History of rugby?

2008-08-19T05:45:00.001-07:00

People in the British Isles, in common with many other countries, have played team games involving the movement of an object into a designated 'goal' area since time immemorial. Such games are often seen as a practice for, or a substitute for war. Classical Greeks and, later, Vikings all had similar games, where an object such as a stone, dead animal or ball would be used. Rules for such games were developed locally and passed by word of mouth, as are children's games today. They would often depend on local geographical features such as trees or hills, making the games only playable in the local vicinity. Teams were usually large and of unspecified numbers, and the opposing goals might be set as far as several miles away thereby creating the opportunity for large-scale brawls between intervening villages.

In Wales such a sport is called cnapan or "criapan," and has medieval roots. The old Irish predecessor of rugby may be caid, not to be confused with Gaelic "hurling" or "hockey" which has the difference that the ball was hit with a stick rather than carried. The Cornish called it "hurling to goales" which dates back to the bronze age, the West country called it "hurling over country", East Anglians "Campball", the French "La Soule" or "Chole" (a rough-and-tumble cross-country game). English villages were certainly playing games of 'fute ball' during the 1100s. English boarding schools would certainly have developed their own variants of this game as soon as they were established - the Eton Wall Game being one example.

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History of rugby?