Sydney Stars versus Canberra Vikings NRC Round 5 (2)

The Sydney Stars is a former Australian

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 team that competed in the

National Rugby Championship The National Rugby Championship, known as NRC, was an Australian rugby union competition. It was contested by eight teams, seven from Australia and one from Fiji. The tournament ran from 2014 until 2019 before being disbanded in 2020 following t ...

(NRC) in 2014 and 2015. The Stars team was established as a joint venture between the

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six ...

and Balmain rugby clubs, and was one of four New South Wales teams in the competition. The NRC was launched in 2014, reinstating the national competition after an absence of six years. Sydney University was initially interested in entering the NRC competition as a stand-alone club, but submitted a joint bid with Balmain as the Sydney Stars.

Colours and logo

The Sydney Stars' colours of gold, blue and black was drawn from the rugby clubs of Sydney University and Balmain. The team logo was the name "Sydney" in blue capitals outlined in white above the name "Stars" in gold capitals outlined in blue, and with the central letter "A" formed as the top point of a large stylised five-pointed star. The entire design was outlined in black.

History

The previous national competition was 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 ...

(ARC), which was discontinued in 2007 after only one season. After setting up a consultative process in 2006 which culminated in a working session of some 70 delegates from around the country, the

Australian Rugby Union Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named the Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It ...

announced that a new eight-team national competition would commence in 2007. New South Wales was allocated three teams and it was decided that representative teams would be formed to play out of the Central Coast, Western Sydney, and Sydney. The decision was controversial because two New South Wales clubs,

and Randwick, had wanted to enter stand-alone teams in the new competition.

Sydney Fleet (ARC team)

The Sydney Fleet was formed as one of three New South Wales teams to participate in the ARC. The Fleet's colors were blue and gold, the same colours used by past teams representing all of Sydney. The team's local rivals were the Western Sydney Rams and

Central Coast Rays Sydney is an Australian rugby union team that competes in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). Formerly known as Sydney Rays, the team is one of two sides from New South Wales in the competition; the other being the NSW Country Eagles. T ...

. The logo of the Sydney Fleet featured a traditional anchor, similar to that on the

Coat of arms of Sydney A coat typically is an outer garment for the upper body as worn by either gender for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners, toggles, a ...

. The name, logo and team colours were revealed at the official launch of the team held aboard the museum ship HMAS ''Vampire'' at the

Australian National Maritime Museum The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) is a Australian government, federally operated maritime museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney. After considering the idea of establishing a maritime museum, the federal government announced that a nation ...

, in

Darling Harbour Darling Harbour is a harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district. Origin ...

on 27 February 2007. Existing clubs aligned with the Sydney Fleet included

, Randwick,

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

and Southern Districts. The team played at

North Sydney Oval North Sydney Oval is a multi-use sporting facility in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, owned and operated by North Sydney Council. First used as a cricket ground in 1867, it is also used for Australian rules football, rugby league, rug ...

which was also the home ground of the

Northern Suburbs Rugby Club Northern Suburbs Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club in Sydney, Australia, that was formed in 1900 from the merger of the Pirates and Wallaroos clubs. The club competes in the Shute Shield competition run by the New South Wales Rugby Union ...

, although that club was aligned with the

team for the ARC competition. Head coach of the Sydney Fleet was Col "Snake" Jeffs, who was also the NSW Country head coach at the time. Former Wallaby and Waratah

Scott Bowen Scott Bowen (born 20 September 1972) is a former Australian rugby union fly-half who represented for the Wallabies nine times between 1993 and 1996.Australian Rugby – The Game and the Players (Jack Pollard Syd, 1994) pp 66: Bowen, Scott (1972 ...

(Easts head coach) and former Waratah and Italy Test lock

Mark Giacheri Mark Giacheri (born 1 February 1969 in Sydney) is a former Italian-Australian rugby union player and a current coach. He played as a lock. He first played for New South Wales Waratahs, from 1988/89 to 1996/97. He moved to Benetton Treviso in ...

(Randwick head coach) were the assistant coaches.

Tim Davidson Tim Davidson (born 3 November 1982, in Young, Australia) is a rugby union footballer. His regular playing position is either flanker or eighthman. He represented the Melbourne Rebels in Super Rugby having previously played for the Western For ...

was the captain. The Australian Rugby Championship was terminated at the end of 2007 after only one season of competition, with the Australian Rugby Union citing higher costs than budgeted and further projected financial losses. The Sydney Fleet team was disbanded with the end of the ARC competition.

National Rugby Championship

In December 2013, the ARU announced that the national competition was to be relaunched, with the National Rugby Championship (NRC) commencing in 2014. Expressions of interest were open to any interested parties, with the accepted bids finalised in early 2014. The Sydney University initially expressed interest in entering the NRC competition as a stand-alone club. However, a joint venture between Sydney University and Balmain rugby club (run by Sydney businessman

Warren Livingstone Warren Livingstone (born 1973 in Sydney) is an Australian businessman, sports administrator and publican. He is the founder and managing director of the sports-tourism group Fanatics, the former president of Balmain Rugby Club and Sydney pub o ...

, founder of the sports-tourism group Fanatics) was successful. On 24 March 2014 it was announced that the Sydney Stars team would play in the NRC competition. Sydney University's coach

Chris Malone Christopher Malone (born 8 January 1978 in Sydney) is an Australian rugby union coach and a former professional player. Malone is currently an assistant coach with the NSW Waratahs. He was previously head coach of Sydney University and the Syd ...

was named as the head coach of the Sydney Stars for 2014, with

Cameron Blades Cameron Blades (born 16 April 1971) is an Australian international former rugby union player who played at the loosehead prop position, but could also cover at tighthead prop and hooker. He played professionally for New South Wales Waratahs ...

as forwards coach and

Peter Playford Peter Playford (born 11 July 1980) is an Australian rugby union football coach and a former professional player for the Waratahs and Brumbies on the wing. Playford was head coach of the Sydney Stars team for the 2015 season of the National Rugb ...

as backs coach. Jack Farrar and

Matt Dunning Matt Dunning (born 19 December 1978) is a former Australian rugby union footballer. He played as a prop for the Waratahs and Western Force in Super Rugby, and represented Australia. He coached the Balmain rugby club in Sydney 2013/2014. Early ...

were appointed as support personnel.

Pat McCutcheon Patrick "Pat" McCutcheon (born 24 June 1987) is an Australia professional rugby union footballer. He plays for the New South Wales Waratahs in the Super Rugby competition, and his usual position is loose forward. Family and early life McCutche ...

was named as captain. Peter Playford became the head coach in 2016 and David Hickey was named captain. The team finished fourth in the regular season and played in a semifinal but lost by 47–32. In 2016, the two-year licence for the Sydney Stars team to play in the NRC was not renewed, as the ARU had adjudged that the player talent available was not sufficient to support four competitive teams in New South Wales.

Stadium

The home ground for the Sydney Stars was

Leichhardt Oval Leichhardt Oval is a rugby league and soccer stadium in Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently one of three home grounds for the Wests Tigers National Rugby League (NRL) team, along with Campbelltown Stadium and Western Sydney S ...

, the long-term home of

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 ...

team, the Balmain Tigers and its descendant team the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a j ...

playing in the

NRL 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 ...

competition. The ground has primarily hosted rugby league and

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

teams over the years.

Records

Honours

**Playoff appearances:

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Season standings

National Rugby Championship : Australian Rugby Championship (Sydney Fleet) :

Head coaches

(2015) *

(2014) * Col "Snake" Jeffs (2007 – Syd. Fleet)

Captains

* David Hickey (2015) *

(2014) *

(2007 – Syd. Fleet)

Squads

: : :

Gallery

File:Sydney Stars versus Canberra Vikings NRC Round 5 (3).jpg, Sydney Stars exit the field post Round 5 File:Sydney Stars versus Canberra Vikings NRC Round 5 (6).jpg, Sydney Stars feed the scrum File:Sydney Stars versus Canberra Vikings NRC Round 5 (7).jpg, Sydney Stars scrum down File:Sydney Stars versus Canberra Vikings NRC Round 5 (11).jpg, Sydney Stars tackled File:Sydney Stars versus Canberra Vikings NRC Round 5 (12).jpg, Sydney Stars under pressure File:Sydney Stars versus Canberra Vikings NRC Round 5 (10).jpg, Sydney Stars feed the scrum

References

External links

* {{Rugby union in Australia National Rugby Championship Rugby union teams in Sydney Rugby clubs established in 2014 2014 establishments in Australia Sports clubs disestablished in 2015 2015 disestablishments in Australia