The Perth Spirit is a former

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 ...

team based in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia, that played 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) from 2014 to 2017, winning the competition in 2016. The team was formed in 2007 to compete in the

Australian Rugby Championship The Australian Rugby Championship, often abbreviated to the ARC and also known as the Mazda Australian Rugby Championship for sponsorship purposes, was a domestic professional men's rugby union football competition in Australia, which ran for onl ...

(ARC). The Perth Spirit team was organised and managed by

RugbyWA The Western Australia Rugby Union (RugbyWA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in Western Australia. The organisation develops and fosters rugby in Western Australia, from junior level to professional level. As of 2019, ...

. The high performance programs utilised by the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby, Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competitio ...

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 ...

were extended to players joining the Spirit from the Force, the Perth Premier Grade competition and the Future Force rugby academy. The identity of the Perth Spirit remained the same throughout team's participation in the ARC and NRC. The team disbanded when the ARC was discontinued after the first season in 2007 but, after an absence of six years, the national competition was relaunched in 2014 as the NRC, and the Perth Spirit was revived. In 2017, however, the Western Force was excluded from the Super Rugby competition. The reformed RugbyWA then decided to enter the Western Force in the National Rugby Championship, replacing the Perth Spirit for the start of the 2018 season.

History

In 2006, after setting up a consultative process culminating in a working session of some 70 delegates from around the country, the

Australian Rugby Union Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It is a ...

announced that a new, eight-team national competition would commence in 2007 to compete for the

(ARC).

Australian Rugby Championship

With the announcement of a new national rugby union competition, it was known that one of the foundation clubs would be located in Perth - with three teams in

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 ...

, two in

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 ...

and one each in

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 ...

and

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

making up the inaugural eight. The Perth team's name - Spirit, along with colours and logo were unveiled in March 2007. Some 20 names were considered for the ARC team, with Spirit being the option finally preferred because it was seen to be identifiable as Western Australian and a good fit with the Force name used by the Super Rugby team. RugbyWA Chief Executive, Peter O’Meara, said: At the launch of the new team, it was revealed that John Mulvihill would be the head coach of the Spirit for the inaugural season. Mulvihill was also the Super 14

attack coach. The team's jersey for the ARC was a traditional design with black and gold hoops. The ARC competition started in August, with the Spirit playing their first home game on the second weekend of August. The Spirit's home games were played at

Members Equity Stadium Perth Rectangular Stadium (also known as HBF Park under naming rights) is a sports stadium in Perth, the capital of the Australian state of Western Australia. Located close to Perth's central business district, the stadium currently has a m ...

. At the time, the Western Force did not play at Members Equity but at the larger capacity venue of

Subiaco Oval Subiaco Oval (; nicknamed Subi) was a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia, located in the suburb of Subiaco, Western Australia, Subiaco. It was opened in 1908 and closed in 2017 after the completion of the new Perth Stadium in Burswood, ...

. However, Members Equity Stadium was better suited to rugby due to its rectangular configuration. The stadium had a capacity of around 17,000 in 2007. It has since been expanded to hold over 20,000 and, due to another sponsorship deal, is now known as nib Stadium. The players in the ARC squad adopted an unconventional name of the "Perth Pigs". The team was captained by half back

Matt Henjak Matt Henjak (born 25 November 1981) is an Australian former professional rugby union player. He played scrum-half for the Australian national team. Henjak, of Croatian ancestry, is the nephew of former rugby league half-back and former Brisban ...

after he overcame a back injury. Tai McIsaac was the vice-captain. Perth finished third on the league table after the regular season, and played the

Central Coast Rays Sydney, formerly the Sydney Rays, was an Australian rugby union team that competed in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). It was one of two sides from New South Wales that played in the final season of NRC in 2019; the other was the NSW Cou ...

in a semi-final at

Gosford Gosford is a waterfront city at the northern end of Brisbane Water on the Central Coast in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Gosford Waterfront is known for its boating and scenic views on the shores of Brisbane Water. Gosford is ...

. The Rays won the match 20–8. The Australian Rugby Championship 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 Perth Spirit team was disbanded with the end of the ARC competition.

National Rugby Championship

In December 2013, the ARU announced that the national competition was to be relaunched, with the National Rugby Championship (NRC) commencing in 2014. Expressions of interest were open to any interested parties, with the accepted bids finalised in early 2014. 2016 Brynard Stander for Perth Spirit v NSW Country Eagles cropped

2016 Brynard Stander for Perth Spirit v NSW Country Eagles cropped

In 2014, it was announced that the Perth Spirit team would be revived to take part in the

, and that the original logo and black and gold jersey colours would be retained. For the 2014 NRC season, the Spirit secured Western Australian local business the Property Club as the main jersey sponsor on a three-year deal, and non-bank currency specialist AFEX (Associated Foreign Exchange) as shorts sponsor on a two-year deal. Western Force assistant coaches David Wessels and Kevin Foote were named as joint head coaches of the Perth Spirit for the 2014 season. Dwayne Nestor and Elwee Prinsloo were named as assistant coaches. For the Spirit's first match, Rory Walton was named as captain from an on-field leadership group which also included

Kyle Godwin Kyle Godwin (born 30 July 1992) is a professional rugby union footballer who plays for Zimbabwe national rugby union team, Zimbabwe in international rugby, having previously played one test for Australia national rugby union team, Australia in ...

, Luke Morahan, Ian Prior, Heath Tessmann, and Sam Wykes. Dwayne Nestor was appointed head coach in 20I6. 2016 NRC Final Perth Spirit beat the NSW Country Eagles to win the 2016 NRC Final 20–16 at Scully Park.

Colours and logo

The Perth Spirit's main colours were black and gold, the traditional colours of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. The NRC jerseys also had a splash of blue under the collar to symbolise the pathway to the

team. The team's logo featured a stylised

black swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large Anatidae, waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent ...

, similar to that of the Western Force although on a gold background instead of the Force's blue. The black swan is the state emblem and state bird of Western Australia.

Home grounds

Most of the Perth Spirit's home matches were played at the UWA Rugby Club in Mount Claremont. In their earlier seasons matches were also played at other locations across Greater Perth, and a match was also hosted in Adelaide to promote the growth of rugby in South Australia. Venues used in previous seasons include:

Records

Honours

**Champions:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

**Runners-up:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

**Playoff appearances:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

* Horan-Little Shield **Season winners:

**Playoff appearances:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Season standings

National Rugby Championship : Australian Rugby Championship :

Head coaches

* 2017: Kevin Foote * 2016: Dwayne Nestor * 2015: Tai McIsaac * 2014: David Wessels and Kevin Foote * 2007: John Mulvihill

Captains

* 2017: Michael Ruru * 2016: Heath Tessmann * 2015: Heath Tessmann, Ian Prior, Angus Cottrell * 2014: Rory Walton, Sam Wykes, Ian Prior * 2007:

Squads

The squad for the

2017 National Rugby Championship The 2017 National Rugby Championship was the fourth season of Australia's National Rugby Championship. It involved nine professional rugby union teams, one more than the previous year, with eight teams from Australia and one team from Fiji. The ...

season: (c) Denotes team captain, Bold player internationally capped at the time, ¹ denotes allocated national player additional to the squad. The following players were named in the Perth Spirit's extended squad for the 2016 National Rugby Championship: (c) Denotes team captain, Bold player internationally capped at the time, ¹ denotes allocated national player additional to the squad. The following players were named in the Perth Spirit's extended squad for the

2015 National Rugby Championship The 2015 National Rugby Championship (known as the Buildcorp National Rugby Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the second season of Australia's National Rugby Championship, involving nine professional rugby union teams from around Austr ...

: (c) Denotes team captain, Bold denotes player internationally capped at the time, ¹ denotes allocated national player additional to the squad. The following players were named in the Perth Spirit's extended squad for the 2014 National Rugby Championship: (c) Team captain; Bold denotes player internationally capped at the time, ¹ denotes allocated national player additional to the squad. (c) Denotes team captain, Bold denotes player internationally capped at the time, ¹ denotes allocated national player additional to the squad.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Sports Australian Rugby Championship National Rugby Championship Sports clubs and teams in Perth, Western Australia Rugby clubs established in 2007 2007 establishments in Australia Western Force Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 2018 2018 disestablishments in Australia