All India & South Asia Rugby Tournament

The All India & South Asia Rugby Tournament is an amateur league competition for rugby union football clubs in India.[2] The competition has been played since 1924.[3] In 2017 ten teams took part in the men's edition, with Delhi Hurricanes securing the championship.[4] The 2016 tournament also saw the first women's XVs rugby competition, with six teams participating, and the championship going to the team from the Odisha Rugby Football Association.[5]

All India & South Asia Rugby Tournament
Champions Trophy of All India & South Asia Rugby Tournament
SportRugby union
Founded1924; 100 years ago (1924)[1]
No. of teams12
Country India
ContinentAsia
Most recent
champion(s)
Bombay Gymkhana (2023)
Most titlesBombay Gymkhana

History

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After the Calcutta Cup and rugby union in India became popular the Rugby Football Union decided to give Calcutta Cricket and Football Club a similar cup, which was named the All India & South Asia Rugby Tournament.[6] The cup has been played every year since.

In 2011 the tournament started to gain some publicity and soon after the cup began Army Red emerged as champions.[7]

2018 qualifying teams

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In 2018, the 85th All India & South Asia Rugby Tournament was held at Bombay Gymkhana grounds between 22 and 29 September with 10 teams competing in the men's category.[8]

Team (Men's) Rank Location
Delhi Hurricanes 1 New Delhi
Army Red 2 Mumbai
Bombay Gymkhana 3 Mumbai
Jungle Crows 4 Kolkata
Calcutta CFC 5 Kolkata
Maharashtra State Police 6 Maharashtra
Magicians 7 Mumbai
Sergeant's Institute 8 Kolkata
Bangalore RFC 9 Bangalore
Bhubaneswar RFC 10 Bhubaneswar

In the women's category there were 8 teams.[8]

Team (Women's) Rank Location
Delhi Hurricanes 1 New Delhi
Odisha 2 Bhubaneswar
Rugby Association of Maharashtra 3 Mumbai
Bihar 4 Patna
Calcutta CFC 5 Kolkata
Adivasi 6 Kolkata
Haryana Bulls 7 Haryana
Magicians 8 Mumbai

2017 qualifying teams

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Men's Champion All India Rugby 2017
 
Women's Champion All India Rugby 2017

In 2017 the All India & South Asia Rugby Tournament was held at CCFC between 7 and 14 October with 10 teams competing in the men's category.[4]

Team (Men's) Rank Location
Army Red 1 Mumbai
Delhi Hurricanes 2 New Delhi
Bombay Gymkhana 3 Mumbai
Jungle Crows 4 Kolkata
Maharashtra State Police 5 Maharashtra
Calcutta CFC 6 Kolkata
Sergeant's Institute 7 Kolkata
Magicians 8 Mumbai
Kolkata Police 9 Kolkata
Delhi Rebels 10 Delhi

In the women's category there were 8 teams.[4]

Team (Women's) Rank Location
Odisha 1 Bhubaneswar
Delhi Hurricanes 2 New Delhi
Jungle Crows 3 Kolkata
Calcutta CFC 4 Kolkata
Rugby Association of Maharashtra 5 Mumbai
Bihar 6 Patna
Young Rugby Club 7 Kolkata
Adivasi 8 Kolkata

2016 qualifying teams

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2016 Champions Army Red 83rd All India and South Asia Rugby Tournament
 
Actor and ex rugby player Rahul Bose is introduced to the players before the final of 83rd All India and South Asia Rugby Tournament
 
A Women's Rugby Match in progress during the All India and South Asia Rugby Tournament

In 2016 the All India & South Asia Rugby Tournament was held at CCFC between 17 and 24 September with 12 teams competing in the men's category.[9]

Team (Men's) Rank Location
Army Red 1 Mumbai
Bombay Gymkhana 2 Mumbai
Delhi Hurricanes 3 New Delhi
Maharashtra State Police 4 Maharashtra
Jungle Crows 5 Kolkata
Calcutta CFC 6 Kolkata
Bangalore RFC 7 Bangalore
Bhubaneswar RFC 8 Bhubaneswar
Young Rugby Club 9 Kolkata
Kolkata Police 10 Kolkata
Mumbai Magicians 11 Mumbai
Delhi Lions 12 Mumbai

For the first time women competed in a rugby XVs tournament, with six teams participating.[9]

Team (Women's) Pool Location
Jungle Crows A Kolkata
Young Rugby Club A Kolkata
Odisha A Odisha
Calcutta CFC B Kolkata
Bihar B Bihar
Delhi Lions B New Delhi

2015 qualifying teams

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Team Location
Army Green Mumbai
Army Red Mumbai
Bombay Gymkhana Mumbai
Calcutta Cricket & Football Club Kolkata
Delhi Hurricanes New Delhi
Jungle Crows Kolkata
KISS RFC Bhubaneswar
Bangalore RFC Bangalore
Maharashtra State Police Maharashtra
Kolkata Police Kolkata
Young Rugby Club Kolkata
Bhubaneswar RFC Bhubaneswar
Chhattisgarh RFC Chhattisgarh

Results

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These are the list of champions of the All India & South Asia Rugby Tournament since 2000.

Men's All India & South Asia Rugby Tournament
Year
Winner Runner up Score
2000 Bombay Gymkhana
2001 Old Peterites SC   34-24
2002
2003 Sri Lanka Police SC   Bombay Gymkhana 19-17
2004 Chennai Cheetahs 12-3
2005 British Asian Rugby Association   Bangalore RFC 27-3
2006 Chennai Cheetahs Kolkata Police 52-9
2007 Army Red Chennai Cheetahs 12-5
2008
2009 Uzbekistan   26-0
2010 Chennai Cheetahs 24-16
2011 Bombay Gymkhana 15-0
2012 Bombay Gymkhana Army Red 7-0
2013 Army Red and Bombay Gymkhana 10-10
2014 Army Red Delhi Hurricanes 18-0
2015 Bombay Gymkhana 17-5
2016 Delhi Hurricanes 18-5[10]
2017 Delhi Hurricanes Army Red 25-24[4]
2018 Bombay Gymkhana 15-9[8]
2019 26-6
2022 Bombay Gymkhana Army Red 14-10[11]
2023 Kolkata Police 74-0

Bombay Gymkhana have won the competition sixteen times, Army Red and La Martinière Old Boys eight times, Armenian Sports Club six times, the Delhi Hurricanes three times and Chennai Cheetahs have been successful twice.

These are the list of champions of the Women's All India & South Asia Rugby Tournament since its inaugural version in 2016.

Women's All India & South Asia Rugby Tournament
Year
Winner Runner up Score
2016 Odisha Delhi Hurricanes 20 - 0[5][12]
2017 Delhi Hurricanes Odisha 19 - 0[4]
2018 Odisha Delhi Hurricanes 10 - 5[8]

References

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  1. ^ Brenkley, Stephen (20 January 2002). "Meet Charlie — from the Bengal branch of the Van der Guchts". independent.co.uk. London: The Independent UK. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  2. ^ Mukherjee, Shayani (26 September 2016). "CCFC celebrates 225 years of its existence with glory and pride". millenniumpost.in. Kolkata: The Millennium Post India. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  3. ^ "Bombay Gym rally to down Army in final of All India & South Asia Rugby Championship". punjabnewsexpress.com. Mumbai: Punjab News Express. IANS. 17 October 2022. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e Sulogna Ghosh, Sehrish Hazarika. "Rugby - The final whistle blows at the 84th All India & South Asia Rugby Tournament at CC&FC". No. T2. The Telegraph. Retrieved 3 November 2017.[dead link]
  5. ^ a b "Odisha Women's Team Wins 1st All India Rugby 15s Tournament". Incredible Orissa. Archived from the original on 13 October 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  6. ^ Drennan, Jonathan (16 May 2020). "The rugby club in Kolkata that has given hope to 3,500 street children". thegurdian.com. London: The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 August 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  7. ^ "Ten teams for All India rugby tourney". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. The Times of India. PTI. 8 September 2011. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d "All India 2018 Tournament Highlights". Rugby India. September 2018. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  9. ^ a b "Twelve teams to compete in All India and South Asia Rugby Championships". No. Sify News. IANS. 16 September 2016. Archived from the original on 13 October 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  10. ^ A Staff Reporter (25 September 2016). "Rahul's rugby dreams". No. Kolkata. ABP. The Telegraph. Archived from the original on September 27, 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  11. ^ "Bombay Gym rally to down Army in final of All India & South Asia Rugby Championship". The Rahnuma. 18 October 2022. Archived from the original on 18 November 2022. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  12. ^ Deb, Rwitoban (16 October 2016). "Rugby - Men, women and a sport called rugby". No. The Telegraph T2. ABP. Archived from the original on October 27, 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016.