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With the upcoming Super Rugby final looming this weekend, I thought I would take a look back at some historical moments in the game – well one anyway, the very first.
It is the moment when that callow youth, William Webb Ellis, caught the ball and ran forwards with it. The accuracy of that story is almost irrelevant as it is has now been canonised and has an accuracy all of its own.
But it was not by random chance that the first action of rugby was the boldest play of all. It was a result of a courageous and a devil-may-care attitude, the stuff rugby is built on.
It doesn’t even really matter how it happened, fact is it did. Braver than Sebastien Chabal charging into the entire All Blacks pack, singlehandedly and breaking Ali Williams jaw in the process, the very first carry was surely the bravest carry of all.
I like to imagine that fateful moment. Dear William receiving the ball from the kick off, and looking up at the establishment of football and examining his options, discarding that safe and easy option to simply kick the ball away and instead trusting in those wise rugby gods and running the ball up against the might of what would become association football.
This singular event distills the very essence of rugby and the game has never looked back since that moment. The courage shown by Webb Ellis should be an inspiration to us all as the game faces the challenges it does today.
Every time this great game has changed, mutated, evolved, however you want to put it, there have been forces driving the change and brave ones at that. A natural selection – or grand designer if you prefer – subtly working its way to mould the game.
Other events have profoundly affected the game too. The great schism, when rugby players wanted to be paid for playing, the changing value of tries, from zero to one and so on to five. The exclusion and subsequent re-inclusion of South Africa and all the ramifications of it.
The four, then five and now six nations and the end of amateurism in 1995 is a recent event with the fall out still resonating and of course many others.
Rugby is facing another change as we enter into the Super 18 era – the struggle to retain top players. Rugby also must walk that fine line of reaching out to new audiences and retaining old ones.
I am calm in the face of these upcoming upheavals, as I know, along with every other rugby fan out there, that rugby will overcome its obstacles as long as those involved seek to be brave – like William.
It took courage to knock back professionalism in the beginning and it took courage again to embrace it of late. Every challenge faced by rugby has been met and overcome with courage and I see no reason why that would change in the future.
The new format may or may not work, that is irrelevant, for as long as the IRB and all the unions take the courageous choices our game will be fine. Taking the game to new markets is a brave decision, and fortune favours the bold.
So we come to this weekend’s grand final. A standard sort of final, standard in that the best two teams will battle it out and the victor will be rightfully crowned champions. The first final to be played in Sydney represents the new and the Crusaders 11th appearance the familiar.
I have no idea who will win, I just hope the bravest team is rewarded. The best part about rugby is the brave usually are.
Now it’s my turn to be brave, for how could I consider myself a rugby fan were I not.
My name is Andrew. I am a Queensland Reds member and I will cheer for the Waratahs this weekend. I may not own a Waratahs jersey – and I stubbornly refuse to buy one – and may be cast aside by several ‘true’ Reds fans, but, stuff it, let’s have a run.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.