Eastwood Rugby Club
Eastwood Rugby is a rugby union club playing in the Sydney Premier Rugby competition. The club currently plays at T G Millner Field. The Eastwood District extends from the Parramatta River at Meadowbank to the Hawkesbury River at Wisemans Ferry.
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| Full name | Eastwood District Rugby Union Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Woodies, Woods | |
| Founded | 1947 | |
| Location | Northern Districts/Hills District, Sydney | |
| Ground(s) | T G Millner Field, Marsfield, New South Wales | |
| Coach(es) | 1st Grade: Ben Batger | |
| League(s) | Sydney Rugby Union, Shute Shield | |
| 2019 | 2nd | |
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| Official website | ||
| www | ||
Club information
- Founded: 1947
- Home Ground: T G Millner Field
- Nickname: The Woods, Woodies
- Premiership Titles: 1999, 2002, 2003, 2011, 2014, 2015
- Australian Club Champions: (2) 2015, 2016
Club history
Rugby has been played in the Northern Districts of Sydney since the latter part of the 19th century. In the late 1890s a number of local sides existed playing at a variety of venues, the main one being Brush Farm.
With the outbreak of the Great War, senior rugby was suspended with many of the players enlisting, a number paying the supreme sacrifice.
Following W.W.1, the strength of Rugby in Eastwood and in Epping was centred around the respective Young Men's Institutes which fielded junior and senior sides in the Suburban Competition (this competition was next in importance to the District Competition). Epping won the Kentwell Cup in 1926 and Eastwood won the Burke Cup in 1927. At this time, Epping played at Epping Oval and Eastwood played at Eastwood Oval.
Following further success in the 1930s, momentum was building to seek admission into the District Competition. The outbreak of the Second World War caused a deferral of this plan until 1946 when a successful application was made for inclusion in the District Competition from the beginning of the 1947 Season. This was following the amalgamation of the Eastwood and Epping Clubs. As a result, the Eastwood District Rugby Union Football Club was formed and it has played in the Sydney District Competition ever since. In 1963, EDRUFC moved its home ground to TG Millner.
The Club has won a number of minor grade and Colts competitions over the years but did not win the 1st-grade major premiership trophy until 1999. In an historic win, the Club won the Shute Shield for the first time by defeating Sydney University in the Grand Final.
Since formation, the Club has produced numerous players who have played International rugby. Eastwood has a strong junior base which has won many NSW Junior Rugby Union State Championships.
Junior Clubs
International representatives
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Club song
Those Magnificent Men
(To the tune of Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines)
La, la, La, Lalalalalala...
Those magnificent players from Eastwood are here,
Playing their rugby and drinking their beer,
They win in the tight play, and also the ruck,
And if they don't score well they don't give a damn,
See them go for a try,
Heads down in the scrum and their arses up high,
They're all frightfully good,
Those magnificent men,
Those magnificent men,
Those magnificent men who shout,
Up the Woods Woods Woods!