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 ...

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

is a minor but growing sport.

History

Soviet period

Rugby union was played in

the Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...

as early as in 1908. In 1934 the Moscow Championship was started, and in 1936 the first Soviet Championship took place. In 1949, rugby union was forbidden in the USSR during the "fight against the

cosmopolitanism Cosmopolitanism is the idea that all human beings are members of a single community. Its adherents are known as cosmopolitan or cosmopolite. Cosmopolitanism is both prescriptive and aspirational, believing humans can and should be " world citizens ...

". The competitions were resumed in 1957, and the Soviet Championship in 1966. In 1975 the Soviet national team played their first match. In 1962, rugby in Uzbekistan underwent a major expansion as four new teams were founded.Louis, p39 Uzbekistan had its own rugby team in the USSR, but it was not treated as a proper national side.

Post-independence

Uzbek rugby, like that of

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...

is mainly confined to the military and universities, although there is a schools programme underway. Kazakhstan has been a major impetus for rugby growth in the region (

Almaty Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to ...

had a team in the Soviet league, and they also have a formidable women's team), and has been a major factor in keeping the game going in its neighbouring countries. For years, most of Uzbekistan's games, formal, or informal were against , or Kazakh domestic sides. Currently they take part in the Central Asian region of the

Asian Five Nations The Asia Rugby Championship, or ARC, is an annual rugby union competition held amongst national rugby sides within the Asia Rugby region. The competition was originally known as the Asian Rugby Football Tournament when founded in 1969, and was call ...

Bibliography

* Louis, Victor & Jennifer ''Sport in the Soviet Union''. Oxford Pergamon, 1980. .

References

External links