Sydney University Football Club

Australia
Nickname(s)	Students; Varsity; Uni;
Founded	1863; 161 years ago
Location	Camperdown, Sydney, New South Wales
Ground(s)	Sydney University Football Ground; (Capacity: 2,500)
President	David Lyons
Director of Rugby	Nick Ryan
Coach(es)	Todd Louden
Captain(s)	Jack McCalman, Ciaran Loh
League(s)	Shute Shield; NSWSRU;
2024	7th of 12
	Team kit
	Team kit
Official website
	sydneyunirugby.com.au

The Sydney University Football Club, founded in 1863, is the oldest club now playing rugby union in Australia,^[3] although this date is disputed by historian Tom Hickie who argues that it was 1865.^[4]

Sydney Uni was a member of the inaugural Sydney club competition in 1874,^{[citation needed]} 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]}

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.^[1]

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

Having been established in 1863,^[5] The club is officially known as "Sydney University Football Club" because it was the first club of any football code in NSW.^[6] The club also played Australian rules football in its early history, making it the first NSW club in that code as well.^[7]

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.^[6] The first mention of students at the University playing football came in 1865 on Illustrated Sydney News, which stated:

“A football club, the first in the colony, has recently been formed and named the Sydney Football Club.”^[6]

Nevertheless, Sydney's The Referee wrote in 1918: "We believe the first recognised rugby football club formed in Sydney was the Wallaroos, in 1870,^{[n 1]} though football was played prior to that in New South Wales and Victoria".^[6]

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.^[10] 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

Rugby World Cup Winners

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

Women's Rugby

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).

Wallaroos Squad Tournament WXV 2 – 2024 Bridie O'Gorman
Wallaroos Squad Pacific Four Tournament – 2024 Brianna Hoy, Faitala Moleka, Piper Duck and Bridie O'Gorman
Wallaroos Development Squad - 2024 Britt Merlo

Super Rugby players 2025

Angus Bell – NSW Waratahs
Brad Amituanai - NSW Waratahs
Daniel Botha – NSW Waratahs
Jake Gordon – NSW Waratahs
Tom Lambert – NSW Waratahs
Sam Carter - Western Force
Nick Champion de Crespigny - Western Force
Tom Horton - Western Force
Harry Johnson-Holmes – Western Force
George Poolman - Western Force
Rohan Leahy - Western Force
Harry Potter – Western Force
Henry Robertson – Western Force
Tom Robertson – Western Force

Super W players 2024

Grace Hamilton – Melbourne Rebels
Emily Chancellor – Waratahs
Fi Jones – Waratahs
Sera Naiqama – Waratahs
Adiana Talakai – Waratahs
Bridie O'Gorman – Waratahs
Piper Duck – Waratahs (Captain)
Brianna Hoy – Waratahs
Penelope Leiataua – Waratahs
Faliki Pohiva – Waratahs
Georgina Tuipulotu – Waratahs
Tiarah Minns – Melbourne Rebels
Jemima McCalman – Brumbies

# Denotes Uncapped

Notes

^ It refers to the "Wallaroo Football Club", formed in 1870.^[8]^[9]

References

^ ^a ^b "Sydney University No.2 Oval and Grandstand Update". Sydney University Football Club. 8 December 2015. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
^ "Sydney University Football Ground". austadiums.com. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022.
^ Football in Australia – Australia's Culture Portal Archived 2009-05-15 at the Wayback Machine
^ Hickie, Thomas V., A Sense of Union. The History of the Sydney University Football Club, 1998, ISBN 0949853623
^ First Grade records on Sydneyunirugby.com.au
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Sydney University: Australia's first rugby club?] at Saints & Heathens blog
^ "Sydney University". Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ Australian Town and Country Journal. Sat 8 Oct 1892, page 39 at trove.nla.gov.au
^ The History of the Buildcorp Wallaroos at wallaroos.rugby
^ https://www.sydneyunirugby.com.auchrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.sydneyunirugby.com.au/files/3._SUFC_Australian__RepresentativesKS.pdf. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

Official website

[walla-10] It refers to the "Wallaroo Football Club", formed in 1870.^[8]^[9]

[sufc-2015-1] "Sydney University No.2 Oval and Grandstand Update". Sydney University Football Club. 8 December 2015. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2016.

[2] "Sydney University Football Ground". austadiums.com. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022.

[3] Football in Australia – Australia's Culture Portal Archived 2009-05-15 at the Wayback Machine

[4] Hickie, Thomas V., A Sense of Union. The History of the Sydney University Football Club, 1998, ISBN 0949853623

[5] First Grade records on Sydneyunirugby.com.au

[heathens-6] Sydney University: Australia's first rugby club?] at Saints & Heathens blog

[7] "Sydney University". Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

[8] Australian Town and Country Journal. Sat 8 Oct 1892, page 39 at trove.nla.gov.au

[9] The History of the Buildcorp Wallaroos at wallaroos.rugby

[11] ttps://www.sydneyunirugby.com.auchrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.sydneyunirugby.com.au/files/3._SUFC_Australian__RepresentativesKS.pdf. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)

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