. Its first test match as Russia was against the Barbarians in Moscow in June 1992 and the country's first test against an official Test nation was against Belgium later that same year.

<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">Rugby union in Georgia</span>

Rugby union in Georgia is a popular team sport. Rugby union is considered one of the most popular sport in Georgia.

<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">Oxford University RFC</span> Rugby team

The Oxford University Rugby Football Club is the rugby union club of the University of Oxford. The club contests The Varsity Match every year against Cambridge University at Twickenham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FC Minyor Pernik</span> Bulgarian football club

FC Minyor is a football club in Pernik, Bulgaria, that competes in the Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football. Founded in 1919 as SC Krakra, the club's home ground since 1954 has been Stadion Minyor. The club's name comes from the fact that the area around the city of Pernik has had long traditions with mining and the mining industry.

The 2008–09 A Group was the 85th season of the Bulgarian national top football division, and the 61st of A Group as the top tier football league in the country. It began on 9 August 2008 and ended on 13 June 2009. CSKA Sofia were the defending champions, but they were unable to retain it and Levski Sofia won the title, which was their 26th overall.

Rugby union in Hungary is a minor but growing sport.

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

Rugby union in Lithuania is a minor but growing sport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby union in the Soviet Union</span> Russian Sport

Rugby union in the Soviet Union was a moderately popular sport. It was most popular in the Georgian SSR; parts of the Russian SFSR such as Moscow and certain regions in Siberia like Krasnoyarsk; and Alma-Ata, the capital of the Kazakh SSR. Rugby enjoyed a more limited popularity in the Ukrainian SSR, Minsk in the Byelorussian SSR and parts of the RSFSR such as Leningrad and areas in Southern Russia, including Krasnodar. Rugby gained a significant following due to the vast size of the Soviet Union, but was never a major sport; despite many attempts to develop the sport, which Soviet citizens came to nickname the "leather melon" due to the shape of the ball. Still, an early championship in 1960 gives an idea of the sheer scale of Soviet rugby: one hundred teams from over thirty cities took part.

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

Rugby union in Czechoslovakia was a moderately popular sport. It was most popular in Moravia, Prague and Bratislava

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.

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.

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 is 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.