Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Step into the world of Rugby!

First and foremost, a preface of what the blog posts to come will contribute is the knowledge that you might already know about Rugby football game or otherwise some new facts that you have yet to discover. This blog is meant for study purposes thus any material to be found in this blog breaching any copyright content is totally unintentional. 


Question : How did i get involved in Rugby? 
Answer
Well, it was always an impression given by people that Rugby is a very rough game and that bones will be broken by the end of the game. I had no intention of getting into the game up until i got involve with a particular circle of friends, who happen to be very enthusiastic with Rugby (eat, live, fight, sleep for rugby kind of situation). It was pretty intense. Thus since year 2006, i have been around the Ruggers a lot, and they somehow sucked me into the world of Rugby. 

Did you know? 

The term Rugby came from a name of a leading co-educational boarding school situated in Rugby, Warwickshire, United Kingdom, named Rugby School.

The Legendary Tale of Rugby

It was said that Willam Webb Ellis, a pupil from Rugby School had breached the rules of football in one of the matches whereby he took the ball in his hands and ran for the post. Although the rules of football was then rather complicated because there are times that you can hold the ball in hand but it then need to be released immediately, the act pulled by W. W. Ellis had the crowed going. Therefore the game Rugby was born in year 1823 (Trueman, 2007). 

Or so told by many.

There has been numerous debates be as it on a personal level, state, country, union, even internationally, people have been debating on the origins of the Rugby game. Some say that Webb Ellis was demonstrating the legendary "Caid" game played by the Irish or the "Harpastum" back in the Roman Empire era or to bring it all back to the Ancient Greek it was a favorite pastime namely "Episkyros"(Bath, 1997). 

To educate people of where the origin of the game was from is arguable as there are so many versions of the legendary story. There is no way that i could clarify this fact other than inventing a time machine and have an interview with Matthew Bloxham, the sole source of the William Webb Ellis myth (Shortell, 2004). Thus the origins of Rugby could not be authenticated. 

RWC


The International Rugby Board however took into account of the Webb Ellis tale and honored him with the "Webb Ellis Cup" used for the Rugby World Cup tournament. 

Nowadays, Rugby has grown into an internationally credited game recognized by countries around the world, hence the Rugby World Cup. 

I hope you find my findings useful and educational. 

Cheers.

Reference
Trueman, N. (2007). Origins of Rugby. Retrieved April 1, 2012, from Rugby Football History: http://www.rugbyfootballhistory.com/originsofrugby.htm 
Bath, R. (1997). The Origins of Rugby (a legend deflated). In The Ultimate Encyclopaedia of Rugby. Carlton Books.
Shortell, P. (2004, July 29). Bloxam. Retrieved April 1, 2012, from The William Webb Ellis Myth: http://www.pshortell.demon.co.uk/rugby/ch1.htm


5 comments:

  1. oh i just know that the term rugby came from a name of school.is the school still exist until now??

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  2. yeap andy. if you click on the red colour Rugby School link at the post you will be redirected to the school's website. cool huh?

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  3. Yeah i think rubgy is a awesome spot it requires alot of mental and physical strength!! good one mea!

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    1. Thanks Ray, normally rugby is perceived as a life endangering game. I'm trying to divert that mindset. Hope it works. :)

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  4. Good info on the history. Lots of newbies sometimes dont know the origin. They just play or watch.

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