England has made a number of contributions to the history of sport. Some of these have achieved international cult status, such as football or tennis, while others - such as cricket or polo - are still seen as a pastime for the English aristocracy and receive little attention beyond the power and cultural sphere of the Commonwealth. Somewhere in between lies rugby, which is extremely popular and loved in the English-speaking world, as a physically tough and therefore rather proletarian sport - a prejudice that could not be more wrong, as a look at history proves."
Anyone who goes in search of the origins of rugby will first come across one of these stories that are actually too good to be true and which, due to the fact that the truth content can no longer be determined, are cautiously referred to as a "legend" or "myth": At the beginning of the 19th century, a student at the public school in the English town of Rugby, who was obviously bored playing football , is said to have decided to speed up the tournament a bit . So he grabbed the ball instead of kicking it, ran off with it and thus invented the game of rugby. The name of the consciously or unconsciously creative young man was William Webb Ellis, and the variation of the game of football that he initiated quickly gained popularity. The relevant sources report that the first official rugby tournament took place as early as 1823. Two leagues were formed in England, which eventually organized the game in parallel with slightly modified rules.
This story, whether legend or factual, deserves a little more attention. In order to understand what rugby was and is, it makes sense to take a closer look at some facts. If we assume that everything happened as described, it is important to note that the "public schools" that contributed to the rapid spread of the new team sport were not "public" and thus accessible to everyone, but private elite schools where the offspring of aristocratic families were educated in accordance with the class structure of society that dates back to feudal times and still determines social life at that time.
William Webb Ellis, if he existed and did what we say he did today, was a young representative of the upper class who, conscious of his privileges, decided to break the rules (of football). The fact that he not only got away with it, but also became the initiator of a new idea that prevailed in his social milieu, can be understood as a consequence of the highly complex relationship between elite students and their teachers. In fact, this story reflects an important educational content: it was about being familiar enough with the general rules to recognize their importance and to appreciate them in a conservative sense, but at the same time being aware of the possibility and necessity of ignoring them in order to further develop the existing system as a representative of the Empire.
It is this ambivalence that lies behind the famous quote by the astute and sharp-tongued writer Oscar Wilde : "Rugby is a game for barbarians, played by gentlemen. Football is a game for gentlemen, played by barbarians." Rugby, which was obviously crudely physical, was played by the well-bred sons of the elite, while football, which was ideally disembodied and therefore more elegant, was a sporting domain of the working class.
However, anyone who looks at the rules of rugby will find that success within the brutal action on the field has a lot to do with strategy and in some ways even bears a resemblance to the greatest of all strategic games, chess.
In rugby there are different groups of players with different tasks and correspondingly different forms of physical effort. At the centre are the eight forwards who form the scrum, a kind of tactically organised meeting of players from both teams whose job it is to protect their hooker (the player in possession of the ball) and drive the play towards the opponent's in-goal , where the ball must be placed to win a point. The three forwards in front of them ("props") have the job of pushing back the attacking strikers of the opposing team. The hooker may only throw the ball backwards to the backs ; it must be carried or kicked forwards . The job of the flankers is to transport the ball outside the scrum. Accordingly, they must be fast rather than strong. Forwards, backs and flankers each function according to set rules, just as the pieces in chess must follow orderly movement patterns, which determines their respective strategic value.
The differences and parallels between the two games are obvious: Chess is a board game played by two people in compliance with rigid rules, and the success of which is determined by the ability to have strategic foresight. Rugby is a team game in which 15 players face each other, whose tasks and playing options are clearly defined, but whose immediate individual and group behavior determines the course of the game. This means that tactical considerations are supplemented by situational strategic reactions. In other words, rugby can be understood as a version of the chess idea enriched by the imponderable elements of chance and physical forces , a kind of "playing chess with boxing gloves." No other team sport offers this combination and thus the same drama, which certainly accounts for a good part of rugby's popularity.
The physicality of this sport, the “barbarism”, which in its origins served as a way of venting aggression and self-affirmation for the players at elite schools, still has the same appeal for the public today of immediacy and the equally regulated and unpredictable that has accompanied rugby from the very beginning, even if the competing protagonists have long since become – as in any other (team) sport – well-paid professionals and not necessarily more or less well-behaved gentlemen.
As has been the case for around a hundred years, fans are proud to wear classic rugby shirts in the team's colours, which are similar to polo shirts (apart from the length of the sleeves) . Of course, T-shirts and functional fabrics have become more popular here too, but at least the merchandise still sticks to the dignified long-sleeved shirt with a collar and short button placket.
However, you don't have to be infected with the rugby virus to enjoy a game. And your first rugby experience will certainly not be your last. Ideally, you should watch the first game with friends who already understand a little of the rules. The second time, it will be easier to follow what is happening - and the third time, you can simply let yourself be drawn into the experience and open yourself up to your spontaneity.
Rugby is certainly a worthy alternative to football, where it seems as though the same teams always win and the human trafficking and transfer fees sometimes reach absurd proportions, even if it is not nearly as popular in Germany as it is in England or New Zealand. The New Zealand national team, the "All Blacks", are not only known for their outstanding game, but also for their "Haka" - their impressive Maori fighting song and dance. At last year's World Cup , the "All Blacks" reached the final and were only narrowly defeated by the "Springboks" from South America. An exciting match if you have two hours to spare and want to immerse yourself in the game for scrappy gentlemen.
Authors • J. Martin Faulkner & Herbert Jost-Hof
Illustration • Georges Scott, Stade Français rugby club, 1906
Published in Heritage Post No. 49