List of controversial Aszar Rugby Cup matches

The Aszar Rugby Cup is Aduraszna's top-level domestic men's rugby union championship which has run on a yearly basis since its founding in 1924. Fourteen teams from across Aduraszna, as well as Rikevaarland United and Kireitarenu'a RC, compete in matches from March through to November of every year, culminating in a play-off series to decide the winner. Many teams have origins in the trade union movement (the sport was originally known as "union rugby" in its early days) and some still retain the names. However, most teams no longer consider themselves part of their respective trade unions, and instead operate under a "50+1" system, where a club is majority owned by its members, but allows private investment from individuals or corporations.

In the first televised ARC match (Emeralds 43 - 26 Oterszan, 13 March 1943), rugby was described by one commentator as "thirty burly men fighting over an egg". The ARC is no stranger to unsportsmanlike conduct.

Murder of Tulrulis Kiunat

ARC 1932 Semi-final; Turl Arla Rugby Club vs Lunstschatra Rangers (match conceded to the Rangers)

By far and away, 1932-TARC-LNCR-3 stands uncontested as the most infamous match in ARC history. It was the culmination of a three-years long rivalry between Turl Arla and the Rangers, centering around long-standing personal grievances between TARC scrum-half Lókka Jazulra and LNCR hooker Tulrulis Kiunat. The two exchanged words and occasionally blows over the course of the championships, often not even during a match day. On November 12, 1932, Kiunat scored a controversially awarded penalty shortly before half-time to bring LNCR to a 21-19 lead, and allegedly taunted Jazulra about it on the way back to the changing rooms. Enraged by this, Jazulra hid a switchblade in his boot; when play resumed, he approached Kiunat from behind, retrieved the knife, and slit his throat. Since murder was not explicitly banned in the ARC rulebook at the time (it was amended later, and nicknamed "the Jazulrule"), Jazulra was red carded for "dangerous high tackle". He was later found guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison. Aru Jamat, the TARC coach, immediately fired Jazulra from the team and conceded the match to the Rangers, who went on to lose the grand final 15-26 to the Svigrun Soldiers. Turl Arla Rugby Club's reputation was permanently tainted, and it deregistered from the ARC three games in to the 1933 championship, citing low morale and hostility from fans. Oterszan United, who narrowly missed promotion to the ARC in 1932, took their place and went on to place thirteenth.

The Headcount Rule

Section 2.4(a) of the ARC rulebook states that no more than fifteen players are allowed on the field for a team at any given time. If a player suspects the opposing side has more than fifteen players on the pitch, they can request that the referee do a headcount; play is stopped and all players must gather in the centre of the pitch to be counted by the referee. If any side is found to have more players on the field than allowed, their score is immediately wiped to zero.

The Headcount Rule is most amended rule in the ARC due to the controversy of the matches which led to its creation and refinement.

Introduction of the Headcount Rule (1926)

ARC 1926 Week 5; Oterszan Crows 58 - 39 Lantirdais United

Before 1926, although the ARC said that teams should be made of fifteen players, with a further eight to wait on the sidelines as substitutions, it never set out any penalty for having more than fifteen players on the field. As such, during the second half of 1926-OTSC-LTDU-1, Crows coach Taren Akrosra sent all eight substitutes onto the field simultaneously. With such a large numbers advantage, they managed to score five tries before the referee was able to convince the Lantirdais manager that there was nothing that could be done about the situation, at which point he retalliated by sending all eight Lantirdais substitutes onto the field as well. After news of this broke, the next two weeks of matches across Aduraszna were effectively played 23-a-side until the ARC managerial board finally instituted the Headcount Rule. However, the 23-a-side matches proved to be so novel and popular that teams would occasionally host "Headcount games": friendly matches played in the off-season where the fifteen player limit was raised to a pre-agreed number, typically from 20 to 35. One match between the Crows and the Daukran Dek Warrior Cats had ninety players on each side, mostly made of volunteer fans, and was described by one commentator as "the funniest waste of professional rugby players' time since they invented the bronze medal final".

Malicious use of the Headcount Rule (1928)

ARC 1928 Week 28; Faisluns 1st XV 29 - 3 Lantirdais United

During 1928-F1XV-LTDU-2, Lantirdais United realised that the Headcount Rule meant you could request a headcount whenever it looked like your opponents were about to score. This tactic was used successfully three times, costing Faisluns an estimated 19 points, but the referee eventually caught on to this tactic and simply ignored the Lantirdais players' headcount requests. Realising what was happening, Faisluns coach Rusrun Zhailmera sent an extra three players onto the field. Lantirdais requested a headcount twenty further times over the remainder of the match, but to no avail. The rulebook was later amended such that any request that does not reveal extra players would result in a yellow card for the player who asked for the count, and a penalty for the opposing team.

Malicious use of the Headcount Rule (1942)

ARC 1942 Week 21; Oterszan Crows 7 - 0 Oterszan United

78 minutes into 1942-OTSC-OTSU-2, the Oterszan Crows were set for an historic defeat of 7-85. Three Crows players banded together and kidnapped United substitute Kelkaletsz Val from the sidelines and threw him onto the pitch. As he was getting up, a co-conspirator demanded a headcount, and since Val was technically on the pitch at the time, United's score was wiped to zero. The Crows successfully stalled the remaining two minutes of play and were controversially allowed to keep their win on the record, since there were few eyewitnesses and, it being 1942, no further proof beyond he-said-she-said. The incident was only confirmed as real and not simply urban legend in 1995, following the publication of one of the Crows players' memoirs, Cheeky & Sneaky.

Headcount Rule following a mass brawl (2013)

ARC 2013 Week 33 (Elimination Final 1); Vasri'ia Communist Party Reserves 0 - 156 Rikevaarland United

Early in the second half of 2013-VCPR-RKVU-3.EF1, a dangerous high tackle from Rikevaarland right prop Reile is'Tordalen sparked a brawl between the teams. All but three of the VCPR substitutes ran on to the pitch to join in. The fight went on for three minutes before it was eventually broken up, and Kurandian referee Stephen Marzen made the controversial decision to dole out thirty-five red cards: one for each player on the pitch. Rikevaarland captain Arrus Leie then requested a headcount; with five extra players clearly on the field, the VCPR's 28-10 lead was wiped away. This started a second, shorter, brawl that led to the suspensions of six VCPR players. With half an hour still to play, the managers were forced to send on the only players who could still compete in the match - the substitutes: three for the VCPR (since five had been red-carded) and all eight for Rikevaarland, who easily outnumbered their opponents and scored an average of just under one try per minute, resulting in the biggest defeat in history in an ARC play-off. They went on to come 2nd overall, losing the grand final 23-46 to the Faisluns 1st XV.

"Air Bud" incident (1998)

ARC 1998 Week 7; Oterszan Crows 23 - 35 Daukran Dek Warrior Cats

Inspired by the movie, during the half-time of 1998-OTSC-DDWC-1, the Crows decided to send one of their players' pet dog, Fluffles, on to the field. Intended mainly as a joke, the stunt immediately backfired when Fluffles bit the Crows' scrum-half on the rear. Fluffles became the only dog to ever be intentionally given a red card by the referee (in 1986, a dog had stolen the referee's red card from out of his own hand while he was sending off a Rikevaarland player) and was given a twelve-match ban. The stunt backfired for a second time when it transpired that Section 14.6(g) of the ARC rulebook meant that dogs were, after all, not allowed to play rugby.

"Scab Slaughter Saturday" (2008)

ARC 2008 Week 3; Vasri'ia United vs Faisluns 1st XV (match awarded to Faisluns)

The first two weeks of the ARC 2008 season had been cancelled due to ongoing strike action, largely over players' pensions. By the third week, a handful of the teams had drafted temporary players, generally from other sports or retirees, to cross the picket lines and provide a full fifteen players. Although most of the scheduled Week 3 games went ahead, they were boycotted by most fans and sports journalists generally preferred to cover the picket lines outside the stadium instead of the amateurish rugby going on inside it. The Faisluns 1st XV, the only team in the league at the time to have come entirely from corporate backing instead of Aszar rugby's traditional union roots, managed to field nearly their entire original team - all but three crossed the pickets. Vasri'ia United, however, showed up to their scheduled away game with a team made entirely of rookies.

Vasri'ia began 2008-VSRU-F1XV-1 with a long kick-off, but as Faisluns looked to gain possession, the individual Vasri'ia players found their opposite number, and immediately and intentionally dealt season- or even career-ending injuries to the Faisluns players. In 2022, amongst other revelations about Posol Industries, it transpired that the Vasri'ia United manager, Tsantóras Akura, had recruited most of the players from them as hitmen. Posol Industries had also supplied them with fake identities, an escape route through Fantøm and the bare minimum understanding of the game of rugby necessary to complete the job without anyone catching on.

Of the fifteen Faisluns players on the pitch at the time, twelve were hospitalised with a wide array of injuries including puncture wounds from studded boots, broken bones, concussions, and blinding. The remaining players escaped with mere black eyes. Ten were still on injury leave by the end of the 2008 season, in which F1XV came 16th out of 16, subsequently being relegated to the League Shield division for 2009 - the only two seasons in which the Faisluns 2nd XV outperformed the 1st XV. Seven never played again.

Although the Aszar Athletes' Union condemned the incident, calling for peaceful strike action, "Scab Slaughter Saturday" has been cited both by commentators and players who were contemplating crossing the picket line as a generally successful deterrent. The strike held for five further weeks before an agreement was reached between the AAU and the ARC's board of directors, and approved by the union members by 91%.

Vasri'ia United was hit with compounding fines that ended up theoretically totalling ƕ2 trillion (SH$1.2 trillion) - this was more than three times the total GDP of Aduraszna as a whole, and instead of appealing the fine, the club simply disbanded the following week. Its players were mostly scooped up by the neighbouring Vasri'ia Communist Party Reserves in the League Shield division, whose own players had all been fired after crossing the picket line.