THE GAME PLAYED IN HEAVEN

"Bill"

According to legend the game of Rugby Union has its origins in 1823 when William Webb Ellis, a student at the Rugby School in Warwickshire, England picked up the ball and ran with it in a game of football. The story of Ellis's deed is of doubtful origin and is first mentioned by another ex-Rugby student, Matthew Bloxam in 1876, four years after Ellis's death. Bloxam didn't know Ellis but heard of the story from an unnamed source. Rugby players have never let the truth get in the way of a good story and even today Rugby's greatest prize, the cup for the Rugby World Cup is called the Webb Ellis Trophy, affectionately known as 'Bill".

The game of "football" had been played at the Rugby School for many years but students would decide on the rules before each game. In 1843 the Guy Hospital Football Club was formed in London by old boys from the Rugby School. It was the world's first football club for any code. As other teams formed and the game grew more popular, spreading as far as Scotland, there was a need to develop consistent rules.

In 1863 the Football Association (FA) was formed to codify an agreed set of rules which incorporated all the best ideas being used to play the game. At their fourth meeting it was found a number of newspapers had published a set of Cambridge Rules for playing the game. These differed in two areas to the rules being drafted by the FA in that they didn't allow 'running with the ball' or 'hacking' (kicking a player in the shins to stop him running. There was considerable argument whether these rules should be kept in the game. Francis Maule Campbell, a representative from the Blackheath Club argued the rules should be retained and getting rid of the rules would do away with the "courage and pluck of the game". The 11 teams left in the FA adopted a set of rules, minus running with the ball and hacking, which developed into the game of soccer as it is known today. The rules however did include catching or "marking" the ball and the goal posts did not have a cross-bar (the rules were remarkably similar to Victorian Rules Football which was being developed in Australia at about the same time).

The Blackheath Club, followed by other clubs left the Association and continued to play their Rugby-style game. In January 1871 twenty one Clubs met in London and formed the Rugby Football Union (RFU). A set of rules were published in June of that year. The first Rugby international was also played in that year between England and Scotland. It was played in Edinburgh with 20 players a side and halves were 50 minutes long. Although both sides scored a try only the Scots converted theirs and so won the game (at this time tries were not worth any points but allowed you a chance to score a conversion). In a return match in 1872 the English were the winners.

The Scottish team? No ...a promotional shot for a sports clothing manufacturer.

In 1886 England and Scotland had a falling out when an English try was disallowed when the referee stopped play because Scotland had committed a foul. The English argued the referee should have allowed an advantage and, since they were the ones making the rules, insisted the try stand. In 1886 Scotland, Wales and Ireland formed the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB). England refused to join believing they should have a greater say on the board and arguing the IRFB should not make the rules for the game. It wasn't until other countries refused to play against England that they finally joined the Board in 1890. The IRFB was moved to Dublin in 1997 and changed its name to the International Rugby Board (IRB).

Rugby had always been an amateur game but in the 1890s a dispute arose over players having to miss games because of work, or to give up pay to play Rugby. Clubs in the north of England drew many of their players from the working class and in 1892 some of these clubs were accused of paying players to play matches. In 1895 twenty clubs from Cheshire, Yorkshire and Lancashire left the RFU and formed the Northern rugby Football Union (in 1922 becoming known as the Rugby Football League). In 1908 eight Rugby clubs in Australia also broke away from the Union and formed the New South Wales Rugby League. Rugby Union remained an amateur game until August 1995. Until this time professional sportsmen were banned from playing Rugby.

Women's Rugby is quickly becoming more popular around the world. The above photographs show it being played in England and Iran.

Rugby was introduced into the Olympic Games in 1900 by Pierre de Coubertin founder of the modern Olympic and himself a Rugby referee. France won the gold medal by defeating the other two teams, Britain and Germany. The second time it was in the Olympics was in London in 1908. This time an Australian Wallabies team, who happened to be touring England, entered and won the gold. Rugby was included again in 1920 and 1924. Both of these times the USA won the gold medal..... and Rugby has not been included in the Olympics since.

I started playing Rugby with the Eastwood Junior Rugby Club in 1967 (I cried when they made me play a game in the backline ..... and I probably would cry again if they made me play there today). 2009 was the first year I haven't played (but expect a comeback in 2010). In that time I estimate I have played well over 1,000 games, often playing two games a week (only two of these games have been 'Golden Oldies'). During this time I have been in teams that have won the wooden spoon probably 3 or 4 times, but have been in premiership winning teams probably 8 or 9 times. I joined one club about ten years ago where the average age was around twenty..... someone worked out that I put the average age of the club up by 2 years.

I was sitting in a dressing room after a games 3 or 4 years ago where two players were talking about the points awarded for a try, a conversion, a penalty goal and a field goal. One of them said "a try is worth 5 points, but I think in the old days it was only worth 4 points". I sat there thinking 'I remember when I started playing a try was only worth 3 points!'

Nude Rugby? Despite this promotional game it just doesn't seem to have taken off.