The brief history of rugby union
Rugby is said to have been invented in 1823 when schoolboy William Webb Ellis picked up the ball during a game of football and decided to run with it.
Although there is little evidence to support this story, it has become the famous origin of this great sport. This folklore has become so prominent in the game we see today, that the world cup trophy is actually named after the young lad that supposedly set our game in motion.
William Webb Ellis himself went on to become an Anglican Clergyman after graduating from his days at Rugby school, the place where the sport got its name.
Despite the romantic thought that Webb Ellis had invented the game, it is thought that rugby had been played at Rugby School in some variety or other for around 200 years prior. Unofficial rule changes were brought in with each new cohort arriving at the school.
The first-ever official set of rules were written up in 1845 by three boys from the school. From here the game started to travel far and wide, with many universities and schools taking on the sport. This came about through word of mouth, and students from Rugby school arriving at these universities and passing on their game.
In 1871 the Rugby Football Union was formed, and shortly afterwards the game of rugby saw its first-ever international match played. Taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland beat England by two tries and a conversion to the English sides one try.
Scotland wore brown shirts with a thistle as their crests, whereas England wore all white, similar to what we see today. This match and the one that England won the year after was played over two 50-minute halves.
Through the size of the British Empire, many southern hemisphere sides began to experience the game in the mid/late 1800s, with the introduction of their own club sides.
It wasn’t until 1900 that rugby went truly international though. With the inclusion of rugby in the summer Olympics, the major southern hemisphere sides alongside the likes of France and Germany started to put together national teams.
The international competitions came to a halt in 1924 however, as rugby was dropped from the Olympics despite drawing some of the biggest crowds at the games.
In the meantime, the amateur game saw a huge rise in participation. The social side drew in as many supporters and players alike as the game itself. It was this attraction to the sport that saw many clubs start to pop up all around the world.
Club sides would start to compete on a more serious level, with domestic leagues being created and European competitions becoming a huge attraction to fans. It was thought of at the time that rugby was a sport to play in the winter while the more popular cricket was out of season.
It wasn’t until 1987 when the inaugural world cup competition was created, that rugby truly became a global game.
The introduction of the rugby world cup catapulted the game to the front of the sporting world. The inaugural competition was held in New Zealand and gave fans the first real experience of the global rugby competition that we know today.
The first-ever world cup saw 478,000 fans in attendance over the 32 matches played, which was fantastic for the time. But fast forward to the 2019 world cup in Japan, there were an incredible 1,698,528 supporters turning up to the 45 games on offer. This shows the incredible growth the game has had in just over 20 years.
A common trend since the introduction of the world cup however is the sheer dominance of the southern hemisphere nations. Out of the nine competitions there have been, just one has been won by a northern hemisphere side, England in 2003. Both New Zealand and South Africa lead the way with three world cups each.
1995 saw a dramatic change in the rugby landscape, with the game turning professional for the first time in its history. The European club competitions had previously been dominated by teams like Bath and Brive, but this change-up threw huge challenges into the mix for these clubs.
Professional coaches were now hired, changing the way teams trained and played. Players were suddenly looking for clubs that could pay them a suitable living, rather than just playing for their local sides.
Most recently there has been a crackdown on the amount of money players can be paid in the professional leagues, with the introduction of wage caps. Saracens and Leicester are just two names that have been penalised in the past for breaking the rules.
As the game travels more and more into the entertainment bracket rather than just sport, it is starting to appeal to those outside of the traditional ‘rugby family’. Big rugby events are creating a festival atmosphere, with bands playing and fairground attractions afterwards bringing together all walks of life.
A positive outlook for the game.
Comments on RugbyPass
What a dagg in more ways than one
5 Go to commentsRegroup come back next year but sack some of the coaching team and don't be like the ABs last minute sacking. If Crusaders don't do well ABs don't do well.
5 Go to commentsProctor Definitely inform again this year had a hell of a season last year and this year is looking even better. Still mixed feelings about Ioane tho.
4 Go to commentsDagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
5 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
5 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
4 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
38 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to comments