From The Vaults

01 November 2025

Treasures of Japan by Hideki Shoji

Intricate craftsmanship has been appreciated across Japan for hundreds of years and continues to be cherised by avid collectors. Hideki Shoji explores the link this has to rugby...

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01 November 2025

Treasures of Japan by Hideki Shoji

Intricate craftsmanship has been appreciated across Japan for hundreds of years and continues to be cherised by avid collectors. Hideki Shoji explores the link this has to rugby...

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.

24 June 2024

Argentina’s 'disappeared' rugbiers

Andrés H. Reggiani of Universidad Torcuato Di Tella – Buenos Aires shares an adapted extract from his book 'El rugby. Historia, rituales y controversias desde sus orígenes hasta hoy.'

16 May 2024

Who was William Webb Ellis?

It is over 200 years since William Webb Ellis is said to have run with a football on the playing fields at Rugby School. But who was the real Webb Ellis? And what did he go on to do in later life?

11 December 2023

Japan’s Auntie Rugby

Established in 1952, IWATAYA is a Japanese golf equipment manufacturer, but its origin can be traced back 101 years. In this article Hideki Shoji explores the company’s long history and its links to the sport of rugby...

23 October 2023

Rugby and its Camp-ball Roots by Tom Langton

Did you know that an old term for Football in England was Camp-ball or Camping? Tom Langton explains in this article...

02 October 2023

William Webb Ellis: What We Know

Schoolboy William Webb Ellis is purported to have invented Rugby Football when he 'picked up the ball and ran' in 1823. But who was Webb Ellis, did he really invent the game and what did he do next?

18 September 2023

Where It All Started by Karl Quinney

Not everyone can lay claim to having the birthplace of a worldwide sport close to where they live. Born and bred in the town of Rugby, freelance travel writer Karl Quinney explores the scene where sporting history was made 200 years ago...

26 January 2023

GLOBAL PASS KICKS OFF RUGBY SCHOOL’S BICENTENARY CELEBRATION OF RUGBY FOOTBALL

PRESS RELEASE: Birthplace of the game of rugby, Rugby School will officially kick off its bicentenary celebrations by sending out 200 balls to be passed around the world during 2023.

09 January 2023

What’s in a Referee’s library? by Keith Gregson

Keith Gregson explores the recently discovered personal library of referee Alan Bean...

04 July 2022

More than a game: Rugby inspired Art by Lucia Hardy

Power and beauty. Runs swift as lightning. Thunder in the clash of bodies and colours. As an artist and a rugby lover, it’s not too hard to see how Rugby has inspired artists since it first became known and loved...

06 June 2022

The legality of subsitutions, 1924

On the 12th December 1924, administrators of England, Wales, Scotland, New Zealand, New South Wales, South Africa and Ireland met at the Great Northern Hotel, Kings Cross London for the first 'Imperial Rugby Conference'...