A thug's game played by gentleman

In light of the circumstances then I think it’s better if we ignore the current situation and concentrate on the fact that we invented it so it’s our game!

The myth about William Webb Ellis picking up the ball and running with it during a football match at Rugby School is actually not that far from the truth. The Rugby World Cup is name after him and there’s a stone monument at the school which states:

"This stone commemorates the exploit of William Webb Ellis who with a fine disregard for the rules of football, as played in his time, first took the ball in his arms and ran with it, thus originating the distinctive features of the rugby game, a.d. 1823"

This is rather a nice myth but is generally recognised to not be strictly true. It’s generally agreed that Rugby and Football both originated in English Public Schools in the 1800. The rules were still being negotiated and thus were pretty flexible and rugby is thought to have developed over a number of years.

Another theory is that the English gentry ‘borrowed’ the game from the Maoris who had a similar game which involved running, swerving dodging and ball passing called Ki-oh-Rahi.

The public school origin of the game is also the reason for the odd shaped ball as it was traditionally played with inflated pig’s bladders which are naturally oval shaped. As the rules of the game were formalised in the 1830s a cobbler local to Rugby School started to supply the oval balls. His name was William Gilbert, the name the more astute of you might have noticed written on professional balls. Gilbert supplied balls for the 2003 World Cup, which took months of testing to perfect accuracy and grip.

Well I think that’s enough narrative for one column, let’s go for some rapid-fire trivia.

• When England players are ‘capped’ for their first international match they receive a cloth cap. Unlike footballers though they don’t get another one every time they appear for their country.

• The Calcutta Cup was made from rupees when the Calcutta Rugby Club folded after the withdrawal of British troops from India.

• Twickenham played host to the first stripper at a major sporting event. His name was Michael O’Brien back in 1974.

• A ‘try’ is called a try because it means you’re allowed to try at kicking at goal. (A conversion to you and me).

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