From The Vaults

24 January 2025

Inverleith – Scotland’s rugby ground at the beginning of the 20th century

One hundred years ago on Saturday 24 January 1925 the Scotland rugby team played its 39th international on the rugby ground at Inverleith in north Edinburgh...

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24 January 2025

Inverleith – Scotland’s rugby ground at the beginning of the 20th century

One hundred years ago on Saturday 24 January 1925 the Scotland rugby team played its 39th international on the rugby ground at Inverleith in north Edinburgh...

13 January 2025

1891 Lions Tour

The 1891 Lions tour remains a landmark in the history and development of rugby union worldwide, coming at the beginning of a tumultuous decade for rugby in the northern hemisphere in which the growing threat of professional rugby became a reality...

06 January 2025

Irish Warrior: The Paddy Mayne Story

As BBC drama SAS Rogue Heroes returns for a second series, we're looking at the story of Blair "Paddy" Mayne, the Ireland International rugby player who went on to be recruited into the Special Air Service...

23 December 2024

Music and Song – Rugby’s Unlikely Game Changer! By Paddy Lennon

Music and song have been part of rugby union for generations. Whether at country or club level, administrators and coaches long ago realised the potential of music and song as a motivator both on and off the pitch. In this article which draws on a chapter in his award-winning book “London Irish – 125 years of Passion in Exile”, Paddy Lennon charts the influence and impact of music and lyrics on the game.

16 December 2024

Has anyone got an older club blazer than this?

Sunderland FC was established during the 1873/74 season and during its 150th anniversary season a discovery was made...

26 November 2024

The impact of substitutes over the years

After the tumultuous changes to rugby union following the introduction of professionalism in the summer of 1995, the introduction of tactical subs undoubtedly changed the nature of the game...

18 November 2024

Japan v England XV, 1971 by Hideki Shoji

In September 1971, about one month after the British Lions clinched their first-ever Test Series victory in New Zealand, the first international match between England and Japan was about to kick off in the Far East...

14 November 2024

Why did the 1924 New Zealand Invincibles not play Scotland? By Stephen Berg

It is one hundred years since the great All Blacks side, the 'Invincibles' of 1924-25. Heroes and household names for a generation of New Zealanders, forever to be remembered as the team that beat them all. But did they beat them all and why didn’t they play Scotland?

10 November 2024

'Old Billy' and his pal Charles by Keith Gregson

In 1918, Sunderland rugby and hockey player Charles Herbert wrote a letter about the death of his best friend, 'Billy Barker', who was killed whilst serving in the 15th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry during the First World War...

28 October 2024

Jock Richardson – an All Black great

Johnstone 'Jock' Richardson was a leading back row forward for the All Blacks, representing them 42 times between 1921 and 1925. In this article, World Rugby Museum researcher Richard Steele delves into his life and career...

19 October 2024

Hidden Beneath HQ

To coincide with International Archaeology Day, we’re sharing some items that have been found over the years under the pitch at the Home of England Rugby...

07 October 2024

Legal Giants of Rugby

Richard Steele looks at two rugby-playing legal giants of the 1920s, Rowe Harding and Carl Aarvold...