RUGBY FOOTBALL

THE ORIGIN OF RUGBY FOOTBALL - A sport believed to have been created by model from a form of Eton Football. In 1778 the new headmaster of Rugby School, Thomas James, an Old Etonian, introduced the complete Eton School education system to Rugby School. This system included rewards for academic achievement which allowed pupils the opportunity for 'play'. This 'play' generally took the form of the sports played at Eton such as Eton Fives, Cricket and a form of Eton Football. We believe that Thomas James and/or James Chartes (his assistant headmaster) showed or advised the boys of Rugby School how to play the Lower College Game played at Eton, or how to play a game with a similar style to this form of Eton Football, circa 1778–1782. At Eton it was the boys who administered the game, invented the rules and made the decisions so once the running of the game was handed over to the Rugby School pupils, it immediately became the game of Rugby Football because it was played in a different location with different personnel to Eton Football. The game at Rugby School, as at Eton was self-regulated by the boys and at some point in time its aim became ‘to score a goal by kicking the ball over the crossbar’. It is this aim, kicking the ball over the bar that set Rugby Football and its descendant sports apart from all others. It is easily recognisable as a different form of 'football' to those played at Eton. The abundance of Elm Trees with their low branches in the Rugby School Close gives us reason to believe that this would have occurred very early on in the evolution of the Rugby School game and that it may even have been the aim at its outset.

SOURCE - "Understanding the Origin & Evolution of Sport - Volume 1 - Rugby Union by Dai Richards (2016) - CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

RUGBY FOOTBALL RELATED SPORTS - Rugby Football is most likely a descendent of a form of Eton Football. It is the parent sport of Rugby Union (and probably of others too such as Australian Rules Football) It is an ancestor sport of Rugby League (and probably of American and Canadian Football, and possibly others whose origin need to be determined)

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DESCENDENT SPORTS - RUGBY UNION - RUGBY LEAGUE 

Others not recorded yet