The Australian Provincial Championship, or APC, is a now-defunct

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 ...

football competition played 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 ...

. It was one of several provincial competitions since the late 1960s, including the Wallaby Trophy and Ricoh National Championship, that have not continued. The Australian Provincial Championship was played as a single round-robin, with the top two teams playing off in a final for the title. Teams in the APC were the

ACT Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005–2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the brumby, feral horses whi ...

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other southern parts of the state, ...

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competition ...

, and

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. ...

. The APC ran for just one season in 2006 before the competition was replaced by the

Australian Rugby Championship The Australian Rugby Championship, often abbreviated to the ARC and also known as the Mazda Australian Rugby Championship for sponsorship purposes, is a now-defunct domestic professional men's rugby union football competition in Australia, which ...

for the 2007 season.

History

The Wallaby Trophy and Ricoh National Championship were the top level provincial rugby union competitions in Australia prior to the Australian Provincial Championship.

Wallaby Trophy: 1968 to 1976

The Wallaby Trophy began in 1968, contested by representative teams from Sydney, NSW Country, Queensland, and Victoria. Victoria also competed in the Southern States Carnival against Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania, and these other teams were eventually formed into a second division of the Wallaby Trophy along with the Australian Capital Territory and, later, Queensland Country. In June 1976 the ARFU announced the suspension of funding to the Wallaby Trophy competition due to financial difficulties. After 1976 there was no provincial championship for another two decades, although the Southern States Carnivals continued on. Provincial rugby matches were still played, but not as part of an overall national competition. The NSW Waratahs and Queensland Reds continued to play annual interstate games, sometimes referred to as State of the Union matches. In the 1980s and 90s, NSW and Queensland also played in the transnational SPC, Super 6 and

Super 10 The Super 10 was a rugby union football tournament featuring ten teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Tonga, and Western Samoa. The competition ran for three years from 1993 to 1995 and was the predecessor of Super 12 and Super 14, ...

tournaments. Limited resources outside the rugby strongholds of Sydney and Brisbane had curtailed options for expansion in Australia until the ACT Brumbies team was formed to join the

Super 12 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

competition in 1996.

Ricoh National Championship: 1998 to 2000

In 1998 the State of the Union was augmented to accommodate the Brumbies with the formation of the Ricoh National Championship. This competition continued in 1999 and 2000. Over the three years, the championship was won once by each team; the Waratahs, Brumbies, and Reds.

Australian Provincial Championship: 2006

In 2006, the Australian Provincial Championship was formed, with the

joining the Waratahs, Brumbies and Reds after the Super 14 tournament to compete for the Bob Templeton trophy. The ACT Brumbies won the Championship in 2006, defeating the Queensland Reds in the final played in Canberra. It was suggested that in 2007 or 2008 some Japanese teams could play this competition, but the APC was discontinued beyond 2006. It was replaced by the

Format

The APC tournament was played as a single round-robin, with the top two teams playing off in a final. The points system used for the APC was the same as used for the

Super 14 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

; four points for a win, two for a draw, with bonus points being awarded to teams scoring four tries or more in one match and/or losing by seven points or less. The four teams were as strong as possible, but without their respective

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

due to the South African leg of the

2006 Tri Nations Series 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. The Western Force ended up having all-away fixtures, whilst the Brumbies played all their games on Friday nights, the Waratahs took matches to

Gosford Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extre ...

and Bathurst, whilst the Reds played afternoon matches at Ballymore. The ACT Brumbies defeated the Queensland Reds by 42–17 in the 2006 final played at Viking Park in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

References

External links

* * * * {{Southern Hemisphere Provincial Rugby Competitions Prp 1968 establishments in Australia Sports leagues established in 1968 Rugby union competitions for provincial teams