History of the Rugby World Cup

What is Rugby?

Rugby union is a full contact sport that consists of fifteen players on each team. The game is played on a rectangular field one hundred and twenty metres long and fifty-eight to sixty-eight metres wide all depending on the venue, but only one hundred metres is used for general game play. At both ends of the field there are two goals in the shape of an ‘H’ in the centre. The point of the game is to get to the other teams goal line with the ball to score.  

The World Cup.

The concept of a Rugby World Cup had first been thought of in 1979 but it was not until late1983 that the Australia and New Zealand Rugby Football Unions submitted a proposal to the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) to hold the Rugby World Cup competition. After Australia and New Zealand had both submitted their proposals they became aware of the others intentions to hold the same event. Australia wanted to hold the tournament in 1988 the same year as their Bicentenary while New Zealand was planning for the previous year.

Both Australia and New Zealand were declined their proposals, so both nations decided to unite their resources to conduct a feasibility study to present to the IRFB at their annual meeting during March in 1985.

1987 was the year both Australia and New Zealand agreed on as this would not clash with the Olympic Games and also the FIFA World Cup. A further vote was then held on the two nations holding the event at the IRFB meeting-taking place in Paris. Eight IRFB nations consisting of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, France, England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales voted. The vote resulted in six votes to two in favour of Australia and New Zealand holding the World Cup. The two countries that voted against this proposal were Ireland and Scotland. They believed the World Cup would threaten the amateur status of the sport. France supported this event only if countries not already with the IRFB were invited to partake in the competition. South Africa was excluded from taking place in the tournament, as they were the objects of an international sporting boycott because of the apartheid regime, however they still voted in favour of the concept. 

The encouraging decision was an important one, as it enabled for the tournament to go ahead. The world body would be organising the World Cup and not big business or television companies whose only main interest would be in making a substantial amount of money.

After being given the go ahead with only two years to organise the tournament, they were finally able to establish a world championship that would be held in New Zealand with Australia being a co-host.

Before the World Cup there were other international competitions. Rugby Union was played at regular test matches, touring sides, Home Nations Championship/ Five Nations Championship and at the summer Olympics. Rugby Union was played at the summer Olympics on four occasions, in 1900, 1908, 1920 and 1924. However, playing at the summer Olympics these competitions did not involve full national sides as it only involved three or four participating nations at any individual event. The Home Nations Championship/Five Nations Championships has been established since 1883. The Five Nations Championship is one of the oldest international rugby tournaments involving only the European nations.

The Rugby World Cup was first played in 1987. Australia and New Zealand were the first countries to host The Rugby World Cup. Sixteen nations come together to play thirty-two matches. The winner in the first year was New Zealand captained by David Kirk and France running up in second place (29-9). A video of the first ever Rugby World Cup Final, New Zealand verse France can be viewed on this link.

The Rugby World Cup is played every four years. It is planned so it doesn’t clash with the Olympic Games.

The second series of The Rugby World Cup was played in 1991 and was hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France. Australia took out the win 12 – 6 against England at the Twickenham Stadium in London. New Zealand and Scotland both taking out third place.

The third Rugby World Cup was in 1995. The 1995 Rugby World Cup was hosted and won by South Africa. This was the first major sporting event held in South Africa following the end of the apartheid. The World Cup final was played on the 24^th June 1995 at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. South Africa defeated New Zealand fifteen to twelve. 

The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth, and was also the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the Rugby Union’s professional era. Wales was the holder of the World Cup even though most of the games were played outside the country, sharing between England, France, Scotland and Ireland. 1999 was also the first year twenty nations competed in the Rugby World Cup. Previously twelve nations had competed. It was this year that the repechage was introduced into the tournament. The repechage created a second chance for teams that finished as runners up in the qualifying zone. Australia ended up winning the Cup thirty-five to twelve beating France.

2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup, which was won by England. The World Cup was to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, but all games were moved to Australia due to a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between New Zealand Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup Limited. The event started at the Telstra Stadium in Sydney with Australia defeating Argentina twenty-four to eight. Soon the semi-finals came with Australia winning twenty-two to ten to New Zealand. The winner of the 2003 Rugby World Cup was England with twenty to seventeen to Australia. England was the first northern hemisphere World Champions.  

France was the host of the sixth Rugby World Cup held in 2007. The first match opened with France and Argentina at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis Paris, the stadium was also the venue for the final match between England and South Africa. South Africa won their second title at fifteen to six points. The Rugby World Cup was held in twelve stadiums with some venues in Edinburgh and Cardiff located in Scotland. 

All teams play to win the Rugby World Cup. The Rugby World Cup is also acknowledged as The Webb Ellis Cup, the cup is the prize presented to the winner of the series. The cup was chosen in 1987 as the appropriate prize for the competition, the cup was named The Webb Ellis Cup after William Webb Ellis who created the game of rugby football.

Rugby World Cup Limited organise the tournaments, and the hosts of each series are voted on by the IRFB members in each nation. The allocation of the host for the tournaments is made five or six years prior to the commencement of the event. For example New Zealand was allocated to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup in 2005. In the past the tournament has been co-hosted by one or multiple nations, for example the 1987 Rugby World Cup was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

The Rugby World Cup tournament is one of the largest international sporting events in the world. In 1987, the first World Cup had 300 million television viewers worldwide. The 1991 World Cup tournament in England reached 1.75 billion television viewers around the world. With the increasing television audiences, The 1995 Rugby World Cup reached 2.67 billion viewers, 1999 World Cup reached 3 billion viewers and the 2003 had 3.5 billion viewers. The 2007 Rugby World Cup television audiences continued to increase to a massive 4.2 billion over the 48 matches, with the average audience 47,150 per game.  

Out of all the nations that have competed and won the World Cup have never been able to successfully protect the title, but overall Australia has been the most successful nation winning the World Cup twice, in the finals three times, semi- finals four times and the quarter finals six times.