Liga Națională de Rugby

The Liga Națională de Rugby (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈliga natsjonalə de rugbi]) is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in Romania. In the 2023 season there are 14 teams competing. [1] The competition was established in 1913 and is governed by the Romanian Rugby Federation. Steaua București is the most successful club in the competition with 24 titles.

Liga Națională de Rugby
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2023 Liga Națională de Rugby season
SportRugby union
Founded1914 (1914)
AdministratorFRR
No. of teams14
CountryRomania Romania
Most recent
champion(s)		Știința Baia Mare (9th title)
(2022)
Most titlesSteaua București (24 titles)
TV partner(s)Prima Sport
Level on pyramid1

History

The first Romanian competition took place in 1914 between two Bucharest team's in Tennis Club Român and Sporting Club with Tennis Club Român taking out the first title winning both of the matches by eight and three points respectively.[2] The competition expanded and grew in the 1920s and 1930s (with a peak in the 1970s and 1980s), after Stadiul Român and seventeen more (other) teams were founded in Bucharest-only ever since. The championship took place on an annual basis, with some gap years caused by the two World Wars mostly.

The first team set up outside Bucharest (to play the top tier competition) was IAR Brașov in 1939, a team owned and run by the famous Braşov aircraft factory I.A.R. (Industria Aeronautică Română), but the first one to become champion of Romania was Universitatea Timișoara, only in 1972.

The European Champions Cup in its early years (1960s) used to be a Franco-Romanian affair, with RC Grivița București (1964) and Dinamo (1967) grabbing their fair share of glory. In 1995 it was Farul Constanţa the team to represent Romania in the newly born Heineken Cup (splitting with Stade Toulousain the honour of playing on home ground the first ever match of the competition), but that was to be followed by no other participation of a Romanian side ever since (as of 2020). Nonetheless the Romanian teams turned to the European Challenge Cup although never actually advanced to the quarterfinals. To better cope with the strong clubs of the 6 Nations countries the Romanian Rugby Union pulled together an all-domestic franchise - Stejarii (The Oaks), to be later renamed Lupii București (Bucharest Wolves) - but despite the healthy idea and some gleams of success, the mighty SuperLiga clubs forced the Romanian Rugby Establishment to back off and allow again the champions of the SuperLiga to take part in the European Challenge Cup.

Current teams
Locations of teams in the 2023 Liga Națională de Rugby.

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality

Team Manager Captain Stadium Capacity
Dinamo București New Zealand Sosene Anesi Romania Ovidiu Cojocaru Stadionul Arcul de Triumf 8,207
Steaua București Romania Viorel Lucaci Romania Dragoș Ser Stadionul Steaua 31,254
Știința Baia Mare Romania Eugen Apjok South Africa Nicolaas Immelman Arena Zimbrilor 2,300
Timișoara Romania Valentin Calafeteanu Romania Vlad Neculau Stadionul Gheorghe Rășcanu 1,000
CS Năvodari Romania Virgil Năstase Romania Onal Agiacai Stadionul Flacăra 5,000
Universitatea Cluj Romania Cristian Săuan Romania Alexandru Banu Stadionul Iuliu Hațieganu 500
RC Grivița Romania Alexandru Marin Romania Damian Ispas Stadionul Arcul de Triumf 8,207
Știința Petroșani Romania Emanuel Alexandru Lupu Romania Alin Ghiarasim Stadionul Știința 4,000
Politehnica Iași Romania Cosmin Rațiu Romania Sergiu Michiduță Stadionul Tepro 1,000
CSM Galati Romania Marius Secuianu Romania Gabriel Dănăilă Stadionul Nicolae Rainea 23,000
RC Bârlad Romania Ioan Harnagea Romania Constantin Cristaoan Stadionul Rulmentul 2,000
CSM Suceava Romania Mihai-Marcel Crețuleac Romania Lucian Preutescu Stadionul Areni 7,000
RC Gura Humorului Romania Andrei Varvaroi Romania Claudiu Cuciureanu Stadionul Tineretului 3,000
CSM Constanța Romania Radu Mocanu Romania Mario Arvinte Stadionul Callatis 5,000

Champions
Pos.ClubWinsWinning Years
1 Steaua București 24 1949, 1953, 1954, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1970–71, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1991–92, 1998–99, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06
2 Dinamo București 16 1951, 1952, 1956, 1965, 1968–69, 1981–82, 1990–91, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2007–08
3 Grivița București 12 1948, 1950, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1966, 1967, 1969–70, 1992–93
4 Tennis Club Român București 10 1914, 1915, 1916, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1927, 1935–36, 1937–38, 1939–40
5 Știința Baia Mare 9 1989–90, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2021, 2022
6 Stadiul Român București 7 1919, 1924, 1926, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1946–47
6 Sportul Studențesc București 7 1925, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938–39, 1945–46, 1947–48
8 Farul Constanța 6 1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1985–86, 1994–95, 1996–97
8 SCM Rugby Timișoara 6 1971–72, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016–17, 2017–18
10 Viforul Dacia București 4 1940–41, 1941–42, 1942–43, 1943–44
11 Poșta Telegraf Telefon București 2 1933, 1934
12 ȘEFS București 1 1920

Winners by year

See also

References
  1. Rugby season starts, CSM Constanta registers in the league with 14 teams and in which CSM Stiinta Baia Mare is the en-titre winner, ProSport, 31 March 2023 (Romanian). Retrieved on 15 May 2023.
  2. Constantin-Mao, Vasile (4 July 2010). "„Acum… 80 de ani…" – un patriarh al rugbyului românesc" ["80 years ago" - a patriarch of Romanian rugby]. acum.tv (in Romanian). Retrieved 26 August 2020.
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