On May 14, 1987, armed soldiers broke into the Fijian House Of Representatives and ordered the members of parliament to leave the building. The coup was condemned by countries around the world, which refused to recognise the new government.
All contact with Fiji was suspended, and flights to and from the country were cancelled.
Fiji had been one of the 16 countries invited to send a team to participate in the inaugural Rugby World Cup, but with all contact with the country suspended indefinitely, the organisers of the tournament didn’t know if Fiji would be able to take part.
One group of people unaware of the coup was the Fijian rugby squad, who had taken up residence in an army barracks and were training for the tournament, completely unaware of the threat to their involvement.
Eventually, contact was made and they assured the organisers that they would be taking part. Relief – the first Rugby World Cup could take place.
The Rugby World Cup had a long a very difficult gestation period. Rugby had been a strictly amateur sport since its creation and the governing bodies were opposed to any international tournament. They believed that rugby was a pure sport and should only be engaged in for recreation. Results were irrelevant. Any organised competition would be completely at odds with this ethos.
The International Rugby Board (IRB, now World Rugby), even went so far as to make a rule that no discussion of an international rugby tournament could even take place at any meeting.
In the early 1980s they were forced to rethink their policy, due to the threat of a rival rugby competition being set up by an Australian entrepreneur (and now Roar Expert) named David Lord.
It was Lord’s idea to poach the top rugby players and pay them to take part in an international tournament, which would involved eight teams competing in a round-robin style. This was the biggest threat that the game of rugby faced since the Northern Unions broke off from the main body in England in 1895 and set up the game we now know as rugby league.
The IRB realised that it would have to move fast or risk becoming irrelevant, so in 1985 the idea of an international tournament was put to a vote.
Australia and New Zealand were the most keen on the idea, with the European countries generally opposed. But the member countries realised it was in rugby’s best interests to go ahead with the tournament, so they voted in favour.
France were especially keen on having teams from outside the top eight countries competing, so which countries would compete?
Australia and New Zealand were given the honour of hosting the first tournament, as they were most in favour of the idea. France, Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales would be the other main countries competing. Though they had a seat on the IRB, South Africa were unable to compete due to the ban on countries playing against them because of the apartheid regime still being in place. Zimbabwe would take their place as the representative from Africa.
The other countries taking part would be Fiji, Argentina, Romania, Japan, Italy, Tonga and Canada. Russia were also invited to compete but they made too many demands, so their place was taken by the United States. The tournament was to be held in 1987 to avoid competing with the 1986 FIFA World Cup, and the 1988 Summer Olympic Games.
As the opening day of the tournament grew nearer, the organisers realised they had neglected one rather important detail: there was no physical trophy to give to the winning team. Someone was sent to the nearest trophy shop to purchase one.
The trophy was christened the ‘William Webb Ellis Cup’ to commemorate the young English schoolboy who is credited with inventing the game of rugby in 1823.
The 1987 Rugby World Cup changed many facets of the game. For the first time, caps were awarded for playing against teams outside the top eight countries. Rugby players also found that they needed to devote a lot more time to training and preparing if they wanted to compete at the highest level, so they became professional in every sense bar the actual definition – they still weren’t paid. This would soon change.
The Rugby World Cup has brought the game to all four corners of the globe, has seen Argentina take its place as one of the top countries, and has become the third most-watched sporting tournament in the world, after the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics. The 2003 final was watched by over 4 billion people around the world!
RobC
Roar Guru
Excellent piece thanks Declan. Though the cup was sourced a few months before the trophy, my understanding is it was made before WW1
grapeseed
Guest
And there's certainly been a few of his progeny through the Australian military system since.
Steve Johnson
Guest
One small error sheek, Lordy was the editor of Rugby News in the early 80's. Not even he was around when the first Rugby News programme appeared in 1923!
Lindsay Amner
Roar Guru
I think you'll find he was only a colonel then. He was promoted to major-general much later, skipping a couple of ranks along the way.
nerval
Guest
Here is an article from the New Zealand Herald on the eve of the 2011 World Cup final. It emphatically debunks the "4 billion viewers" nonsense and states that the 2007 final was watched by... 33 million viewers. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10761073
The Battered Slav
Guest
Agreed. Gotta respect that.
Shop
Guest
Pretty sure that would be the accumulative number, as you say 4 billion would barely know the existance of the game.
wardad
Guest
I was at Randwick Barracks prior to the 1987 RWC and briefly met major General Rabuka .An imposing man with bucketloads of Mana .Had a brief chat to him ,probably about Rugby and the upcoming RWC but dont really remember the details . Didnt think twice about it until the Fijian coup hit the news .
sheek
Guest
Soapit, it's a shame when there are more worthy names available. The historical experts reckon Jem Mackie did more the creation of running game than Webb Ellis. Even the Shehadie-Littlejohn Cup after the driving force for the concept would have been appropriate. But it's so typical of human nature. We rarely give credit where it's really due.
soapit
Guest
regardless good on you for responding and owning up to your errors declan
soapit
Guest
sheek from the point of view of one of those who have had issues with davids efforts on the roar its a shame that davids efforts require such past deeds to be constantly brought up to defend/excuse them. like any player if he wants to stay and play in the ranks of professionals he is judged on current form. regarding the webb ellis cup i dont think it does any harm having it named after the mythological version of the games origin
chucked
Guest
it's 'Possible viewers' for the series. so remember there are 24 games so doesn't take too much adding to realize that it's going to have a bigger audience than a one off soccer Game etc
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
Agree tbs. Am pretty sure le tour de france, a Man u v Chelsea game and dozens of other big football games a la real v barca would also attract more viewers worldwide than a rwc final. Big tennis games, the superbowl, F1 grand prix etc may even do better. Rugby isn't a big sport at all especially in big countries with money/viewers (USA, Japan, Germany and most Europe etc) and highly populated nations with not much interest in sports they don't excel at or play (India, cricket; china, football).
sheek
Roar Guru
I'm sure David Lord himself is man enough for people to disagree with him, he's certainly tangled with the best. It's the level of disrespect in the disagreement that grates with me. Lordy has done more in his lifetime than most of us. He's a doer. He deserves better than to be cowardly trashed sometimes from a Roarer hiding behind an anonymous pseudonym who knows much less than Lordy has forgotten. It seems every six months or so, I have to remind a few new, ignorant Roarers of Lord's achievements: 1. Played first grade cricket with Mosman for nearly 20 years. Also captained the club. 2. Started up Rugby News, the pocket magazine sold at Sydney suburban rugby grounds from 1971 to just recently. 3, Edited Australian Rugby Yearbook in the 70s. 4. One of Australia's first player-agents, managing many famous stars of the 70s - cricketers, swimmers, golfers & tennis players. 5. Regular reporter on Sunday TV sports shows, from 60s through 80s. Also reported on numerous Olympics. 6. Insider to the creation of WSC in 1977, before a fallout with Kerry Packer. 7. Started up potential rebel rugby tournament. Only the lack of a TV entrepreneur prevented the tourny from happening. Back in 1983 David Lord did indeed have a rebel tournament all set to go. 216 players from 8 countries, all signatures of intent signed, plus managers, coaches & referees. Fiji took the place of South Africa, who would have joined in due course anyway. In view of the threat from Lord & other entrepreneurs, Australian Nick Shehadie & New Zealander Dick Littlejohn were the vanguard of a movement to have a rugby world cup. One Englishman & one Welshman broke ranks to carry the 'yes' motion 8-6 (South Africa abstained). Despite the home unions being against a world cup 6-2, they moved quickly to control the future agenda. Which is why the RWC is named after William Webb Ellis, a name from antiquity whose alleged deeds have been debunked far & wide (even within England) as being the stuff of fantasy, a myth. Thus the Webb Ellis Cup came into being for the sake of political expediency & convenience. The RWC is a great concept. It's a shame it is named after someone who is really unworthy of the honour.
peeeko
Guest
well said Battered Slav, all not true
peeeko
Guest
thats half the worlds population, impossible. event organisers dont like to state facts - i bet it was possible viewers
Buk
Guest
Hi Declan Good article mate, and good to see you giving David Lord his rightful place in the evolution of things. I think the viewing thing is based on a technique I have seen in some marketing promos to pump up numbers. You add the estimated viewers (based on how many you potentionally reach) for all games together - so my wife and I get counted as 48 people if there are a total of 24 games, and they say the RWC finals were watched by 48 people in our household, the 's' and the 'potentially' gets dropped at some point via the chinese whispers process, and it becomes 48 people in our household watching the final.
The Battered Slav
Guest
Fair enough mate. I'd still argue that events such as the Euro Championship, latter stage UEFA Cup and Cricket World Cup would draw significantly more viewers than the RWC. Would be interested to see the actual figures, but like you say, they're probably not all that reliable and will be open to dispute. I def wouldn't believe the figures issued by any of the propaganda machines of any of the governing bodies. Either way, irrespective of the bollocks peddled by the IRB, I will certainly be one of the four billion who tunes into the RWC this year!
DECLAN MURPHY
Roar Guru
Thanks for the corrections. The viewing figures was certainly a major mistake on my part. World Rugby have claimed that the cumulative viewing figures for the 2007 World Cup were over 4 Billion but that figure has since been widely disputed (I was way off the mark saying that a single match in any tournament got that amount of views!). It's my own personal view that the Rugby World Cup has a more worldwide viewing audience than any sporting tournament apart from the Olympics and the Soccer World Cup. I should have double-checked the mistake about the Webb-Ellis Cup and where it was gotten.
The Battered Slav
Guest
My bad, just very used to hyperbole and inaccuracy for Lordy, so just assumed! Naughty boy Declan, Carry on David.