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The RFU

The RFU, rugby's first governing body, was formed on January 26th in 1871 by representatives from 21 of the local rugby clubs, and shortly after this, a set of codes or laws were created by a lawyer known as Leonard Maton who wrote the first draft whilst laid up with a broken leg - from playing rugby! Unions continued to form in other countries and on 27th March 1871, the first international rugby match was played between England and Scotland. International tours became incredibly important in the development of the game worldwide and in 1882, the first ever Rugby Union tour occurred when an Australian team visited New Zealand.

The Rugby World Cup

Another century of Rugby was played before the introduction of the Rugby World Cup. During the century that passed, various significant rules were added to the game such as drop goals, listed as a form of kicking by the RFU in 1887, the introduction of umpires and a referee in 1885 and the scrum which developed in 1905. In 1985, the first ever Rugby World Cup was launched and in 1987 it was hosted in New Zealand and Australia. The trophy, named the William Webb Ellis cup, was chosen by the then chairman John Kendall-Carpenter.

The great split

The great split between Rugby Union and Rugby League occurred back in 1895. At the time, Rugby fever had hit Britain hard and more and more clubs were developing in some of the largest cities and counties in the north of England. With the development of the new leagues came the demand for more control and autonomy to include payment of players for loss of earnings, but the RFU was keen to retain its amateur status. This led to the Northern clubs forming the Northern Rugby Union, formally known as Rugby League from 1922. It wasn't until the summer of 1995 when rugby union finally agreed to became professional having held on to its amateur status for 150 years.