From The Vaults

06 October 2015

RUGBY DYNASTIES - The 'Bok Family Morkel

Many families have contributed outstandingly to the history and development of international rugby. If Ireland holds a record for the number of brothers who have played in the emerald green at the highest level, one family stands supreme in its overall contribution to rugby in their country. The Morkel family...

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06 October 2015

RUGBY DYNASTIES - The 'Bok Family Morkel

Many families have contributed outstandingly to the history and development of international rugby. If Ireland holds a record for the number of brothers who have played in the emerald green at the highest level, one family stands supreme in its overall contribution to rugby in their country. The Morkel family...

29 September 2015

An American rugby pioneer in China - Henry Bluett Liversedge

Liversedge, nicknamed 'the Horse', had a huge influence on the rugby scene in China in the late 1920s, his legacy continued in Shanghai through to 1940. Born in California in 1894, he was a freshman at the University of California in 1914. During his first year, rugby was the football of choice on the west coast of America.

27 September 2015

Lest We Forget - Richard Davies Garnons Williams (Wales) 27/09/1915

Over 130 rugby internationals died in the Great War. The oldest - and one of the most courageous - was fifty-nine year-old Richard Davies Garnons Williams. To put this in perspective, the Crimean War had only just ended when Richard was born on 15 June 1856.

25 September 2015

Lest We Forget - Ernest Cotton Deane MC (Ireland) 25/09/1915

Ernest Deane was born on 4th May 1887 in Limerick, the third son of Thomas Stanley Deane and Aileen Annie (née Byrne), of Bank House, Rathkeale, co. Limerick. His father was manager of the National Bank, Rathkeale, co. Limerick.

18 September 2015

Match-Day Morning at Twickenham (1969)

Staff at Twickenham go through their morning routines in preparation for the 1969 Calcutta Cup contest between England and Scotland. Both sides were out of contention for the overall championship by this stage but the world's oldest international football contest was a sought after prize in its own right.

15 September 2015

A brief history of the Rugby World Cup

Proposals for a regular rugby world cup tournament first began to circulate in the 1950s. They were rejected by the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) who, in 1958, advocated a "go slow" policy in regard to 'foreign fixtures', fearing that club rugby might otherwise be adversely affected.

05 September 2015

Lest We Forget - David Revell Bedell-Sivright (Scotland) 05/09/1915

Triple-Triple Crown winner, hardest man ever to play for Scotland, horse-wrestling captain of the British Lions, heavyweight boxing champion, pioneer of the wing-forward role, jackaroo and surgeon in the Royal Navy.

26 August 2015

Twenty years of professional rugby union

On the 27th August 1895 22 clubs from the north of England ceded from the Rugby Football Union so that they might form a rival professional organisation. Rugby League was born and soon prospered.

22 August 2015

The Greater Game of War

A mixture of rain and snow accompanied the team on their journey north for their penultimate game of the 1914 5 Nations Championship. Their destination, Edinburgh, had experienced three weeks of solid rain but, against the odds, blue skies and a dry wind welcomed England on their arrival.

14 August 2015

MATCH REPORT - France v England, 1906

France and England contest their 100th international test rugby match in August 2015. John Griffiths here describes the first.

09 August 2015

Durham rugby friends die at Gallipoli in August 1915

Two teammates and close friends from the rugby fields of Durham School, Rosslyn Park and Oxford died at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli, just days and a few hundred yards apart in August 1915. This is their story...

08 August 2015

Lest We Forget - Albert 'Doolan' Downing (New Zealand) 08/08/1915

Sergeant Albert Downing was born in Napier on July 12, 1886. He was educated at the Marist Brothers' School there, which he left in 1904, and was employed as a clerk successively by the Excelsior Dairy Co., Ltd., Barry Bros., Ltd., and Ellison and Duncan, Ltd., merchants...

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