Rugby (Amateur)

Different forms of football have been played for centuries in various societies. The rugby football codes, union, and league can trace their related origins back to games played at Rugby School in England in the 1800s. Rugby union, given its historical connection with boy's public schools, has long been thought of as a gentlemen's game. Yet such knowledge does little to disguise its bruising style of play. Despite the risk of participation injury, rugby union has gained popularity in many countries, including South Africa, England, Scotland, France, Fiji, Samoa, and Australia. Within Wales and New Zealand, the popularity is such that rugby is often considered as the national sport of these countries.

The story that rugby developed when William Webb Ellis (1806–72) disregarded the rules of football and ran with the ball is regarded as mythical by historians. In contrast, they typically acknowledge that rugby codes developed from barbaric folk games of medieval England and, over time, as social values changed, were civilized into the modern sports we now know. By the beginning of the 19th century, folk games were in decline. Yet versions of these games continued to flourish within the enclosed boundaries of the English public schools, much to the dismay of the teaching fraternity.

Dr. Thomas Arnold, headmaster at Rugby School (1828–42), however, recognized qualities in football and encouraged his male pupils, who favored a handling version of football, to document the rules of the “rugby” game. Arnold further encouraged his pupils to develop as muscular Christians by playing rugby in a physically tough but moral manner. Rugby, for example, was initially played without a referee, as it was expected that young men of honor would call any infractions. Over time, a belief developed that participation would help “turn boys into men” of good character by instilling the virtues of hard work, toughness, teamwork, self-control, and competitiveness. The amateur ethos of fair play was subsequently promoted, and sporting participation, by the 1870s, became an important aspect of a boy's education.

In the same era, when the British Empire was at its largest, rugby was exported via public school “old boys” around the colonies. Rugby found particularly fertile ground in the pioneering cultures of South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. However, further rule changes were needed, such as the banning of hacking (kicking of opponents), before the game gained widespread popularity in these countries. Within America and Australia, modified versions of rugby developed into American football and Australian rules football.

Rugby, as a “gentleman's sport,” did not allow payment for players. This amateur ethos led to rugby's division into league and union in 1895. Working-class men from the north of England demanded payment for playing, and when this was denied, they formed the professional Northern Rugby Union, which was renamed the Rugby Football League in 1922. Rugby union remained an amateur sport, at least officially, until 1995. The advent of open professionalism finally removed the hypocrisy of the “shamateurism” that had existed for many years.

Rugby union is now recognized as one of the fastest growing sports for women, with strong growth since the development of the Women's World Rugby Cup in 1991. Nevertheless, the image of rugby union as a man's game remains strong. In a related manner, critical sociological examinations of rugby cultures have raised concerns with respect to rugby's promotion of a form of masculinity that celebrates pain tolerance, beer drinking, violence, homophobia, and misogyny. In part due to recognition of this problematic image, the International Rugby Board has continued to modify rules to make the game appear safer and promote a more sober image.

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