Rugby union in Poland
Encyclopedia
Rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

is a minor but growing sport.

Governing body

The Polish Rugby Union (Polski Związek Rugby) was founded in 1957, and joined the IRFB in 1988.
The official supplier of equipment to the PRU is O'Brien sport.

An earlier Polish Rugby Union was set up in the early 1920s, but was disbanded in 1928.

History

In 1921, Louis Amblard, a Frenchman, set up the very first Polish rugby club called "The White Eagles". The first match was in 1922, and the first club international in 1924 against a Romanian side.

The game became established in the Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

 Military Academy in the early 1930s.

The tragic events of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...

 etc, meant that the growth of Polish rugby was retarded until the 1950s. During WWII, there were occasional games between allied POWs in German camps in Poland. For example, a game was held between a Scottish and a Welsh XV, in ten inches of snow. No conversions were allowed, as the ball would have gone over the camp fence, and the game was twenty minutes each way. Players wore army boots, trousers, prison shirts and balaclavas.

Polish rugby had something of a boom in the late 1970s, when they beat both Italy
Italy national rugby union team
The Italy national rugby union team represent the nation of Italy in the sport of rugby union. The team is also known as the Azzurri . Italy have been playing international rugby since the late 1920s, and since 2000 compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland,...

 and Spain
Spain national rugby union team
The Spain national rugby union team are a national sporting side of Spain, representing them at rugby union. Spain have been playing rugby since the late 1920s, playing their first international against Italy in 1929. They have qualified for one Rugby World Cup, in 1999 where they were pooled with...

, and also held Romania
Romania national rugby union team
The Romania national rugby union team , nicknamed The Oaks , is the representative side of Romania in rugby union. Long considered one of the stronger European teams outside the Six Nations, they have participated in all six Rugby World Cups, and currently compete in the first division of the...

 to a 37-21 win in 1977.
"Much to everyone's surprise, Eastern Bloc countries are among the game's vigorous participants, seemingly oblivious to rugby's capitalist class-ridden origins. Russia emerged from behind the Iron Curtain and came under international scrutiny when they played France in Toulouse in November 1978. Rumania, Poland and Czechoslovakia are members of the Federation Internationale de Rugby Amateur, the governing body for those countries not in the IB
International Rugby Board
The International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...

."


In 1983, Poland failed to play in the FIRA Championships, and told FIRA that two of their players had died. It is not known where the other died, but one had died near Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

.

The Cold War frequently intruded - for example in the 1984 FIRA Championships, in the game against France, Poland demanded the removal of the French players Didier Camberabero
Didier Camberabero
Didier Camberabero , is a former French international rugby union. He played as fly half.-Biography:Didier is son of former international, Guy Camberabero, and nephew of Lilian Camberabero, two brothers who took part in the first Grand Slam won by France...

, Henri Sanz
Henri Sanz
Henri Sanz was a French rugby union player. He played as a scrum-half.Sanz first played for Electrogaz Toulouse, then in SC Graulhet, moving afterwards to RC Narbonne, where he would spend most of his career. He reached the post of captain and won three titles of the Cup of France, in 1988/89,...

 and the Brive RFC centre Yves Fouget, because as members of the French armed forces, they were considered to be a security risk.

Because of high Polish emigration, particularly to France, and English speaking nations, the Polish team
Poland national rugby union team
The Poland national rugby union team represent Poland at the international level of rugby union. They are governed by Polski Związek Rugby and have been participating in international rugby since 1958. Poland have yet to play in a Rugby World Cup...

 actually has a fairly large pool of potential players. In addition,
a number of Poles returning from jobs in the British Isles and France, have carried the game back with them.

Notable players

In the 1990s, there were at least fifty Poles playing in the French first and second divisions. Notable amongst these was Gregor Kacala, the 18 stone open side flanker, who helped Brive
CA Brive
Club Athlétique Brive Corrèze Limousin is a French rugby union team founded in 1910 and based in Brive-la-Gaillarde in the département of Corrèze of the Limousin région . They wear black and white and play in the Stade Amédée-Domenech .- History :The club was created on 15 March 1910 established on...

 win the 1996 European Cup
Heineken Cup
The Heineken Cup is one of two annual rugby union competitions organised by European Rugby Cup involving leading club, regional and provincial teams from the six International Rugby Board countries in Europe whose national teams compete in the Six Nations Championship: England, France, Ireland,...

.
  • Mariusz Pudzianowski
    Mariusz Pudzianowski
    Mariusz Zbigniew Pudzianowski is a Polish former strongman and current mixed martial artist...

    , better known as a Polish strongman, is one of the most famous Polish rugby players. He played with Budowlani Lodz but retired after one season.

Skill standard

The standard of domestic rugby is relatively low in Poland. Most national players play in lower division teams in France (even in second/third teams) while some national players play in the domestic league. The main teams are based in the three main cities of Gdansk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...

, in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

 and Łódź (the latter, being current national champions). In Poland, because rugby union is viewed as a "power sport", flamboyance is not encouraged. The lack of foreign coaches stifles development, which is reflected by the national team's performances in the European Nations Cup
European Nations Cup (rugby union)
The European Nations Cup is the European Championship for tier 2 and tier 3 rugby union nations. The Championship is split into 7 divisions with 5 or 6 teams in each. The divisions play on a two-year cycle with the teams playing each other both home and away...

 against nations with less financial muscle and a smaller player pool such as the and the , as well as matches against , and ).

Domestic structure

There are currently two divisions in Poland. The second division was relaunched in 2009 using some of the major teams providing 2nd XVs, along with some newly formed sides. The top division has 8 teams while the second division has 6 teams. Prior to that in 2008/2009 there were 10 teams in the top division and only 4 in the second. This led to some very uneven contests between the top teams and those at the bottom of the league. There is now also a regional league played in the centre of Poland (around Lodz and Warsaw) in which some smaller clubs have entered teams and second teams from some of the top clubs nationally compete.

Polish rugby development, however, has tended to concentrate on rugby sevens
Rugby sevens
Rugby sevens, also known as seven-a-side or VIIs, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players, instead of the usual 15, with shorter matches. Rugby sevens is administered by the International Rugby Board , the body responsible for rugby union worldwide...

 as a means of introducing the sport to people. The PRU organises regular one day sevens tournaments over the spring/summer with teams travelling from all over the country. There are teams forming all over the country, but there is a shortage of quality coaching and basic equipment. Despite this rugby is making good headway.

Rugby tens
Rugby tens
Rugby tens, also known as ten-a-side and Xs, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of ten players, typically five forwards and five backs. Matches are much shorter, often of two ten-minute halves...

 also has some popularity.

National team

Poland's international debut was in 1958 against , and they won the match 9-8.

Women's rugby

Although Poland's women have not yet played test match rugby, they have been playing international sevens rugby
Women's International Rugby Union Sevens
Rugby Union Sevens - a short form of the sport of rugby union - was first played in 1883, with the first internationals taking place in 1973...

 since 2005. (Current playing record).

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK