With the British and Irish Lions having just concluded a successful and hard-fought tour of Australia, despite losing the third and final Test in the series, we can cross from Down Under to back home at Blackheath FC, a Football Association founder member club which eventually swapped the round ball for its oval cousin…
Founded in 1858 by former pupils of the local prep school who had adopted what was then called “carrying” football, as played at- you probably guessed this- Rugby, one of the old boys, Francis Maule Campbell, served as club secretary and treasurer. Representing them at the Freemasons Tavern meetings which resulted in the formation of the early FA alongside team captain F.H Moore.
Campbell had always intended to advocate in favour of the Rugby Rules over the Cambridge equivalents. A former Rugby School boy, Albert Pell, who attended Trinity College between 1839-41, claimed to have spread their form of the early game alongside friends. The rules of which became the first to be written down as part of a series of “compromise” sets to facilitate matches between students who'd attended different schools but wanted to play together.
J.C Thring, a clergyman and former student, wrote in 1861 that “[I]n 1846, when an attempt was made to introduce a common game, and form a really respectable club, at Cambridge, the Rugby game was found to be the great obstacle to the combination of Eton, Winchester, and Shrewsbury men in forming a football club.“
And it would seem that Thring and Campbell were in opposition over the very clause which led Blackheath to withdraw from football entirely- whether to allow hacking (kicking an opposing player in the shins), in that Campbell was in favour with Thring against. His own proposal for the game, having described the act of hacking as “barbarous”, “thoroughly un- English” and “a blot”, seems in retrospect remarkably simple, sparked by a letter in The Field-
- “the ball should be kept on the ground as much as possible
- players should be "always behind the ball"
He later expanded on this with a pamphlet, The Rules Of Foot-ball, The Winter Game, which moved closer towards the game as we know it today, “always behind the ball” a rejection of Rugby's similar law as well as several others rounding out his further proposals that-
- A goal is scored whenever the ball is forced through the goal and under the bar, except it be thrown by hand.
- Hands may be used only to stop a ball and place it on the ground before the feet.
- Kicks must be aimed only at the ball.
- A player may not kick the ball whilst in the air.
- No tripping up or heel kicking allowed.
- Whenever a ball is kicked beyond the side flags, it must be returned by the player who kicked it, from the spot it passed the flag line in a straight line towards the middle of the ground.
- When a ball is kicked behind the line of goal, it shall be kicked off from that line by one of the side whose goal it is.
- No player may stand within six paces of the kicker when he is kicking off.
- A player is 'out of play' immediately he is in front of the ball, and must return behind the ball as soon as possible. If the ball is kicked by his own side past a player, he may not touch or kick it, or advance, until one of the other side has first kicked it, or one of his own side, having followed it up, has been able, when in front of him, to kick it.
- No charging allowed when a player is out of play; that is, immediately the ball is behind him.
At the sixth and final meeting, which yielded the formation of the FA and the adoption of the Cambridge Rules, Campbell would announce that Blackheath withdrew. An act which then spurred initial discussions around the formation of the Rugby Football Union with the oldest, open and continuous club there is represented by Frederick Stokes.
A man who would go on to become the first captain of the England national side, with team-mate Benjamin Burns, a Scot who would play under his club captain for the auld enemy as a replacement for Francis Isherwood during the first recorded rugby international between England and Scotland at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh. The home side winning 1-0 and Angus Buchanan going down in history as the first man to score an international try.
Somewhat confusingly the Glasgow Herald report from the day after the game- March 28, 1871- reported on the event under a “football match” headline!
“This great football match was played yesterday, on the Academy Cricket Ground, Edinburgh, with a result most gratifying for Scotland. The weather was fine, and there was a very large turnout of spectators. The competitors were dressed in appropriate costume, the English wearing a white jersey, ornamented by a red rose, and the Scotch brown jersey, with a thistle. Although the good wishes of the spectators went with the Scotch team, yet it was considered that their chances were poor. The difference between the two teams was very marked, the English being of a much heavier and stronger build compared to their opponents.
The game commenced shortly after three o'clock, the Scotch getting the kick off, and for some time neither side had any advantage. The Scotch, however, succeeded in driving the ball close to the English goal, and, pushing splendidly forward, eventually put it into their opponents' quarters, who, however, prevented any harm accruing by smartly "touching down". This result warmed the Englishmen up to their work, and in spite of tremendous opposition they got near the Scotch goal, and kicked the ball past it, but it was cleverly "touched down" they got no advantage. This finished the first 50 minutes, and the teams changed sides.
For a considerable time after the change the ball was sent from side to side, and the "backs" got more work to do. By some lucky runs, however, the Scotch got on to the borders of the English land, and tried to force the ball past the goal.
The English strenuously opposed this attempt, and for a time the struggle was terrible, ending in the Scotch "touching down" in their opponents' ground and becoming entitled to a "try". This result was received with cheers, which were more heartily renewed when Cross, to whom the "kick off" was entrusted, made a beautiful goal. This defeat only stirred up the English to fresh efforts, and driving the ball across the field, they managed also to secure a "try", but unfortunately the man who got the "kick off" did not allow sufficient windage, and the ball fell short.
After this the Scotch became more cautious, and playing well together secured after several attempts a second "try", but good luck did not attend the "kick off" and the goal was lost. Time being then declared up the game ceased, the Scotch winning by a goal and a "try".
All probably more credible than the urban myth that one William Webb Ellis had invented rugby after picking up the ball and running with it during a Rugby School football match, as recounted by fellow former pupil Matthew Bloxam-
“A boy of the name Ellis – William Webb Ellis – a town boy and a foundationer, ... whilst playing Bigside at football in that half-year [1823], caught the ball in his arms. This being so, according to the then rules, he ought to have retired back as far as he pleased, without parting with the ball, for the combatants on the opposite side could only advance to the spot where he had caught the ball, and were unable to rush forward till he had either punted it or had placed it for some one else to kick, for it was by means of these placed kicks that most of the goals were in those days kicked, but the moment the ball touched the ground the opposite side might rush on.
Ellis, for the first time, disregarded this rule, and on catching the ball, instead of retiring backwards, rushed forwards with the ball in his hands towards the opposite goal, with what result as to the game I know not, neither do I know how this infringement of a well-known rule was followed up, or when it became, as it is now, a standing rule.“
That being said, his name is still attached to the most famous trophy in all of rugby, the Webb Ellis, aka the Rugby World Cup!