Balmain RFC
Australian rugby union club, based in Sydney
The Balmain Rugby Football Club is an Australian rugby union football club, based in Balmain, Sydney, New South Wales. The first Balmain club was established in 1873 and was one of the oldest rugby clubs in Australia. Balmain was one of the founding members in 1874 of the Southern Rugby Union, later renamed the New South Wales Rugby Union, which was the first governing body for the sport in the Southern Hemisphere. Billy Murdoch, who would later go on to captain the Australian cricket team, was Balmain's first captain, and he represented the club at the Southern Rugby Union's formation.
In 1900 under the city's new district clubs scheme a Balmain club was included. Over the ensuing decade Balmain provided several players who have represented Australia in international rugby, including Bob Craig, Robert Graves, and Herbert Moran, who was captain of the 1908 Australian side and served as Balmain's president in 1911-12. Bill McKell who would later become Australia's Governor General also played for Balmain in 1909-10. During the First World War the Balmain club and the neighbouring Glebe district club merged to form what is now the Drummoyne DRFC.
More recently, international players from Balmain include Wallabies Drew Mitchell, Matt Giteau, Matt Dunning and Ryan Cross, and French representative Sébastien Chabal have all played for the club run by Warren Livingstone, re-established in 2005.
Balmain currently competes in the New South Wales Suburban Rugby Union competition and won the first grade premiership Kentwell Cup in 2013, shared with St Patrick's Rugby Club after a 33-all extra-time draw. The club won the Kentwell Cup two years later with a 43-29 win over Knox in the 2015 Grand Final.
Sources and credits
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