Ian Rubin (; born 17 April 1973) is a former

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

international

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played as a forward in the 1990s and 2000s. He played the majority of his professional career in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

for the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

and the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

clubs. Rubin also played on several occasions for his adopted country of Russia, including four appearances as captain of the Russian national team at the 2000 World Cup after qualifying to play for them via the grandparent rule.

Background

Rubin was born in

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Club career

South Sydney Rabbitohs

Rubin is Jewish. After his family

emigrate Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

d to Australia in his teens settling in Sydney, Rubin took up

while at school where he was eventually spotted by Rabbitohs scouts in the early 1990s. Rubin then signed his first professional contract for the

for the beginning of the 1996 season where he quickly began playing in the first team side for the Sydney club usually playing as an impact prop-forward off the bench. Rubin eventually made his name as a

workhorse A draft horse (US) or draught horse (UK), also known as dray horse, carthorse, work horse or heavy horse, is a large horse bred to be a working animal hauling freight and doing heavy agricultural tasks such as plowing. There are a number of ...

forward and over the next three years would go on to make forty-five appearances for the South Sydney side.

Sydney Roosters

Rubin signed for cross-town rivals the

for the beginning of the 2000 season where he would put together an impressive string of performances for his new club quickly cementing his place as a starting prop-forward and appearing at prop forward in the Roosters 2000 NRL Grand Final loss to the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

. Shortly after he travelled to England to captain

in their 2000 World Cup campaign. Altogether Rubin would only play two seasons for the Roosters but appeared in close to every fixture and captained the club on the odd occasion.

International career

Rubin was originally enquired about by Russian management during 1998 as to where his heritage lay and whether or not he would be able to represent

for their World Cup qualifying fixtures in their bid to gain entry for the 2000 competition. Although Rubin was born in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, both of his grandparents had originally come from Russia which meant Rubin was allowed to represent the Russian national side. From 1998 onwards he would help his adopted country to qualify for the

Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league competition contested by senior men's national teams who each represent member nations of the International Rugby League who run and administer the tournament. The tournament has be ...

and then take part in their campaign as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

but ultimately they had a disappointing tournament, failing to win a match against superior competition in

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 ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

References

External links

2000 World Cup player profileSydney Roosters All time player list
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubin, Ian 1973 births Living people Australian rugby league players Jewish rugby league players New South Wales City Origin rugby league team players Odesa Jews Rugby league props Russia national rugby league team captains Russia national rugby league team players South Sydney Rabbitohs players Soviet emigrants to Australia Sportspeople from Odesa Sydney Roosters players