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History of representative rugby union in Melbourne

Indications of rugby in Victoria date back to the 1840s. "Early in the '50s games under Rugby rules were played by the miners of many of the 'diggings' and during these exciting times a small coterie of Rugbyites kept the ball rolling in Melbourne."

The first known rugby game under the codified rules developed by the inaugral Rugby Football Union in Victoria took place in late June 1878. Sydney's Waratah rugby club and Melbourne's Carlton FC (then a VFA side)attempted to consolidate the two codes. They played matches under both rules at the MCG.

In 1888 the British sent a team to Australasia. In preparation former Cambridge student C.E. Chapman, who was a teacher at Melbourne Grammar School organised the Melbourne Rugby Football Club. Internal matches facilitated the selection of a team that played against the British at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground. 6,000 people attended a 15-5 loss to the tourists.

A New South Wales representative team toured in 1894 after the fledgling VRU opened official dialoge to begin intercolonial matches. Victoria won the first game 3-0. . This union became defunct in the late 1890s. In 1909 the Victorian Rugby Union was re-established to play a practice match against the Wallabies departing for an English tour. The representative Victorian side wore blue and gold, and lost 26-6 in front of 1,500 people at the MCG.

While Victorian teams played touring test sides, the first test match in Victoria was in 1958, at Olympic Park between the NZ Maoris and the Wallabies. The Maoris defeated the Wallabies 13 – 6.

The Bledisloe Cup is played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground - the first international rugby game played at the MCG - and draws a crowd of 83,000.

Victorian bids for Super spots

The era of professionalism in rugby led to a restructuring of the Super 10 competition. After the 1995 World Cup formed SANZAR to manage a 12-team provincial union from the three nations.

From the early 2000s both South Africa and Australia pushed for an additional team each. Talk also extended to a federated pacific island team in the vein of the the West Indies cricket team, or individual island nations. Argentina also expressed interest.

The bid for entry into an expanded Super 12 competition started in 2002. Melbourne, given the success of its involvement in the 2003 World Cup with more than 280,000 people attending the 7 matches hosted at Docklands Stadium.

Rob Steiner, VRU president considered the success of the Melbourne Storm and Sydney Swans in foreign markets a good litmus of

"We know the support that Melbourne business can provide and the indications we've had suggest that we're appropriately optimistic about all that... but for now we're focusing on the fact that there's a sniff out there and we've got to make sure we give it the best shot possible to make sure that Victoria is the anointed one when the opportunity presents."

The then Bracks government promised investment in infrastructure, considering a 25,000 seat redevelopment of Olympic Park or $100m for a new stadium.

The successful bid went to Western Australia, ultimately becoming the Western Force.