The Basic Key Points In The History Of Rugby

The origins of rugby are accredited to William Webb-Ellis

, who during a game of football is said to have picked up the ball and ran with it. Back in the day this would have been seen as unacceptable but for some reason this was accepted and a very early version of the game of rugby was born. There is no real evidence to confirm or deny this story but it was made long lasting by the plaque put up at the Rugby school in 1823.

Despite the unreliable story of the origins of the rugby game, the world cup trophy is named the William Webb-Ellis trophy, so even though the story is unproven and probably very different from the real truth of the day it has stood the test of time. It is then said that students of this rugby school took varying forms of the rugby football game to their preceding universities.

It is during these early years the varying universities had their own versions of rules for the game of rugby football. The first set of written rules for the game of rugby football were created in 1845 by the school of Rugby. These were shortly followed by the Cambridge Rules which were written in 1848 following the creation of the Cambridge team by Arthur Pell.

The creation of the Rugby Football Union happened in 1871. In 1895 labouring northern players clash with their strictly amateur southern counterparts over payment for 'broken time' (compensation for loss of working hours). The 'Great Schism' leads to the formation of a twenty two club strong Northern Union, which in 1922 becomes professional Rugby League. The sport also took the name rugby union to differentiate it from the league game.

The first international rugby football game took place between England and Scotland on the 27th March 1871, where Scotland beat England by one try and one goal to one goal. Ireland and wales teams were also created by 1881. The Home nations championship began in 1883, and this was also the year the first rugby sevens tournament happened. In 1888 Bob Sneddon lead the first British tour side to Australia and New Zealand, a precursor to what later became the British Lions

In 1890 W P Carpmael decides to put together a cosmopolitan, invitation-only touring team of gents. He calls them the Barbarians.

The international touring and overall competition stepped up between 1905 and 1908. This lead to a lot of major competitions being played and also to the national anthem being sung at the beginning of sporting events.

The First World War was a quiet time for rugby as no international rugby games and union-sponsored club matches were played, but competitions continued through service teams.

Rugby union was included as an event in the Olympic Games four times during the early 1900s.

Australia and New Zealand host the first World Cup in 1987. France defeat favourites Australia in the semi-final only to lose to the All Blacks in the final.

Murryfield, one of Scotland's biggest stadiums, was the location of the first official international sevens games in 1973, and the first world cup sevens tournament in 1993. The game of rugby sevens was included in the commonwealth Games in 1998 and was added to the Olympic Games list by 2016.

In 1995 the IRB removed the payment restrictions applied to rugby players, and the game as we now know it was evolved. Following this evolution the club completion the Heineken cup and super Rugby competitions were started and in 1996 the tri-nations kicked off.

Football has always lead the way and many believed Rugby would never take off but with the games ever increasing popularity has proved all the critic's wrong.

by: Ben Whitlow

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