Balmain RFC

Balmain
Full nameBalmain Rugby Club
Nickname(s)Muzzled Wolves
Founded2005; 19 years ago (2005)
LocationBalmain, Sydney, Australia
Ground(s)Billy Murdoch Field, Glover Street, Lilyfield (Capacity: 5.000)
League(s)NSWSRU
Team kit
Official website
www.balmainrugby.com

The Balmain Rugby Football Club is an Australian rugby union football club, based in Balmain, Sydney, New South Wales. The original club established in 1873 is one of the oldest rugby clubs in Australia.[1][2] Balmain was one of the founding members in 1874 of the Southern Rugby Union,[3] later renamed the New South Wales Rugby Union, which was the first governing body for the sport in the Southern Hemisphere.[4] Billy Murdoch, who would later go on to captain the Australian cricket team,[5] was Balmain's first captain,[6] and he represented the club at the Southern Rugby Union's formation.

Over the years, Balmain has provided several players who have represented Australia in international rugby, including Bob Craig,[7] Robert Graves,[8] and Herbert Moran,[9] 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.[1]

More recently, international players including 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,[10] re-established in 2005.[1]

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.[11] The club won the Kentwell Cup two years later with a 43–29 win over Knox in the 2015 Grand Final.[12]

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  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference oldest-2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Mulford 2005a, p. 22.
  4. ^ Mulford 2005a, pp. 20–21.
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  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference evening-news-1894 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference smh-1935 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference dt-2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference nswsu-2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference subbies-ar-2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).