The Surprising History of Rugby

Today, every schoolboy knows the story of William Webb Ellis, the Rugby School pupil “who with a fine disregard for the rules of football as played in his time, first took the ball in his arms and ran with it”. The presentation trophy for the Rugby World Cup is known as the Webb Ellis trophy in his honour, and his “achievement” is honoured by a plaque at the school

There is only one problem with this story. It simply is not a fact. It was not until four years after the death of Webb Ellis in 1876 that the story first saw the light of day and its source is thought to come from a local antiquarian and previous Rugbeian Matthew Bloxam.

He was not a contemporary of Webb Ellis and says that the story was related to him by an unnamed source some 53 years after the incident is alleged to have happened.

In 1823, when the event is alleged to have occurred, the rules of rugby had yet to be formulated and any changes, such as the legality of carrying or running with the ball, were often agreed on an ad hoc basis a short time before the beginning of a game.

There were therefore no formal rules for football during the period William Webb Ellis was at the school (1816?25). It was not until 1845, some 200 years after football was first played at Rugby School, that three schoolboys published the first written rules of the game.

For many years it had been the boys, and not the masters who had laid down the rules which were frequently modified by each new generation of students.

Guy’s Hospital Football Club, formed in London in 1843, by old boys from Rugby School, has strong claims to be the oldest football club in the world. It certainly predates by 14 years the creation of Sheffield FC, believed to be the oldest club playing association football.

In 1871, after a number of contentious disputes with the Football Association, 21 clubs met in London to form an association of those clubs ‘who play the rugby-type game’.

Consequently, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) was formed. The first International rugby match was played on 27 March 1871 between England and Scotland. The English team wore white shirts ornamented with a red rose and the Scots brown shirts with a thistle. (Scotland won the game).

The concerns and conflicts regarding amateurism and professionalism had long been a sore point. The representatives of Yorkshire and Lancashire are accredited with bringing in rules concerning amateurism in 1879.

These rules were finally legitimized by the RFU in 1886. It is widely believed that the northern clubs were in favour of the professional game whereas these northern bodies were robust advocates of amateurism,

However, disagreement arose over the controversy regarding ‘broken time’, the topic of whether players ought to receive reimbursement for taking time off work to play.

The northern clubs had a substantial number of working class players who had either to miss games due to working commitments, or forego their wages in order to play rugby. By 1892, this subject of broken time payments was difficult not only for northern clubs such as Bradford and Leeds but also for clubs in the south.

It became an anxiety of the RFU: these broken time repayments would become a quick path to professionalism.

On 29 August 1895, 20 clubs from Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire met at the George Hotel, Huddersfield and decided to resign from the RFU and create the Northern Rugby Football Union, which from 1922 became the Rugby Football League.

The quarrel about payment was one which at the time was also affecting soccer and cricket. Each game had to work out a compromise; rugby’s position was the most radical. Amateurism was strictly enforced, and anyone accepting payment for playing rugby league was disqualified.

However, on 26 August 1995 the International Rugby Board declared rugby union an “open” game and so removed all restrictions on repayments or advantages to those connected with the game.

It did this because of a committee conclusion that to do so was the only manner to end the hypocrisy of sham amateurism and to keep control of rugby union. The wheel had turned full circle.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with the London 2012 Olympics mascot. Click a link if you are interested in the 2012 London Olympics Volunteers.