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Rugby Union flags (Australia)

Rugby Union flags (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa)
Melbourne Rebels

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Rugby Union flags (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa)

Super Rugby is the largest and pre-eminent professional men's rugby union football competition in the Southern Hemisphere. Building off various Southern Hemisphere competitions dating back to the South Pacific Championship in 1986, with teams from a number of southern nations, Super Rugby officially started with the 1996 season with 12 teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The competition was known as Super 12 through to the end of the 2005 season; the name was changed to Super 14 with the addition of two teams for the 2006 season; with expansion to 15 teams in the three countries for the 2011 season, the competition has been rebranded as Super Rugby (no number included). By 2006, matches were being broadcast in 41 countries.
Source: Wikipedia
James Dignan, 17 April, 2011

Melbourne Rebels

image by James Dignan, 17 April, 2011

The newest team in the NZ/AU/ZA Super rugby tournament is the Melbourne Rebels. Their team uniform is clearly influenced by the Eureka Flag - Blue, with a vertical line of five eight-pointed stars, diminishing in size from top to bottom. The team seems to have two flags - one gaudy design with words and images similar to other Super rugby flags, which seems to be designed for fan use, and one which is simple and much more attractive, showing the same pattern of stars as on the uniform.
James Dignan, 17 April, 2011

This is the Melbourne Rebels Rugby logo badge, which shows how many points each decreasing star size has. I believe that the team's name, "Rebels" and their logo design not only recalls the Southern Cross Stars in the Victorian State Flag, put also recalls the Eureka Stockade rebellion, which was an important part in the development of Victoria's political and social history.
Ralph Bartlett, 23 April 2011