History of Rugby Football

Rugby is a popular game, played in many countries across the world. It has grown massively from its humble origins on a school football field in England. Today, it is played in two main variations: rugby union and rugby league.

  1. Origins

    • Although people have played with footballs for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years, the origins of rugby are commonly traced back to the playing fields of Rugby school in England. William Webb Ellis, a pupil at the school, is supposed to have been playing in a game of football in 1823 when he picked up the ball and ran with it. There is little concrete evidence to prove that this actually happened, but the story is so widely accepted that the trophy played for at the Rugby Union World Cup today is known as the Webb Ellis trophy.

    Standardisation

    • A form of rugby was played at many English schools in the mid 1800s, but in 1870 representatives of 21 clubs met in London to standardize the rules and remove much of the violence of the game. The clubs formed the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for England and approved a standard set of rules in 1871. By 1880, Scotland, Wales and Ireland had also formed national unions.

    International Matches

    • Scotland beat England in the first rugby international in 1871. Since 1880 (with breaks for the two world wars), these two sides have played each other annually for the Calcutta Cup, the oldest trophy in rugby. The first overseas tour took place in 1882, when a team representing New South Wales in Australia traveled to New Zealand. Scotland, Ireland and Wales formed the first International Rugby Football Board in 1886.

    Professionalism or Amateurism?

    • By the 1880s, the issue of whether players could receive payment for playing rugby had become controversial. Generally, clubs in the south of England wanted players to remain unpaid and amateur, while clubs in the north of the country felt that players should be compensated for missing time at work to play. After much debate, the breakaway clubs formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, which later became known as the Rugby League. The two codes developed separately, and from this point onwards, league players could earn money by playing rugby, while union players could not.

    Professionalism in Rugby Union

    • In the 1980s, many of the union's best players became frustrated with their amateur, unpaid status. As a result, a number of high-profile union players switched codes, to rugby league, in order to play full-time, professional rugby. In 1995, the International Rugby Board took the decision to make the union version of the game professional. The decision meant that rugby union players could now make a professional career in the game, rather than playing in their spare time while also holding down full-time jobs.

    Rugby World Cups

    • The first World Cup in rugby was played using the league code and took place in France in 1954. The tournament has been played 13 times since then, but has only ever been won by two countries: Australia and Great Britain.

      The first Rugby Union World Cup was jointly held by Australia and New Zealand in 1987. New Zealand defeated France in the final. Since then, the tournament has been won by Australia (twice), South Africa (twice) and England.

    Rugby in the Olympics

    • Early Olympic Games included rugby among their events. In 1900, 1908, 1920 and 1924, teams competed for medals. The mid-1920s, however, witnessed a movement against the inclusion of team sports in the Olympics, and rugby was among the events dropped from the schedule. After a break of more than 90 years, rugby---in the form of rugby sevens, a side variation---will be included in the 2016 Olympics, to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.