Encyclopedia
Football games of various types were played long before the
19th century but it was not until the middle of that century that rules were formulated and codified. The
history of the game known as rugby football can be traced to three documented events: the publishing of the first set of written rules in 1845; the Blackheath Club decision to leave the FA in 1863 over the rejection by the FA of the rules of running with the ball in hand and hacking; and the formation of the
Rugby Football Union in 1871. The game was known simply as
rugby and it was not until the schism with
rugby league in 1895 over broken time payments that the moniker
rugby union was generally applied to differentiate it from the 13 man code. Rugby union stuck to its Corinthian ideals of amateurism and it was not until the end of the
20th century under growing commercial pressure that the game turned professional.
Early history
Playing football has a long tradition in England and football had probably been played at
Rugby School for two hundred years before three boys published the first set of written rules in 1845. The rules had always been determined by the pupils and not the masters and they were frequently modified with each new intake. Rules changes, such as the legality of carrying or running with the ball, were often agreed shortly before the commencement of a game.
There were thus no formal rules for football during the time
William Webb Ellis was at the school and the legendary story of the boy "who with a fine disregard for the rules as played in his time, first took the ball in his arms and ran with it" in 1823 is apocryphal. The story first appeared in 1876, some four years after the death of Webb Ellis, and is attributed to a local antiquarian and former Rugbeian Matthew Bloxam. Bloxam was not a comtemporary of Webb Ellis and vaguely quoted an unnamed person as informing him of the incident that had supposedly happened 53 years earlier. The story has been dismissed as unlikely since an official investigation by the Old Rugbeian Society in 1895. However, the trophy for the
Rugby Union World Cup is named "Webb Ellis" in his honour , and a plaque at the school commemorates the 'achievement'.
Rugby football has strong claims to the world's first and oldest "football club": the Guy's Hospital Football Club, formed in London in 1843, by
old boys from Rugby School. Around the
anglosphere, a number of other clubs formed to play games based on the Rugby School rules. One of these, Dublin University Football Club, founded in 1854, has arguably become the world's oldest surviving football club in any code. The Blackheath Rugby Club, in London, founded in 1858, is the oldest surviving non-university rugby club.
The schism between the Football Association and Rugby Football
The Football Association was formed at the Freemason’s Tavern, Great Queen Street, on Lincoln Inn Fields, London October 26 1863 with the intention to frame a code of laws that would embrace the best and most acceptable points of all the various methods of play under the one heading of "
football". At the beginning of the fourth meeting attention was drawn to the fact that a number of newspapers had recently published the
Cambridge Rules of 1863. The Cambridge rules differed from the draft FA rules in two significant areas; namely 'running with the ball' and 'hacking' . The two contentious draft rules were as follows:
- IX. A player shall be entitled to run with the ball towards his adversaries' goal if he makes a fair catch, or catches the ball on the first bound; but in case of a fair catch, if he makes his mark he shall not run.
- X. If any player shall run with the ball towards his adversaries' goal, any player on the opposite side shall be at liberty to charge, hold, trip or hack him, or to wrest the ball from him, but no player shall be held and hacked at the same time.
At the fifth meeting a motion was proposed that these two rules be expunged from the FA rules, F. W. Campbell a member of the Blackheath Club argued that hacking is an essential element of the 'football' and that to eliminate hacking would "do away with all the courage and pluck from the game, and I will be bound over to bring over a lot of Frenchmen who would beat you with a week’s practice". At the 6th meeting on December 8 F.W.C. withdrew the Blackheath Club explaining that the rules that the FA intended to adopt would destroy the game and all interest in it. Other rugby clubs followed this lead and did not join the Football Association.
The forming of the first Rugby Union
In December 1870 Edwin Ash, Secretary of Richmond Football Club published a letter in the papers which said, "Those who play the rugby-type game should meet to form a code of practice as various clubs play to rules which differ from others, which makes the game difficult to play." On January 26 1871 a meeting attended by representatives from 21 clubs was held in London at the Pall Mall Restaurant.
The 21 clubs present at the meeting were: Blackheath, Richmond, Ravenscourt Park, West Kent, Marlborough Nomads, Wimbledon Hornets, Gipsies, Civil Service, Law Club, Wellington College, Guy’s Hospital, Flamingoes, Clapham Rovers,
Harlequin F.C., King’s College,
St Paul's, Queen’s House, Lausanne, Addison, Mohicans, and Belsize Park. The one notable omission was the
London Wasps. A representative of the Wasps club was sent to attend the meeting, but due to a misunderstanding, was sent to the wrong venue at the wrong time on the wrong day. A more popular story is that the Wasps representative arrived at a venue of the same name, and after consuming a number of drinks, he was too drunk to make his way to the correct venue once he realised his mistake.
As a result of this meeting the Rugby Football Union was founded. Algernon Rutter was elected as the first president of the RFU and Edwin Ash was elected as treasurer. Three lawyers who were Rugby School alumni drew up the first laws of the game which were approved in June 1871.
First international game
The first international rugby union game was played at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh on March 27, 1871 between
England and
Scotland. It was won by the latter, though England got revenge at the
Kennington Oval, London in the following year.
The forming of the International Rugby Football Board
In 1884 England had a disagreement with Scotland over a try that England had scored but the referee disallowed citing a foul by Scotland. England argued that the referee should have played advantage and since they made the Law, if they said it was a try then it was. The
International Rugby Football Board was formed by Scotland, Ireland and Wales in 1886 but England refused to join since they believed they should have greater representation on the board because they had a greater number of clubs. They also refused to accept that the IRFB should be the recognised law maker of the game. The IRFB agreed that the member countries would not play England until the
RFU agreed to join and accept that the IRFB would oversee the games between the home unions. England finally agreed to join in 1890. In 1930 it was agreed between the members that all future matches would be played under the laws of the IRFB. In 1997 The IRFB moved its headquarters from London to
Dublin and a year later the International Rugby Football Board dropped the ‘F’ to become the International Rugby Board .
The article on the
International Rugby Board contains more details about the IRB, including
a time line of important events and when national unions and federations joined the IRB.
Evolution of modern rules
Changes to the laws of the game have been made at various times and this process still continues today.
The number of players was reduced from twenty to fifteen-a-side in 1877
Historically, no points at all were awarded for a try, the reward being to "try" to kick the ball over the posts. Some historians record the first international between Scotland and England finishing 0-0 for this reason. The first points scoring system was created in 1889.
The balance in value between tries and conversions has changed greatly over the years. Until 1891, a try scored one point, a conversion two. For the next two years tries scored two points and conversion three, until in 1893 the modern pattern of tries scoring more was begun with three points awarded for a try, two for a kick. The number of points from a try increased to four in 1971 and five in 1992.
Penalties have been worth three points since 1891 . The value of the drop goal was four points between 1891 and 1948, but three points at all other times.
The goal from mark was abandoned in 1971, having been worth three points, except between 1891 and 1905 when it was worth four.
Until 1870 rugby was played with a spherical ball with an inner-tube made of a pig's bladder. In 1870 Richard Lindon introduced rubber inner-tubes and because of the pliability of rubber the shape gradually changed from a sphere to an egg. In 1892 the RFU endorsed ovalness as the compulsory shape. The gradual flattening of the ball continued over the years. In the 1980's leather-encased balls, which were prone to water-logging, were replaced with balls encased in synthetic waterproof materials.
The schism between union and league
For more details see History of rugby leagueIt is believed that Yorkshire inaugurated amateurism rules in 1879, their representitives along with Lancashire's, are creditied with formalising the RFU's first amateur rules in 1886. Despite popular belief, these Northern bodies were strong advocates of amateurism, leading numerous crusades against veiled professionalism. However, conflict arose over the controversy regarding broken time, the issue of whether players should receive compensation for injuries received whilst playing. The northern clubs were heavily populated by a working class, and thus, a large pool of players would either not turn out for their clubs due to working commitments, or forgo pay to play rugby. In 1892, allegations of player payments were directed at the Bradford and Leeds clubs, though this was not the first allegation towards these northern bodies, that is not to say southern bodies had not been involved in similar circumstances. The RFU became concerned that these broken time payments were a pathway to professionalism.
On August 29 1895 at a meeting at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, twenty clubs from Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire decided to resign from the RFU and form the
Northern Rugby Football Union which from 1922 would be known as the
Rugby Football League. In 1908, eight clubs in Sydney broke away from union and form the
New South Wales Rugby League. The dispute about payment was one which at the time was also affecting soccer and cricket. Each game had to work out a compromise; Rugby was the least successful at doing this. It would be a century before union legalised payments to players and would allow players who had played a game of
league to play in a union game.
Summer Olympics
Pierre de Coubertin, the revivor of the modern Olympics, introduced rugby union to the
Summer Olympics at the
1900 games in
Paris. Coubertin had previous associations with the game, referring the first French domestic championship as well as France’s first international. France, the German Empire and Great Britain all entered teams in the 1900 games. France won gold defeating both opponents. The rugby event drew the largest crowd at that particular games. Rugby was next played at the
1908 games in
London. A Wallaby team, on tour in the United Kingdom, took part in the event, winning the gold, defeating Great Britain. The United States won the next event, at the
1920 Summer Olympics, famously defeating the French. The Americans backed up their victory, defeating France in Paris at the
1924 Summer Olympics – infamous for the controversies surrounding the rivalry between the two teams. The IOC soon pulled rugby as an event - even though rugby had attracted bigger crowds than the track and field events in 1924.
World War I
The Five Nations Championship was suspended in 1915 and it was not resumed until 1920. One hundred and thirty three international players were killed during the
conflict. The
Queensland Rugby Union disbands after the war and is not reformed until 1929,
NSW takes responsibility for rugby union in Australia until the formation of the ARU in 1949.
Centenary of rugby
As 1923 apprroached, there were discussions of a combined England and Wales XV playing a Scottish-Irish team in celebration of when William Webb Ellis picked up the football and ran with it in 1823. The planned game was controversial in that, there was a disagreement over whether it should be held at the Rugby School, or be played at Twickenham, where an obviously larger crowd could witness the match. In the end, the match was taken to the Rugby School.
Interesting times 1931 – 1947
In 1931 Lord Bledisloe, the
Governor-General of New Zealand, donates a trophy for competition between Australia and New Zealand. The
Bledisloe Cup becomes one of the great rivalries in international rugby union.
For many years, the sport’s authorities had suspected that the governing body of French Rugby Union, the
French Rugby Federation was allowing the abuse of the rules on amateurism, and in 1931 the French Rugby Union was suspended from playing against the other nations. Looking round for an alternative, many French players turned to rugby league, which soon became the dominant game in France, particularly in the south west of the country.
In 1934 the Federation Internationale de Rugby Amateur was formed at the instigation of the French. It was designed to organise rugby union outside the authority of IRB.
In 1990s the organisation recognised the IRB as the governing body of rugby union world wide and became in 1999 FIRA - Association of European Rugby an organisation to promote and rule over rugby union in the European area.In 1939 the FFR was invited to send a team to the Five Nations Championship for the following season, but when war was declared, international rugby was suspended. Eighty eight international rugby union football players were killed during the conflict.
In the UK, for the duration of the
World War II the ban on rugby league players was temporarily lifted by the RFU. Many played in the eight rugby "Internationals" between England and Scotland which were played by Armed Services teams, using the rugby union code. The authorities also allowed the playing of two “Rugby League vs. Rugby Union” fixtures as fundraisers for the war effort. The rugby league team won both matches, which were held under union rules.
After the defeat of France in 1940, the French Rugby Union authorities worked with the German collaborating
Vichy regime to re-establish the dominance of their sport; Rugby League was banned and many players and officials of the sport were punished. All of the assets of the Rugby League and its clubs were handed over to the Union. The consequences of this action reverberate to this day; the assets were never returned, and although the ban on rugby league was lifted, it was prevented from calling itself “rugby” until the mid-eighties, having to use the name
Jeu de Treize In 1947 the Five Nations Championship resumed with France taking part.
1948 - 1986
In 1948 the worth of a drop goal was reduced from 4 points to 3 points. Meanwhile in Australia, the Australian Rugby Union was formed in 1949, as previously, the
NSWRU had governed most rugby union affairs within Australia. Long after the
William Webb Ellis had become engraved as a legend in the history of rugby union, his grave was finally located in October of 1959.
In 1971 the
Scotland rugby team appointed Bill Dickinson as their head coach, after years of avoidance, as it was their belief that rugby should remain an amateur sport. The 1971 Springbok tour to Australia was famous for its political protests against
South Africa's
apartheid system. The 1970's were a golden era for
Wales with the team capturing five Five Nations titles and dominating the
Lions selections throughout the decade. In the middle of the decade, after overseeing the rise in popularity of rugby union in the United States, members bodies met in Chicago in 1975 and formed the
United States of America Rugby Football Union.
The 1981 Springbok Tour to
New Zealand was also marked by political protests and is still referred to by Kiwi's as
The Tour. The tour was divisive in New Zealand society and rugby lost some of its sheen in the country until he All Blacks captured the inaugural World Cup. In 1983, the WRFU was formed, with 12 inaugural clubs, the body being responsible for women's rugby in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. In 1984 the
Wallabies completed their first grand slam, defeating all four home nations, and announcing their emergence as a power in world rugby.
The Rugby World Cup
For more details see History of the Rugby World CupThe first
Rugby World Cup was held in Australia and New Zealand in 1987, and was won by the
All Blacks. The Second was held in England in 1991 and was won by
Australia who beat the hosts in the final. The World Cup of 1995 proved to be a turning point for the game. The competition was held in
South Africa, newly readmitted from international exile. The first superstar was created when giant wing
Jonah Lomu scored four tries for the
All Blacks against
England, using Mike Catt as a doormat on the way to one of them. The
Springboks won the final, beating the All Blacks 15-12 thanks to Joel Stransky's boot. South African President
Nelson Mandela, dressed not in a suit but in the Springbok jersey, long a symbol of apartheid, with the name and number of South Africa's captain
Francois Pienaar, gave Pienaar the William Webb Ellis Trophy.
This had shown the commercial potential for the game, and breakaway competitions were being formed, thus forcing the hand of the authorities to declare the game open.
The Professional Era
On August 26 1995 the
International Rugby Board declared rugby union an "open" game and thus removed all restrictions on payments or benefits to those connected with the game. It did this because of a committee conclusion that to do so was the only way to end the hypocrisy of Shamateurism and to keep control of rugby union. The threat to rugby union was especially large in countries where rugby league had a significant following. The Super League competition was threatening to entice players to rugby league from rugby union with large salaries.
SANZAR was formed in 1995 by the New Zealand, Australian and South African Rugby Unions to try and counter the Super League threat. SANZAR proposed a provincial competition with teams from all three countries, this competition became the
Super 12 and later the
Super 14. Their proposal also included the
Tri Nations Series, an annual competition between each country's Test teams. They were eventually able to get backing for the competition from
Rupert Murdoch's
News Corporation, with a contract totaling $550 million for ten years of exclusive TV and radio broadcasting rights. The deal was signed during the
1995 Rugby World Cup and revealed at a press conference on the eve of World Cup final.
SANZAR's proposals were however under serious threat from a Sydney based group called the World Rugby Competition . WRC was formed by Lawyer Geoff Levy and former Wallaby Ross Turnbull, both wanted a professional worldwide rugby competition funded by
Kerry Packer- 1995 Jonah Lomu scores 4 tries for the All Blacks against England in the 1995 Rugby World Cup semifinals.
- 1995 Joel Stransky scores an extra-time drop goal for South Africa to defeat the All Blacks in the World Cup final.
- 1999 Stephen Larkham scores an extra-time drop goal for Australia to defeat South Africa in the World Cup semi finals.
- 1999 France upsets the heavily-favoured All Blacks in the world cup semi finals.
- 2000 New Zealand narrowly defeats Australia at Stadium Australia in front of a world record crowd of 109,874.
- 2003 Jonny Wilkinson of England kicked a drop goal in the dying seconds of extra-time to defeat the Wallabies in the 2003 Rugby World Cup
Memorable Tours
- 1925 All Blacks tour of Britain, France, and Canada. The New Zealanders remained undefeated throughout the tour, earning the title 'The Invincibles'.
- 1956 Springboks tour of New Zealand. South Africa suffer their first ever test series loss.
- 1971 Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand. The only Lions team to have ever won a test series in New Zealand.
- 1971 Springbok tour of Australia marked by protests.
- 1974 Lions tour of South Africa – the notorious 99 call.
- 1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand.
- 2001 Lions tour of Australia. The Wallabies defeat the Lions in a series for the first time ever.
References
- , Museum of Rugby, RFU, Twickenham
- Howitt, Bob ; SANZAR Saga - Ten Years of Super 12 and Tri-Nations Rugby, Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 1-86950-566-2
- FitzSimmons, Peter ; The Rugby War, Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 0-7322-7882-1
Further reading
General histories- A.A. Thomson "Rugger My Pleasure" Chapter 2:
- N Trueman
- BBC
Specific histories and events- History of Rugby Union in the British Army
- on the official web site of FIRA-A.E.R.
- on the website of
External links
Footnotes
