List of rugby union clubs in Australia
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The highest level of provincial rugby union in Australia is Super Rugby. There are five Australian teams in this competition, which also features teams from New Zealand and Fiji.
List of rugby union clubs in Australia | |
---|---|
Governing body | Rugby Australia |
First played | 25 July 1839,[1] Sydney, New South Wales |
Registered players | 82,818 (total) 38,010 (adult)[2] |
Clubs | 848 |
Club competitions | |
Audience records | |
Single match | 109,874 Australia v New Zealand, (Telstra Stadium) 15 July 2000 |
Australia currently has no national club competition. The first attempt at such a competition, the Australian Rugby Championship, was launched in 2007 with eight teams, but lasted only one season before the nation's governing body, the Australian Rugby Union (now Rugby Australia), decided to discontinue the competition due to financial losses. The second and most recent attempt at forming a national domestic league, the National Rugby Championship, was launched in 2014 with nine teams and lasted six years until it was disbanded in 2020. The current top level competitions in Australia are the Shute Shield in Sydney and the Queensland Premier League in Brisbane. Numerous club and representative competitions serve the rugby playing community below these two competitions.