The Sydney University Football Club, founded in 1863, is the oldest club now playing rugby union in Australia,^[2] although this date is disputed by historian Tom Hickie who argues that it was 1865.^[3]

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Quick Facts Full name, Nickname(s) ...

Sydney University

Full name	Sydney University Football Club
Nickname(s)	Students, Varsity
Founded	1863; 161 years ago (1863)
Location	Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia
Ground(s)	Sydney University Football Ground (No.2 Oval),[1] Sydney University (Capacity: 1,200)
Coach(es)	Todd Louden (Head Coach) Teki Tuipulotu (Director of Women's Rugby and Junior Development) Nick Ryan (DoR)
Captain(s)	Jack McCalman, Ciaran Loh (1st Grade), Sherienne Koh (Women)
League(s)	Shute Shield, NSWSRU
2022	Jack Scott Cup Minor Premiers, Colin Caird Shield Premiers, W McMahon Memorial Shield Premiers, Bill Simpson Premiers
Team kit
Official website
www.sydneyunirugby.com.au

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Sydney Uni was a member of the inaugural Sydney club competition in 1874,^{[citation needed]} along with the Balmain Rugby Union Football Club, Newington College and The King's School. The club currently competes in the Shute Shield competition and has the most senior premiership titles of all Sydney clubs.^{[citation needed]}

After playing home games at the Sydney University Oval No.1 for 153 years, the club moved to the redeveloped Oval No.2 for the 2016 season. Sydney Uni Sport completed the building of a new training facility and grandstand at that ground accommodating 1,200 spectators.^[1]

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• Women's Rugby: Founded in 1994.
• Juniors: Founded in 2005 and comprises Balmain Junior Rugby Club, Canterbury Rugby and Petersham Juniors Rugby Club. These clubs include girls and boys teams.

Having been established in 1863,^[4] The club is officially known as "Sydney University Football Club" because it was the first club of any football code in NSW.^[5] The club also played Australian rules football in its early history, making it the first NSW club in that code as well.^[6]

The club is often referred to as "Uni", "The Students", as well as "The Birthplace of Australian Rugby" or simply "The Birthplace", marking its origins at a pioneer rugby club.^[5] The first mantion of students at the University playing football came in 1865 on Illustrated Sydney News, which stated:

“A football club, the first in the colony, has recently been formed and named the Sydney Football Club.”^[5]

Nevertheless, Sydney's The Referee wrote in 1918: "We believe the first recognised rugby football club formed in Sydney was the Wallaroos, in 1870,^{[n 1]} though football was played prior to that in New South Wales and Victoria".^[5]

The Club has won 29 Shute Shield Major Premierships and has been runners-up 12 times. The Club has won 50 Premierships and has been runners-up 24 times since 1865.

• Premiership Titles since 1900 (the Shute Shield started in 1923): (33) 1901 (shared), 1904, 1919, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1937, 1939, 1945, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1961, 1962, 1968, 1970, 1972, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2018, 2019, 2022
• Australian Club Champions: (5) 2007, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2020, 2022 (not contested), 2023
• Gregor George Cup Club Championships: (24) 1927, 1937, 1941, 1942, 1961, 1983, 1999, 2001, consecutively from 2004 to 2019 and 2022
• Jack Scott Cup: The Women's XVs team is notable in the Jack Scott Cup, winning 5 of the last 6 titles. In 2020, the Students picked up both Major and Minor Premierships after going through the regular season undefeated for the third year. The Women's team defeated Randwick 22–17 in the Grand Final.
• *2021 SEASON CANCELLED In response to COVID-19 Sydney University was leading the competition without a loss when NSW Rugby Union (NSWRU) and its affiliate unions jointly made the tough decision to cancel all winter rugby competitions in the Sydney region (and Illawarra). Seven rounds were contested by the Shute Shield teams.

To date, 132 Sydney University players have been selected to play for Australia.^[9] The first Australian representative was Hyram Marks in 1899. The club's most famous Wallaby would probably be Nick Farr-Jones, who had a long representative career (including World Cup success as Captain in 1991). Our most recent Wallaby is Josh Kemeny who debuted against Argentina in Sydney on 15 July 2023.

• Wallabies Squad – 2023 Rugby World Cup Angus Bell, Josh Kemeny, Matt Philip and Will Skelton. Will Skelton has also been named as Captain.
• Junior Wallabies World Rugby U20 Championship – 2023 Joey Fowler, Tom Morrisson, Dan Nelson
• Australia A Squad – 2023 Harry Johnson-Holmes, Tom Lambert, Lachlan Swinton, Brad Wilkin, Sam Talaki, Folau Fainga'a, Bernard Foley
• Australia U20s Squad – 2023 Jullien Caillol, Joey Fowler, Jackson Stiel, Dan Nelson, Bryn Edwards, Arnie Tancred
• Australia SVNS Series Squad – 2023 - 2024 Tim Clements

The Club has produced 13 Australian Female Representatives of which 11 are Wallaroos; our most recent debutant is Piper Duck (October 2022 v Scotland during the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand).

• Wallaroos Squad Laurie O'Reilly Cup and WXV Tournament – 2023 Brianna Hoy, Faitala Moleka, Emily Chancellor, Lori Cramer, Sera Naiqama, Bridie O'Gorman and Adiana Talakai