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Sean Fagan is a long-retired rugby hooker (Smithfield Warthogs RFC) and now author/journalist specialising in the early history of the rugby codes. He has written extensively for major newspapers, magazines, websites and released a number of books, the most recent ‘The First Lions of Rugby’, the story of the 1888 British Lions rugby and Aussie rules playing tour of Australia. sfaganweb.com
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From the distance of 100 years since the start of World War One it is difficult for us today to fully appreciate why men,…
'Electorate football' sounds like a euphemism for the humbugging of us by vote-seeking politicians; instead it is the scheme that gave birth to the…
Full time footballers aren't a new phenomenon; the first were those in touring teams of the 1880s. Did they unleash on the public scandals…
The great bugbears of rugby are penalty goals and the whim of a referee. Is that fair criticism, or is it simply the nature…
The most impressive aspect of the Lions victory over the stoic Waratahs was the manner of their five tries – all came through deft…
A party from the British and Irish Lions yesterday visited Maitland and the grave of 1888 Lions captain Bob Seddon. The Hunter region is…
Though never the home side, the British and Irish Lions take the field backed by a ‘sea of red' fans. Football team nicknames and…
The British and Irish Lions are here, it's State of Origin time, the Socceroos face Japan, our cricketers are in England – should AFL…
The scrum in the NRL has long descended into two adjacent huddles engaged in a stop-work meeting. It is a farce and charade that…
Tomorrow night’s Reds-Waratahs game celebrates 130 years since these two now long-time rivals first met on Queensland soil, a match equably notable for being…
@ Stellahands – the original Balmain club of 1873 was extinct by the start of the 1890s as the game, post the 1888 Lions tour, became so popular that Balmain was served by, at my count, at least five local clubs (a one-team club). The Balmain club of 1900 was the new district club, which later merged with the Glebe district, and then re-named as Drummoyne.
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
@ Jiggles. Great times, and not a night game in sight! Be good if other clubs did videos like that.
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
@ jeznez. No, the Zealandia clubs was gone by 1900.
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
In 1889 both Sydney and Melbourne senior rugby competitions saw the formation of new clubs, comprised entirely of New Zealanders – an initiative analogous to the earlier establishment of “London Scottish” and “London Welsh” clubs in the English capital.
In Sydney the “Zealandia Football Club” initially resolved to wear a black uniform with a silver fern (replicating the 1888 New Zealand Native team that toured Britain), before changing to blue (the colour worn by the first New Zealand party when it visited NSW in 1884). In Melbourne the “Pakeha Football Club” also donned the blue jersey. (The NZRU adopted the now famous black strip for New Zealand teams in 1893).
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
@ Orangejonesy I played there, for school & Warthogs, but most were at Rosford St. Damn I wish I had ‘borrowed’ a club jersey – would loved one on the wall!
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
@ Harry Kimble. Claiming a line back like a family tree, yes, by all means recite it & celebrate it, but, to me at least, citing that as means to claim to be the same club is a stretch too far. Easts would point to Paddington (who they took the red, white & blue of in 1900 at their founding meeting at Paddington Town Hall), and no doubt Northn Sub.s would point to the Pirates &/or Wallaroo, & Glebe to the earlier Glebe clubs.
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
@ Avon River. You would need to know what rugby was in the 1850s before you could classify where Meb FC rules sat. There was practically no passing of the ball in rugby, not per the laws but by tradition. The rugby laws of the 1850s & earlier do not prohibit off-side play, they restrict how off-side play is to be conducted. Bouncing of the ball in Vic rules wasn’t added until 1860s. The Melb FC first rules were rugby, simplified for all comers to understand, and less hazardous to life & limb.
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
The district scheme was already in use in Sydney cricket since the early 1890s. Sydney also has distinct suburban differences/communities, that even today make merging clubs of little value, and as GWS is finding out (the hard way).
The sheer scale of playing numbers in the late 1800s in Sydney rugby made it possible, coupled arguably with a strong democratic & labor aligned principles, as well as some clubs dominating others in terms of money & player depth. No other rugby city in Australia had the player numbers, nor did they have clubs “touting” for players. The VFL was created from the VFA in 1897 over similar issues, but resolved it differently (the top clubs left the weak behind)
You are spot on re the 1920s. There was a lot of debate pushing for the NSWRU doing away with the district scheme, and it only just held on.
The 1900 district scheme, breaking down the old clubs to make way for it, arguably not only gave RL in 1908 a ready-made template for its premiership clubs, but left the district RU clubs (just 7 years old themselves) in a very vulnerable position re loyalty etc. Had the 1890s clubs still be in control of Sydney, mounting a breakaway may not have been so easily argued.
On the other hand, most of those clubs were already indulging in under the table payments to players & may have founded RL in time anyway. The 1899 British Lions captain gave them all a verbal whacking at NSWRU dinner, but in return the clubs admonished him, told him to start his crusade in Yorkshire & Lancashire if he wanted to stop professionalism. http://sfaganweb.wordpress.com/the-rugby-rebellion/
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
@ Avon River. The key distinction for me is running with the ball. The FA’s first rules in 1863 allowed a fair catch, but not running carrying the ball (goal keeper excluded). Melb FC allowed unrestricted running with the ball in its first rules in 1859. I will always say that Melb’s first rules are rugby laws simplified and less brutal.
I know the Brisbane article you are referring to. After the RFU was founded in 1871 a number of clubs and schools, including Rugby School, continued with the earlier form(s) of rugby for a short time. However, only the negative-thinkers would try to suggest the rugby code of today cannot lay claim to the earlier rugby pre 1871 & back to the time of WWEllis.
In the 1888 Lions tour the visitors’ forward pack’s key strike weapon was dribbling the ball. In the book there is a great drawing of “dribbling rush” – the entire forward pack would mass behind the ball and soccer-style (aka traditional rugby too) transport the ball upfield – you were a brave man to try to stop that by diving at the ball or even trying to kick at it. http://Lions1888.com
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
I’ve seen advertisements in Melbourne newspapers as early as 1859 offering for sale imported rugby balls made by Gilbert of Rugby. The company’s history claims to have been making balls for the boys at Rugby School before Webb Ellis was a student there. They really came to a wider audience after showcasing their footballs at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London.
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
@ jeznez. Lot of respect for props…especially the ones that could up me up so I could avail myself of the opportunities provided by a loose arm. 🙂
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
@ Avon River. You’re not putting forward Melbourne FC in 1858 (before devising its own rules in 1859) as Australia’s first rugby club are you? You’ll get me into trouble!
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
@ Happy Hooker. Agree! If not for the lingering effects of the head knocks nothing would ever stop us!
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
@ Bakkies. Sounds like at junior/development level it is. The Sydney model adopted in 1900 provided that, even in first grade, you had no choice but to play for the district club based upon where you lived.
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
@ Orangejonesy. Yes it is All Saints College of Bathurst. You may find this story of All Saints “old boy” CG Wade (NSW & England 1880s) interesting
The Hunter’s Webb Ellis
http://jottingsonrugby.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/webb-ellis-rugby/
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
@ sheek. Definitely different. Makes for sad reading in a way, when you see the newspaper reports from the first months of 1900 where clubs held their annual meeting, filled halls & meeting rooms, spoke at length about their friendships, pride & joy of their club (some up to 30 years old), and then proceeded to take a vote extinguishing the club, before retiring to the pub to do justice the club’s memory.
In Melbourne the VFL stopped expanding before WW2, unlike the rugby codes in Sydney who kept adding territory as the city grew, and redrawing club boundaries & adding new clubs. In Melbourne the residents of new suburban reaches took to following one of the inner city clubs, based on family tradition or whatever else attracted them to one particular club.
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
Thanks David for the kind review! (and your wife for her astute book-buying judgement! 🙂 ).
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
Thanks Bakkies. Illustrates the comparison between Sydney (as well as Brisbane and Newcastle who went to the district method as well) versus London & other larger rugby cities which truly had “clubs” not district branches of the local RU authority.
Many of the London clubs did/do move about, even further afield from the metropolis. Whereas in Sydney, though the district scheme is now really defunct, the clubs & their brand are, in a marketing sense, tied to a suburban part of the city.
If the brands (clubs) were just identified as “Sydney clubs” they could better appeal across the whole of the city.
Even in the NRL the big brands (Rabbitohs, Bulldogs, Dragons) are still struggling with that issue. The “Sydney Tigers” and “Sydney Bulldogs” show it is difficult to morph from suburban to city-wide.
The old Sydney rugby brands/clubs of the late 19th century, had they not been killed-off, would now conceivably be stronger city wide brands (something akin to Rabbitohs or Carlton, of course realising those codes have larger supporter bases).
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
@peterlala. Definitely one of the oldest. I didn’t mention them as they weren’t ever a first grade club. As noted on the club’s website, http://www.petershamrugby.com/about-us/maroon-blue/our-colours/ there are periods between 1900 & 1920s where the club did not play, and/or were a juniors only team/club. That’s not said as a means to diminish the club’s history, it’s just a question in the article about whether continuity of seasons matters, or is just the founding year.
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
Again, a point of conjecture, depending upon what criteria & sources are applied, and whether you count schools & universities. There is a list of “football” clubs across all codes in date order here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_football_clubs#Timeline.2C_1839.E2.80.9380
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?
I think more likely the maroon/purple flower was adopted after the jersey colour made maroon representative of the colony/state. Unless it had another name, a newspaper search suggests the flower wasn’t of such significance until after WW2.
From what I can see there is no doubt the Blues & Maroons no longer have any resonance or utility in regard to the NSW & QLD Super teams.
Lions' sea of red, white and blue
@ Spiro. There is in “The Game for the Game Itself” by Thomas Hickie a lengthy list of Sydney clubs of the late 1800s, with club colours included. It doesn’t really suggest a narrow option of colours. From the few newspaper advertisements I’ve come across places such as Horderns seem to offer what they have been able to procure from UK suppliers, which seems to be dependent upon (left overs?) the leading UK clubs designs. Some clubs in Aust dealt directly with a UK supplier. As early as 1882 in Sydney there is an advert for stripes as well as the simpler solid one-colour jerseys, but to contact the store for colours. 🙁 The 1888 British Lions wore a triple hoop of red, white & blue, and there were English clubs such as Richmond in triple hoops. Before adopting Cambridge blue, NSW had used maroon jerseys (1888 Lions game) as well as red & initially olive green. The first QLD team in 1882 had red and black hoops. It seems to me there was an understood convention that national teams (and here our colony teams) wore a solid colour, while clubs were stripes or solid or even a sash over a solid. The 1888 Lions were the sole exception at national level, until in 1910 going for a solid dark blue. At Rugby School when the different houses played each other they wore stripes, but the School team wore solid white. I’m not sure how that all works with your theory. What colours not used by the Home Nations, NSW, QLD, NZ & SA in late 1890s would be available?
Lions' sea of red, white and blue
@ bluey. The club’s own website makes it plain there were seasons it didn’t compete (even excluding war periods). http://maitlandrugbyclub.com.au/menu/
What are Australia's oldest rugby clubs?