Rugby, the beginnings

How Rugby Began

In the tomes of rugby history, William Web Ellis, a student at Rugby School in England, holds a revered position. Commemorated in an official plaque at Rugby School, which reads, “This stone commemorates the exploit of William Web Ellis who with a fine disregard for the rules of football, as played in his day, first took the ball in his arms and ran with it, thus originating the distinctive features of the rugby game A.D. 1823,” Ellis is singlehandedly credited for the invention of the fabulous, confusing and rough-and-tumble game today called rugby. But with all respect to Ellis, history is slightly more complex than that.

There are four main types of rugby: rugby union, rugby league, rugby sevens and Australian football league. Each rugby tradition has its roots in times far before Ellis’s spontaneous exploit, mostly in the somewhat sadistic battles waged between Middle Age villages.

“Harpastum” was an early Roman version of the sport, while the Ancient Greeks, Chinese and Japanese played their own versions. Rules for kicking and carrying varied from region to region, but a common medley of violence, chaos and free-for-all play reigned in each type. However, as many of these games were played on the public turf, the eventual decrees of angry rulers to “halt and desist” temporarily sent these aggressive pastimes underground, the terrain of the peasantry more so than the gentry. After this hiatus, the English school system reintroduced the game of rugby, which at that time resembled soccer (Association Football), at Westminster, Rugby and Cambridge – which brings history to the impulsive William Web Ellis in 1823.

However mythical Ellis’s escapade may be, the year of his historic run is generally credited as the origination of rugby. Many years would pass, however, before rugby resembled the sport as it played today.

Between 1820 and 1835, rugby players began to carry the ball, or more specifically, the pig bladder, which was a distinctly different tactic than the previous catch-and-kick style of play. In 1841, Rugby school formally legalized the forward run, and concurrently, the use of tackling, “hacking” (kicking at shins”), tripping, and any well-placed aerial kicks a player could make. In 1845, Rugby published its rules, crafting a virtual flagship for other schools to follow suit. This speedy development of secondary education rugby led to the formation of University rugby clubs.

The differences in playing styles, however, were too serious to reconcile. Proponents of kicking and running met in 1863 to create the Football Association, the forerunner of modern soccer, and the patriots of catching and running in 1871 at the Blackheath Club and created rugby union.

The Blackheath rules resemble the modern game of rugby union. Hacking and tripping were ruled illegal. Players were to kick or run with ball; passing was legal, but was rarely used. Regulations for the scrum, ruck and maul were created. Formal rugby rules and regulations were forever cemented under the sole authority of International Rugby Board in 1890. Now, rugby union is the fifth most popular sport in the world, and if its fans have any power, that popularity shall long continue.

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