The Blue Bulls Rugby Union, previously Northern Transvaal Rugby Union, is the governing body for

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 ...

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

, two neighboring municipalities in

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

Province, and all of

Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...

Province, in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. The union's headquarters and home stadium is Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria. The union operates teams in

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

(the Bulls), and in South Africa's domestic

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

and Rugby Challenge competitions (both the

Blue Bulls The Blue Bulls (known for sponsorship reasons as the Vodacom Blue Bulls) is a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. They are governed by the Blue Bulls Rugby Union and are based at Loftus Versfe ...

). For sponsorship reasons, the teams are currently called the Vodacom Bulls and Vodacom Blue Bulls (

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

: Vodacom Blou Bulle).

History

The Blue Bulls (Blue Bulls Rugby Union) or Blou Bulle (Afrikaans) was formed in 1938 as the Northern Transvaal Rugby Union (N.T.R.U.). Prior to the formation of the union, the region's clubs were under the jurisdiction of the then Transvaal Rugby Union (now Golden Lions Rugby Union). Northern Transvaal (under the NTRU), captained by Danie Craven, played its first home game as an independent union on 28 May 1938. The game against the Orange Free State team ended in a draw, 11:11. In its first 75 years, the team competed for the Currie Cup in 55 seasons, and won 23 Currie Cup titles in 53 finals. In the same period 127 Springboks hailed from the Union, and it won 3 Super Rugby titles.

References

External links

Official Blue Bulls site
{{Authority control Rugby union governing bodies in South Africa 1938 establishments in South Africa Sports organizations established in 1938