Rugby union in England

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Rugby union in England
Celebrations when England won the 2003 World Cup.
Governing body	Rugby Football Union
National team	England
First played	1823, Rugby
Registered players	1,457,734
Clubs	1,900
Competitions
National
- Rugby World Cup
- Six Nations
- Rugby World Cup Sevens
Club
- Heineken Cup
- Powergen Cup
- European Challenge Cup
- European Shield
- Guinness Premiership
- Middlesex 7s

Rugby union is a popular team sport played in England. Rugby is thought to have been created in England in 1823, when William Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it during a football match at the Rugby School. In 1871 the RFU was formed by 21 clubs, and the first international match, which involved England, was played in Scotland. Today rugby union is one of the most popular sports in England. Annual club competitions include the Guinness Premiership and the Heineken Cup. The English national team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship, and are the current world champions after winning the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

Contents 1 History 1.1 The Rugby school and foundation of early clubs 1.2 Football Association meeting and the subsequent forming of the RFU 1.3 First international and the schism in rugby 1.4 Twickenham and centenary celebrations 1.5 World War II 1.6 Formation of leagues 1.7 Professionalism 2 Governing body 3 Competitions 3.1 Guinness Premiership 3.2 Heineken Cup 3.3 Powergen Cup 3.4 Daily Mail Cup 3.5 Middlesex 7s 4 Derbies 5 Popularity 5.1 Statistics 5.2 Demographics 5.3 Media 5.4 Current trends 6 The national team 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] History

See also: History of rugby union

[edit] The Rugby school and foundation of early clubs

Rugby in England is generally attributed to when William Webb Ellis "who with a fine disregard for the rules as played in his time, first took the ball in his arms and ran with it" in 1823 at the Rugby School. One of the earliest football clubs formerd, some claim it to actually be the first, is the Guy's Hospital Football Club which was founded in 1843 in Guy's Hospital, Southwark, London. The club played an early version of rugby football and was formed by old boys of the Rugby School. Subsequent clubs established in this period include; Dublin University Football Club in 1854 and the Blackheath Rugby Club in 1858.

[edit] Football Association meeting and the subsequent forming of the RFU

The Football Association was formed at the Freemason’s Tavern, Great Queen Street, on Lincoln Inn Fields, London October 26, 1863 with the intention to include the most acceptable points of play under the one heading of football. However, ddisagreements over what was being excluded led the Blackheath Club to withdraw from the association which was followed by a number of other clubs. In 1870, Richmond F.C. published an invitation in the newspapers which read "Those who play the rugby-type game should meet to form a code of practice as various clubs play to rules which differ from others, which makes the game difficult to play". In January of the following year, 21 clubs meet at the Pall Mall Restaurant and the Rugby Football Union (RFU) was founded.

[edit] First international and the schism in rugby

On March 27, 1871, the first ever international match took place, involving the English rugby team and the Scotttish. Scotland won the match, which was played at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh. In 1884, England opted not to join the International Rugby Football Board which was formed by Ireland, Scotland and Wales, as they thought they should have greater representation on the board as they have the larger number of clubs.

By the late 1800s, the issue over broken time in rugby had become important, particularly in the North of England, where a larger working class played rugby compared to the south, thus their work and injuries they received whilst playing came into conflict with the rules of amateurism. With mounting pressure regarding player payments and veiled professionalism, on August 29, 1895 at a meeting at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, 21 clubs met to form the Northern Rugby Football Union and thus resigned from the RFU.

[edit] Twickenham and centenary celebrations

The 1910 opening of the RFU's new home at Twickenham heralded a golden era for English rugby union. During the First World War, the Five Nations Championship became suspended in 1915 and it was not resumed until 1920. One hundred and thirty three international players were killed during the conflict. In 1923, a century of rugby was celebrated at the Rugby School, which saw an England and Wales XV play a Scottish-Irish team.

[edit] World War II

For duration of World War II the ban on rugby league players was temporarily lifted by the RFU. Many played in the eight rugby "Internationals" between England and Scotland which were played by Armed Services teams. The authorities also allowed the playing of two “Rugby League vs. Rugby Union” fixtures as fundraisers for the war effort. In 1959, long after the William Webb Ellis had become engraved as a legend in the history of rugby union, his grave was finally located.

[edit] Formation of leagues

The RFU had long resisted leagues competitions, as it was thought that they would encourage player payments, thus most club matches were only organised friendlies, with competitions such as the County Cups and County Championship existing also. In 1972 the RFU sanctioned a knock-out competition now known as the Powergen Cup. The league evolved over time since starting in 1987 when the Courage Leagues were formed, a league pyramid that had more than 1000 clubs playing in 108 leagues; each with promotion and relegation.

[edit] Professionalism

The Heineken Cup was formed in 1995 as a competition for twelve European clubs. Today the competition fields sides from England, France, Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Italy. The century old competition for the European rugby powers became the Six Nations Championship in 2000 with the addition of Italy.

[edit] Governing body

Main article: Rugby Football Union

The Rugby Football Union are the governing body for rugby union in England.

[edit] Competitions

[edit] Guinness Premiership

The 12-team Guinness Premiership is the top level of competition, it is fully professional but has a salary cap in place. National Division One and National Division Two are the next rungs down. National Division One has some fully professional sides but most are semi-professional. Below this there are many regional leagues. Attendances at club rugby in England have risen strongly since the sport went professional. Some clubs have good all seater grounds in the 10,000-25,000 capacity range; some have older grounds which are still partly terraced, and others play in council-owned joint-use stadia. Some clubs rent stadia from football clubs.

See: A summary of English leagues.

[edit] Heineken Cup

The Heineken Cup is a European club a regional competition between the best teams from England, France, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy. It is viewed by some as the top prize in European rugby for all teams.

[edit] Powergen Cup

The Powergen Cup was the national knock-out competition but from 2005, it was changed into a competition only for Premiership and Welsh Celtic League teams. The Powergen National Trophy is new knock-out competition but Premiership sides do not take part. The strongest Premiership teams take part in the Heineken Cup and the rest of the Premiership takes part in the European Rugby Shield.

[edit] Daily Mail Cup

The Daily Mail Cup is the English school's rugby union cup competition. The final is held at Twickenham Stadium. Competitions are held at the U18 and U15 age group levels. At each age group there are two competitions, a cup for the better schools and a vase for lesser schools.

[edit] Middlesex 7s

The Middlesex 7s is the premier club-level rugby sevens event held in England (note, however, that international sides have taken part on occasion). National sevens teams compete annually in the London Sevens at Twickenham, which is the final event in each year's World Sevens Series.

[edit] Derbies

The following games are considered derbies.

• West Country derbies - between Bath, Bristol and Gloucester

[edit] Popularity

Rugby's recent success is due to England's recent 2003 Rugby World Cup success, with the Guinness Premiership becoming the second largest attended club competition in England behind football (soccer), with rugby league (mainly in the north) and cricket battling for third. Some attendances at Guinness Premiership matches are starting to become similar to those found in football's Championship, with game attendances now averaging at 10,000 compared with 17,000 in the football Championship (figures from season ending 2005), though some rugby clubs such as the Leicester Tigers are now averaging around 17,000. The game is on the up, and some teams- such as Sales Sharks- have (or plan to) move to new, bigger capacity stadiums. Others such as Bath are planning make extensions to their existing stadium.

Historically rugby union was a participatory sport rather than a spectator sport in England and attendances at club games were low. Leicester Tigers for example averaged less than a hundred spectators in the 1970s. However, attendances at Twickenham for the national team have always been very high. Games in the Six Nations Championship and Rugby World Cup have always been shown on network TV. Many people watch these games but don't follow club rugby, mainly due to the fact that the pay-TV Sky Sports owns the rights to the game broadcasts, and highlights are rarely shown on network television. The average England rugby fan is not necessarily very knowledgeable as a consequence, many people watch national games with little knowledge of the laws of the game.

[edit] Statistics

According to the International Rugby Board England has 1,900 rugby union clubs; 6,060 referees; 362,319 pre-teen male players; 698,803 teen male players; 121,480 senior male players (total male players 1,182,602) as well as 11,000 senior female players.^[1]

[edit] Demographics

Rugby union has often been considered a 'posh' game. This is historically because due to a disagreement over what constitutes legitimate expenses in an amateur sport caused predominantly working class Northern teams to form their own organisation and sport rugby league. The amateur ethos made it difficult for players who could not afford to take time off work to play away games or go on tour. Rugby union in England is associated with certain fee-paying independent schools such as Stonyhurst College or Sedbergh School who provide many of the national players. It is also commonly played at Grammar schools, but Comprehensive schools tend not to play it. The majority of spectators are from the AB1 demographic group with a gender ratio of approximately 80% male and 20% female at live domestic professional matches. [1]

Due to the split with most of the Yorkshire and Lancashire clubs, rugby union was more popular in the South and the Midlands than the North of England. This is changing somewhat with the relative success of Newcastle Falcons, Sale Sharks and Leeds Tykes. Traditionally rugby union is strongest in the South West of the country. There are supposedly four teams representing London, though only Harlequins actually play in the capital and even they are all the way out in Richmond.

[edit] Media

Highlights of English Premiership matches will be broadcast on the BBC during the 2006-07 season. [2].

[edit] Current trends

Following England Rugby's success with capturing the 2003 Rugby World Cup, popularity of rugby union in England practically doubled according to research that was conducted as part of MORI’s SportsTracker.^[2]

Prior to the 2003 World Cup, research estimated that around 18 per cent of all British citizens had an interest in rugby union (conducted in January of 2003), ranking the sport eighth in popularity in England. In December 2003, shortly after England's win at the World Cup, the percentage was revealed to be 27 per cent, pushing the sport to second in England.^[2] A lot of the popularity was attributed to Jonny Wilkinson's famous drop goal in the latter stages of the final at the 2003 World Cup. A rise in match attendances, as well as interest in schools was noted.^[2]

Whilst rugby union was officially an amateur sport, many rugby union players came to play rugby league. In recent years this trend has reversed and some rugby league players have crossed codes to play union. [3]

[edit] The national team

Main article: England national rugby union team

England have enjoyed success from time to time with more Six Nations Championship titles and Grand Slams than any other nation. England contest the Calcutta Cup with Scotland and the Millennium Trophy with Ireland as part of the Six Nations Championship. They are current World Champions and also made the final of the World Cup in 1991. The IRB currently ranks England at 6th out of 95 union-playing countries. They play their home games at Twickenham in Middlesex. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot is a song associated with the national rugby union team even though it was originally sung by black slaves on the cotton fields in the south of the U.S.A. Every four years the British and Irish Lions go on tour with players from England as well as Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

[edit] See also

• Sport in England
• Sport in London
• Rugby league in England

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• England Rugby Football Union website
• English rugby union news from Planet Rugby
• The Schools' Rugby Website
• Trilinesports
• Rugby union on the BBC
• Rugby Club Directory Links to all English union clubs

v • d • e Rugby union in England
Federation:	Rugby Football Union
National team:	England • England Saxons • England Sevens • British and Irish Lions
International Competitions:	Rugby World Cup • Six Nations Championship • Heineken Cup • European Challenge Cup • European Shield • Churchill Cup • Rugby World Cup Sevens • IRB Sevens World Series • London Sevens
Domestic Competitions:	Guinness Premiership • EDF Energy Cup • National Division One • National Division Two • National Division Three North • National Division Three South
Guinness Premiership teams:	Bath • Bristol • Gloucester • Harlequins • Leicester Tigers • London Irish • Newcastle Falcons • Northampton Saints • Sale Sharks • Saracens • London Wasps • Worcester Warriors
National Division One teams:	Bedford • Cornish Pirates • Coventry • Doncaster • Exeter Chiefs • Leeds Tykes • London Welsh • Moseley • Newbury • Nottingham • Otley • Pertemps Bees • Plymouth Albion • Rotherham • Sedgley Park • Waterloo