Today, each schoolboy knows the story of William Webb Ellis, the Rugby School pupil “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”. The presentation trophy for the Rugby World Cup is named the Webb Ellis trophy in his honour, and his “achievement” is commemorated by a plaque at the school
There is just one thing wrong with this story. It simply is not true. It was not until four years after the death of Webb Ellis in 1876 that the story first saw the light of day and its origin is thought to come from a local antiquarian and previous Rugbeian Matthew Bloxam.
He was not a contemporary of Webb Ellis and says that the story was told to him by an anonymous source some 53 years after the incident is alleged to have happened.
In 1823, when the incident is alleged to have happened, the rules of rugby had yet to be formulated and any changes, such as the legality of carrying or running with the ball, were often agreed on an ad hoc basis a short while before the beginning of a game.
There were therefore no formal rules for football during the period William Webb Ellis was at the school (1816?25). It was not until 1845, some 200 years after football was first played at Rugby School, that three schoolboys published the first written rules of the game.
For many years it had been the boys, and not the masters who had set down the rules which were frequently modified by every new generation of pupils.
Guy’s Hospital Football Club, formed in London in 1843, by old boys from Rugby School, has strong claims to be the oldest football club in the world. It definitely predates by 14 years the formation of Sheffield FC, believed to be the oldest club playing association football.
In 1871, after a number of contentious disputes with the Football Association, 21 clubs met in London to form an association of those clubs ‘who play the rugby-type game’.
As a result the Rugby Football Union (RFU) was shaped. The first International rugby game was played on 27 March 1871 between England and Scotland. The English team wore white shirts ornamented with a red rose and the Scots brown shirts with a thistle. (Scotland won the match).
The worries and conflicts regarding amateurism and professionalism had long proved a thorny topic. The representatives of Yorkshire and Lancashire are accredited with bringing in rules concerning amateurism in 1879.
These rules were finally formalized by the RFU in 1886. It is broadly believed that the northern clubs were in favour of the professional game whereas these northern bodies were strong advocates of amateurism,
However, conflict arose over the controversy regarding ‘broken time’, the issue of whether players should receive reimbursement for taking time off work to play.
The northern clubs had a substantial number of working class players who had either to miss games due to working commitments, or give up their wages in order to play rugby. By 1892, this subject of broken time repayments was a problem not merely for northern clubs such as Bradford and Leeds but also for clubs in the south.
It became a concern of the RFU: these broken time repayments would become a rapid path to professionalism.
On 29 August 1895, 20 clubs from Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire met at the George Hotel, Huddersfield and decided to resign from the RFU and create the Northern Rugby Football Union, which from 1922 became the Rugby Football League.
The quarrel about payment was one which at the time was also affecting soccer and cricket. Each game had to work out a compromise; rugby’s position was the most radical. Amateurism was strictly enforced, and anyone accepting payment for playing rugby league was disqualified.
However, on 26 August 1995 the International Rugby Board declared rugby union an “open” game and thereby removed all restrictions on payments or benefits to those connected with the game.
It did this because of a committee conclusion that to do so was the only way to end the hypocrisy of sham amateurism and to keep control of rugby union. The wheel had turned full circle.
Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on lots of subjects, but is at present involved with the London 2012 Olympics mascot. Click a link if you are interested in the 2012 London Olympics Volunteers.