The roots of rugby football were planted in the 19th century fields of Rugby School. The boys created the early version of the game, without any fixed rules, numbers of players and with no officiating referee. Once rugby moved to clubs, unregulated play led to injuries and results were won by brute force rather than skill. In 1870 there were 49 clubs playing some style of rugby in England and badly in need of a governing body.
In January 1871 delegates from 22 clubs met at the Pall Mall Restaurant in London, where rules were drawn up based on those of Rugby School. The newly formed union’s first crisis was over payment of players. Northern clubs wanted to pay their players, not a fee for playing but a compensation for “broken time” to make up the wages they lost for playing on Saturdays. In the south where players were more well-heeled and didn’t work at weekends this was irrelevant but a powerful group insisted that payment was against the true interests of the game and consequently 22 leading clubs from Yorkshire formed their own Northern Union, which in 1922 became the Rugby League.
This decision on amateurism remained until 1995, when the game finally went open. The top end of the sport has paid players, while moving down the leagues there may be a mix of amateur and professional players. Most of the RFU’s 2,000 affiliated clubs are still amateur, although they can now give some financial help or support to their players.
The union takes sport into local schools and clubs and the youth development system has contributed much to producing players like Lawrence Dallaglio and Jason Leonard. The Schools Union, which exists within the RFU, comprises some 3,000 schools who play the XV a side game on a regular basis, contributing to the development of players like Martin Johnson and Richard Hill, who played for England at schools level. A great deal of work is done in inner cities and rural communities to offer everyone the chance to benefit from the core values of rugby union: teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline and sportsmanship.
The Rugby Football Union is the governing body of the sport in England and is a “friendly society”, which in essence means it is a membership organisation. It is the members of clubs and other parts of the Union, like the referee societies and rugby playing schools, who have the opportunity to buy tickets for sell-out international matches at Twickenham Stadium, the Home of England Rugby.
As a governing body, the RFU is responsible for rugby union in England at every level, from mini rugby teams in local clubs to the England team. When England wins it has a tremendous effect on both profits and popularity. Winning the World Cup in 2003 had a huge impact, driving up numbers of players, referees, coaches and volunteers. The RFU operates to PLC standards but unlike PLCs reinvests its profits in the sport. 2009 saw the completion of Twickenham Stadium’s iconic South Stand. A century after it was built, the 82,000 capacity stadium became the biggest rugby stadium in the world and, with hotel, leisure club, conference facilities, offices and flagship Rugby Store It is now a leading 24/7 sport and leisure destination.