Rugby union in Namibia
| Rugby union in Namibia | |
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Namibia Rugby Team 7s team warming up at the Telstra Dome
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| Country | Namibia |
| Governing body | Namibia Rugby Union |
| National team | Namibia |
| Nickname(s) | Welwitschias, Biltongboere |
| First played | 1916 |
| Registered players | 9317 |
| Clubs | 28 |
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National competitions
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Club competitions
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Rugby union in Namibia is a popular team sport in Namibia and its predecessor province of South West Africa. Because Namibia was formerly ruled by South Africa, rugby in Namibia was frequently influenced by events in that country, and its domestic competition.
The Namibia Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in Namibia. The organisation was formed in March 1990, the same month that it joined the International Rugby Board (IRB).
Before independence in 1990, the governing body was the South African Rugby Board. Earlier bodies operating in South West Africa, from 1916 to 1990 were the South Africa Rugby Football Board (for whites only) founded in 1889 and the South Africa Coloured Rugby Board, founded in 1896.
In 1915, during World War I, South Africa, being a member of the British Commonwealth and a former British colony, occupied the German colony of South-West Africa, later to be known as Namibia.
It is believed that Namibian rugby began in 1916 when it was introduced by migrants from South Africa. Because of this, and the fact that Namibia was ruled by the country for so long, it can therefore be considered one of several countries within South African rugby's sphere of influence - including Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, and Botswana.
The British and Irish Lions played games in South West Africa on several occasions - in 1962, 1968, 1974, and 1980. Because South West Africa, was part of the South African polity, this meant that rugby there was tainted with the image of apartheid, and moreover, the independence of Namibia coincided with the period in which the Lions did not tour Africa, due to the controversy connected with this. When the Lions tours to SA resumed in 1997, they no longer played games against other African sides, as previously occurred.
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Wikipedia