Rugby union in South Korea
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Rugby union in South Korea is a minor but growing sport. Of the two Korean nations, the game tends to be mostly played in South Korea;
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
's mostly small
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 it ...
presence is limited to Koreans in Japan.


Governing body

The Korean Union was set up in 1946, and affiliated to the IRFB in 1988.Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'' (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ) p70


History

It is unknown when rugby was first played in Korea. During the mid-19th century, European sailors are recorded as playing some of the earliest games in north east Asia, in ports such as
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
and
Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...
in neighbouring China and Japan, but it is unclear whether this occurred in Korea itself. However, it seems certain it had some presence by the mid-20th century. Korea was to become occupied by Japan, the main rugby playing nation of Asia, and it could well have been introduced then.
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
still maintains a fierce rivalry with Japan to this day. After
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, and later, during the period of the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, the large influx of troops from Commonwealth countries cemented its presence. One legacy of this is that South Korean rugby has traditionally been strongest in the army. However, South Korean rugby has a second string to its bow. The massive growth of the economy since the 1960s, meant that a number of Korean corporations were to set up company teams along the lines of those in Japan, and this has broken up the former dominance of the military. South Korea made a failed attempt to have
rugby union at the Olympic Games Rugby union has been a men's medal sport at the modern Summer Olympic Games, being played at four of the first seven competitions. The sport debuted at the 1900 Paris games where the gold medal was won by the host nation. It was subsequently f ...
readmitted, when they hosted the games in
Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...
.Rugby at the 1924 Olympics
retrieved 19 August 2009
Roh Tae-woo Roh Tae-woo (; ; 4 December 1932 – 26 October 2021) was a South Korean politician and army general who served as the sixth president of South Korea from 1988 to 1993. Roh was a close ally and friend of Chun Doo-hwan, the predecessor leader ...
, who was South Korean president at the time, had been a player.Famous Ruggers by Wes Clark and others
retrieved 19 August 2009
South Korea have emerged as an important rugby nation in Asia, since they won the
Asian Championship An Asian Championship is a top level international sports competition between Asian athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships (Summer Olympic Sports) ;Aquatics * Asia ...
in 1990. Notable players include- * Lee Ken Yok. * Kim Yeon Ki. * Sung Hae-Kyoung. *
Roh Tae-woo Roh Tae-woo (; ; 4 December 1932 – 26 October 2021) was a South Korean politician and army general who served as the sixth president of South Korea from 1988 to 1993. Roh was a close ally and friend of Chun Doo-hwan, the predecessor leader ...
, disgraced 13th president of South Korea (1988–1993).


Expatriate rugby

Expatriate rugby was first played in Korea in 1972. An expat team called the Seoul Wanderers were formed to give opposition to both the local university teams and stationed army teams. This team was made up of players from the UK, New Zealand, and Australia. The team was disbanded in 1976. In early 1979 Franz Misch, Mike Seros and Brad Handley got together and formed a new club - the Seoul Survivors RFC. The club is still around today. Today a range of expat teams exist in South Korea which sees teams play rugby 10's in KERA-Korean Expat Rugby Association League. Unfortunately, a few clubs have disbanded due to the nature of expat-life - notably Daejeon and Daegu. Currently four clubs compete in the KERA League - Seoul Survivors RFC
Busan Rugby Club
Ulsan Goblins RFC and the Stars & Stripes RFC (US Armed Forces). Each club has the opportunity to host a tournament and showcase the game in their respective cities. This has led to growing support for the game of Rugby Union. Many players travel considerable distances to practice with, and play for one of the mentioned teams. This is due to the fact that the pool of players are generally too small to support teams in the smaller cities and country-side of the Republic of Korea. Th
Busan Rugby Club
is one of the clubs that have experienced rapid growth in player numbers and support. This is due to the fact that Busan is the second largest city in South Korea, is a popular summer destination (notably Haeundae beach and Gwangali beach) and has a large expat population. The club also draws considerable player numbers from the province located around Busan, Gyeonsangnam-do. Starting in 2016, the Busan Rugby Club showed a huge revival in their efforts to be recognized as a leading expatriate rugby club in Korea, by appointing a qualified coach, focus on training, and winning matches. Their hard work and concerted efforts paid off handsomely when they made history in 2017, by winning the KERA 2017 League trophy (The Joe Day Cup), The South Sea Cup and the KERA 2017 Knock Out Shield for the first time in the club's history. Busan Rugby then repeated their 2017 success by retaining the Joe Day Cup in 2018. Updated information about the latest match results and current league standings are available a


See also

* KERA-Korean Expat Rugby League *
South Korea national rugby union team The South Korea national rugby union team, (Korean:) recognized as ''Korea'' by World Rugby, has yet to make their debut at the Rugby World Cup. Korea were at their peak in the 1980s, where they won 3 consecutive Asian championships (defeating ful ...
*
South Korea national rugby sevens team The South Korea national rugby sevens team is a minor national sevens side. They sometimes take part in the Rugby World Cup Sevens, and have competed in the Hong Kong Sevens since the 1980s. South Korea made their Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo ...
*
Rugby union at the 2002 Asian Games Rugby ( Sevens and Union) was one of the many sports which was held at the 2002 Asian Games in Ulsan, South Korea. All games played at the Ulsan Public Stadium. The competition included only men's events. Schedule Medalists Union Sevens ...

Busan Rugby Club


External links



*
Korea Rugby Union

Rugby in Asia South Korea Homepage (in English)

Asian Rugby Football Union

Busan Rugby Club

Busan Rugby Club Facebook



Seoul Survivors RFC


References

* Richards, Huw ''A Game for Hooligans: The History of Rugby Union'' (
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, 2007, ) {{Asia in topic, Rugby union in