The Western Australia Rugby Union (RugbyWA) is the

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ...

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. The organisation develops and fosters rugby in Western Australia, from junior level to professional level. As of 2019, more than 35,000 people played rugby union in Western Australia across 36 clubs and 377 teams. As of 2019, the state government provided around $160,000 a year towards RugbyWA's operating costs. The highest competition run by the organisation is the RugbyWA Premier Grade.

History

RugbyWA was founded in 1893. The organisation's inaugural competition commenced in 1895 with four teams: the I Zingari, Fremantle, Swans and Midland Junction Club. The WARU Senior Grade competition was contested from 1895 to 1913. The Rugby Football code went into recess in the west from the 1914 season until 1928 when 4 Clubs; Wanderers, Rangers, Wallabies and Fremantle revived the First Grade Club Competition. In 2004, RugbyWA successfully secured the fourth Australian Super 12 licence, entering a team in the expanded

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 has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

competition from 2006, called the

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

. In 2009, RugbyWA were given a $2.4 million interest-free loan to upgrade

nib Stadium Perth Rectangular Stadium (also known as HBF (insurer), HBF Park under naming rights) is a sports stadium in Perth, the capital of the Australian states and territories, Australian state of Western Australia. Located close to Perth (suburb), ...

. As of 2019, RugbyWA were still $1 million in debt to the state government. In 2016,

Rugby Australia Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named 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 is a ...

bought the Force intellectual property – including naming rights, colours and branding – from RugbyWA in an $800,000 deal to help the franchise out of financial difficulty. The move effectively handed ownership of the Force to Rugby Australia. The following year, Rugby Australia cut the Force from the Super Rugby competition. RugbyWA took legal action to try to save the team, but was ultimately unsuccessful and the organisation was unable to afford to pay legal costs. As a result, RugbyWA briefly went into voluntary administration. Rugby Australia ultimately agreed to hand back its licence and to waive a $1 million legal bill. The club name and IP was leased back to RugbyWA as part of the deal.

Representative teams

In addition to the

, who currently compete in

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

, RugbyWA also established the

Perth Spirit The Perth Spirit is a former rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, that played in the National Rugby Championship (NRC) from 2014 to 2017, winning the competition in 2016. The team was formed in 2007 to compete in the Australian Ru ...

in 2007. The team competed in 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, was a domestic professional men's rugby union football competition in Australia, which ran for onl ...

and

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 ...

before disbanding in 2018. In the National Rugby Championship, the Spirit won in 2016 while the Force won in 2019.

Clubs

Premier Grade (1st Grade)

* 1 of the 3 premierships won by ''Perth Bayswater'' was won as ''Perth-Suburbs'' * 5 of the 12 premierships won by Wests Scarborough were won as Western Suburbs and 3 of the 12 premierships won by Wests Scarborough as Wests-Scarborough'' *"(year)" Denotes the last year they won the premiership.

References

External links