From The Vaults

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?

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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...

23 September 2024

The Autograph Hunter

The World Rugby Museum has recently acquired an unusual and unique item, a scarf embroidered with the signatures of famous international rugby players...

13 September 2024

All Hail the Invincibles

In any discussion of the greatest men’s international rugby teams of all time, there are a number of sides that get a mention but those in the know namecheck a side whose credentials in many ways surpass all others - the Invincibles...

29 August 2024

#FromTheVaults - Memorial Cards, 1905

In 1905, Cardiff witnessed some fantastic rugby from a Wales side on the cusp of global pre-eminence and Welsh printers found a humorous way to commemorate the historic victories. This month, we are highlighting some “mourning cards” from our collection...

05 August 2024

British Rugby Players Gain Olympic Cricket Medals by Keith Gregson

The Olympic Games in Paris are with us which allows for the study of a little known sporting gem. Keith Gregson tells the strange but true tale of the British rugby players who gained Olympic cricket medals...

26 July 2024

Rugby and the Olympics

A source of inspiration for the modern Olympic movement, rugby featured four times in the early 20th Century before triumphantly returning in the sevens format at Rio in 2016. Here's what happened in 1900, 1908, 1920, 1924, 2016 and 2020...

15 July 2024

Lest We Forget – Albert Chatau (France) 15/07/1924

Between 2014 and 2018, the World Rugby Museum paid individual tribute to each of the 129 Test international rugby players to lose their lives during the Great War. The last name on that list, Frenchman Albert Chatau, died from his wounds in July 1924. Here we conclude our period of commemoration with a tribute to Albert by Frédéric Humbert on the centenary of his death. Lest We Forget.

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.'

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