| History of Rugby |
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Page 1 of 4 The MythMany believe that rugby was born in 1823 when William Webb Ellis "with fine disregard for the rules of football (soccer) as played in his time, first took the ball in his arms and ran with it, thus originating the distinctive feature of the Rugby game". Although it is worth pointing out that this is apocryphal as there is little in the way of evidence to substantiate this view, it is however, the popular view. So much so in fact that the international committee named the Rugby World Cup the "William Webb Ellis Trophy".Rugby SchoolThe game of football as played at Rugby School (Rugby, England) between 1750 and 1823 permitted handling of the ball, but no-one was allowed to run with it in their hands towards the oppositions goal. There was no fixed limit to the number of players per side and sometimes there were hundreds taking part in a kind of enormous rolling maul. The innovation of running with the ball was introduced some time between 1820 and 1830.Different versions of the carrying game were played in schools such as Rugby, Cheltenham, Shrewsbury and Marlborough and different versions of the kicking game were played at Winchester, Eton, Harrow, Charterhouse and Westminster. Rugby school for example had developed Rugby football from football and played this game according to Rugby rules. The question as to why the game of Rugby school became so popular in preference to the games of other schools, such as Eton, Winchester or Harrow was probably largely due to the reputation and success of Rugby school under Dr. Arnold, and this also led most probably to its adoption by other schools; for in 1860 many schools besides Rugby played football according to Rugby rules. The spread from the SchoolsDuring the middle of the 19th century, Rugby Football, up till that time a regular game only among school boys, took its place as a regular sport among men. The former students of Rugby school (and other Rugby playing schools such as Marlborough School) started to spread their version of football (Rugby rules) far and wide.To begin with, men who had played the game as schoolboys formed clubs to enable them to continue playing their favorite school game, and others were induced to join them; while in other cases, clubs were formed by men who had not had the experience of playing the game at school, but who had the energy and the will to follow the example of those who had had this experience. Even those who supported the Rugby code were not in full agreement regarding the rules. The formation of the RFUThe Rugby Football Union was founded in the Pall Mall Restaurant in Regent Street, Charing cross, London to standardize the rules and removed some of the more violent aspects of the Rugby School game.Along with the founding of the Rugby Football Union a committee was formed, and three ex-Rugby School pupils, all lawyers, were invited to formulate a set of rules, being lawyers they formulated 'laws' not 'rules'. This task was completed and approved by June 1871. The laws have changed a great deal since then and spawned other games, notably American Football, Rugby League and Australian Rules Football. By 1880, Scotland, Ireland and Wales had followed suit and established their own Rugby unions. First International GameThe 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.Formation of the International Rugby Football BoardIn 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 (IRFB) 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 International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) would oversee the games between the home unions. England finally agreed to join in 1890.Evolution of modern rulesHistorically, 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 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 (they previously had been worth two points). The value of the drop goal was four points between 1891 and 1948, but three points at all other times. World War IThe Five Nations Championship was suspended in 1915 and it is not resumed until 1920. One hundred and thirty three international players were killed during the conflict.Federation Internationale de Rugby AmateurIn 1934 the Federation Internationale de Rugby Amateur (FIRA) 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.World War IIIn 1939 the French Rugby Football 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 (which included some pre-war professionals) 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 (Game of Thirteen, in reference to the number of player in a Rugby League side) In 1947 the Five Nations Championship resumed with France taking part. The Rugby Union World CupThe first Rugby World Cup was held in New Zealand in 1987, and was won by the hosts. 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. The Springboks won the final, beating the All Blacks 15-12. 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 (7) 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 EraOn August 26, 1995 the International Rugby (Football) 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 (there were rumours that Rupert Murdoch was planning to finance a Southern Hemisphere professional league).The move to professionalism was not without its problems, and the many smaller unions have struggled (both financially and in playing terms) to compete with the major nations since the start of the open era. |
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