Rugby union
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 m ...
in
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
is a minor but growing sport. They are currently ranked 70th by World Rugby.
Governing body
The governing body is the
Nigerian Rugby Football Federation.
History
Rugby union was first introduced into Nigeria by the British empire. For a number of years the game was dominated by white settlers and expatriates, and to an extent, a number of expatriate oil workers still play there.
A number of Nigerian people have emigrated to the UK, and there is a London Nigerian Rugby Club.
Notable players
A number of notable
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 ...
players were born or raised in Nigeria, including:
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Adedayo Adebayo
Adedayo Adeyemi Adebayo (born 30 November 1970 in Ibadan, Nigeria) is a rugby union footballer, who played on the wing for England 8 times between 1996 and 1998. He played club rugby for Bath and Parma and then went on to coach the Scottish-ba ...
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Ayoola Erinle
Ayoola Erinle (born 20 February 1980 in Lagos, Nigeria) is known for being an England international rugby union player. He was educated at The Oratory School and at King's College London, representing both his school's 1st XV and the King's Col ...
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Steve Ojomoh
Stephen Oziegebe Ojomoh, known as Steve Ojomoh (born 25 May 1970 in Benin City), is a Nigerian-born English former rugby union footballer and a current coach. He played as a flanker.
Club career
Ojomoh played for Moseley, Bath, and Glouceste ...
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Victor Ubogu
Victor Eriakpo Ubogu (born 8 September 1964) is a former Bath and England rugby union player.
Arriving in the UK from Lagos, Nigeria in 1977, he attended West Buckland School in Devon he received the school's top award, the Fortescue Medal. ...
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Topsy Ojo
Temitope "Topsy" Ojo (born 28 July 1985) is an English rugby union player for London Irish , and has represented England at International level. He is London Irish's all-time leading try scorer, with 73 tries in all competitions.
Career
Lon ...
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Chris Oti
Chris Oti (born 16 June 1965 in London) is an English former rugby union player. He was a rugby winger of prodigious pace who represented England thirteen times between 1988 and 1991. He was a member of the England squad that appeared in the 19 ...
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Marcus Watson
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Andrew Harriman
Andrew Tuoyo Harriman (born 13 July 1964) is a Nigerian born rugby union player who played as a wing for Harlequins and was capped for England as a full international. He was prominent as an exponent of the sevens game, including leading Engla ...
Bright Sodje
Bright Ojamohare Sodje (born 21 April 1966) is a retired dual-code rugby player, who played for rugby league clubs; the Wakefield Trinity (Wildcats), Hull Kingston Rovers, and the Sheffield Eagles in England as well as rugby union for Wakefie ...
who formerly played for
Wakefield RFC
Wakefield RFC was an English rugby union club, founded in 1901 and folded in 2004 as a result of poor finances, with a trading loss of £105,000 for the season and unsecured creditors' loans of approximately £640,000. The club's final season w ...
and current England international
Maro Itoje
Oghenemaro Miles "Maro" Itoje (born 28 October 1994) is an English professional rugby union player, who plays as a lock or as a blindside flanker for Gallagher Premiership club Saracens and the England national team. He signed his first pro ...
are also of Nigerian background.
See also
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Nigeria national rugby union team
The Nigeria national rugby union team represent Nigeria in men's international rugby union. Nigeria have thus far not qualified for a Rugby World Cup, but have competed in qualifying tournaments.
Nigeria played their first international agains ...
*
Confederation of African Rugby
Rugby Africa, is the administrative body for rugby union within the continent of Africa under the authority of World Rugby, which is the world governing body of rugby union. , Rugby Africa has 37 member nations and runs several rugby tournaments ...
*
Africa Cup
The Rugby Africa Cup is a two-year men's rugby union tournament involving the top 16 African nations based on their World Rugby rankings, it is organised by Rugby Africa. The tournament was first held in 2000. It was renamed the Rugby Africa Cup i ...
External links
IRB Nigeria page
CARNigerian women holding their own in rugbyClub plans big for rugby in NigeriaNigeria reaches milestone*
Historique
References
{{Africa in topic, Rugby union in