From The Vaults

12 December 2022

Rugby in the Middle East by Richard Thom

Rugby in the Middle East was a surprising phenomenon. Its beginnings from the sand pitches for which it is famed now stand as a testament to the spirit and ingenuity of the players that embodies the game in this region...

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12 December 2022

Rugby in the Middle East by Richard Thom

Rugby in the Middle East was a surprising phenomenon. Its beginnings from the sand pitches for which it is famed now stand as a testament to the spirit and ingenuity of the players that embodies the game in this region...

Read More

05 December 2022

New Zealand Rugby Records

The Rugby Almanack of New Zealand was first published in 1935 containing details of New Zealand first class rugby matches from the previous year. The Almanack has continued to be issued ever since then covering every subsequent season of New Zealand rugby...

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28 November 2022

A 19th century club match

One of the joys of researching in a museum is finding an item that has perhaps not been touched or looked at for a very long time. Such an item in the collection of the World Rugby Museum is the programme for a rugby match between Cambridge University and Blackheath played 125 years ago at the University Ground in Grange Road on Saturday 20 November 1897...

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04 November 2022

The Birth of Championship Rugby in Argentina

In the year 1899, the first club rugby championship was played in Argentina. This article by Eduardo García Sáenz is a tribute to the players, their families, and their clubs, for the vision put into action, in 1899...

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08 August 2022

An English club knock-out competition at last!

It remains surprising that it took a century from the foundation of the Rugby Football Union in January 1871 to the decision to hold an inaugural knock-out competition for English clubs during the 1971-72 season. It was not technically a cup competition because there was only a plaque to be presented to the winning team at the end of the Final by the RFU President...

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31 January 2022

The Four Proud Provinces of Ireland

As the Six Nations Championship of 2022 approaches, several highly significant clashes await between old rivals. Whichever country you support, the England match against Ireland at Twickenham in March for the Millennium Trophy is likely to be particularly hard-fought...

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24 January 2022

The History of Wimbledon RFC

In 1865 Queen Victoria reigned, Alice in Wonderland was published, the American Civil War was coming to an end and Wimbledon Rugby Football Club was born...

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10 January 2022

Proud To be A Steeler

It’s November 1995 in Central Station Pub, King's Cross, London. Six men are sat around a table, excitedly discussing plans to create the first rugby club of its kind. Every one of them has a shared dream—to establish a safe environment for men to play rugby, where players can participate regardless of sexual orientation, race, or age...

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13 September 2021

Royal Indian Engineering College RFC, one of London’s Lost Rugby Clubs

The following article is an extract from 'London's Lost Rugby Clubs' by Dick Tyson...

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07 June 2021

The Formation of Marlborough RFC

From being one of the founding clubs of the RFU (Marlborough Nomads) to the current day on the Common (Marlborough RFC), rugby and Marlborough have never been far apart.

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15 February 2021

The Formation of Sunderland FC

Keith Gregson examines links between the founding of the Rugby Football Union in 1871 and the establishment of Sunderland Football Club in 1873...

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04 January 2021

A Sunderland Discovery!

We're starting 2021 off with an exciting discovery for Sunderland FC and the wider rugby community...

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