A profile and history of: Latvian Rugby

Fact File:

Name: Latvijas Regbija Federacija

Year Affiliated to IRB/WR: 1991

Highest end-of-year World Ranking: 37 (49.54, 2007)

Lowest EOY World Ranking: 72 (40.05, 2013)

Current World Ranking: 60 (42.83)

Current Rugby Europe International Championships Division: Conference North 1, 5th (relegated)

Home Attendances: 2016-17: 450, 500. 2017-18: 500, 450

Registered Players: 977 (2017) from 960 (2014)

Major Events Participated In: 1993 RWC 7s (6th of 6th in Pool, 0-5)

It would be fair to say that Latvia is not a hotbed of rugby, with only two professional players currently hailing from the country (Uldis Saulite (Enisei-STM), Lock, and Yuri Baranov (Enisei-STM, SH), and both of them being towards the back-end of their careers (37 and 36 respectively). Overall rugby seems to have stalled in the country, with only around 21 XV sides being fielded in 2017. However their youth structures seem to be improving marginally (17th-19th in U18 XVs from 2008 to 2014, but 14th-16th in the past four years, see below), while finishing 15th and 17th over the past two years at senior level in Europe. They also run a team in the Rugby Europe 7s Trophy, consisting of teams from 13th to 24th best 7s teams in Europe.

In terms of rugby's history in Latvia, it closely follows other USSR nations, bar Georgia and Russia, in that it had a very minimal presence, up until 1949 when it was banned in the fight against cosmopolitanism (I have as of yet seen no evidence that the dastardly Rugby League was not behind it n.b.). About a decade later rugby returned to the USSR as a whole, with Latvia's organising body being founded in 1963 (interestingly a year before Georgia's). Growth was slow until the USSR fell, which this directly lead to Latvia's national 7s team qualifying to the 1993 RWC 7s. For in 1993 20 teams were invited (4 had to qualify), one of these was the USSR, but then politics happen, and the USSR fielding a team was no longer feasible, the IRB consequently set up a qualifying tournament, where Latvia beat Ukraine, Kazakhstan in pre-qualifying and Georgia & Russia in the finals to claim the USSR's spot. Latvia were massive underdogs, given that there were only two rugby fields in the new country at the time. Unfortunately their underdog story was not to be repeated at the 7s RWC, where they came last in their group, conceding 168 points and only scoring 29, interestingly their two professional players were 11 & 12 when this tournament happened.

Since then Latvian rugby has grown slowly, but steadily. However this progress has been overshadowed by other nearby nations progressing at a faster rate, for example in 2014 they had the 30th most players in Europe, but by 2017 they had slipped to 31st, with two other nations less than one XV worth of players away from catching them.

Their national team is a mixture of players living in Latvia and in England. Their squad versus Sweden on the 10th of May this year consisted of 11 players from RFC Livonia, 6 players from RK Eži (a club founded in 1995, which was initially a youth rugby club that grew a senior section), and three players from North Ribblesdale RUFC (7th tier). Their player playing at the highest level was their prop Endrjū Marks Šteinbergs, who plays for Blaydon RFC, who were 4th tier when that game played (relegated at the end of the season).

Their national championship currently seems to be largely based in Riga, with 6 of the 8 teams sharing 3 stadiums in Riga. See the distribution for the 2017 season below.

n.b.: Interestingly Rugby League was seen in the USSR as a bourgeois sport, in a reversal of their traditional roles due to how League had spread through business, internet legend seems to indicate that as a result when the USSR collapsed Rugby League actually launched a takeover bid of Rugby Union (offering player payments, among other things), but failed, although several clubs such as RC Lokomotiv switched over to League. RC Lokomotiv then went on to dominate League in Russia, winning 7 of 8 national league titles between 2000 and 2007, and 7 of 8 national cup titles in the same period. Then however in 2008, following the IOC making 7s an olympic sport they went (largely) back to Union, alongside the other two leading clubs in Russian Rugby League (Kazan Arrows and Dinamo Moscow). This caused a crisis in RRL, and RL lost official recognition of the Russian Government, which lead to multiple rebel bodies being set up /tangent.

Thanks for reading, if you have any suggestions for countries I should do next, or anything in general, just leave a comment below, or tweet me @BTCBlurandski.

Further Reading:

The untold story of the Siberian Bear: why Latvia’s rugby hero is an inspiration

Latvia's national association website in English

Has Olympic 7s claimed it's first league victim?