Rugby in Cyprus is currently a growing sport. At the head is the Cyprus Rugby Federation , a member of the European Rugby since 2006 [1] . The motto of the federation is the phrase “ With or on a shield ” ( Greek Ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς ).
Content
- 1 History
- 2 Team
- 3 notes
- 4 References
History
Rugby in Cyprus first appeared in the 1950s, when matches between the teams of the British Armed Forces began to take place (there are currently several British teams at the bases of Akrotiri and Dhekelia . In the 1970s, the first games began between the teams of Cyprus and Israel [2] , many Israelis played with British teams, and later rugby became the immigrants' favorite game.
In 2003, the first Cypriot team was formed - Paphos Tigers ", Staffed by Cypriots from South Africa and the British Cypriots who successfully won the championship among the British military. Later, in the wake of the success of the England team , who won the World Cup in Australia , the team “ Limassol Crusaders ” was formed ", And then the Nicosia Barbarians club appeared. Teams from Northern Cyprus play in various leagues of the Turkish championship, but rugby is not popular either in the north or in the south of the country.
Team
The Cyprus rugby team is made up mainly of British immigrants of Cypriot descent, some of whom have experience playing in serious professional clubs such as Chris Dikomidis from the Welsh Cardiff Blues . She made her debut on March 24, 2007 in European rugby game against Greece and won 39: 3 in the presence of 2.5 thousand fans [3] . Continuation of success was the victory in the qualification tournament of the European Championship: on October 28, Azerbaijan was beaten 29: 0 in Paphos at the stadium "Pafiako", October 31 - Monaco 19:10, and November 3 - Slovakia 38: 8. The team entered the butt games for leaving the 3D division, but lost to Israel on September 6, 2008 with a score of 14:23 and remained in the 3D division. In the season 2018-2019, the Cyprus national team is listed in the Conference 1 South European Rugby Championship.
There is also a rugby-7 team in Cyprus, which in 2009 participated in the stages of the European Championships in Athens and Split, which helped the Cypriots to overcome 11 places in the FIRA rating and take 12th place among the men's rugby-7 teams.
Notes
- ↑ Cyprus accepted as members of the International Federation of Amateur Rugby (Fr.) (PDF) (link not available) (7 décembre 2006). Date of treatment March 23, 2007. Archived on September 28, 2007.
- ↑ Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ISBN 1-86200-013-1 ) p68
- ↑ Alexander McCowan. Cyprus trounce Greece in first international rugby match . Cyprus Mail (March 27, 2007). Date of treatment March 28, 2007. Archived September 27, 2007.