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How did the game of Rugby begin? The popular belief is that in 1823, a pupil at Rugby school in England, William Webb Ellis, picked up the ball and ran with it during a school soccer match. The problem with this belief is that soccer did not exist at that stage either. So how did the game come about! Rugby was just not born, it is a game that developed through the centuries, its origins can be traced back nearly two thousand years when China and Japan were playing an early form of the sport. The Greeks who were also very keen games players played a similar game. When the Romans conquered the Greeks, they brought back to Italy this game called ‘harpastum’, and the Romans then spread it throughout the western sector of their Empire. The French and Flemish nations took a particularly keen interest, but each country called the sport a different name.

In Britain, the Roman soldiers stationed there introduced the game to the locals, who called it football, although the spelling was somewhat different. There is mention of it as far back as 1175 in the book ‘History of London’, and in those days it was a contest between two villages. Up to two thousand people used to take part, there being no age restriction nor was it limited to the male population. There is evidence that matches took place between married woman and spinsters.

The teams would meet at noon at a point decided upon by the leaders of the two villages, usually a point midway between the two, and a ball would be thrown in the air. The object being to take the ball back to one’s own village where the goalposts were situated; these could be anything from a pool of water to the town square. The actual ball also varied from a piece of animal hide to a bundle of rags and signified either an item of warfare or of hunting. The most popular thought is that the ball represented an enemy King’s head or possibly that of an animal. The means of getting the ball back to the goals were not specified but carrying it, kicking it and hitting it with sticks and clubs were the most popular. Some of the players were on horseback whilst others, carried swords in addition to their clubs and staves. The field of play was not restricted in any way and normally was anywhere between the two villages - up and down the hills, across valleys, through the farming fields and across rivers. Many people were maimed for life, some killed and others drowned when the mob went through a river or stream. It was an ideal way of settling family and other feuds. In many cases a game took place within a game with ambushes being set to enable private duels to be settled. Play for the day was only abandoned at sunset.

When a village were successful in getting the ball back to their own goal they symbolically killed it. The usual method was by drowning in the village fountain or rubbing it into the dirt at the local market. Afterwards the ‘ball’ would be cut up and shared amongst the leaders. It is thought likely that the sporting terms we know as ‘dead ball’ and ‘killing the ball’ date from this time.

The effect that these games had on business and other national requirements was disastrous. Archery at that time was the backbone of Britains military success but the villagers were neglecting their responsibilities preferring to play ‘foote balle’. The result being that it was banned by Royal decree thirty one times in three hundred years by seven kings. In 1314 Edward II spoke out against the noise it created. Edward III blew the whistle because of the injuries caused to the yeomen of the realm, but the King who came on the heaviest of all was Henry VIII, a keen athlete in his youth until immobilised by ‘boozing, gluttony and womanising’. His 1531 Royal Decree spake ‘foote balle is nothing but beastly fury and extreme violence, whereof proceedeth hurte and consequently rancour and malice do remayne with thym that be wounded, wherefore it is to be put in perpetual silence’.