Trophy Store Blog

As England women win the Six Nations Women's Championship 2010 this is their fourth Grand Slam win in six years. England's women won the RBS Six Nations in a close final as they edged out France 11-10 and bring home this fantastic rugby trophy.  As we celebrate this win we started to think about previous and championships but also how did the game of rugby start?

When it comes to the history of the game of Rugby those who play this invigorating sport will have heard one particular story.  That is the one that whilst at Rugby School in England a young lad by the name of William Webb Ellis in 1823 decided when playing football to ignore the rules and pick the ball up and run with it.  However, there is plenty of evidence around that will suggest that when it comes to how did it all start this occurred well before William Webb Ellis’s time.  In fact there is evidence around that will suggest that those involved in sports where a ball was involved were picking it up and running with it centuries before. 

Yes there may be some truth to the story revolving around William Webb Ellis when it comes to the history of the game.  However, many historians who have looked closely at this sport feel that the earliest form of football played at this school at the time Ellis was there was similar to the Rugby we see played today.  But if Ellis was the actual creator of this sport is still under some discussion and it may be that the game evolved of its own accord during the time that he attended Rugby School. 

If you were to ask the members of the English Rugby Union they say that the kind of football played when Ellis was at the school was not in fact the kind of football we are so fond of today.  Instead it was a combination of both the rules that you will find in football and Rugby today.  During this period of the sports history you were not allowed to handle the ball unless it was in the air and this was when a player was allowed to catch it.   But unlike the modern game of Rugby where you are able to run with the ball once caught this was not allowed.  The player who had caught the ball along with all others on the field would be required to stand still.  Then this player could choose either to kick the ball wherever he wanted or to place it on the ground and then attempt to kick the ball into the opponent’s goal. 

Another thing that you need to take into consideration when it comes to the history of the game of Rugby that when it was played originally at the time of Ellis the students in public schools would develop their own rules for each game of football they played.  This was as a result of their being little or no refereeing occurring when matches were played.  So of course there may have been an opportunity during one game where Webb Ellis chose to pick up the ball and run with it rather than kick it and this is something others playing in future games chose to do.

However there is one thing that we can be certain of when it comes to the history of the game of Rugby and how did it all start is that it did not originate from the game of football.  What most historians believe is that in fact these two games actually developed beside each other.

 Photo Source: Official RBS Six Nations

The Rugby Six Nations Cup Event has only been in existence since 2000 previously it was referred to as the Five Nations Championship.  Every year this event takes place and involves six European International Rugby Union Teams from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy. 
Every team must field 15 players to take part during the two halves which are made up of 40 minutes each.  However, should a player do something that is deemed to not be within the spirit of the game or tackles incorrectly the referee has the chance to send them to the sin bin.  The player sent here remains in this position for 10 minutes.

This year’s Rugby Six Nations Cup Event commenced on Saturday 6th February 2010.  Every team involved will play the others over the next 9 weeks with the final matches taking place on the 20th March 2010.  The team that scores the most points during these matches is the team that is declared the winner.  For each game a team wins they are awarded 2 points, if the game is drawn then each team is awarded 1 point.  However, if a team do not win then of course no points will be awarded to them.

Each team will play the other teams either at their own grounds or away at the others.  The home matches for England take place at Twickenham near London.  As for the rest of the teams Ireland’s take place at Croke Park, Dublin currently, Scotland’s take place at Murrayfield, Edinburgh, the Wales games happen at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.  When it comes to the France games these may occur at the Stade de France, Paris and Italy’s will happen at the Stadio Flaminio, Rome.

But along with the presentation of the Six Nations Cup  there are other trophies that certain teams will be competing for.  These include the Triple Crown that is contested between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the Calcutta Cup which is contested between England and Scotland.  Then there is the Centenary Quaich (a drinking vessel) that is contested for between Scotland and Ireland.  Also there is the Millennium Trophy which has been contested since 1988 between England and Ireland.  Finally there is the latest trophy known as the Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy that Italy and France contest for and have done since 2007.

Although the Six Nations Cup is the one of the rugby trophies that all the teams would like to win, when it comes to England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales winning the Triple Crown is also very important.  Yet before 2006 the team that did win this contest were never actually presented with a trophy.  The first team to actually receive the trophy was Ireland and they are the current holders of it after beating Wales in March 2009. 
 
Should a team beat all others in the Rugby Six Nations Cup Event then it is said that they have won the “Grand Slam”.  There are only 3 teams who have taken part in this event since its beginning who have won the “Grand Slam” title back to back.  These are England, Wales and France.  But the team that has won the most of these is England with 12, followed closely by Wales with and France with 8.  As for Scotland they have only one a Grand Slam title 3 times and Ireland just twice.

Photo Source - Wikipedia