Rugby Football: 200th Anniversary

Mark Pawsey Excerpts

Friday 3rd February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

It is a great honour to have the opportunity to speak about two passions of mine: my home town and constituency of Rugby, and the game of rugby football.

My constituency is unique: nowhere else has given its name to a game that is played around the world. Most people will be familiar with the game, in one code or another. Its characteristic feature is that it is played with an oval-shaped ball, and people run with it and throw it. The question is whether the game is named after the place or Rugby School, where it was first played. Both lay claim to the honour.

We have a massive celebration this year, because the game is 200 years old. It all happened back in 1823. There is a plaque at Rugby School, overlooking the close, where the game started, that commemorates

“the exploit of William Webb Ellis who with a fine disregard for the rules of football as played in his time first took the ball in his arms and ran with it thus originating the distinctive feature of the rugby game AD 1823.”

Young Webb Ellis is credited with that action, when everybody else was kicking or hacking the ball, although plenty of people contend that it was not him at all and that the game simply evolved. I do not think there is any question but that he was there, but many people believe he was just a great self-publicist, who took the credit and got his name both into history and the record books. Whatever is true and whatever happened, it is generally accepted, not least by rugby union’s international governing body, that it was all down to William Webb Ellis, as the world cup, which is played every four years and will take place later this year in France, is known as the Webb Ellis cup.

Over the 200 years since 1823, the game has developed. There are two codes. I am always mindful of that when Mr Speaker is in the Chair, because rugby league arose in the north of England as a consequence of the desire for working men to be compensated for wages lost when they played. Rugby union remained defiantly amateur until 1995.

There are differences in the two games, not least the number of players on the pitch, but a common feature is the shape of the ball. That shape came about because of the shape of the pig’s bladder that was originally used as a ball, and later from the work of William Gilbert, a bootmaker in the town, who was approached by Rugby schoolboys in the first half of the 1800s to encase the bladder with leather, so it would be a more regular shape that was easier to kick and throw.

The rules of the game were first written down by three Rugby schoolboys in 1845. Games originally took place in England, but, as the boys left the school to make their way in the world, they took their game with them. A team was first formed in Australia in 1864, New Zealand in 1870, France in 1872 and South Africa in 1875. Indeed, at the parliamentary rugby world cup, played on the close at Rugby School in 2015, just ahead of the proper world cup, headmaster Peter Green was able to address each of the teams taking part and tell them the name and story of the Rugby schoolboy who took the game to their country.

As I mentioned, there are union and league forms of the game, but today we also have seven-a-side rugby, the game played with 10 players on each side, touch rugby and mini-rugby, which introduces younger players to the game. There are also forms of beach and snow rugby. There is a thriving women’s game at all levels and mixed-ability rugby. Rugby union was first played at the Olympic games in the early 1900s and reinstated in 2016 in the sevens format.

The game has grown hugely in its 200 years. World Rugby has 132 country members and estimates that approaching 10 million people play the game globally, with rugby’s reputation as a game for all shapes and sizes holding firm across the world. There is a position on the field for everyone—from the strong and tall players in the forwards, to the smaller, faster and more elusive players in the backs—which is one key to rugby’s success. That inclusiveness engenders a team spirit that involves, for many, putting the values of the game into practice.

There are five key values of rugby: teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline and sportsmanship. On teamwork, rugby is a game where players play selflessly for the benefit of the team, both on and off the field. It is a tough game, as I am sure you will know, Mr Deputy Speaker, but respecting and acknowledging opposition players is greatly important and that extends to the supporters. It is a game that is largely played for fun, to adopt a healthy lifestyle, to build life skills and to enjoy that essence of being part of a team.

[James Sunderland (Bracknell) (Con)]

I commend my hon. Friend for his excellent speech about rugby—and, of course, many congratulations to rugby on its 200th anniversary. It is a very important occasion. In Bracknell, of course, we have our fantastic Bracknell rugby club, which is in regional 1 south central of the London and south-east division. I am proud to have that in the constituency. We are also seeing a lot of state schools playing rugby now; it was perhaps previously the reserve of private schools. Does he agree that rugby has come a long way in its 200 years? We are seeing women’s rugby now, and rugby being played across the globe. Does he agree that it is a fantastic thing that it is now becoming much more accessible for all?

[Mark Pawsey]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. The game has grown massively and is played at all levels in all parts of the world and all corners of the UK.

I was talking about rugby being a game with discipline and with physical endeavour. It is controlled physical endeavour, but players have to be honest and fair and sportsmanship is the foundation on which rugby is built. There is a great sense of camaraderie between rugby players and their teammates. All those values are seen in charity work that is done up and down the country, with the game of rugby being used as a tool to change lives. These organisations are often characterised by their bright and distinctive blazers—I am thinking of organisations such as Wooden Spoon and the Atlas Foundation, where the power of rugby to make a difference and to give young people a purpose, helping them to create a support network and to get on with their lives, is completely inspiring.

I have been proud to host the Premiership Rugby community awards here in Parliament over a number of years. Premiership Rugby’s award-winning education and employability programme HITZ uses the core values of the game to inspire and motivate young people into education, employment or apprenticeships and has engaged more than 20,000 people since it was created in 2008.

Another programme is Project Rugby, which is run by Premiership Rugby in collaboration with Gallagher and England Rugby. It is designed to increase participation by people from traditionally under-represented groups, perhaps in the basic way my hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (James Sunderland) mentioned. Project Rugby was extended in April 2022 to bring young women and girls from diverse backgrounds into rugby in partnership with the Asian Sports Foundation.

The growth and spread of the game over 200 years is worth celebrating and that is exactly what is happening in rugby this year. It all starts this coming Sunday on the close at Rugby School, where 140 people—including our very own Sports Minister, who is at the Dispatch Box today, world cup winner Mike Tindall, England Women’s 100 cap international Emily Scarratt and almost all the former captains of rugby at the school dating back to 1957—will make a global pass to send 200 balls around the UK. They will be going, among other places, to Ventnor on the Isle of Wight, which has a connection to Rugby’s famous headmaster Dr Thomas Arnold, to Wales, to Llanelli, and over the sea to Belfast.

[Sir Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con)]

Will these 200 balls be the ghastly new synthetic ones, or will they be the original leather ones?

[Mark Pawsey]

That is something the Minister and I will discover on Sunday, but there is every possibility that it will be the modern material, which is much easier to catch and therefore makes for a more exciting game because of better handling. Those balls will not just be going around the UK; they will be heading out to Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, the USA, Kenya and Singapore. Each one of the 200 balls will be passed to represent each year that has passed since the game started.

That is this coming Sunday, but across the year we have other events. England are going to play on the close at Rugby School against Wales in an under-18 women’s game. We are going to hold an international under-18 sevens tournament. There will be an under-nine and under-11 club festival, which will enable the youngest players to take part, and there will be a veterans rugby club sevens for the oldest. In the same vein, the Commons and Lords rugby club, which is Members from both Houses, will play a veterans team on the close made up from the six local clubs in the town of Rugby.

On St George’s day, we will attempt to create the world’s largest rugby scrum. The current record is 2,586 people. We are aiming for 3,000 pupils from local schools and others to beat that record. There will also be, as has happened a couple of times previously, a re-enactment of the first ever game, in the clothing that the players would have worn back in 1823. Some lucky person will take on the role of William Webb Ellis.

[Luke Pollard (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Lab/Co-op)]

On the subject of firsts, will the hon. Gentleman join me in celebrating the life of Jimmy Peters, who was the first black man to play rugby union for England in 1906 versus Scotland? He played for Plymouth RUFC, which is now Plymouth Albion, before he went on to play rugby league in the north for St Helens, only after losing three of his fingers in a dockyard accident. Just as Plymouth Argyle celebrated Jack Leslie, the first black player who should have played for England, does he think it is time to celebrate the pioneering work of Jimmy Peters for rugby?

[Mark Pawsey]

The fact that that happened as long ago as 1906 demonstrates the inclusive nature of the game of rugby and how people are welcomed from all backgrounds. One of the things about club rugby is that it sees people from an enormous range of backgrounds packing down together, playing together and engaging with one another.

We are going to have a major public festival of arts and education in the town throughout the year. There will also be a number of cycling pilgrimages, including one to Twickenham, and some hardy souls will be cycling to William Webb Ellis’s final resting place in Menton in the south of France. In 1923, 100 years after the game was founded, there was a special match on the close between a team made up of English and Welsh players against one from Scotland and Ireland. We are going to recreate that this year, and there will also be a series of special matches for the teams from Rugby School.

All in all, there is a spectacular list of events taking place in Rugby in 2023, all in keeping with the values of the game of rugby and with a charitable objective, particularly involving Wooden Spoon, with its emphasis on supporting children and young people. Most of those events will be on the close at Rugby School, bringing the school and the town together. I am really looking forward to welcoming the Minister on Sunday and maybe getting a pass between us.