A Brief History of Rugby

The history behind the sport of rugby might be one of the most longest and interesting than any other sport in the world. The history of rugby started in rugby school, an established public school at the time. One William Web Ellis disregarded the rules of football and picked up the ball and ran with it. Today he is known as the founder of this great game. Although there is little evidence to support this theory, the rugby world cup is named the William Web Ellis cup. (Origins of Rugby, n.d). Queen Adelaide visited the rugby schools in 1839 and watched a game , it was School House (75) versus The Rest (225). Today, innumerable tourists visit the ‘home of the game’ and rugby teams from all over the world can be seen training against the distinctive backdrop of Butterfield’s Chapel. Today, rugby school is known as the birth place of Rugby. (Rugby school, n.d)

In the late 1880’s Rugby football and soccer football enthusiast started separating the sport by writing their own rules of each sport. Soccer with a round ball and rugby with an oval ball. In soccer, only the goalkeeper may handle the ball. The ball can only be handled by the outfield players when it goes out. That’s why it is called touch lines. In rugby, physical contact is allowed but physical contact on a player without the ball is not within the spirit of the game and can earn you a trip to the sin bin. ( Webb P., 2012)

In January 1871, 22 clubs from around England came together to discuss the issue of different schools and clubs playing with different rules with in the same game. The result of that meeting became the day that the Rugby Football Union was founded. That same year, 3 ex-students of rugby schools (all 3 of them lawyers) all met up and formed the law of the game. Thus the term “law of rugby” and not “rules of rugby”. ( StuartJ, n.d).

The first ever International rugby match was played in Raeburn palace, Edinburgh. The match was England