England was a famous destination for football lovers during 18th and 19th century and there were more than a dozen football games used to be played in England.
Rugby Union is also a type of football game that had originated in England during this period. The game is closely similar to rugby except that the court for rugby union is usually half in length compared to rugby.
In fact, the origin of rugby union and rugby are from the same source, but there were a huge argument about bringing uniform rules and regulations to the game. This was mainly because in England several forms of folk football games existed and each game was very popular in the area it was played.
Whenever someone tried to uniform the codes, people from different areas never used to reach on an agreement. Since the invention of rugby, the concept of running with the ball became very popular and several people started showing interest in this game. This is how the chances of uniting the rules and regulations of rugby first took place.
However, there were certain disagreements and rugby union is one among the games that became an all new game.
In 1886, International Rugby Board was formed and the board controlled rugby union. The board had a huge role in organizing the game and bringing proper rules and regulations which later attracted a mass attraction to the game.
International Rugby Union is recognized by more than 115 national unions all over the world and this helps the board to organize international events. Rugby Union organized the world cup competition for the first time in 1987.
The game is known as Webb Ellis Cup and like most of the international tournaments, it is held once in every four years.
Six European countries are the major players among the Rugby Union international tournament with some other nations from southern hemisphere. The origin of rugby union faced same problems that were faced by other football games in Britain during that time.
Several universities and schools had their own version of football games and football games enjoyed a huge popularity all over the campuses. However, the rules and regulations were widely different from school to school and this was a problem in organizing a competition for everyone.
When you try to trace back the history of rugby union, you can start from 1845, when the first written history in playing rugby was introduced.
One big drawback with Rugby union was that the game was recognized as an amateur game and the players were supported by authorities and game fans. Only in 1995, International Rugby Board agreed with the rules and regulations that made rugby union a professional game.
In 1863, a football association was formed in England with the intention of unifying and this was a milestone in the history of rugby and football because after the formation of this organization, rugby and football started parting its ways. They were treated as different games and the fans for both sports were developed.
The major issue between the football supporters and rugby supporters were about holding the ball and running with it. While many people opposed the idea, modernists supported this. However, some local teams and associations came up with mixed opinions and the authorities found it difficult to choose something from both.
It was difficult for authorities to decide which rule should be taken and which one should be avoided. Football association was strongly against "hacking" the part of the game where the player runs with the ball.
When the argument heated up and years passed, the association failed to come up with a strong decision and this is when Football Association decided to go against hacking. There was a prestigious member in Football Association named Edwin Ash who was a strong supporter of hacking. He believed that banning the act of running with ball will spoil the spirit of game.
He was obviously not happy with what Football Association came up with and decided to part his way from the association. There were several teams who were supporting hacking and they also decided to follow Mr. Ash's way.
Edwin Ash took this as a challenge and advertised in newspapers to bring in famous personalities in the rugby type game to form a uniform code. It was in 1871, January 26 around twenty one clubs came together and a meeting under Edwin Ash was held to come up with uniform codes for rugby. This is how Rugby Football Union was formed and Algermon Rutter was selected as the first president for Rugby Football Union.
Edwin Ash decided to continue in the association as treasurer as he had contacts in attracting funds to the proper functioning of organization. Rutter, L.J. Maton and Holmes were chosen to form a set of rules and they started working on it.
After several approval and rejection processes, the final set of rules was introduced in June 1871.
Once the Rugby Football Union was formed, things started to get heated up faster than ever. The spirit of new game and enthusiasm spread all over Europe and countries like Ireland and Wales created their own national unions.
The national unions have a major role to play in popularizing the game and bringing in active support from locals. In 1871, the first game between England and Scotland was held and Scotland won. In the first game itself, there were 4000 spectators which showed the kind of popularity the game used to enjoy in Europe.
Once the international matches started, the game gained better and wider popularity and the news about the new rugby game started spreading.
During the British Era, one of the most famous Rugby Union tournaments was held in India, which was known as Calcutta Cup. By this time, England regained its power and enjoyed a fairly large share of success in the Calcutta Cup.
During those days, the game was totally different from what we watch today with 20 players in the field and a 100 minute match time. In 1972, the French Rugby cup was introduced where the largest contributors were British settlers in France. Scotland, Ireland and Wales initiated the plans to start an international organization for rugby.
After several discussions and meetings, they came up with Rugby Football Board in 1886.
By this time, Rugby Football Union became International Rugby Football Board and the management of the newly formed Rugby Football Board was not happy in accepting the International Rugby Football Board as the sole authority in deciding rules and regulations.
This invented a huge dispute in rugby's history after its division from football and Football Association. However, International Rugby Football Board was more powerful and influential by this time and they decided to change some rules.
They came up with the new team count of 15 from 20 and the association's name changed from football board to simply rugby board which made it International Rugby Board.
Since rugby is a game that originated from largely scattered folk football games, the same issue haunted rugby in future as well. There were always arguments about the game's rules and regulations and the sole controlling authority.
Majority insisted that rugby should continue as an amateur game and this decision implemented a huge burden on the game's growth to a popular multinational one. However, keeping rugby as an amateur game was not possible as talented players faced difficulty in continuing at the game scene. Everyone needed money and with regular training schedules, players couldn't opt for other jobs.
Allegations about payments were a common issue in rugby and many accusations came against teams and players. There were enquires and necessary steps were taken to prevent such bribes but no one was bothered about transforming the game into a professional one.
It is quite surprising that the game stayed as an amateur one for more than 100 years and it was only in 1995, Rugby union became a professional game.
