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HISTORY OF THE GAME
from
the start |
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HOW IT
ALL STARTED |
"William Webb Ellis 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, thus
originating the distinctive feature of the rugby
game"-
Commemorative stone tablet at Rugby School
The first overstatement in rugby was probably the
founding of the RFU (1871) without the word English
or England appearing anywhere or conversely that
rugby was never regarded as an export product.
Scotland (1873), Ireland (1879) and Wales (1880)
quickly followed suit but South Africa was the first
country to which rugby was truly exported (SARB
1889) and New Zealand the second (NZRFU 1892).
Australia and France appeared on the scene much
later. Australia has in fact the oldest club outside
the British Isles (Sydney University - 1864) but
rugby was controlled regionally; first by the
Southern Rugby Union later to be known as the New
South Wales Rugby Union and the Northern Rugby Union
who controlled Queensland (South Africa had been
controlled in the same way during the early years -
Eastern Province for instance started off with the
Uitenhage RFU, the Port Elizabeth RFU, the
Grahamstown RFU etc)
Rugby Unions however were all very well but who was
eventually to be final arbitter? In 1884 an
acrimonious dispute arose between England and
Scotland because of a controversial try. Ireland
suggested a neutral board to be set up to settle all
future problems. At a meeting in Dublin (1886)
Scotland agreed to accept the English victory if
England in turn would agree to join an international
board in which all four countries of Britain would
have an equal number of representatives. England
being the largest rugby playing country refused.
Later in 1886 a meeting was held in Manchester where
in spite of England's absence, a constitution was
drawn up for the IRFB. Seeing the terms of the
constitution, England would have none of it and
suggested that the original dispute be put to
impartial arbitration. The arbitrators decided
overwhelmingly in favour of England which brought
about a position where England was awarded 6 seats
as opposed to Scotland, Wales and Ireland's 2
apiece. Which meant that England was in an
unassailable position where they could never be
outvoted. Through this England were able to dominate
world rugby. Even though South Africa, Australia and
New Zealand had direct representation to the Rugby
Union they were not represented on the IRFB till
1948. But even then the three Southern hemisphere
countries only had one seat each. This was increased
to two in 1958 and France was only admitted in 1978
as the eighth number of the IRFB. Which meant that
for more than 71 years (91 years as far as France
was concerned) England ruled world rugby completely. |
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THE
EARLY LAWS |
 It
was not until 1845 that the "Laws of Football as played at
Rugby School" was sanctioned by a Levee of Bigside. In 1844
Rugby School's headmaster appointed a committee of eight to
set out regulations for "the better observance of football".
The committee submitted their 37 rules on August 28, 1845
which were passed and published in a tiny rule book which
could be carried on the field of play.
It was only after the founding of the RFU in1871 that a
concerted effort was made for uniformity of the laws and in
1875 the first change to scoring was made and in 1877 the
law regarding reduction of players from 20 to 15 was passed.
During the foundation year of the IRFB in 1886 points for
scoring, the referee and umpires were introduced and finally
in 1892 the referee was entrusted with complete control of
the game.
Since 1892 revisions were more systematic but up to 1930
each union still had its own set of variations for home
matches. The IRFB's laws were only compulsory for
international matches.
A far cry from today's handbook of 36 Laws, "notes for the
guidance of referees" and definitions. Yet it remains
one of the most contentious aspects of the game. It has been
suggested by international coaches that the IRFB's Laws
committee to be somewhat out of step with the modern game
and instead of applying themselves to the basic need of the
modern player and coach, laws are made, revised and even
experimented with on a scale that has the average spectator
and player completely flummoxed. If truth be told it has
more than the average referee flummoxed.
The main controversy raging today are
the different interpretations from country to country but
especially from Northern to Southern hemispheres. It has for
instance, less than in jest, been intimated by the Northern
hemisphere countries that New Zealand are a law unto
themselves. |
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OBJECT
OF THE GAME |
One wouldn't believe it
watching some games these days the the "object" of the game
ought to be the easiest to understand. It is only some
players and
 coaches
who seem not to have read it in the book of Laws.
"The object of the game is that two teams of fifteen players
each, observing fair play according to the Laws and a
sporting spirit, should by carrying, passing and kicking the
ball, score as many points as possible, the team scoring the
greater number of points to be the winner of the match",
says the law book.
Winning at all cost is however an addendum the rugby fathers
never gave any thought to. Because of this, laws have
changed to such a degree that we even saw the strange
introduction of Soccer's yellow and red cards during the 5
nations matches on January 21 1995. "Fair play" and
"sporting spirit" are gentlemanly words now virtually
outmoded. Gamesmanship is of course quite acceptable, but
the confines of the words are as elastic as the geography of
the rugby world. |
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EXPORTING THE GAME |
One can but quote the Rev
Francis Marshall when he said in 1892: "It should never be
forgotten that the schools taught the game and the old boys
created football clubs".
The football clubs created by old boys in turn taught the
game to schools in distant countries. That the game was
enthusiastically accepted is proven by the dates rugby had
already been played in the colonies:
South Africa 1854 - 1862
Australia 1864
New Zealand 1870
Canada 1871
Fiji 1884
The military were in most instances responsible for rugby
getting a foothold outside Britain and clubs were started by
expatriates who had either left to seek their "fortune" - as
they did with the diamond and gold rushed in South Africa -
or graduates from universities in Great Britain accepting
professional posts in the colonies. In South Africa an
ex-Winchester College student and Oxford graduate the Rev
(later Canon) George Ogilvie introduced "rugby" at the
Diocesan Collegiate school where he had taken up a post as
headmaster. English wine merchants for instance are believed
to have introduced the game into France as early as 1870
playing a match in Le Havre.
Rugby immediately attracted virile young men and once they
had sampled this new sporting pleasure could not do without
it once they had left their homeland. It proved to be
export-worthy. Small wonder therefore that England could as
early as 1887 play overseas tests against those whom they
had taught. |
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"SCORING ON RUGBY" |
 The
place-kick and the drop-kick were part of the game virtually
from the beginning. During those early years the inherent
object of the game was to kick a goal. The try which counted
only one point (as opposed to the goal's two points) was in
fact almost as insignificant as with Australian Rules. A
goal according to the revised Laws which was published in
1862 was "a kick through or over between the posts". This
was expanded on in 1866 when it was added that "a goal may
be dropped in the course of the game by any player over his
adversary's goal. A goal to be placed either after a touch
down in goal or after a fair catch". The first laws of 1845
made provision for a "try at goal" after touchdown. It
further stipulated that "the ball must be place-kicked and
not dropped". All three types of kick, the conversion, the
place-kick and drop-kick have undergone numerous points
values over the years and at one time the drop-kick was
considered the ultimate being worth four points.
In the game's earliest beginnings all matches were decided
by goals alone, that is successful place-kicks through the
goalposts. In 1866 the Laws of Football as played at Rugby
school read: "The match is won by either side obtaining 2
goals". The derivation of the word "try" is not generally
known but it first appeared in print in a newspaper in 1873
and supposedly derives from spectators shouting "Try!" - ie.
try at goal - whenever there was a touchdown.
The actual try as is known today got its first recognition
in 1875 but purely as a decider when a match had ended in a
draw. Should the teams have an equal number of goals, the
winner would then be decided by the number of touchdowns. It
was not till 1886 that goals and tries received points
values according to the Laws. "A goal shall equal 3 points
and a try 1 point; if the number of points is equal or no
goal be kicked or try obtained, the match shall be drawn.
When a goal is kicked from a try, the goal only is scored".
The IRFB stipulated no points from a penalty. Points values
differed from union to union and it was only in 1905 that
values became equal among all the unions.
Points values since introduction in 1886, have changed as
follows:
|
Season |
Try |
Conversion |
Penalty Goal |
Drop-Goal |
Goal
from a mark |
|
1888 - 1891 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
|
1892 - 1893 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
|
1894 - 1905 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
|
1906 - 1947 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
|
1848 - 1971 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
|
1972 - 1977 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
|
1978 - 1991 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
-* |
|
1992 - now |
5 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
-* |
* The goal from a mark ceased
to exist when the Free Kick clause was introduced in 1978.
So it took the IRFB 85 years
to concede that the try was of greater value than the
original objective, a "goal". |
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