Rugby union developed from the football played at Rugby School in Warwickshire, England, in the nineteenth century. A popular story credits a pupil, William Webb Ellis, with picking up the ball and running with it during a match, but the tale was first recorded decades later and historians doubt it. Rules were written down at the school in the 1840s, and the Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871, the same year as the first international match between Scotland and England. The code spread through the British Empire to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and later to France and elsewhere. Since the first Rugby World Cup in 1987 it has become a major international sport.
Before and after
- 20 November 1822Earthquake in Valparaiso, Quillota, Concon, Aconcagua, Chile
- 27 December 1822Birth of Louis Pasteur
- 1823Publication of Der er et yndigt land
- 1823Hymn to Liberty
- 1823Origins of rugby union
- 1823Discovery of silicon
- 8 January 1823Birth of Alfred Russel Wallace
- from 31 August 1823 to 29 September 1833Ominous Decade
- 1824Founding of National Gallery
More in Society, economy & sport
- 12 May 1792Founding of New York Stock Exchange
- c. 1800sRise of nationalism
- 17 February 1863Founding of International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
- from 6 April 1896 to 15 April 1896The first modern Olympic Games open in Athens
- 1 January 1901Founding of Australia
- 21 May 1904Founding of FIFA
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.