In 1820 the game of
Rugby was played rather like soccer, but players were allowed to catch the
ball and kick it out of their hands. There were no limits to the number of
players on each side, for example, School House v Rest of the School. In 1839, when
Queen Adelaide visited the School, School House (75) played ‘the rest’ (225).
To score a try would not gain points but would allow a team to ‘try’ to take a
‘drop at goal’ to score a point. With so many on each side this was hard to do
and sometimes games would last up to five days. The Close itself was merely
three rough fields, and it was not until the late 1850s that the ground was
levelled. Sheep still grazed here until the early 1900s. No written rules at
this time!
In 1823, William Webb
Ellis, a local boy in Town House, first ran with the ball, but this rule was
not adopted straight away. By 1830, running with the ball was an accepted play,
although the first written rules did not appear until 1845. These rules were
written by the boys. Ellis was born just outside Manchester, but moved down to
Rugby. He went on to Brasenose College Oxford where he took Holy Orders. He
died in France in 1872 where his grave is cared for by the French RFU.
The
Ball and Key Words
An original Rugby ball
was round and changed shape over a period of time to the oval it is today. They
varied in sizes depending on the pig’s bladder they were made from. Gilberts, a
local boot maker, took up ball making to supply the School. Others, notably
Lindon, supplied the boys and it was this maker that invented the inflatable
inner and the pump.
Many of the words
associated with today’s game originated here. For example, ‘try’ was from the
days when a touch-down did not score points, but allowed an attempt to kick at
goal. ‘Offside’, ‘knock on’, ‘touch’ and ‘goal line’ are all from the original
School football rules.
Uniform,
Teams and Rules
Rugby
School was the only team to play in white because the committee of the RFU in
1871 was composed largely of ORs, which is why England played in white. School
House was the first team to play in a uniform kit (long flannels, shirts and
caps), because it was the only House to play as a single group until 1850.
Before this, the boys played in their ordinary school clothes in teams made up
from various Houses. In 1867 the first ‘foreign’ match was played against ORs
and the town. The teams were now down to 20 players, and then 15 by 1876.
Internal teams stayed at 20 until 1888. The first inter-School match was
against Cheltenham in 1896 and half the players in the first England
international team were ORs. The RFU was formed (largely of ORs) in 1871 and
the first national code was introduced. The boys at Rugby kept their own rules,
and even modified them, until the late 1880s. There were no referees in the early
days – boys would wear sharpened boots with nails in them for extra hacking.
Boys considered good enough to play for the main teams were given ‘following
up’ caps, which later developed into the international cap awarded to the
country’s top players.
Rugby
School Boys and the Calcutta Cup
The
Calcutta (Rugby) Football Club was established by former students of Rugby
School in January 1873. However, with the departure of a local British army
regiment (and perhaps more crucially the cancellation of the free bar at the
club!), interest in rugby diminished in the area and sports such as tennis and
polo began to thrive as they were better suited to the Indian climate.
Whilst
the Calcutta (Rugby) Football Club was disbanded in 1878, members decided to
keep the memory of the club alive by having the remaining 270 silver rupees in
their bank account melted down to be made into a trophy. The trophy was then
presented to the Rugby Football Union (RFU) to used as “the best means of doing
some lasting good for the cause of Rugby Football.”
The Calcutta Cup continues today as the trophy
that is presented to the winner of the England versus Scotland rugby
union match which takes place during the annual Six Nations Championship.
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