The Sydney Stars is a former Australian rugby union football team that competed in the National Rugby Championship in 2014 and 2015. The Stars team was established as a joint venture between the Sydney University and Balmain rugby clubs, and was one of four New South Wales teams in the competition. The NRC was launched in 2014, reinstating the national competition after an absence of six years. Sydney University was initially interested in entering the NRC competition as a stand-alone club, but submitted a joint bid with Balmain as the Sydney Stars.
Colours and logo
The Sydney Stars' colours of gold, blue and black was drawn from the rugby clubs of Sydney University and Balmain. The team logo was the name "Sydney" in blue capitals outlined in white above the name "Stars" in gold capitals outlined in blue, and with the central letter "A" formed as the top point of a large stylised five-pointed star. The entire design was outlined in black.
History
The previous national competition was the Australian Rugby Championship, which was discontinued in 2007 after only one season. After setting up a consultative process in 2006 which culminated in a working session of some 70 delegates from around the country, the Australian Rugby Union announced that a new eight-team national competition would commence in 2007. New South Wales was allocated three teams and it was decided that representative teams would be formed to play out of the Central Coast, Western Sydney, and Sydney. The decision was controversial because two New South Wales clubs, Sydney University and Randwick, had wanted to enter stand-alone teams in the new competition.
Sydney Fleet (ARC team)
The Sydney Fleet was formed as one of three New South Wales teams to participate in the ARC. The Fleet's colors were blue and gold, the same colours used by past teams representing all of Sydney. The team's local rivals were the and Central Coast Rays. The logo of the Sydney Fleet featured a traditional anchor, similar to that on the Coat of arms of Sydney. The name, logo and team colours were revealed at the official launch of the team held aboard the museum ship HMAS Vampire at the Australian National Maritime Museum, in Darling Harbour on 27 February 2007. Existing clubs aligned with the Sydney Fleet included Sydney University, Randwick, Eastern Suburbs and Southern Districts. The team played at North Sydney Oval which was also the home ground of the Northern Suburbs Rugby Club, although that club was aligned with the Central Coast Rays team for the ARC competition. Head coach of the Sydney Fleet was Col "Snake" Jeffs, who was also the NSW Country head coach at the time. Former Wallaby and Waratah Scott Bowen and former Waratah and Italy Test lock Mark Giacheri were the assistant coaches. Tim Davidson was the captain. The Australian Rugby Championship was terminated at the end of 2007 after only one season of competition, with the Australian Rugby Union citing higher costs than budgeted and further projected financial losses. The Sydney Fleet team was disbanded with the end of the ARC competition.
In December 2013, the ARU announced that the national competition was to be relaunched, with the National Rugby Championship commencing in 2014. Expressions of interest were open to any interested parties, with the accepted bids finalised in early 2014. The Sydney University initially expressed interest in entering the NRC competition as a stand-alone club. However, a joint venture between Sydney University and Balmain rugby club was successful. On 24 March 2014 it was announced that the Sydney Stars team would play in the NRC competition. Sydney University's coach Chris Malone was named as the head coach of the Sydney Stars for 2014, with Cameron Blades as forwards coach and Peter Playford as backs coach. Jack Farrar and Matt Dunning were appointed as support personnel. Pat McCutcheon was named as captain. Peter Playford became the head coach in 2016 and David Hickey was named captain. The team finished fourth in the regular season and played in a semifinal but lost by 47–32. In 2016, the two-year licence for the Sydney Stars team to play in the NRC was not renewed, as the ARU had adjudged that the player talent available was not sufficient to support four competitive teams in New South Wales.
