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The Melbourne Rebels (also known as the RaboDirect Melbourne Rebels for sponsorship reasons)〔 are a professional rugby union team based in Melbourne. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They are the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia. The club shares its name with a former Australian Rugby Championship team, but is unrelated. ==History== The era of professionalism in rugby union led to a restructuring of the Super 10 competition after the 1995 World Cup. SANZAR was formed to manage a 12-team provincial union from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. During the early years of 2000s South Africa and Australia pushed for additional teams each. Argentina also expressed interest. Discussions also included federated pacific island team in the vein of the West Indies cricket team, or individual island nations. Bids for the 13th and 14th franchise opened in 2002. Melbourne had, to that point, successfully hosted several Wallaby test matches which the Victorian Rugby Union used to demonstrate a ground swell of support for rugby union by the Victorian public. Melbourne also hosted several World Cup matches hosted at Docklands Stadium〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Victoria aims to cash in on Super 12s after cup bonanza )〕 and drew 50,000 to the final day of the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games Rugby 7s.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title= IRB Sevens World Series 2007/08 schedule announced )〕 The then Bracks government promised investment in infrastructure, considering a 25,000 seat redevelopment of Olympic Park Stadium or $100m for a new stadium.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Crunch time for Olympic Park )〕 The successful bid went to Western Australia, ultimately becoming the Western Force for the 2004 Super 14 season. In 2006 the Australian Rugby Union, following the suggestions of a working party, announced the formation of a national domestic competition.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Rugby workshop agrees to a new eight team national competition )〕 The Melbourne Rebels were established for the inaugural season of the Australian Rugby Championship by virtue of NSW surrendering a fourth team in favour of Victoria.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 New national rugby comp for 2007 )〕 Coached by Bill Millard and captained by David Croft, the Rebels finished fourth (out of 8) and were runners up. The move was viewed as an interim step to a Super 14 franchise. The VRU bid twice for a team in SANZAR's 'Super' provincial competition before being accepted for the 2011 season. Their winning bid was named after the team they fielded in the ARC. On 29 July, at the Victorian Rugby Union's quarterly corporate luncheon, the Melbourne Rebels and the Victorian Rugby Union launched the playing strip, logo and club song "Do You Hear the People Sing?" from ''Les Misérables''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Melbourne Rebels」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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