Read PDF Rugby Football: A United Game

NFL knows US professional rugby union could be a very good deal indeed

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In the north of England, rugby was organized somewhat differently from in the south. Teams became the focus of civic pride, and league and cup competitions quickly arose in Yorkshire. The game spread throughout Yorkshire to Cumbria and parts of Lancashire, and many working-class men were playing by the mids. Matters came to a head at an general meeting of the RFU, where the legalization of broken time payments was soundly defeated by southern clubs, which controlled a majority of the votes.

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The majority of northern clubs joined the Northern Union, but it failed in efforts to expand its influence farther afield within Britain. Many early players had some experience of the game in the north of England and took their interest with them to Wales.

By the early s rugby had become a vital part of working-class culture in south Wales, which distinguished the game there from its upper-class association in other parts of the British Isles. Wales had high levels of immigration in the late 19th century, and rugby emerged at this time as a focal point of a new modern Welsh nationalism.

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Wales won its first title in Unlike England, a more competitive system arose in Wales, with a South Wales Challenge Cup being contested between and and an unofficial league system appearing by the s. As the only team to defeat the powerful New Zealand team on its first tour of the British Isles, in , Wales cemented its place as a dominant rugby power. Rugby remained central to modern Welsh identity, particularly in the period between the mids and the early s, when players such as Gareth Edwards , Barry John, Phil Bennett, Gerald Davies, J.

Williams, and others kept Wales at the top of Northern Hemisphere rugby. During the s many coal mines were closed, which led to the deterioration of mining valley communities that had been the cradle of Welsh rugby for a century. Since that time Wales has struggled to regain its position as a leading rugby nation. Rugby union football spread more slowly outside the British Empire , though it was played in France as early as There were 20 or more French clubs by , mostly in and around Paris. Soon the game diffused to southwestern cities such as Bordeaux, Lyon, and Perpignon, where it became the most popular team sport.

French attitudes toward professionalism were much more relaxed than in the British Isles, which led the Home Nations unions to sever relations with France in , though they were restored in Like rugby union, the league game in France is largely confined to the southern part of the country. During World War II , rugby league play was outlawed in France by the Vichy government, but the sport made a comeback in the postwar era.

In the s rugby also gained a foothold in Italy, particularly in the northwestern part of the country. The Italian Rugby Federation was founded in In the s clubs supported by large companies began to organize payment of players in their club competition, and leading international players such as Naas Botha of South Africa, David Campese of Australia, and John Kirwin of New Zealand played rugby union in Italy.

Italian rugby advanced significantly by the s, and in Italy joined the Five Nations competition, which was then renamed Six Nations. Rugby rules appeared in North America before the s and were used in a famous game between McGill University of Montreal and Harvard University of Cambridge , Massachusetts, in Rugby rules were soon modified in the United States and later in Canada, however, to create the distinct codes of gridiron football played in North America.

Although gridiron football had largely supplanted both association football and rugby in the United States by late in the 19th century, rugby enjoyed a revival from on the Pacific Coast after gridiron football was banned there in the aftermath of a public furor over violence and player deaths and injuries.

Rugby remained popular there after the gridiron sport was restored to its preeminent position. West Coast players largely made up the national rugby teams that won at the and Olympic Games , after which rugby was dropped as an Olympic sport. Rugby also retained a foothold in British Columbia in Canada. Into the 21st century a large proportion of players on the U.

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It was in the Southern Hemisphere that rugby assumed new levels of cultural meaning and innovation. In New Zealand and South Africa, the sport became an integral part of national identity and at times a flash point for social and political issues. In Australia the game was closely associated with the eastern coastal region.

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Both rugby union and rugby league have their origins in the style of football played at Rugby School in England. During the s many coal mines were closed, which led to the deterioration of mining valley communities that had been the cradle of Welsh rugby for a century. Loading comments… Trouble loading? Once they had left school, many young men wanted to continue playing the game of their youth, and the early annual matches between alumni and current senior students were not enough to satisfy these players. Who could replace Mourinho?

Only five clubs played in Sydney at that time, but by , 79 clubs existed, with a senior and four junior competitions. By the s matches between teams representing New South Wales and New Zealand began, as rugby in Australia remained largely confined to the big east coast cities of Sydney and Brisbane. The national Australian Rugby Union was not formed until In other parts of Australia, Australian rules football had already established itself as the dominant sport.

The issue of payment to players appeared in Australia by the early s, centring in particular on compensation for injured footballers.

At the same time, a professional team of New Zealand rugby players, known as the All Golds, prepared to travel to England to play against Northern Union clubs. In a rugby league competition began in Sydney with working-class clubs leaving rugby union to play by the new rules. The first Australian rugby league players toured Britain in —09, followed by another tour of Britain in —12, thus establishing international links between Northern and Southern Hemisphere breakaway groups. The main centres of rugby league in Australia are Sydney and Brisbane, though it is widely played in cities and towns throughout the country and has a larger following than has rugby union.

In New Zealand the first rugby match was played at Nelson in However, rugby spread slowly owing to problems of distance and sparse population, and while regional unions appeared throughout the country by the mids, a national union, the New Zealand Rugby Football Union NZRFU , was not founded until A team made up mostly of Maori players toured Britain, winning 49 of its 74 matches, including many matches against clubs in the north of England that largely consisted of working-class players and that had become the best club teams in the country.

In the Ranfurly Shield was presented by Earl Ranfurly, the governor of New Zealand, to serve as a trophy for a challenge competition between provincial rugby teams. In New Zealand played a truly national Australian team for the first time. On May 14, , the first game, played under "Boston" rules, was dominated by Harvard, which lead 3—0 after only 22 minutes when the game was ended. Harvard quickly took a liking to the rugby game, and its use of the try which, until that time, was not used in American football. The try would later evolve into the score known as the touchdown.

In late , the Harvard team traveled to Montreal to play McGill in rugby, and won by three tries in front of 2, spectators. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The Journey to Camp: The Origins of American Football to Professional Football Researchers Association. First football game was May 14, ". Retrieved March 29, — via Newspapers. This seems to be a recipe for discord between a governing body and clubs, as has been the case in English rugby.

A league's failure would be a significant setback to the sport in north America. On the other hand, it could grow rugby rapidly and considerably improve the standard of the national team.

Robertson is steadfast in his belief that XV is the most likely route to profit, rather than Sevens, which is set to be big in the US when it is part the Rio Olympics , because NBC Sports is increasing its coverage of the code. The XV version of the game more closely resembles American football. To work, the RugbyLaw scheme needs to find investors willing to sink tens of millions of dollars into the project.

It is a tall order but the involvement of the NFL could prove highly significant. The NFL Network will televise the match at Gillette Stadium, exposing mainstream American football fans to rugby and letting it piggy-back on to the financial power, marketing muscle and cultural cachet of the nation's most popular sport. The potential for sharing facilities, swapping players and giving fans something to watch during the long NFL offseason is obvious.

The organisers hope that NFL owners such as Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots will see the London Irish match, and buy into the league as a way of generating new events to fill their stadiums. The dream of an American professional league has long been talked about among fans. But the International Rugby Board IRB , the sport's global governing body, is also becoming enthusiastic about gaining a firm foothold in such a vast and wealthy country. If a professional lacrosse league can exist in the US, why not a tournament for the world's third-most popular team sport?

There is a belief that it would do more to spur the growth in the country than making a World Cup quarter-final. The sooner they are, it would be exciting for a number of reasons.

Not only because of the amount of money it would earn for the game but because it's great to see it in a different context and that's what the World Cup is for. Steve Tew, chief executive of New Zealand Rugby Union, told Reuters that in the future, southern-hemisphere countries are certain to form a tournament involving the US.