The Shared Origins of Football, Rugby, and Soccer

The Shared Origins of Football, Rugby, and Soccer
Author: Christopher Rowley
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2015-09-10
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1442246197

In today’s hypercompetitive world, contact sports bring about fierce rivalries between fans, between players, and even between countries. From the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Michigan Wolverines in grid iron football, to the Australian Wallabies and the New Zealand All Blacks in rugby, to Real Madrid and Barcelona in association football (soccer), contact sports incite a passion few other games can replicate. Though these modern contests of brawn might vary in ways both subtle and significant, they draw on a common history that dates back centuries. Overcoming rulers, conquerors, and religious leaders, the games of ancient times survived and flourished to become the sports we know and love today. In The Shared Origins of Football, Rugby, and Soccer, Christopher Rowley reveals how ball games arose and took shape into seven distinct forms: American football, association football, Australian rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, rugby league football, and rugby union football. Rowley traces ball games back to the Mayans in Meso-America and the Han Dynasty in China, through ancient Egypt and Greece, and on through the Cradle of football in England and Scotland. His narrative includes the relatively recent development of rules, codes, and leagues and concludes with the current state of football around the world. The Shared Origins of Football, Rugby, and Soccer takes the reader through this unique odyssey in world history by bringing to life the little-known games of the past. Rowley recreates ancient games from around the world based on surviving documents and illustrations, and relates first-hand accounts of fossil games still played today. Through careful research, the common ancestry of our modern seven codes of football is finally pieced together to create a fascinating history of the world of football that we know today.

Rugby Games & Drills

Rugby Games & Drills
Author: Rugby Football Union
Publisher: Human Kinetics
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2011-10-04
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1492582972

Improve technique, game sense and fitness levels with the aid of Rugby Games & Drills. Developed by one of the game’s top coaches and endorsed by the Rugby Football Union, Rugby Games & Drills contains over 115 games and drills designed to bring out the very best in players, regardless of age or ability or rugby code. This book is packed with the most effective games and drills for improving core skills such as handling, kicking and decision making while providing tough physical challenges. In addition, the detailed descriptions with accompanying illustrations will help you make the most of training sessions and ensure you are ready for game day. Rugby Games & Drills is the ideal companion for coaches and players of both rugby league and rugby union looking to maximize talent and harness their potential.

A Social History of English Rugby Union

A Social History of English Rugby Union
Author: Tony Collins
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2009-01-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 1134023340

From the myth of William Webb Ellis to the glory of the 2003 World Cup win, this book explores the social history of rugby union in England. Ever since Tom Brown’s Schooldays the sport has seen itself as the guardian of traditional English middle-class values. In this fascinating new history, leading rugby historian Tony Collins demonstrates how these values have shaped the English game, from the public schools to mass spectator sport, from strict amateurism to global professionalism. Based on unprecedented access to the official archives of the Rugby Football Union, and drawing on an impressive array of sources from club minutes to personal memoirs and contemporary literature, the book explores in vivid detail the key events, personalities and players that have made English rugby. From an era of rapid growth at the end of the nineteenth century, through the terrible losses suffered during the First World War and the subsequent ‘rush to rugby’ in the public and grammar schools, and into the periods of disorientation and commercialisation in the 1960s through to the present day, the story of English rugby union is also the story of the making of modern England. Like all the very best writers on sport, Tony Collins uses sport as a prism through which to better understand both culture and society. A ground-breaking work of both social history and sport history, A Social History of English Rugby Union tells a fascinating story of sporting endeavour, masculine identity, imperial ideology, social consciousness and the nature of Englishness.

The Complete Rugby Union Compendium

The Complete Rugby Union Compendium
Author: Keith Young
Publisher: Birlinn
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2015-09-01
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0857903268

The 2015 Rugby World Cup in England is set to be the biggest, brightest and most successful tournament to date, as the world's top teams compete for the coveted Webb Ellis Cup and inspire new participants and fans worldwide across 44 days and 48 matches. With over three million tickets set to be sold for the matches, the Rugby World Cup will be viewed in over 207 territories worldwide.However, for all the fanfare of the third biggest sporting event in the world (after the Olympics and FIFA World Cup), it is astonishing that, until now, there has been no single reference book in the marketplace that contains all the rugby internationals, in chronological order, played by the world's major rugby nations since the game's inception. Keith Young has spent six years compiling such a compendium to fill this gap in the market and has undertaken a colossal amount of research in the process.The Complete Rugby Union Compendium contains over 5,200 entries, organized in such a way that details of all matches can beeasily accessed by the reader. It is laid out in a visually engaging and informative format and will be invaluable to every dedicated rugby enthusiast.

Barbarians, Gentlemen and Players

Barbarians, Gentlemen and Players
Author: Eric Dunning
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2005
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0714653535

This revised edition of a classic text explores the development of rugby from a folk game into its modern forms. Updated with a substantial new foreword and epilogue.

Football

Football
Author: Francis Marshall
Publisher:
Total Pages: 542
Release: 1892
Genre: Rugby Union football
ISBN:

Rugby's Great Split

Rugby's Great Split
Author: Tony Collins
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2012-10-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 1136317732

Since it’s first publication, Rugby’s Great Split has established itself as a classic in the field of sport history. Drawing on an unprecedented range of sources, this deeply researched and highly readable book traces the social, cultural and economic divisions that led, in 1895, to schism in the game of rugby and the creation of rugby league, the sport of England’s northern working class. Tony Collins’ analysis challenges many of the conventional assumptions about this key event in rugby history – about class conflict, amateurism in sport, the North-South divide, violence on the pitch, the development of mass spectator sport and the rise of football. This new edition is expanded to cover parallel events in Australia and New Zealand, and to address the key question of rugby league’s failure to establish itself in Wales. Rugby’s Great Split is a benchmark text in the history of rugby, and an absorbing case study of wider issues – issues of class, gender, regional and national identity, and the impact of the commercialization and recent professionalization of rugby league. This insightful text is for anyone interested in Britain’s social history or in the emergence of modern sport, it is vital reading.

Rugby Union and Professionalisation

Rugby Union and Professionalisation
Author: Mike Rayner
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2017-12-15
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1351971247

The game of rugby has changed significantly in the course of its history. In the early part of the 19th century it evolved from a folk game played by the working class to a recreational activity for public schoolboys. From the 1820s rugby represented an opportunity for gentlemen to demonstrate physical prowess and masculinity and in more recent times it has developed into an activity that reflects the changing attitudes towards professional sport. For the most part of the last one hundred years, rugby union became an important international sport that represented the nationalistic ideals of a number of countries. However, a number of developments, including the increasing influence of a business ethos within sport during the latter decades of the twentieth century, exposed rugby union to the realities of commercialism and all the factors associated with it, especially the demands of a more diverse spectating public. Drawing on interview material with forty-eight elite level rugby union players from England, Wales, Scotland, France, Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia who participated in elite level rugby union either before, in the overlapping period or after the declaration of professionalism, this book traces the evolution of attitudes towards professionalism from a players’ perspective and develops a critical review of the impact that professionalism has had upon the sport of rugby union. Rugby Union and Professionalisation: Elite Player Perspectives is fascinating reading for all students and scholars with an interest in rugby union, sport history, sport policy, sport management and the sociology of sport.

Understanding Rugby Union

Understanding Rugby Union
Author: Julia Hickey
Publisher: Coachwise 1st4sport
Total Pages: 68
Release: 2006
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9781905540099

Packed with information about rugby to help you, or anyone with an interest in rugby union, demystify the sport and make learning about it fun. This book features chapters on what you need to play rugby union, the laws of the game, misconduct, skills and more; and interactive tasks to test your understanding as you work through the chapters.

Rugby Union Basics In A Day For Dummies

Rugby Union Basics In A Day For Dummies
Author: Nick Cain
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 100
Release: 2012-05-22
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1118380126

If you get a big kick out of rugby but still feel you could sharpen up your knowledge of the game, Rugby Rules in a Day For Dummies is for you. Inside you'll find easy-to-understand advice on the basic rules of the game, pitch positions, and tactics. In less than a day, readers will find all they need to know to get understand the sport of rugby: Features an in-depth look at Laws that form the beautiful game Covers all the reader will need to know about talking tactics Is perfect for anyone looking at swatting up on rugby