Sydney University Football Club

{{Short description|Australian rugby union club, based in Sydney}}

{{About||the association football club|Sydney Uni SFC|the Australian rules football club|Sydney University Australian National Football Club|the rugby league football club|Sydney University RLFC}}

{{Infobox rugby team

| teamname = Sydney University Football Club

| country = Australia

| image = File:Sydney uni rugby.png

| image_size = 135px

| caption =

| fullname =

| union =

| nickname = {{hlist|Students|Varsity|Uni}}

| founded = {{start date and age|1863}}

| location = Camperdown, Sydney, New South Wales

| region =

| ground = Sydney University Football Ground

| capacity = 2,500{{cite web |date= |title=Sydney University Football Ground |url=https://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/sydney-uni-football-ground |url-status=live |website=austadiums.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220213070001/https://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/sydney-uni-football-ground |archive-date=13 February 2022 }}

| chairman =

| ceo =

| president = David Lyons

| rugby director = Nick Ryan

| coach = Todd Louden

| captain = Nathaniel Panozzo

| caps =

| appearances =

| top scorer =

| most tries =

| league = {{hlist|Shute Shield|NSWSRU}}

| season = 2024

| position = 7th of 12

| url = https://sydneyunirugby.com.au/

| pattern_la1 = _Unileft

| pattern_b1 = _Unikit

| pattern_ra1 = _Uniright

| pattern_sh1 = _Unishorts

| pattern_so1 = _Unisocks

| leftarm1 = ffcc00

| body1 = ffcc00

| rightarm1 = ffcc00

| shorts1 = 002d64

| socks1 = 0433A9

}}

The Sydney University Football Club, founded in 1863, is the oldest club now playing rugby union in Australia,[http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/football/ Football in Australia – Australia's Culture Portal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090515034759/http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/football/ |date=2009-05-15 }} although this date is disputed by historian Tom Hickie who argues that it was 1865.Hickie, Thomas V., A Sense of Union. The History of the Sydney University Football Club, 1998, {{ISBN|0949853623}}

Sydney Uni was a member of the inaugural Sydney club competition in 1874,{{citation needed|date=April 2016}} along with the Balmain Rugby Union Football Club, Newington College and The King's School. The club currently competes in the Shute Shield competition and has the most senior premiership titles of all Sydney clubs.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}}

After playing home games at the Sydney University Oval No.1 for 153 years, the club moved to the redeveloped Oval No.2 for the 2016 season. Sydney Uni Sport completed the building of a new training facility and grandstand at that ground accommodating 1,200 spectators.

Club information

Women's Rugby: Founded in 1994.
Juniors: Founded in 2005 and comprises Balmain Junior Rugby Club, Canterbury Rugby and Petersham Juniors Rugby Club. These clubs include girls and boys teams.

History

File:Sydney university rugby 1878.jpg

Having been established in 1863,[https://web.archive.org/web/20211019120442/https://www.sydneyunirugby.com.au/files//2021_statistics/1st_grade_records_2021.pdf First Grade records] on Sydneyunirugby.com.au

The club is officially known as "Sydney University Football Club" because it was the first club of any football code in NSW.Sydney University: Australia's first rugby club?] at Saints & Heathens blog The club also played Australian rules football in its early history, making it the first NSW club in that code as well.{{Cite web |url=http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/sydney_university.htm |title=Sydney University |access-date=28 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607141108/http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/sydney_university.htm |archive-date=7 June 2011 |url-status=usurped }}

The club is often referred to as "Uni", "The Students", as well as "The Birthplace of Australian Rugby" or simply "The Birthplace", marking its origins at a pioneer rugby club. The first mention of students at the University playing football came in 1865 on Illustrated Sydney News, which stated:

{{cquote|“A football club, the first in the colony, has recently been formed and named the Sydney Football Club.”}}

Nevertheless, Sydney's The Referee wrote in 1918: "We believe the first recognised rugby football club formed in Sydney was the Wallaroos, in 1870,{{refn|It refers to the "Wallaroo Football Club", formed in 1870.[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/71204832 Australian Town and Country Journal. Sat 8 Oct 1892, page 39] at trove.nla.gov.au[https://wallaroos.rugby/about/about-us/our-history The History of the Buildcorp Wallaroos] at wallaroos.rugby|group=n|name=walla}} though football was played prior to that in New South Wales and Victoria".

Honours

The Club has won 29 Shute Shield Major Premierships and has been runners-up 12 times. The Club has won 50 Premierships and has been runners-up 24 times since 1865.

Premiership Titles since 1900 (the Shute Shield started in 1923): (33) 1901 (shared), 1904, 1919, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1937, 1939, 1945, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1961, 1962, 1968, 1970, 1972, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2018, 2019, 2022
Australian Club Champions: (5) 2007, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2020, 2022 (not contested), 2023
Gregor George Cup Club Championships: (24) 1927, 1937, 1941, 1942, 1961, 1983, 1999, 2001, consecutively from 2004 to 2019 and 2022
Jack Scott Cup: The Women's XVs team is notable in the Jack Scott Cup, winning 5 of the last 6 titles. In 2020, the Students picked up both Major and Minor Premierships after going through the regular season undefeated for the third year. The Women's team defeated Randwick 22–17 in the Grand Final.
*2021 SEASON CANCELLED In response to COVID-19 Sydney University was leading the competition without a loss when NSW Rugby Union (NSWRU) and its affiliate unions jointly made the tough decision to cancel all winter rugby competitions in the Sydney region (and Illawarra). Seven rounds were contested by the Shute Shield teams.

International representatives

To date, 133* Sydney University players have been selected to play for Australia.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sydneyunirugby.com.auchrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.sydneyunirugby.com.au/files/3._SUFC_Australian__RepresentativesKS.pdf}} The first Australian representative was Hyram Marks in 1899. The club's most famous Wallaby would probably be Nick Farr-Jones, who had a long representative career (including World Cup success as Captain in 1991). Harry Potter became Wallaby #989 and proudly joined the ranks of SUFC Wallabies as the 112th player from our club to achieve this honour. Harry also scored a try on debut at Murrayfield, Scotland on 25 November 2024.

*N.B. Not necessarily played for the Wallabies

Wallabies Squad Training Camp – January 2025 Angus Bell, Jake Gordon and Harry Potter
U20 Squad Training Camp – 2025 Eamon Doyle, Boston Fakafanua, Joey Fowler, Liam Grover, Joe Mangelsdorf, Beau Morrison and Hwi Sharples

= Rugby World Cup Winners =

Bob Egerton – 1991
Nick Farr-Jones (Captain) – 1991
Richard Harry – 1999

Women's Rugby "Lionesses"

The Club has produced 13 Australian Female Representatives of which 11 are Wallaroos; our most recent debutant is Piper Duck (October 2022 v Scotland during the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand).