Sport
Rugby Union
Also Known As Rugby Throughout most of the world both rugby union and rugby league are known simply as rugby; context distinguishes the codes.
Football Codes
Rugby football developed at Rugby School in Warwickshire, England, between the late eighteenth and late nineteenth centuries; the school's own first written rules date to 1845. Popular tradition credits pupil William Webb Ellis with originating the game in 1823 by picking up the ball and running with it, but the story was not published until 1876, more than fifty years after the supposed event and after Webb Ellis's own death, and is treated by rugby historians as an unproven origin legend rather than an established fact (see the recorded dissent on this point). The Rugby Football Union, the first union, was founded in London on 26 January 1871; the International Rugby Football Board, now World Rugby, was founded in 1886 by the unions of Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Facts
Origin YearMarks the founding of the Rugby Football Union in London and its laws, approved 22 June 1871. The popular 1823 William Webb Ellis origin story is not treated here as the sport founding date; see the recorded dissent. Originating RegionEngland (Rugby School, Warwickshire, for the nineteenth-century codification; the Rugby Football Union was founded in London in 1871). 2 International Governing BodyWorld Rugby, founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, joined by the Rugby Football Union in 1890; renamed the International Rugby Board in 1998 and World Rugby in 2014. 3 Classification
Olympic Programme Status Connections
Ancestor Of
Source Wikipedia, American Football
Twenty-two Yorkshire and Lancashire clubs resigned from the Rugby Football Union on 29 August 1895 over broken-time payments and formed the Northern Rugby Football Union, renamed Rugby Football League in 1922, reducing teams from fifteen to thirteen players.
Source Rugby Football History, Independent Reference
Why this is disputed. Source says the origin is thought to be a sort of water rugby, not settled
Source Wikipedia, Water Polo
Associated With
Source Wikipedia, Rugby Union
Featured In
Source Wikipedia: Rugby union at the 1900 Summer Olympics
Source Wikipedia: Rugby union at the 1920 Summer Olympics
Source Wikipedia: Rugby union at the 1924 Summer Olympics
Source Wikipedia: Olympic sports
Source Wikipedia, Rugby World Cup
Source The Varsity Match (Wikipedia)
Governed By
Source Wikipedia, Federation Francaise de Rugby (FFR)
Source Wikipedia: New Zealand Rugby
Source Wikipedia, Rugby Australia
Source Wikipedia, Rugby Football Union (RFU)
Source Wikipedia: South African Rugby Union
Source World Rugby, Organisation / About Us
Long-Form Articles
Played By
Source Ben Tune (source article)
Source Bernard Laporte (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia, Jonah Lomu
In the Other Atlases
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Sources
1. Rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics (Wikipedia)
2. Rugby Football History, Independent Reference
rugbyfootballhistory.com- laws.htm
- Ancestor Of: Rugby League, Schism.html
View the Source 3. World Rugby, Official History
Wikipedia, Rugby Union
Wikimedia FoundationLead sentence
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union or often just rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in England in the first half of the 19th century.
Associated With: Association Football, History
Formed in 1863, the national governing body The Football Association (FA) began codifying a set of universal football rules. These new rules specifically banned players from running with the ball in hand and also disallowed hacking (kicking players in the shins)
View the Source Wikipedia, Rugby World Cup
World Rugby, Organisation / About Us
Wikipedia, Jonah Lomu
Wikipedia: Olympic sports
Featured In: Olympic Games, Changes in Olympic sportsQuote, Featured In: Olympic Games, Changes in Olympic sports
including archery in 1972, tennis in 1988, curling in 1998, golf and rugby in 2016
Wikipedia: Rugby union at the 1900 Summer Olympics
Featured In: 1900 Summer Olympics, Lead sectionQuote, Featured In: 1900 Summer Olympics, Lead section
Rugby union at the 1900 Summer Olympics was played in Paris.
Wikipedia: Rugby union at the 1920 Summer Olympics
Featured In: 1920 Summer Olympics, Lead sectionQuote, Featured In: 1920 Summer Olympics, Lead section
Rugby union at the 1920 Summer Olympics was played in Antwerp, Belgium.
Wikipedia: Rugby union at the 1924 Summer Olympics
Featured In: 1924 Summer Olympics, Lead sectionQuote, Featured In: 1924 Summer Olympics, Lead section
In rugby union at the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris, the United States won the gold medal, beating France in an upset in front of a partisan crowd.
Wikipedia, American Football
Wikimedia FoundationAncestor Of: American Football, IntroductionQuote, Ancestor Of: American Football, Introduction
American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of soccer and rugby.
Wikipedia, Water Polo
WikipediaAncestor Of: Water Polo, LeadQuote, Ancestor Of: Water Polo, Lead
William Wilson is thought to have developed it in the 1870s as a sort of
Ben Tune (source article)
Played By: Ben Tune, Lead sentence, sportQuote, Played By: Ben Tune, Lead sentence, sport
is a former Australian rugby union player
Wikipedia: New Zealand Rugby
Governed By: New Zealand Rugby, Lead sentenceQuote, Governed By: New Zealand Rugby, Lead sentence
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand.
Wikipedia: South African Rugby Union
Governed By: South African Rugby Union (SA Rugby), Lead sentenceQuote, Governed By: South African Rugby Union (SA Rugby), Lead sentence
is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa
Wikipedia, Federation Francaise de Rugby (FFR)
WikipediaGoverned By: Federation Francaise de Rugby (FFR), Lead sentenceQuote, Governed By: Federation Francaise de Rugby (FFR), Lead sentence
is the governing body for rugby union in France.
Bernard Laporte (Wikipedia)
Played By: Bernard Laporte, Lead sentence [plays]Quote, Played By: Bernard Laporte, Lead sentence [plays]
is a French rugby union coach, administrator and former player
The Varsity Match (Wikipedia)
Featured In: The Varsity Match, Lead section [frequency-category]Quote, Featured In: The Varsity Match, Lead section [frequency-category]
is an annual rugby union fixture
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Origin Year
Popular tradition holds that pupil William Webb Ellis originated rugby football in 1823 at Rugby School by picking up the ball and running with it, in violation of the football rules of the day. The World Rugby Museum own historiographic review finds no contemporary support for this claim: the story was first put into print by Matthew Bloxam in 1876, more than fifty years after the supposed event and four years after Webb Ellis own death, based on an unnamed source; Webb Ellis surviving correspondence contains no mention of football, and running with the ball was itself against the rules at the school until 1841. The museum treats the story as historically plausible but unproven, and this atlas records 1871, the founding of the Rugby Football Union and its first laws, as rugby union own origin-year for that reason.
A dissenting reading, from Matthew Bloxam (1876 account, disputed by rugby historians)World Rugby Museum, William Webb Ellis: What We Know, World Rugby Museum
Essays About This Entity (2 essays)
New Zealand Won the First Rugby World Cup, but South Africa Leads the Record
The sport code the tournament is built around, cited for context on the governing body.
Read the EssayFootball Split Into Six Codes Within Thirty-Six Years
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