The first thing to be said about the origins of rugby is that there is no concrete evidence that they lie with William Ellis’ handling of the ball at Rugby School in 1823. Ex-pupil Matthew Bloxxam’s claim that this was the case has invariably defied verification (not that this altogether deterred Rugby School, which in 1900 erected a plaque commemorating what had ‘in all probability’ been Ellis’ signal innovation). In fact, it is probable that rugby had numerous overlapping origins in traditional pastimes stretching back several centuries. However, in 1846 a meeting of school representatives was called in Cambridge and an early and somewhat diverse set of rules compressed into a code; this meeting was to constitute a defining moment in the genesis of rugby as a legalised and encoded practice. The first rugby club had already formed at Cambridge in 1839, and others followed: Edinburgh Academy in 1857, Merchison Castle in 1858, Blackheath in 1858 and Richmond in 1861. The first Edinburgh Academy match was against a team from the University of Edinburgh. Extraordinarily from the vantage point of the present, it was played over four Saturdays, starting on 26 December 1857 and ending on 16 January 1858.
When ‘football’ was introduced as a sport at Oxford University, rugby was the favoured option. The Oxford University Club was founded in 1869, with Cambridge University following suit in 1871. The Rugby Football Union (RFU) was founded in 1871, the Scottish Football Union in 1873, the Irish Rugby Union in 1874, and the Welsh Rugby Union in 1881. The oldest international fixture was the Calcutta Cup match played annually between England and Scotland, the first match being contested in 1879. Up to and during the 1870s rugby union was played and watched by a relatively homogenous upper-middle-class clientele and was concentrated in the clubs and schools in the South of England (Williams & Jarvie, 2000). But interest gradually spread and by the turn of the century the game had attained a wider geographic and social foothold (Dunning & Sheard, 2005). In 1895 however, in the era of liberal/early Fordist capitalism, a major split occurred between the amateur game of rugby union and the professional game of rugby league.
The immediate cause of this rift was the refusal of the RFU to permit clubs to pay players compensation for time lost at work due to playing the game (known as ‘broken time’). The origins of this dispute date back to the 1880s, by which time rugby was attracting considerable spectator interest throughout Yorkshire and much of Lancashire, leading to the recruitment of a number of working-class players. Wary of losing control of ‘its’ sport, the public-school oriented RFU refused to modify its opposition to payments for play. At a meeting at the George Hotel in Huddersfield on 29 August 1895 representatives of the 21 leading rugby union clubs in the North of England founded the Northern Rugby Football Union (NRFU). Confined to its northern strongholds Rugby League evolved into a distinct variant. In 1898 the lineout was abolished and in 1906 the number of players in a team was reduced to 13. The ruck and maul were also abolished and replaced by an orderly play-the-ball after the tackle. Goals were reduced in value to put the emphasis on open play and the scoring of tries (this philosophy of encouraging open play was reinforced in 1966 when a ‘limited tackle’ rule was introduced). The game spread to Australia and New Zealand in 1907, and regular tours to and from these countries – and to France from 1934, and to other countries in the 1980s – became established practice (Collins, 2000).
From the beginning of the twentieth century then rugby developed differently in each of its two formats. To start with the Union game, it was in the 1960s that the RFU was faced with a potential for ideological division that was in some ways an echo of the 1890s South/North, Union/League fissure. It was a conflict that emerged out of the considerable expansion of the union game in the first half of the twentieth century – there were 176 clubs affiliated to the RFU by 1960-69 –and it pitted those who favoured the status quo against the reformers. To all intents and purposes the Union game was by this time a professional enterprise, although nominally run according to amateur principles. It had also become a ‘spectator-centred’ rather than a ‘player-centred’ game (Dunning & Sheard, 2005: 212). In order to satisfy spectators as a form of entertainment, and with one eye on the rival attractions of Rugby League, ‘law 27’ was introduced, which encouraged open play by banning kicking for touch within teams’ 25-yard areas.
As part of what in retrospect seems an inexorable if stuttering and painful process, the Union game subsequently turned professional. The International Rugby Football Board (IRFB), formed in 1886, declared in 1995 that the amateur principles upon which the game had been founded should no longer constitute the basis for its organisation and that it should become an open game. For many participants and observers alike this felt like playing catch-up.
Although by the end of the nineteenth century Rugby Union had been diffused throughout the colonies and dominions of the British Empire, it was much later that the next stage of its globalisation was truly marked. The (Heineken) European Cup for clubs was launched in 1955-56 and expanded the following year to incorporate a second tier of competition, a European Conference containing 24 sides from the homes countries, France, Italy and Romania. In 1999 the inaugural Rugby World Cup, won by Australia, included teams from South Africa, Scotland, Spain, Uruguay, New Zealand, England, Tonga, Italy, France, Fiji, Canada, Namibia, Wales, Argentina, Samoa, Japan, Australia, Ireland, the USA and Romania.
Rugby League escaped the many disputes and controversies that beset its Union counterpart. It has been governed since its inception by the Rugby Football League (RFL) (renamed in 1922). The RFL is answerable to the Rugby League Council, comprising the member professional clubs. Internationally, Rugby League is run by the Rugby League International Federation (renamed in 1948). The amateur game is played by about 1,500 clubs scattered throughout the country and is separately administered by the British Amateur League Association, formed in 1973. Reflecting changing times, the top professional ‘Super League’ started playing in the summer rather than the winter following a deal with BskyB in 1995. A knockout Challenge Cup is played annually. In many respects the organisation of Rugby League is similar to that of football.
References
Collins,T (2000) Rugby League. In Eds Cox et al: Encylopedia of British Sport. Oxford; ABC-CLIO.
Dunning,E & Sheard,K (2005) Barbarians, Gentlemen and Players (2nd.Ed). Oxford; Martin Robertson.
Williams,G & Jarvie,G (2000) Rugby Union. In Eds Cox et al: Encylopedia of British Sport. Oxford; ABC-CLIO.