Rugby union in Estonia is a minor but growing sport.
The national body is the
Estonian Rugby Union (Eesti Ragbi Liit).
The Estonian Rugby Federation was the original rugby body, but did not affiliate to the IRB, as it was a "federation" of one team, instead of the required three. It was in fact expelled from
FIRA-AER
Rugby Europe is the administrative body for rugby union in Europe. It was formed in 1999 to promote, develop, organise, and administer the game of rugby in Europe under the authority of World Rugby (the sport's global governing body). However, it ...
for lack of rugby development.
[ ]
History
Rugby in the Baltic region was mainly introduced during the interwar period, although the game was played in
Imperial Russia
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...
, including
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
pre-Russian revolution, and was introduced to Germany in the 19th century.
Soviet period
In 1949, rugby union was forbidden in the USSR during the "fight against the
cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism is the idea that all human beings are members of a single community. Its adherents are known as cosmopolitan or cosmopolite. Cosmopolitanism is both prescriptive and aspirational, believing humans can and should be " world citizen ...
". The competitions were resumed in 1957, and the Soviet Championship in 1966. In 1975 the
Soviet national team played their first match.
Estonia had its own rugby team in the USSR, but it was not treated as a proper national side.
Post independence
Stadium used by the national team has been the
Viimsi Stadium
Viimsi staadion was a football and rugby stadium in Haabneeme, Viimsi Parish, Estonia, just outside the capital Tallinn with the capacity of 2,000. The stadium was formerly used by a now-defunct Lantana Tallinn football club. The pitch size ...
on loan from NordWest Kinnisvara OÜ.
For a number of years, the Estonian Rugby Federation controlled the game in a federation of one, the "Tigers" based in Tallinn.
Rugby league in Estonia has attempted to make aggressive inroads since the mid-2000s, and took over the one team rugby federation. As a result, 70% of Tallinn's players left, and set up their own
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 ...
team, the Sharks.
[
]Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...
hosts to a fair number of touring sides.
[
]
See also
* Estonia national rugby union team
* Estonian Rugby Union
References
External links
Estonian Rugby Union official site
{{rugbyunion-stub