Sport

When William Webb Ellis, an 11-year-old schoolboy first entered Rugby School in 1816 the game that was played on the Close during half term holidays, was completely different. The game played at the school – later known as the home of Rugby – was football, not handball, with plenty of hacking, little struggling and a few simple rules. Touch lines on the sides of the ground were marked out, and no one was allowed to run towards the opposite goal with the ball in their hands.

Whenever a match was to be played the whole school would gather in the Close, and two of the best players would choose about 20 of their school chums to ‘follow up’. The remaining schoolboys would be divided roughly into two sides and sent off to keep goal. They would take off their jackets, hats and braces, which were dumped beside the goals. The game would then begin with great vigour and enthusiasm. Unfortunately, details of the games do not exist because football was played purely for fun, and no records were kept.

1823 Many consider that 1823 was the year that the distinctive game of Rugby Football was established when a more mature William Webb Ellis took the ball in his arms and ran with it. At the time, apart from being considered unfair, Webb Ellis’s action was not significant as the rules of the game were always subject to discussion and amendment.

1830-40 During the 1830s and early 1840s the matches developed from scratch affairs into organised annual fixtures. The VIth match, when the sixth form took on the rest of the school, and the School House game, when the Headmaster’s House played all the other Houses, were examples of the game’s earliest events.

Teams sometimes outnumbered the opposition, and this encouraged tactical play and team spirit. The School House team of 1839 was the first side to adopt a uniform. All their players wore red velvet caps during a match that the Dowager, Queen Adelaide, is thought to have watched. These velvet caps, together with white trousers and jerseys, became accepted for players ‘following up’ although each wore his own favourite colours and carried a personal motto on his shirt. One player had Cave Adsum (Beware I am present) emblazoned on his jersey, which was probably the forerunner of the logos on modern-day T-shirts.

1841-50 When Thomas Hughes (author of Tom Brown’s Schooldays), was Captain of Football during 1841-42, matters for dispute were discussed at ‘Levees’.

The legality of goals would be hotly argued at these Levees or meetings, which were held on the Island or the mound under the elms, either before or after matches.

At one of those meetings the question of ‘running in’ was finally settled and it was agreed:

That the ball must be caught on the bound;

The catcher must not be off his side;

There should be no handing on – the catcher must carry the ball and touch down himself.

Picking up off the ground was absolutely illegal.

Many pupils of Rugby School went on to university and eventually became Doctors, Solicitors, Industrialists and Businessmen.

Delme Williams, 2001 Season

1972 Team

Scarlets 1972 Team

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