Sydney Stars

The Sydney Stars is a former Australian rugby union football team that competed in the National Rugby Championship (NRC) in 2014 and 2015. The Stars team was established as a joint venture between the Sydney University and Balmain rugby clubs, and was one of four New South Wales teams in the competition.[1]

Sydney Stars
UnionRugby Australia
Founded2007 as "Sydney Fleet"
Disbanded2015 (post season)
LocationSydney, Australia
Ground(s)Leichhardt Oval
League(s)National Rugby Championship
1st kit
2nd kit

The NRC was launched in 2014, reinstating the national competition after an absence of six years.[2] Sydney University was initially interested in entering the NRC competition as a stand-alone club,[3] but submitted a joint bid with Balmain as the Sydney Stars.[4]

History

The previous national competition was the Australian Rugby Championship (ARC), which was discontinued in 2007 after only one season. After setting up a consultative process in 2006 which culminated in a working session of some 70 delegates from around the country, the Australian Rugby Union announced that a new eight-team national competition would commence in 2007.[5] New South Wales was allocated three teams and it was decided that representative teams would be formed to play out of the Central Coast, Western Sydney, and Sydney.[6] The decision was controversial because two New South Wales clubs, Sydney University and Randwick, had wanted to enter stand-alone teams in the new competition.[7][8]

Sydney Fleet (ARC team)
Sydney Fleet logo
Sydney Fleet colours (2007)

The Sydney Fleet was formed as one of three New South Wales teams to participate in the ARC. The Fleet's colors were blue and gold, the same colours used by past teams representing all of Sydney.[9] The team's local rivals were the Western Sydney Rams and Central Coast Rays.

The logo of the Sydney Fleet featured a traditional anchor, similar to that on the Coat of arms of Sydney. The name, logo and team colours were revealed at the official launch of the team held aboard the museum ship HMAS Vampire at the Australian National Maritime Museum, in Darling Harbour on 27 February 2007.[9]

Existing clubs aligned with the Sydney Fleet included Sydney University, Randwick, Eastern Suburbs and Southern Districts.[10] The team played at North Sydney Oval which was also the home ground of the Northern Suburbs Rugby Club, although that club was aligned with the Central Coast Rays team for the ARC competition.[11]

Head coach of the Sydney Fleet was Col "Snake" Jeffs, who was also the NSW Country head coach at the time. Former Wallaby and Waratah Scott Bowen (Easts head coach) and former Waratah and Italy Test lock Mark Giacheri (Randwick head coach) were the assistant coaches.[12] Tim Davidson was the captain.[13]

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.[14] The Sydney Fleet team was disbanded with the end of the ARC competition.

National Rugby Championship
Tom Coolican throws in for Sydney in 2014

In December 2013, the ARU announced that the national competition was to be relaunched, with the National Rugby Championship (NRC) commencing in 2014.[15] Expressions of interest were open to any interested parties, with the accepted bids finalised in early 2014.[16] The Sydney University initially expressed interest in entering the NRC competition as a stand-alone club.[3] However, a joint venture between Sydney University and Balmain rugby club (run by Sydney businessman Warren Livingstone, founder of the sports-tourism group Fanatics) was successful.[4][17] On 24 March 2014 it was announced that the Sydney Stars team would play in the NRC competition.[18][19]

Sydney University's coach Chris Malone was named as the head coach of the Sydney Stars for 2014, with Cameron Blades as forwards coach and Peter Playford as backs coach. Jack Farrar and Matt Dunning were appointed as support personnel.[1] Pat McCutcheon was named as captain.[20] Peter Playford became the head coach in 2016 and David Hickey was named captain.[21] The team finished fourth in the regular season and played Brisbane City in a semifinal but lost by 47–32.[22]

In 2016, the two-year licence for the Sydney Stars team to play in the NRC was not renewed, as the ARU had adjudged that the player talent available was not sufficient to support four competitive teams in New South Wales.[23]

The Sydney Stars' colours of gold, blue and black was drawn from the rugby clubs of Sydney University and Balmain.[24] The team logo was the name "Sydney" in blue capitals outlined in white above the name "Stars" in gold capitals outlined in blue, and with the central letter "A" formed as the top point of a large stylised five-pointed star. The entire design was outlined in black.[24]

Stadium

The home ground for the Sydney Stars was Leichhardt Oval,[1] the long-term home of rugby league team, the Balmain Tigers and its descendant team the Wests Tigers playing in the NRL competition. The ground has primarily hosted rugby league and association football teams over the years.[25]

Records

Honours

Season standings

National Rugby Championship

Year Pos Pld W D L F A +/- BP Pts   Play-offs
2015 4th 8404241314−73420   Semi-final loss to Brisbane City by 47–32.
2014 9th 8116211356−14517   Did not compete

Australian Rugby Championship (Sydney Fleet)

Year Pos Pld W D L F A +/- BP Pts   Play-offs
2007 5th 8404212244−32420   Did not compete

Head coaches

Captains

Squads
  • Sydney Stars exit the field post Round 5
    Sydney Stars exit the field post Round 5
  • Sydney Stars feed the scrum
    Sydney Stars feed the scrum
  • Sydney Stars scrum down
    Sydney Stars scrum down
  • Sydney Stars tackled
    Sydney Stars tackled
  • Sydney Stars under pressure
    Sydney Stars under pressure

See also

References
  1. "NRC update part 2: NSW Country and the Sydney teams". The Roar. 9 July 2014. Archived from the original on 9 July 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  2. "Australia relaunches National Rugby Championship". rugbyweek.com. 24 March 2014. Archived from the original on 24 March 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  3. Payten, Iain (11 December 2013). "ARU invites fans on social media to suggest law changes for new National Rugby Championship". The Courier Mail. News. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  4. Harris, Bret (24 March 2014). "ARU announces national club competition". The Australian. News. Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  5. "2006 Annual Report: Rugby services" (PDF). Australian Rugby Union. 31 May 2006. p. 47. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  6. "NSW unveils three team structure for national comp". ESPN Scrum. 6 September 2006. Archived from the original on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  7. Sygall, David (28 May 2006). "Our rich club heritage under threat". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 7 August 2007.
  8. Kimber, Ben (27 May 2006). "Sydney clubs seek stand-alone status". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 7 August 2007.
  9. "Sydney Fleet Ready to Launch ARC Campaign". waratahs.com.au. 27 February 2007. Archived from the original on 2 May 2007. Retrieved 27 February 2007.
  10. "Australian Rugby Championship". New South Wales Rugby. 2007. Archived from the original on 7 October 2007.
  11. "North Sydney Oval". austadiums.com. Archived from the original on 15 October 2007. Retrieved 27 February 2007.
  12. "Jeffs, Bowen & Giacheri, Sydney's dream team". waratahs.com.au. 15 January 2007. Archived from the original on 7 August 2007.
  13. Hill, Craig (3 August 2007). "The ARC NSW Teams: The Sydney Fleet". rucksandrolls.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012.
  14. "ARU pull plug on Australian Rugby Championship". ESPN Scrum. 18 December 2007. Archived from the original on 12 July 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  15. Orme, Steve (10 December 2013). "ARU unveils new national rugby championship for 2014". Sportal. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  16. "National Rugby Championship 2014: Expresions of Interest" (PDF). Australian Rugby. 11 December 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 February 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  17. Payten, Iain (13 February 2014). "Balmain and Sydney University align for NRC bid and hope to sign Benji Marshall". The Daily Telegraph. News. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  18. "Australian Rugby Union says National Rugby Championship to start in August". ABC. 24 March 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  19. Horne, Ben (24 March 2014). "Bill Pulver says National Rugby Championship will make money". Archived from the original on 24 March 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  20. "Sydney Stars announce skipper". Sydney Stars Rugby. 29 July 2014. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014. Alt URL
  21. "Round 1 team announcement 2015". Sydney Stars Rugby. 21 August 2015. Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  22. RugbyReg (24 October 2015). "Brisbane survive Stars & plovers to advance to GF". Green and Gold Rugby. Archived from the original on 25 October 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  23. Payten, Iain; Pandaram, Jamie (11 February 2016). "Sydney Stars victims of National Rugby Championship consolidation". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 February 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  24. Livingston, Warren (19 May 2014). "Sponsor the Sydney Stars". Sydney stars. Archived from the original on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  25. "Leichhardt Oval". austadiums.com. Archived from the original on 31 March 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  26. "Sydney Stars announce 2015 NRC squad". Rugby News. 17 August 2015. Archived from the original on 17 August 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  27. "Sydney Stars announce extended squad for Buildcorp NRC". 1 August 2014. Archived from the original on 23 June 2020. Retrieved 1 August 2014. Alt URL
  28. Qantas Wallabies player alignments unveiled for 2014 Buildcorp National Rugby Championship
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