Rugby in Armenia is a developing sport. The Rugby Federation is developed by the Rugby Federation of Armenia , founded in 2000 and became an associate member of Rugby Europe in 2002. Since 2014, the national team has not been included in the World Rugby ranking, since due to inactivity the membership of the Rugby Federation of Armenia was suspended in November of the same year [1] . Recent data recorded 48th place in the IRB ranking in August 2013 [2] .
Content
- 1 History
- 1.1 Soviet era
- 1.2 Age of Independence
- 2 See also
- 3 notes
- 4 References
History
Soviet era
Rugby's popularity in Armenia has not traditionally been high, and rugby came there from neighboring Georgia. Frenchman of Armenian descent Jacques Aspekyan brought rugby to Soviet Georgia and Armenia in the 1950s, thanks to which the first rugby matches were held in Yerevan in 1965. The clubs Dynamo, Spartak, Ashkhatank and Petrel were formed in Yerevan, several university teams also appeared [3] . In the 1966/1967 season, the most famous club of the Armenian SSR - Dynamo Yerevan made its debut in the USSR Championship , and the Armenian SSR team was formed on the basis of this club. One of the USSR rugby masters of sports was Alexander Grigoryants [4] .
Since 1972, Yerevan “Spartak” played in the USSR Championship, which reached the quarter-finals of the USSR Cup. Due to the dire political and economic consequences of Perestroika , as well as due to the Karabakh war and the conflict with Azerbaijan, rugby has stopped developing in the country for almost 10 years.
Age of Independence
In 2000, rugby returned to Armenia when the Rugby Federation of Armenia was founded. In 2002, the president of the federation was Gagik Panikyan, a former player of Yerevan Spartak, who was involved in the development of rugby throughout the country [5] . Armenia became a member of Europe's Rugby in 2002, and soon the rugby-15 and rugby-7 teams appeared in the country, the core of which was not only born in the USSR, but also from France [6] , and it was the latter who made their main contribution in the image of the team [7] [8] .
In 2004, the Armenian team won the first victories over Norway and Israel at the European Nations Cup, and also held games against Finland, Bosnia and historical meetings against Azerbaijan [9] . Until September 30, 2006, the Armenian team did not suffer defeats, until it lost in the city of Vien with a score of 16:29 Switzerland . In that year, the Armenian team played in Group C of the European Cup of Nations [10] . The team was led in the past by foreigners Mark Abanozyan and Laurent Hayrapetyan, who did not speak Armenian. Hayrapetyan - a native of France and a player in many French clubs, among which stands out and “ Stud France ”. Under the new format, the Armenian team led by Hayrapetyan ended up in group A of the 3rd division of the European Cup of Nations, playing with the teams of Andorra and Serbia , and was marked by several important victories and sensational losses [11] .
As of 2012, there were three clubs “Ararat”, “Artasht” and “Ureni” in the country [3] , however, the de facto Armenian rugby championship was not held. Since 2014, Armenia’s membership in the European Rugby has been suspended due to the inactivity of the federation and the national team [1] , and two years earlier, the team lost several technical defeats for failure to appear at the matches [12] .
See also
Sports in Armenia
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 World Rugby gives Cyprus warm welcome but Armenia and Greece the cold shoulder (unavailable link) . ASOIF (November 21, 2014). Date of treatment October 20, 2016. Archived March 1, 2017.
- ↑ Rugby Armenia at 48th place in the world (Russian)
- ↑ 1 2 Robert Melkonyan: Reviving the traditions of Armenian rugby . Azad-Hye (January 21, 2012). Date of treatment January 31, 2015. Archived January 30, 2015.
- ↑ Rugby in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB (Rus.)
- ↑ Waiting for the support of the fans . Yerkir Weekly (June 10, 2005). Archived on October 10, 2007.
- ↑ Maxime Rouquié. Hayastan le pays imaginaire - Arménie . www.lerugbynistere.fr (July 30, 2010). Date of treatment April 19, 2012.
- ↑ Krikor Amirzayan. L'Arménie se prépare aux championnats d'Europe de rugby (link not available) . www.armenews.com (March 24, 2012). Date of treatment April 19, 2012. Archived March 4, 2016.
- ↑ Franck Lorrain, réalisateur de "Hayastan, le pays imaginaire" (French) . www.radioarmenie.com (12 September 2011). Date of appeal April 19, 2012. (unavailable link)
- ↑ Armenia - Azerbaijan, Rugby (Russian)
- ↑ ARMENIAN TEAM ON RUGGY IN THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP SELECTION TOURNAMENT IN GROUP “C” WON COMPLETE THE WORLD OF SLOVENIA ACCOUNT 42: 6 (Russian)
- ↑ rugby in Armenia
- ↑ Rugby. Armenia national team counted second technical defeat (Russian)
Links
- Official site (Russian) (Armenian) (English) (unavailable link)