Ian Rubin (born 17 April 1973) is a former

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

international

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played as a forward in the 1990s and 2000s. He played the majority of his professional career in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

for the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

and the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen pla ...

clubs. Rubin also played on several occasions for his adopted country of Russia, including four appearances as captain of the Russian national team at the 2000 World Cup after qualifying to play for them via the

grandparent rule The grandfather rule, in sports which usually only permit participants to play for the team of their country of birth, is an exception which gives participants the option to play for the country of any of their ancestors up to the grandparents. ...

Background

Rubin was born in

Odessa, Ukraine Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative ...

South Sydney Rabbitohs

Rubin is Jewish. After his family

emigrate Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

d to Australia in his teens settling in Sydney, Rubin took up

while at school where he was eventually spotted by Rabbitohs scouts in the early 1990s. Rubin then signed his first professional contract for the

for the beginning of the 1996 season where he quickly began playing in the first team side for the Sydney club usually playing as an impact prop-forward off the bench. Rubin eventually made his name as a

workhorse A draft horse (US), draught horse (UK) or dray horse (from the Old English ''dragan'' meaning "to draw or haul"; compare Dutch language, Dutch ''dragen'' and German language, German ''tragen'' meaning "to carry" and Danish language, Danish ''d ...

forward and over the next three years would go on to make forty-five appearances for the South Sydney side.

Sydney Roosters

Rubin signed for cross-town rivals the

for the beginning of the 2000 season where he would put together an impressive string of performances for his new club quickly cementing his place as a starting prop-forward and appearing at prop forward in the Roosters 2000 NRL Grand Final loss to the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

. Shortly after he travelled to England to captain

in their 2000 World Cup campaign. Altogether Rubin would only play two seasons for the Roosters but appeared in close to every fixture and captained the club on the odd occasion.

Russia

Rubin was originally enquired about by Russian management during 1998 as to where his heritage lay and whether or not he would be able to represent

for their World Cup qualifying fixtures in their bid to gain entry for the 2000 competition. Although Rubin was born in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, both of his grandparents had originally come from Russia which meant Rubin was allowed to represent the Russian national side. From 1998 onwards he would help his adopted country to qualify for the

Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament contested by the top national men's representative teams. The tournament is administered by the International Rugby League and was first held in France in 1954, which was ...

and then take part in their campaign as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

but ultimately they had a disappointing tournament, failing to win a match against superior competition in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

References

External links