Rugby union in Sweden is a minor but growing sport. The
Swedish Rugby Union ( was founded in 1932, and joined the
IRB in 1988.
[Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'' (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ) p75]
History
"
Swedish football
Association football is the most popular sport in Sweden, with over 240,000 licensed players (approximately 56,000 women and 184,000 men) with another 240,000 youth players. There are around 3,200 active clubs fielding over 8,500 teams, whic ...
" in the nineteenth century was a variant of
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
with some rugby elements. By 1900, Swedish football clubs were using
the Football Association
The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...
's rules, with no rugby influence.
The pure form of rugby was introduced between the wars. The visiting cruisers of the British
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
, and played the first recorded match in
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
[ The sport became well established in this period thanks also to the efforts of Yves Gylden, who had learnt the game in ]France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, and founded the first three Swedish clubs in Stockholm.[
As with many other countries in Europe, the ]Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
nearly finished off the game.[ Sweden was neutral in this conflict, meaning that the game did not suffer the war casualties that it did in other countries. By 1960, the number of active clubs had declined to fewer than ten.][ This was remedied in the 60s and 70s by an intensive development programme, which helped to bring that figure up to at least 55 clubs in the mid 90s.][
A persistent problem for Swedish rugby has been the climate, which means that many pitches may be under snow for large parts of the year. For this reason rugby is a summer sport in Sweden, the season running from late April to the middle of October.
Notable players include:
* Kari Tapper, a Number 8, who played for the Barbarians][
* Kanogo Njuru, an Outside centre, who played for the Barbarians.
]
Club Rugby
The Allsvenskan
Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system.
Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...
is the highest tier of the national rugby union competition in Sweden. The first Swedish championship took place in 1943 and the current champions (2016) is Stockholm Exiles. Under the Allsvenskan is two levels of regional competition.
New for the 2010 season is a national rugby sevens
Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...
series that will be played over multiple weekends. This initiative comes from the decision by the IOC to include rugby sevens in the Olympics.
The Swedish club champions also compete for the Nordic Cup with fellow club champions of Denmark, Finland and Norway.
See also
*Sweden national rugby union team
The Sweden national rugby union team represents Sweden in rugby union.
Rugby has been played in Sweden since 1933, the first full international being played in 1949 against Denmark. The country celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2008.
Sweden ...
* Allsvenskan
Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system.
Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...
- Sweden's highest rugby union league
References
*Richards, Huw ''A Game for Hooligans: The History of Rugby Union'' (Mainstream Publishing
Mainstream Publishing was a publishing company in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded in 1978, it ceased trading in December 2013.Charlotte WilliamsMainstream to cease publishing 1 March 2013, The Bookseller.com' (Retrieved 30 December 2016) It was as ...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, 2007, )
External links
Swedish Rugby Federation
(Swedish)
{{Rugby union in Europe