The Canberra Vikings, formerly the Canberra Kookaburras, was an Australian

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 ...

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) until 2019. The team was based at

Viking Park Viking Park is an 7,000 capacity (1,000 seated) multi-sport stadium located in the Tuggeranong Valley suburb Wanniassa, Canberra, Australia. It has a rectangular playing surface which is used primarily to host rugby union matches but addition ...

in Wanniassa, and is backed by the Tuggeranong Vikings Group as the licence holder, with the

Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005 to 2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the feral horses which inh ...

and

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public university, public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is from Belconnen Town Centre, and from Canberra's Civic, Australian ...

as non-financial partners. The coaching and training programs used by the Brumbies for

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 ...

are extended to players joining the NRC team from the Brumbies, the local

ACTRU Premier Division The ACTRU Premier Division is a rugby union club competition based in Canberra, Australia, and conducted by the region's governing body, the ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union The ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby ...

club competition, and the

ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union The ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in the Australian Capital Territory and southern regions of New South Wales. The union is represented by one team in the Super Rugby competition, the Brumbies. The ACT is ...

catchment area. The present NRC team is descended from the ACT representative side known as the Canberra Kookaburras. That name was adopted by the Canberra Kookaburra Rugby Club for the ACT Rugby Union's entry into the NSW Premiership in 1995. Ownership of the Kookaburras was transferred to the Tuggeranong Vikings RUC for the 1999 season and the team was renamed the Canberra Vikings. The Vikings played in the QRU Premiership (2001 to 2003, winning three titles), Tooheys New Cup (2004 and 2005) and Australian Rugby Shield (winning in 2006), before entering the Australian Rugby Championship (2007). That competition did not continue after the inaugural season and the Canberra Vikings team was disbanded at the end of 2007. After a six-year absence, the team was revived as the University of Canberra Vikings for the national competition relaunch as the NRC in 2014.

History

The late 19th century was when rugby began to be played in the region around what is now

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. Goulburn Rugby Union Club became a founding member of the Southern Rugby Union in 1874, and

Queanbeyan Queanbeyan ( ) is a city in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia, located adjacent to the Australian Capital Territory in the Southern Tablelands region. Located on the Queanbeyan River, the city is the council seat of the Queanbeyan-Pale ...

played Yass in 1878. Teams from

Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gre ...

and the

Royal Military College, Duntroon The Royal Military College, Duntroon, also known simply as Duntroon, is the Australian Army's Officer (armed forces), officer training establishment. It was founded at Duntroon, Australian Capital Territory, Duntroon in Canberra, Australian Capi ...

played rugby union matches prior to the First World War. The Federal Capital Territory Rugby Union was established and re-established several times in the 1920s and 30s, before the

First Grade First grade (also 1st Grade or Grade 1) is the first year of formal or compulsory education. It is the first year of elementary school, and the first school year after kindergarten. Children in first grade are usually 6–7 years old. Examples ...

competition was finally started in 1938 with four clubs playing in the inaugural season.

ACT representative team

The Territory's representative team hosted the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

Manuka Oval Manuka Oval is a sporting venue in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is located in Griffith, Australian Capital Territory, Griffith, in the area of that suburb known as Manuka, Australian Capital Territory, Manuka. Manuka Oval has a seating ...

in the winter of 1938. The Canberra side managed to score a try before the interval and trailed the visitors at half time by 24–5 before the New Zealanders went on to win by 57–5. Coached by Frank O'Rourke, the home team had played its inaugural match only three months earlier. The team's original strip featured an all gold jersey with two green bands. They defeated the Hawkesbury College at the Country Carnival earlier in 1938, and later that season won against the Bathurst side. Three players from the Territory team were selected for NSW Combined Country to play Sydney that year. The Australian Capital Territory team, often referred to simply as "Canberra", grew in stature in the decades following the Second World War. ACT won the Caldwell Cup for the Country Championship for the first time in 1964 and retained it for the following two seasons. Rugby in Canberra came of age in the 1970s. ACT scored a 17–11 away win over

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

in 1972, and then had their first win over a national side, defeating

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

by 17–6 in 1973. In 1975, ACT won promotion for the following season to the top division of the Wallaby Trophy, Australia's provincial championship at that time. The triumph was short-lived, however, because the planned tournament for 1976 was officially cancelled. When

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

toured Australia in 1978, the ACT defeated them in a rousing 21–20 come-from-behind victory. The win over the reigning Five Nations champions showed that ACT could compete against the top tier of rugby players in the world. The name "Canberra Kookaburras" was used for the ACT representative team from 1989, but it was to be a further five years before the Canberra Kookaburra club was officially founded. When the ACT comprehensively beat

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

by 44–28 in 1994, an invitation was issued for a Canberra club to play in the expanded 14-team NSWRU Premiership sponsored by AAMI for the following season.

Canberra Kookaburras: AAMI Cup

The ACT Rugby Union formed the Canberra Kookaburra Rugby Club in August 1994, with Tuggeranong Vikings RUC as underwriter. For the 1995 AAMI Cup, the Canberra Kookaburras played their home games at

and had to travel to Sydney on most other weekends. The club fielded teams in first grade, reserve grade and colts. The Canberra Kookaburras played in a white and black strip, separated by bands of blue and gold (ACT's traditional colours) around the centre of the jersey. White and black were the colours of the first Canberra team formed in 1927. Canberra's reserve grade team won their grand final in the first season. The first grade team, coached by Geoff Stokes, also made the grand final in their first season but lost to Gordon by 24–11 to finish as runner-up in 1995. The advent of the

ACT Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005 to 2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the brumby, feral horses wh ...

and Super 12 in 1996 affected the Kookaburras' playing strength, with only one man from the previous grand final team available for the start of the 1996 season. Canberra were placed fifth in the regular season that year, and lost to

Randwick Randwick is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Randwick is located 6 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government ar ...

in the elimination final. The Kookaburras were coached by Kim Thurbon in 1997, and by Ian Snook in 1998. The first grade team did not make the finals in either year. Travelling had caused a heavy financial drain on the club by 1998. Ownership of the Canberra Kookaburras was transferred to Tuggerannong Vikings RUC in 1998 and the team's name was changed to Canberra Vikings for the 1999 season.

Canberra Vikings

The Canberra Vikings adopted the red and white colours of Tuggeranong Vikings RUC with black detailing on the jersey and black shorts.

NSW Premiership

Ian Snook was retained as the team's first grade coach after the club's changeover of colours and name to the Canberra Vikings. The NSW Premiership was sponsored as the Citibank MasterCard Cup in 1999, and Canberra just missed out on making the finals. Despite the Vikings playing in the semi-finals in 2000, both Canberra and Newcastle were dropped from the competition for the 2001 season. The Vikings then made arrangements to play in Queensland.

Queensland Premiership

The Canberra Vikings played in the QRU's Premiership from 2001 to 2003 and won the grand final each year to take three consecutive titles. Canberra's entry increased the number of clubs from nine to ten and brought an added professionalism to the competition that was sponsored as the XXXX Premiership in 2001. With Terry Burkett as coach, the Vikings finished second in the 18-round regular season behind GPS Old Boys, but comfortably beat the Gold Coast Breakers by 32–10 in the grand final to win the Hospitals Cup. The

Queensland Premier Rugby Queensland Premier Rugby is a semi professional club rugby union competition in Queensland, Australia. Nine clubs play in the competition, eight clubs are from Brisbane, and one club is from Gold Coast.The premiership has been contested in i ...

competition was introduced in 2002, using additional funding from an ARU program to strengthen the top tier of Australian clubs in a transition to semi-pro rugby. Played in the second half of the season to allow Super 12 players to compete, the Premier Rugby competition spanned nine rounds followed by a finals series for the Hospitals Cup. For the first half of the season the clubs played for the Welsby Cup, which was won by Sunnybank in 2002. Laurie Fisher stepped up from the assistant coaching role the previous season to become the Vikings' head coach and his team took out the double in the 2002 Premier Rugby competition. The Vikings won the minor premiership with an 8–1 season before defeating Easts Tigers in the grand final, avenging a regular round loss to the Tigers with a 45–3 win. Fisher was the head coach again in 2003 when Canberra finished second behind

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

in the minor premiership, but his team went on to beat the Gold Coast Breakers in the grand final by 29–16 to win their third title in a row.

NSW Premiership: Tooheys New Cup

After nine seasons of Canberra teams playing in interstate competitions, the Vikings' relations with the premier clubs in Sydney and Brisbane had become strained. This was reportedly due to a view that the Vikings were being given the opportunity every week of poaching talented young players and that the team was being run as a shadow

development side. Nevertheless, possibly due to the ARU's intervention, Canberra was granted approval to play in Sydney or Brisbane for 2004. The Vikings took the option closer to home and went to Sydney for their tenth season on the road. Nick Scrivener was the coach of the Canberra Vikings in the Tooheys New Cup for 2004. He led the team to a qualifying final after they had finished fourth in the regular season and won seven matches from twelve. The Vikings lost to

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

in the qualifier by 44–14. In 2005, the team was coached by John Ross. He also guided the side to seven wins from twelve matches in the regular season, but the Vikings finished sixth that year and did not play in the finals. Canberra was kicked out of the NSW Premiership for a second time ahead of the 2006 season, ostensibly to streamline the Sydney competition and allow the NSWRU to make more room in their calendar for the proposed Australian Provincial Championship.

Australian Rugby Shield

The Vikings entered the Australian Rugby Shield in 2006, playing as the "ACT & Southern NSW Vikings" following the renaming of the ACT Rugby Union after its expansion into Southern New South Wales the previous season. The team had two close matches against NSW Country and Perth Gold during the season, but managed to progress undefeated through the three pool games, semi-final and final to win the competition and take the shield. The Vikings played the Melbourne Axemen in the grand final at Viking Park and never looked back after the third minute when inside centre Josh Staniforth scored the first of the side's five tries for the match in a 36–10 win.

Australian Rugby Championship

The Canberra Vikings played in the Australian Rugby Championship, known as the ARC, in 2007. Nick Scrivener returned as coach. The Vikings failed to progress beyond the robin-round stages after just three wins from eight matches; 17–8 against Perth Spirit, 53–8 over the Ballymore Tornadoes and a 29–6 win away against Sydney Fleet. The ARC 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 Canberra Vikings team was disbanded with the end of the ARC competition.

National Rugby Championship

In late 2013, the ARU announced the national competition would be relaunched as the

in 2014. The expressions of interest were open to all parties and tenders were finalised in early 2014. A three-way partnership between the

, Tuggeranong Vikings and

was granted a licence for a revived Canberra Vikings team, named as the University of Canberra Vikings. Dan McKellar was appointed as head coach for 2014, and the University of Canberra Vikings (UC Vikings) played their home matches at

. The team finished sixth in the regular season and did not compete in the finals. Prior to the 2016 NRC season, the Brumbies chief executive, Michael Jones, had suggested that the "Canberra Kookaburras" name might be reinstated. Reverting to the ACT's traditional blue and gold colours was also canvassed, but it was likely that a voting process would be used for any change. A decision was postponed due to financial considerations until 2017, when the plan was revoked after the Vikings Group took sole ownership of the team licence. However, the team adopted a heritage-style blue, gold, black and white jersey for their first game of the season in 2017, coinciding with a Kookaburras team reunion as part of the NRC's heritage round.

Stadium

The Vikings currently play at

. Many rugby union matches have been played at the stadium including two women's tests for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. In the 2007 Australian Rugby Championship, the Canberra Vikings played at two locations;

and

Canberra Stadium Canberra Stadium, commercially known as GIO Stadium Canberra, is a facility primarily used for rugby league and rugby union games, located adjacent to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is the largest sp ...

. Manuka Oval was constructed in 1929 and hosts the annual Prime Minister's XI cricket match, as well as senior club AFL and cricket. Originally Manuka Oval was not just a cricket ground, but was also used for international rugby matches, mainly between a Canberra team and the touring international side. Canberra Stadium (originally Bruce Stadium) was constructed in 1977 and is the home of the

and

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugb ...

Current squad

The squad for the 2019 NRC season:

Records

Honours

**Runner-up: 2015, 2017 **Playoff appearance: 2018 * Australian Rugby Shield **Winner: 2006 * Queensland Premiership **Winner: 2001, 2002, 2003 * New South Wales Premiership **Runner-up: 1995 (as Canberra Kookaburras)

Season standings

National Rugby Championship : Australian Rugby Championship :

Head coaches

* Ryan Schultz (2024-present) * Nick Scrivener (2018–2023) * Tim Sampson (2017) * Wayne Southwell (2016) * Brad Harris (2015) * Dan McKellar (2014) * Nick Scrivener (2007) * Tom Morrison (2006) * John Ross (2005) * Nick Scrivener (2004) * Laurie Fisher (2002–2003) * Terry Burkett (2001) * Ian Snook (1998–2000) * Kim Thurbon (1997) * Geoff Stokes (1995–1996)

Captains

* Darcy Swain 2019 * Ben Hyne 2018 * Tom Cusack 2017 * Jarrad Butler (2015–2016) * Fotu Auelua (2014) * Alister Campbell (2007)

Squads

: : : :

Gallery

File:Sydney Stars versus Canberra Vikings NRC Round 5 (1).jpg, Canberra Vikings pre-game File:Sydney Stars versus Canberra Vikings NRC Round 5 (5).jpg, Canberra Vikings charge out File:Sydney Stars versus Canberra Vikings NRC Round 5 (2).jpg, Canberra Vikings fight for possession File:Sydney Stars versus Canberra Vikings NRC Round 5 (8).jpg, Canberra Vikings under pressure File:Sydney Stars versus Canberra Vikings NRC Round 5 (4).jpg, Canberra Vikings post game huddle File:Sydney Stars versus Canberra Vikings NRC Round 5 (13).jpg, Canberra Vikings clear the ball File:Sydney Stars versus Canberra Vikings NRC Round 5 (9).jpg, Canberra Vikings scrum down under the Scoreboard

References

Sources

* * * *