Rugby
But who invented rugby and when?
As many of the players from Stade Toulousain take part in the Autumn Nations Series. We take the time to look back at the origins and development of rugby.
You'd have to ask Romain Ntamack, Anthony Jelonch, Antoine Dupont and co., who play the sport at the highest possible level, whether at club level or wearing a XV de France jersey, if they know the history of its creation inside out. It has to be said that between the Top 14, the Champion's Cup and the national team, they have a pretty busy schedule, and that's where we come in. Find out all you need to know about the invention of the oval ball sport.
01
Where and when did rugby begin?
The older the information, the more difficult it is (generally) to verify. Facts become stories and, with the passage of time, legends. In the case of rugby, the first traces of which date back to 1823, it is difficult not to use the conditional tense, but never mind.
In the first half of the 19th century, in a school in a small English town called Rugby (yes, yes), a young pupil called William Webb Ellis, during a game of football, decided to take the ball in his hand and carry it to the opposing team's goal. From one game to the next, the game gradually became codified, and the first rules were drawn up in 1845. The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 and became World Rugby in 1886, the body that still governs the Rugby World Cup today.
The wheels were in motion. Little by little, the sport spread beyond the social strata and developed in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and the kingdom's colonies such as South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. As you will have gathered, these countries had a head start, and if they are now among the best in the world, it is partly for this reason.
World champion Siya Kolisi at a training camp
© Nick Muzik/Red Bull Content Pool
02
Who invented 13-a-side rugby?
In 1895, a schism occurred within the Rugby Football Union and the Northern Rugby Football Union was born. Why was this? Quite simply because some of the teams were made up mainly of workers, who could not afford to leave their jobs to play unless they were paid. The Rugby Football Union, on the other hand, was opposed to the idea of amateur sport. So 22 clubs got together and founded their own association. In 1906, the NRFU changed the rules of rugby, in particular reducing the number of players per team from 15 to 13.
03
Who invented 7-a-side rugby?
Unsurprisingly, the birth of 7-a-side rugby remains in the United Kingdom. And for once, Scotland's neighbours were able to rub their hands in the fact that they had beaten the English crown to the punch. This version of rugby, which helped Antoine Dupont and the French contingent to the top step of the podium at the Paris 2024 Games, was born in a butcher's shop in Melrose. In 1883, Ned Haig and David Sanderson came up with the sport as part of a charity event for their local club (Melrose RFC). It was there that the very first game of rugby 7s was played. Three years later, the sport had spread beyond England and as far as India, where the Marquess of Dalhousie, a Scottish lord, was sent to organise several matches.
04
Who invented wheelchair rugby?
Much more recently, in 1993, wheelchair rugby saw the light of day on the American continent, and more specifically in Canada, in Winnipeg. It was invented by wheelchair athletes Duncan Campbell, Paul LeJeune, Chris Sargent, Randy Dueck and Gerry Terwin. Designed for the disabled, it quickly gained renown and has been on the programme of the Paralympic Games since the Sydney Games in 2000.
05
How did rugby become international?
As a naval and commercial power, England enabled the sport to spread internationally (as it did with football) through the interaction between sailors and the population in the port cities. In 1861, the Montevideo Cricket Club was founded, the first club to play rugby outside the British colonies. Argentina and Japan followed suit. The same thing happened in France in the 1970s, with the creation of Le Havre Athletic Club in 1872. A few years later, Racing Club (1872) and Stade Français (1883) were born.
Mack Hansen
© Rich Gilligan
If the south-west gradually established itself as the nerve centre of French sport, it was partly thanks to the domination of Stade Bordelais at the start of the 20th century. According to Loïc Ravenel (researcher at the Centre International d'Etudes du Sport), interviewed by France Bleu, this development was also due to the strong involvement of the Catholic Church in north-west France at the time: "The sport was considered too violent. In the south of France, where there was strong opposition between Catholics and Republicans, rugby was much better received."