FUN FACTS, STATS, QUOTES & TRIVIA Volume 1 covers the 1823–1969 This is the essential pick-up, put-down, and pick-up again rugby history for everybody. From players to fans, from newspapers to television and from computer games to bumper-stickers… and everything in between This is the rugby book for everyone! Early football were mainly ‘mob’ style games, with enormous numbers of players attempting to advance the ball into a goal area, often by any means necessary. Rules were simple with violence and injury common. The games remained largely disorganized until the early 19th century when games began to be played on college grounds. The invention of rugby was therefore not the act of playing early forms of the game, or the acts of a certain William Webb Ellis, but rather the events which led up to its codification and the development of a common set of laws. Like so many sports which originated from Victorian England it was competition involving a sense of fair play and the subsequent need for rules and laws which developed rugby into a global game. During the latter half of the 19th century the game spread rapidly throughout the British colonies, France, Argentina and Japan where club and provincial competitions evolved, and international matches became regular events. The evolution of the game during the 20th century was blighted by global conflicts and many rugby playing soldiers paid the ultimate price. However, the periods following both World Wars saw the game consolidate, constant refinement of techniques and tactics flourished, and frequent and fiercely competitive international tours were being undertaken… this extensive period of expansion of the game has provided rich pickings for A Brief History of Rugby.