Rugby is a contact and rather harsh sport that requires good physical fitness. It is hard to believe now that rugby history was once closely tied to the history of football, but it really is. Only in the second half of the 19th century rugby and football "separated", and then each of these games began to develop in its own way.
Medieval ball game
In the Middle Ages, the ball game was widespread in Britain - a kind of ancestor of both football and rugby. The ball was chased through the city squares and streets by huge crowds of people without adhering to any complicated rules. He was held in his hands, thrown to each other, kicked and so on.
The game involved two opposing teams, each of them could have more than five hundred people. The goal of the players was to get the ball to a specific location. And it is not at all surprising that sometimes this entertainment led to real fights and bloodshed.
From school match to worldwide popularity
However, the true birth of such a sport as rugby took place in the 19th century. On April 7, 1823, on the field of Rugby School (England, Warwickshire), a group of students decided to play their own game, similar to football. One of these students was sixteen-year-old William Webb Ellis. At a certain point in the game, he simply took the ball in his hands (which was a very gross violation of the previously agreed rules) and ran to the goal of the other team.
Someone thinks that this story is just a legend. However, in the school where the game was allegedly held, in 1895 a very real commemorative plaque was installed with the text in which Ellis is called the founder of rugby.
The first full edition of the rules of this game appeared in 1846. Although if you look at them, it becomes clear that we are talking about a kind of a mix of football and rugby.
In 1863, another event of fundamental importance for the history of sports happened. It was then that the English Football Association was created, which strongly forbade field players to take the ball in their hands. Thus, the Association clearly separated its sport from rugby.
Soon, rugby players also formed their own union - this happened in 1871. It includes more than twenty English clubs. At one of the first meetings, this organization adopted a new set of rules that would suit all participants. Then similar unions of rugby clubs arose in Ireland and Scotland. Sport quickly gained popularity among both workers and aristocrats.
The first international rugby association was established in 1890. It accepted, among other things, the teams of the former British colonial lands - New Zealand, Australia, South Africa. In general, by the end of the 19th century, rugby was already played all over the planet.
It is also worth noting that in 1892 the dimensions were finally approved and the oval shape of the ball was adopted as a standard. Why it is oval is easy to understand: it is easier to hold such a ball with your hands and throw it. And in general, traditionally, the first rugby balls were made from the bladders of pigs, and their shape was not perfectly round.
Rugby at the Olympics
In 1900, rugby was included in the Olympic Games. And the French became the winners of the first Olympic tournament. But the English team, oddly enough, took only bronze.
Rugby competition was part of the Summer Olympics until 1924. And then, for a number of reasons, this sport dropped out of the Olympic disciplines for many decades.
Only in 2016, at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, men's and women's rugby-7 tournaments were again organized (the key difference between this version of rugby and the classic one in the number of players is that there are 7 of them in each team, not 15). The Fiji national team became the winner of the men's championship. And among women, the Australian women were the strongest.
