Rugby union in Russia

Since the early medieval times Russians played a ballgame, in many ways similar to rugby. In Russian it has been called "Kila" (kee-LAH,) the earliest written accounts of which go back to the 12th Century Novgorod Republic. It existed in a number of variations, most of which differ from rugby in that they provide more diverse gameplay tactics (the play was more tough, anyone on the field could force and be forced upon physically in diverse manner, ball could be passed in any direction.) Kila ball is a pumpkin-shaped ball, three to four times heavier than a standard rugby ball, usually weighing at around 1,300–1,500 g (2.9–3.3 lb). As the game was strongly associated with pre-Christian pagan traditions, the Russian Orthodox Church didn't tolerate it. By the 19th Century the sport declined and died-out, especially after the English-type soccer was adopted and spread throughout the late Russian Empire.

Rugby football in the Russian Empire pre-dated the Russian Revolution by a number of years, but it was only played sporadically. It appears to have been the first (non-indigenous) football code to be played in Russia, around a decade before the introduction of association football.[7] Mr Hopper, a Scotsman, who worked in Moscow arranged a match in the 1880s; the first soccer match was in 1892.[7] In 1886, however, the Russian police clamped down on rugby because they considered it "brutal, and liable to incite demonstrations and riots"[7] Condemnation by the tsar's police probably deterred many people from playing, and records of rugby over the next thirty years are sparse. Some rugby union was still being played in 1908, however the first "official" match took place in Moscow in 1923.

Because of the Russian Revolution, some Soviet/Russian players emigrated and/or ended up playing for foreign sides, a notable example being Prince Alexander Obolensky (Александр Сергеевич Оболенский) who played for Oxford and England in the 1930s - he was the scorer of 2 tries on his England debut in their win over New Zealand in January 1936. His noble birth precluded him from playing in his home country and his family had fled the country when he was only a year old.

In 1934 the Moscow Championship was started, and in 1936 the first Soviet Championship took place.

The game was more or less banned for a number of years in the Soviet Union because of an incident in a final in Moscow, when supporters of Llanelli and a Bucharest team were involved in a brawl.[6]

According to popular myth, in 1949 rugby union was forbidden in the USSR during the "fight against the cosmopolitanism". The competitions were resumed in 1957, and the Soviet Championship in 1966. In 1975 the Soviet national team played their first match.[8]

Although there was the Soviet Cup and the Soviet Championship, rugby never became a major sport in the USSR. Union was the bigger of the two codes though - rugby league only really took off in the former Soviet Union after the collapse of Communism.

When the Soviet Union broke up, there were two main consequences - firstly the loss of a much larger pool of players and fans, and secondly, the defection of many players to rugby league, which had previously been frowned on by the Soviet authorities. The two main areas for Russian rugby were to be Moscow and Siberia, and to a lesser extent, Leningrad/St Petersburg.[6]

The most notable Russian player perhaps is Igor Mironov who played for the Barbarians several times during the 1980s.[6] Vasily Artemyev played for Northampton Saints in the English Premiership.

The Super Cup was an annual international rugby union competition contested by national teams from Canada, Japan, Romania and the United States. It was previously known as the Super Powers Cup.

The Super Powers Cup was first launched in 2003. It was planned that China, Japan, Russia and the United States would play each other once. However, because of the SARS outbreak the Chinese team were forced to withdraw. Russia won the inaugural competition, defeating the USA 30-21 in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.[11] For the 2004 competition Canada replaced China.

European Challenge Cup

In 2015 Russian club Yenisey-STM was included for the 2015-16 season of the European Challenge Cup. The first fixture was against Irish club Connacht at their home stadium. During the match temperatures got close to -20°c and the field was covered in ice. Yenisey-STM lost 14-31 against Connacht.