1.
Jimmy Duncan (rugby union)
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James Duncan was a New Zealand rugby union footballer, coach and referee. He was born in Dunedin, New Zealand and he appeared for Otago before being selected to play for New Zealand in 1897. He captained New Zealand for the first time against Wellington in 1901 and he captained New Zealand in its first Test, against Australia, in 1903. That was also his last game for New Zealand, Duncan then moved to coaching, coaching New Zealand in its first home test, against Great Britain, in 1904. In 1905 he was selected to coach the New Zealand team to tour the Northern Hemisphere and his appointment as coach was unpopular, and most of the coaching ended up being done by team members Billy Stead and Dave Gallaher instead. In 1908 he refereed a Test between New Zealand and the Anglo-Welsh, Duncan is credited with naming the position five-eight, as there was already positions half-back and three-quarters, he came up with the name according to the fraction between them. All Blacks The Original All Blacks Jimmy Duncan at AllBlacks. com
2.
Dave Gallaher
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Under Gallahers leadership the Originals won 34 out of 35 matches over the course of tour, including legs in France and North America, the New Zealanders scored 976 points and conceded only 59. Before returning home he co-wrote the classic rugby text The Complete Rugby Footballer with his vice-captain Billy Stead, Gallaher retired as a player after the 1905–06 tour and took up coaching and selecting, he was a selector for both Auckland and New Zealand for most of the following decade. Born in Ramelton, Ireland, Gallaher migrated to New Zealand with his family as a small child, after moving to Auckland, in 1895 he joined Ponsonby RFC and was selected for his province in 1896. In 1901–02 he served with the New Zealand Contingent in the Anglo-Boer War and he first appeared on the New Zealand national team for their unbeaten tour of Australia in 1903, and played in New Zealands first ever Test match, against Australia in Sydney. The Originals Gallaher captained during 1905–06 helped to cement rugby as New Zealands national sport, during the First World War, Gallaher enlisted in the New Zealand Division to fight in Europe. He was killed in 1917 at the Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium and he has since been inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame, International Rugby Hall of Fame, and the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. James was a widower who had married Maria in 1866, a year after the death of his first wife, James had two children from his first marriage, and David was the seventh from his marriage to Maria. The couple had three children after David, but of their ten offspring, three died in infancy. The couples other offspring were, Joseph, Isabella, James, Maria, Jane, Thomas, William, Oswald, David was baptised as a Presbyterian in the First Ramelton Meeting House on 8 January 1874. After the struggling in his business in Ramelton, James decided to emigrate with his family to New Zealand as part of George Vesey Stewarts Katikati Special Settlement scheme. In May 1878 the Gallaghers – minus the sick James Patrick who at eight weeks old was too weak to make the trip – sailed from Belfast on the Lady Jocelyn for Katikati in the Bay of Plenty. On arriving in New Zealand, the family altered their surname to Gallaher in an effort to reduce confusion over its spelling and pronunciation. The Gallaher couple and their six children arrived in Auckland after a three-month voyage and it had been hoped that James would be employed as the agent for the Donegal Knitting Company in New Zealand, which was to be established by Lord George Augusta Hill. But Hill died unexpectedly and his successor did not support the initiative, in January 1886 David spent a week in Auckland hospital undergoing surgery to treat stunted muscles in his left leg which had led to curvature of his spine. His mother became sick that year, and in 1887 lost her teaching position. His mothers condition worsened and she died of cancer on 9 September 1887, with a father in his seventies, the 13-year-old David was compelled to leave school so he could help his brothers to support the family. He took a job with a stock and station agent. The older Gallaher children had to work to prevent the authorities from putting their younger siblings up for adoption
3.
Billy Wallace
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William Joseph Billy Wallace was a New Zealand rugby union footballer and foundryman. He was a member of the legendary 1905 Original All Blacks, Wallace won his first Test cap for New Zealand on 15 August 1903 against Australia. In total he played 51 matches for the All Blacks including 11 internationals, following the death of Loftus Armstrong in 1959, Wallace held the distinction of being the oldest living All Black. Wallace died in Wellington in 1972 and was buried at Karori Cemetery
4.
Jimmy Hunter
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James Jimmy Hunter was a rugby union footballer who played for New Zealands national team, the All Blacks. He played mainly at second five-eighth, although he could play any position in the backline and he played for Hawera Club before being selected for Taranaki in 1898 and the North Island in 1904 before his first All Blacks selection in 1905. He toured with the 1905 All Blacks that travelled to Great Britain, France, after returning he continued to be selected for the All Blacks until retiring after the 1908 season. Hunter was from a family in Taranaki, and attended Wanganui Collegiate. He then joined the Hawera Rugby Club and was selected to play for Taranaki in 1898 at the age of 18 and he played in almost every position in the Taranaki backline before settling on second five-eighth. He continued to play for Taranaki and played for them against the touring Great Britain team that toured New Zealand in 1904. He was also selected to play for the All Blacks to play the one Test match against Great Britain and he was first selected for the North Island team in the annual inter-island match that year as well. In 1905 he captained the North Island to a 26–0 victory over the South Island and he was selected for the New Zealand team that toured the New Zealand and Australia that July. This was a tour and Hunter was appointed captain. Although there were seven matches, Hunter only played in three and he was selected for the final squad the tour the Northern Hemisphere, but was replaced by Dave Gallaher as captain and Billy Stead as vice-captain. The team became known as The Original All Blacks. The first of Hunters 24 matches on tour was the match against Devon in Exeter and he scored eight tries in his first four games on tour, and after nine games had scored 23. He twice scored five tries in a match on the tour. The second was when they played Oxford University, and the Morning Leader wrote Hunter was the most destructive medium on attack, one half of this little wonders tricks have not been told yet and the Oxford men were simply paralysed by his tenacity. His next match was against Richmond, Hunter did play in the All Blacks all five Tests on the tour, including the 3–0 loss to Wales. His first ever Test was the 12–7 victory over Scotland, and he continued to play for Taranaki, the North Island and the All Blacks following the tour, and captained the All Blacks in their 1907 tour of Australia. He captained all three Tests against Australia, the first two won 26–6 and then 14–5 and the third drawn 5–5, Hunter then played in all three Tests against the Anglo-Welsh team that toured New Zealand in 1908, and captained the second. Following the 1908 season he retired from active play, after his retirement he farmed at Mangamahu
5.
Scotland national rugby union team
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The Scotland national rugby union team represents Scotland in international rugby union. Rugby union in Scotland is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union, the team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship and participates in the Rugby World Cup, which takes place every four years. As of 27 February 2017, Scotland are fifth in the World Rugby Rankings, the Scottish rugby team dates back to 1871, where they beat England in the first international rugby union match at Raeburn Place. Scotland competed in the Five Nations from the tournament in 1883. In 2000 the competition accepted a sixth competitor, Italy, thus forming the Six Nations, since this change, Scotland have yet to win the competition. Their best finish came in 1991, where they lost to the All Blacks in the third place play-off, Scotland have a strong rivalry with the English national team. They both annually compete for the Calcutta Cup, each year, this fixture is played out as part of the Six Nations, and Scotland last won it in 2008. In December 1870 a group of Scots players issued a letter of challenge in The Scotsman and in Bells Life in London, in front of around 4000 spectators, the Scots won the encounter by a try and a goal to a solitary try scored by England. England later got revenge by winning the match at the Kennington Oval. The Calcutta Cup was donated to the Rugby Football Union in 1878 by the members of the short-lived Calcutta Rugby Club, the members had decided to disband, the cup was crafted from melted-down silver rupees which became available when the Clubs funds were withdrawn from the bank. The Cup is unique in that it is competed for only by England and Scotland. The first Calcutta Cup match was played in 1879 and, since that time, in 1882 the Home Nations Championship, the fore-runner of the modern Six Nations Championship was founded with Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland taking part. Further Triple Crowns wins for Scotland followed in 1901,1903 and 1907, however, Scotlands triumph in 1907 would be the last for eighteen years as the First World War and Englands dominance afterwards would deny them glory. In 1897 land was purchased, by the SFU, at Inverleith, thus the SFU became the first of the Home Unions to own its own ground. The first visitors were Ireland, on 18 February 1899, international rugby was played at Inverleith until 1925. The SFU bought some land and built the first Murrayfield Stadium which was opened on 21 March 1925, in 1925 Scotland already had victories over France at Inverleith, Wales in Swansea and Ireland in Dublin. England, the Grand Slam champions of the two seasons were the first visitors to Murrayfield. 70,000 spectators saw the lead change three times before Scotland secured a 14–11 victory which gave them their first-ever Five Nations Grand Slam
6.
Ireland national rugby union team
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The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship, which they have won twelve times outright, the team also competes every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions. Ireland is also one of the four unions that make up the British and Irish Lions – players eligible to play for Ireland are also eligible for the Lions, Irelands highest ever position in the World Rugby Rankings is second, which they reached for the first time in 2015. Dublin University was the first organised football club in Ireland. The club was organised by students who had learnt the game while at public schools in Great Britain, carlow, UCC, and Ballinasloe which amalgamated with Athlone to form Buccaneers. In 1874, the Irish Football Union was formed, Ireland lost their first test match against England 7–0 at the Oval on 15 February 1875. Both teams fielded 20 players in match, as was customary in the early years of rugby union. Irelands first home game was also against England in the year held at the Leinster Cricket Club in Rathmines as Lansdowne Road was deemed unsuitable. The first match at Lansdowne Road was held on 11 March 1878 and it was not until 1881 that Ireland first won a test, beating Scotland at Ormeau in Belfast. Ireland turned up two men short for their game in Cardiff in 1884 and had to borrow two Welsh players, the first victory Ireland had at Lansdowne Road took place on 5 February 1887. It was also their first win over England, by two goals to nil, on the third of March 1888, Ireland recorded their first win over Wales with a goal, a try and a drop goal to nil. In 1894, Ireland followed the Welsh model of using seven backs instead of six for the first time, after victory over England at Blackheath, Ireland won back-to-back matches for the first time when recording their first win over Scotland on 24 February 1894. Ireland went on to beat Wales in Belfast and win the Triple Crown for the first time, in the 1890s, Rugby was primarily a game for the Protestant middle class, the only Catholic in Edmund Forrests 1894 team was Tom Crean. Of the eighteen players used in the three games, thirteen were from three Dublin clubs – Wanderers, Dublin University and Bective Rangers – and the five were from Ulster. Such was the level of interest in the visit of the first All Blacks team to Dublin in November 1905 that the IRFU made the match the first all-ticket rugby international in history, Ireland played only seven forwards, copying the then New Zealand method of playing a rover. The game ended New Zealand 15 Ireland 0, on 20 March 1909, Ireland played France for the first time, beating them 19–8. This was Irelands biggest victory in international rugby at that time, their highest points tally,30 November 1912 was the first time the Springboks met Ireland at Lansdowne Road, the 1906 tour game having been played at Ravenhill. Ireland with seven new caps were overwhelmed by a margin of 38–0
7.
England national rugby union team
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The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy and they are ranked second in the world by the International Rugby Board as of 20 June 2016. England were the first, and to date, the team from the northern hemisphere to win the Rugby World Cup. They were also runners-up in 1991 and 2007, the history of the team extends back to 1871 when the English rugby team played their first official Test match, losing to Scotland by one goal. England dominated the early Home Nations Championship which started in 1883, following the schism of rugby football in 1895, England did not win the Championship again until 1910. England first played against New Zealand in 1905, South Africa in 1906, England was one of the teams invited to take part in the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 and went on to appear in the final in the second tournament in 1991, losing 12–6 to Australia. Following their 2003 Six Nations Championship Grand Slam, they went on to win the 2003 Rugby World Cup – defeating Australia 20–17 in extra time and they again contested the final in 2007, losing 15–6 to South Africa. England players traditionally wear a shirt with a Rose embroidered on the chest, white shorts. Their home ground is Twickenham Stadium where they first played in 1910, the team is administered by the Rugby Football Union. Four former players have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, Englands first international match was against Scotland on Monday 27 March 1871. Not only was this match Englands first, but it proved to be the first ever rugby union international. Scotland won the match by a goal and a try to a try, in front of a crowd of 4,000 people at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh. A subsequent international took place at the Oval in London on 5 February 1872 which saw England defeat Scotland by a goal, in those early days there was no points system, it was only after 1890 that a format allowing the introduction of a points system was provided. Up until 1875 international rugby matches were decided by the number of goals scored, in 1875, England played their first game against the Irish at the Oval, winning by one goal, one drop goal and one try to nil, the match was Irelands first ever Test. England defeated Scotland in 1880 to become the first winners of the Calcutta Cup and their first match against Wales was played on 19 February 1881 at Richardsons Field in Blackheath. England recorded their largest victory, defeating the Welsh by seven goals, six tries, in 1889, England played their first match against a non-home nations team when they defeated the New Zealand Natives by one goal and four tries to nil at Rectory Field in Blackheath. In 1890 England shared the Home Nations trophy with Scotland, England first played New Zealand in 1905. The All Blacks scored five tries, worth three points at this time, to win 15–0, England first played France in 1905, and Australia in 1909 when they were defeated 9–3
8.
Wales national rugby union team
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The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy, Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 26 times outright. Wales most recent championship win came in 2013, the governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union, was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played their first international against England. Wales performances in the Home Nations Championship continued to improve, experiencing their first golden age between 1900 and 1911 and they first played New Zealand, known as the All Blacks, in 1905, when they defeated them 3–0 in a famous match at Cardiff Arms Park. Welsh rugby struggled between the two World Wars, but experienced a golden age between 1969 and 1980 when they won eight Five Nations Championships. Wales played in the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 where they achieved their best ever result of third, following the sport allowing professionalism in 1995, Wales hosted the 1999 World Cup and, in 2005, won their first Six Nations Grand Slam. That was the first Grand Slam won by a team playing most of the matches away from home, Wales won two more Grand Slams in 2008 and in 2012, and in 2011 came fourth in the Rugby World Cup. Their home ground is the Millennium Stadium, currently known for reasons as Principality Stadium. Eight former Welsh players have been inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame, Rugby union took root in Wales in 1850, when Reverend Rowland Williams became Vice-Principal at St Davids College, Lampeter, where he introduced the sport. Wales played their first international on 19 February 1881, organised by Newports Richard Mullock, Wales played against England, losing by seven goals, one drop goal, on 12 March 1881, the Welsh Rugby Union was formed at The Castle Hotel, Neath. Two years later, the Home Nation Championship – now the Six Nations Championship – was first played, however, rugby in Wales developed and, by the 1890s, the Welsh had developed the four three-quarters formation. This formation – with seven backs and eight forwards, instead of six backs and nine forwards – revolutionised the sport and was adopted almost universally at international. With the four three-quarter formation Wales became Home International Champions for the first time in 1893, Wales next won the Championship in 1900, heralding the first golden age of Welsh rugby which was to last until 1911. They won two more Triple Crowns in 1902 and 1905, and were runners up in 1901,1903 and 1904, when Wales faced New Zealands All Blacks at Cardiff Arms Park in late 1905 they had not lost at home since 1899. The referee ruled a scrum to Wales and the score did not change, the loss was the All Blacks only loss on their 35-match tour. In 1906, Wales again won the Home Championship, and later that played the South African national side. Wales were favourites to win the match, but instead South Africa dominated in the forwards, two years later, on 12 December 1908, Wales played the touring Australians, the Wallabies, who they defeated 9–6. In 1909, Wales won the Home Championship and then, in 1910 – with the inclusion of France – the first Five Nations and it would be nearly forty years before they achieved a Grand Slam again
9.
France national rugby union team
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The France national rugby union team represents France in rugby union. They compete annually against England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and they have won the championship outright sixteen times, shared it a further eight times, and have completed nine grand slams. Eight former French players have been inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame, Rugby was introduced to France in 1872 by the British, and on New Years Day 1906 the national side played its first Test match – against New Zealand in Paris. France played sporadically against the Home Nations until they joined them to form a Five Nations tournament in 1910, France also competed in the rugby competitions at early Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal in 1900 and two silver medals in the 1920s. The national team came of age during the 1950s and 1960s and they won their first Grand Slam in 1968. Since the inaugural World Cup in 1987, France have qualified for the stage of every tournament. They have reached the three times, losing to the All Blacks in 1987 and 2011 and to Australia in 1999. France hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup, where, as in 2003, France traditionally play in blue shirts with white shorts and red socks, and are commonly referred to as les tricolores or les bleus. The French emblem is a golden rooster imposed upon a red shield and their alternative strip is composed of a white shirt and navy blue shorts and socks. Rugby was introduced to France in 1872 by English merchants and students, on 26 February 1890, a French rugby team recruited from the Janson Desailly Lyceum defeated an international team at the Bois de Boulogne. Although France were represented at the 1900 Summer Olympics, their first official test match did not take place till New Years Day,1906 against the New Zealand All Blacks in Paris. France then played intermittently against the Home Nations until they joined them to form the Five Nations tournament in 1910, in 1913 France faced South Africas Springboks for the first time, losing 38–5. France also competed at the 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics, France were ejected from the Five Nations in 1932 after being accused of professionalism in the French leagues at a time when rugby union was strictly amateur. Forced to play against weaker opposition, France went on a winning streak, France was invited to rejoin the Five Nations in 1939 but did not compete until 1947 as international rugby was suspended during World War II. French rugby came of age during the 1950s and 1960s, they won their first Five Nations championship and their first championship was won in 1954 when they shared the title with England and Wales. France won their first outright Five Nations championship in 1959, they won with two wins, a draw and a defeat, France first toured South Africa winning the test series in 1958. The Springboks also visited Paris in 1961, the test was not completed due to fighting amongst the players. France also toured New Zealand and Australia in 1961 losing both tests against the All Blacks but defeating Australias Wallabies and they won their first Five Nations Grand Slam in 1968 by beating all four other competing teams, and won numerous titles in the following years
10.
New Zealand national rugby union team
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The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly called the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in mens rugby union, which is regarded as the countrys national sport. The side has won the last two Rugby World Cups, in 2011 and 2015, as well as the tournament in 1987. They have a 77% winning record in test match rugby, and are the international side with a winning record against every opponent. Since their international debut in 1903, they have lost to only six of the 19 nations they have played in test matches, since the introduction of the World Rugby Rankings in 2003, New Zealand has held the number one ranking longer than all other teams combined. The All Blacks are statistically the best side to have played the game, New Zealand competes with Argentina, Australia and South Africa in The Rugby Championship. The All Blacks have won the fourteen times in the competitions twenty-one-year history. As of the end of 2016 competition, they hold the Bledisloe Cup, which is contested annually with Australia, New Zealand have achieved a Grand Slam four times –1978,2005,2008 and 2010. Fifteen former All Blacks have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, All Black coaches have won World Rugby Coach of the Year nine times since the awards 2001 launch. The teams first match was in 1884, and their first international test match was in 1903 against Australia in Sydney, the following year they hosted their first ever home test, a match against a British Isles side in Wellington. This was followed by a 34-game tour of Europe and North America in 1905, New Zealands early uniforms consisted of a black jersey with a silver fern and white knickerbockers. By the 1905 tour, they were wearing all black, except for the silver fern, the team perform a haka – a Māori challenge or posture dance – before each match. The haka performed has traditionally been Te Rauparahas Ka Mate, although since 2005 Kapa o Pango is often performed, the first recorded game in New Zealand took place in May 1870 in Nelson between the Nelson club and Nelson College. The first provincial union, the Canterbury Rugby Football Union, was formed in 1879, NSW did not face a New Zealand representative team but played seven provincial sides – the tourists won four games and lost three. Two years later the first New Zealand team to travel overseas toured New South Wales, a privately organised British team, which later became the British and Irish Lions, toured New Zealand in 1888. No test matches were played, and the only played provincial sides. The British players were mainly from Northern England, but there were representatives from Wales. The first officially sanctioned New Zealand side toured New South Wales in 1893, the following year New Zealand played its first home international game, losing 8–6 to New South Wales. The teams first true test match occurred against Australia on 15 August 1903 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in front of over 30,000 spectators, a representative New Zealand team first toured the British Isles in 1905
11.
Rugby union
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Rugby union, known in some parts of the world simply as rugby, is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is between two teams of 15 players using a ball on a rectangular field with H-shaped goalposts on each try line. Historically an amateur sport, in 1995 restrictions on payments to players were removed, World Rugby, originally the International Rugby Football Board and from 1998 to 2014 the International Rugby Board, has been the governing body for rugby union since 1886. Rugby union spread from the Home Nations of Great Britain and Ireland, early exponents of the sport included Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France. Countries that have adopted rugby union as their de facto national sport include Fiji, Georgia, Madagascar, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Rugby union is played in over 100 countries across six continents, there are 101 full members and 18 associate members of World Rugby. The Rugby World Cup, first held in 1987, takes place four years with the winner of the tournament receiving the Webb Ellis Cup. The Six Nations Championship in Europe and The Rugby Championship in the Southern Hemisphere are major annual competitions. The origin of football is reputed to be an incident during a game of English school football at Rugby School in 1823. Although the evidence for the story is doubtful, it was immortalised at the school with a plaque unveiled in 1895, despite the doubtful evidence, the Rugby World Cup trophy is named after Webb Ellis. Rugby football stems from the form of game played at Rugby School, Old Rugbeian Albert Pell, a student at Cambridge, is credited with having formed the first football team. During this early period different schools used different rules, with pupils from Rugby. Other important events include the Blackheath Clubs decision to leave the Football Association in 1863, despite the sports full name of rugby union, it is known simply as rugby throughout most of the world. The first rugby football international was played on 27 March 1871 between Scotland and England, by 1881 both Ireland and Wales had representative teams, and in 1883 the first international competition, the Home Nations Championship had begun. 1883 is also the year of the first rugby tournament, the Melrose Sevens. During the early history of union, a time before commercial air travel. The first two notable tours both took place in 1888—the British Isles team touring New Zealand and Australia, followed by the New Zealand team touring Europe, All three teams brought new styles of play, fitness levels and tactics, and were far more successful than critics had expected. After Morgan began singing, the crowd joined in, the first time a national anthem was sung at the start of a sporting event, in 1905 France played England in its first international match
12.
Australasia
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Australasia, a region of Oceania, comprises Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. Charles de Brosses coined the term in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes and he derived it from the Latin for south of Asia and differentiated the area from Polynesia and the southeast Pacific. The bulk of Australasia sits on the Indo-Australian Plate, together with India, physiographically, Australasia includes New Zealand, Australia, and Melanesia, New Guinea and neighbouring islands north and east of Australia in the Pacific Ocean. The designation is applied to all the lands and islands of the Pacific Ocean lying between the equator and latitude 47° south. Most of Australasia lies on the portion of the Indo-Australian Plate, flanked by the Indian Ocean to the west. Sometimes the term encompasses the island of New Guinea. Many organisations whose names include the prefix Australasian Society of, limit their scope of operation to just Australia and New Zealand. In the past, Australasia has been used as a name for combined Australia/New Zealand sporting teams, examples include tennis between 1905 and 1915, when New Zealand and Australia combined to compete in the Davis Cup international tournament, and at the Olympic Games of 1908 and 1912. From an ecological perspective the Australasia ecozone forms a region with a common geologic and evolutionary history. In this context, Australasia is limited to Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, New Caledonia, the Wallace Line marks the biological divide from the Indomalaya ecozone of tropical Asia – Borneo and Bali lie on the western, Asian side. These three land masses have been separated from other continents, and from one another, for millions of years, all of Australasia shares the Antarctic flora, although the northern, tropical islands also share many plants with Southeast Asia. Mainland Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania are separated from one another by shallow continental shelves and they share a similar fauna which includes marsupial and monotreme mammals and ratite birds. Eucalypts are the predominant trees in much of Australia and New Guinea, New Zealand has no extant native land mammals aside from bats, but also had ratite birds, including the kiwi and the extinct moa. Media related to Australasia at Wikimedia Commons
13.
British Isles
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The British Isles are a group of islands off the north-western coast of continental Europe that consist of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. Situated in the North Atlantic, the islands have an area of approximately 315,159 km2. Two sovereign states are located on the islands, Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the oldest rocks in the group are in the north west of Scotland, Ireland and North Wales and are 2,700 million years old. During the Silurian period the north-western regions collided with the south-east, the topography of the islands is modest in scale by global standards. Ben Nevis rises to an elevation of only 1,344 metres, and Lough Neagh, the climate is temperate marine, with mild winters and warm summers. The North Atlantic Drift brings significant moisture and raises temperatures 11 °C above the average for the latitude. This led to a landscape which was dominated by temperate rainforest. The region was re-inhabited after the last glacial period of Quaternary glaciation, Ireland, which became an island by 12,000 BC, was not inhabited until after 8000 BC. Great Britain became an island by 5600 BC, Hiberni, Pictish and Britons tribes, all speaking Insular Celtic, inhabited the islands at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. Much of Brittonic-controlled Britain was conquered by the Roman Empire from AD43, the first Anglo-Saxons arrived as Roman power waned in the 5th century and eventually dominated the bulk of what is now England. Viking invasions began in the 9th century, followed by permanent settlements. Most of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom after the Irish War of Independence, the term British Isles is controversial in Ireland, where there are objections to its usage due to the association of the word British with Ireland. The Government of Ireland does not recognise or use the term, as a result, Britain and Ireland is used as an alternative description, and Atlantic Archipelago has had limited use among a minority in academia, while British Isles is still commonly employed. Within them, they are sometimes referred to as these islands. The earliest known references to the islands as a group appeared in the writings of sea-farers from the ancient Greek colony of Massalia. The original records have been lost, however, later writings, e. g. Avienuss Ora maritima, in the 1st century BC, Diodorus Siculus has Prettanikē nēsos, the British Island, and Prettanoi, the Britons. Strabo used Βρεττανική, and Marcian of Heraclea, in his Periplus maris exteri, historians today, though not in absolute agreement, largely agree that these Greek and Latin names were probably drawn from native Celtic-language names for the archipelago. Along these lines, the inhabitants of the islands were called the Πρεττανοί, the shift from the P of Pretannia to the B of Britannia by the Romans occurred during the time of Julius Caesar
14.
Blackheath F.C.
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The club was founded in 1858 and is the oldest open rugby club in the world since becoming open in 1862. Open in this means that membership was open to anyone, not merely those attending, or old boys from. It is also the third-oldest rugby club in existence in the world, after Dublin University Football Club. Blackheath, along with Civil Service FC, is one of the two clubs that can claim to be a member of both The Football Association and the Rugby Football Union. The club currently play in National League 1 the third tier of the English rugby union system, the institution was founded as Blackheath Football Club in 1858 by old boys of Blackheath Proprietary School who played a carrying game of football made popular by Rugby School. When the old boys played against the current pupils supporters would shout for either Club or School accordingly and this is why to this day supporters of BFC shout for Club, not for Blackheath. In 1863 the club developed the tactic of passing the ball player to player as an alternative to the solo break. Mr Francis Maule Campbell, a member of Blackheath, was elected treasurer, at the sixth meeting on 8 December Campbell withdrew Blackheath, explaining that the rules that the FA intended to adopt would destroy the game and all interest in it. Other rugby clubs followed this lead and did not join the Football Association, in this way the great divide between soccer and rugby took place. On 26 January 1871 a meeting attended by representatives from 22 clubs was held in London at the Pall Mall Restaurant, as a result of this meeting the Rugby Football Union was founded. Three lawyers who had been pupils at Rugby School drew up the first laws of the game which were approved in June 1871, the Club is one of seven of the original twenty-one clubs to have survived to this day. On 27 March 1871, England played Scotland at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh and this was the first international rugby union game in history. Richardsons Field hosted the first England v. Wales fixture on 19 February 1881, in 1982 Blackheath joined the list of winning teams at the Glengarth Sevens at Stockport R. U. F. Blackheath played their last game at the Rectory Field on 30 April 2016, the ever popular Mini and Junior sections now have their own home ground, based at Kidbrooke Road, Well Hall, London, SE9. The club provides sections ranging from Under-6s right through to Under-18s, the Mini Section successfully ran its first ever Mini Rugby Festival at Eltham College on 25 November 2007. Graduates of the junior section include several county players. The club at Under-18 level works in conjunction with London Leisure College to make sure that players with academic commitments do not get tempted away from the game, note, Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality, see also Category, Blackheath F. C. players Frederick Stokes, the first captain of the England national rugby union team
15.
Cardiff Arms Park
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Cardiff Arms Park, also known as The Arms Park and the BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park for sponsorship reasons from September 2014, is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily known as a union stadium, but it also has a bowling green. The Arms Park was host to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958, the Arms Park also hosted the inaugural Heineken Cup Final of 1995–96 and the following year in 1996–97. The history of the ground begins with the first stands appearing for spectators in the ground in 1881–1882. Originally the Arms Park had a ground to the north. By 1969, the ground had been demolished to make way for the present day rugby ground to the north. The site also has a green to the north of the rugby ground, which is used by Cardiff Athletic Bowls Club. The National Stadium also hosted music concerts including Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Bon Jovi, The Rolling Stones. The Cardiff Arms Park site was called the Great Park. The hotel was built by Sir Thomas Morgan, during the reign of Charles I, Cardiff Arms Park was named after this hotel. From 1803, the Cardiff Arms Hotel and the Park had become the property of the Bute family, the Arms Park soon became a popular place for sporting events, and by 1848, Cardiff Cricket Club was using the site for its cricket matches. However, by 1878, Cardiff Arms Hotel had been demolished, the 3rd Marquess of Bute stipulated that the ground could only be used for recreational purposes. At that time Cardiff Arms Park had a ground to the north. 1881–2 saw the first stands for spectators, they held 300 spectators, the architect was Archibald Leitch, famous for designing Ibrox Stadium and Old Trafford, amongst others. In 1890, new standing areas were constructed along the length of the ground. By 1912, the Cardiff Football Ground, as it was known, had a new south stand and temporary stands on the north. The south stand was covered, while the terrace was initially without a roof. The improvements were funded by the Welsh Rugby Union
16.
Rugby union positions
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In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards and seven backs. In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players on the bench, players are not restricted to any single position on the field, although they generally specialise in just one or two that suit their skills and body types. Players that specialise in three positions are called utility players. The scrum, however, must consist of eight players, the front row, the row. The players outside the scrum are called the backs, scrum-half, fly-half, the backs play behind the forwards and are usually more lightly built and faster. Successful backs are skilful at passing and kicking, full-backs need to be good defenders and kickers, and have the ability to catch a kicked ball. The wingers are usually among the fastest players in a team, the centres key attacking roles are to try and break through the defensive line and link successfully with wingers. The fly-half can be a kicker and generally directs the backline. The scrum-half retrieves the ball from the forwards and needs a quick, forwards compete for the ball in scrums and line-outs and are generally bigger and stronger than the backs. Props push in the scrums, while the hooker tries to hook the ball, locks are tall and jump for the ball at the line-out after the hooker has thrown it in. The flankers and number eight should be the first forwards to a tackle, there are a maximum of 15 players from each team on a rugby field at one time. The players position at the start of the game is indicated by the number on the back of their shirts,1 to 15, the positions are divided into two main categories, forwards and backs. In international matches, there are eight substitutes that can replace a team member. The substitutes, numbered 16 to 23, can take up the position of the player they replace or the on-field players can be shuffled to make room for this player in another position. Typically, the replacement players will have a number that corresponds with their intended replacement position with the numbers from 16 to 20 being forwards and 21 to 23 being backs. There are no personal squad numbers and a players position. Players can also change positions with players on the field during the match, common examples are the fly-half playing the full-backs position in defence or a prop taking the hookers position at line-outs. Different positions on the field suit certain skill sets and body types, each position has certain roles to play on the field, although most have been established through convention rather than law
17.
Rugby league
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Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field. One of the two codes of football, it originated in England in 1895 as a split from the Rugby Football Union over the issue of payments to players. Its rules gradually changed with the aim of producing a faster, in rugby league, points are scored by carrying the ball and touching it to the ground beyond the opposing teams goal line, this is called a try, and is the primary method of scoring. The opposing team attempts to stop the side scoring points by tackling the player carrying the ball. In addition to tries, points can be scored by kicking goals, after each try, the scoring team gains a free kick to try at goal with a conversion for further points. Kicks at goal may also be awarded for penalties, and field goals can be attempted at any time. Rugby league is a sport in Northern England, the states of Queensland and New South Wales in Australia, New Zealand. The European Super League and Australasian National Rugby League are the club competitions. Rugby league is played internationally, predominantly by European, Australasian and Pacific Island countries, the first Rugby League World Cup was held in France in 1954, the current holders are Australia. The first of these, the Northern Rugby Football Union, was established in 1895 as a faction of Englands Rugby Football Union. Similar breakaway factions split from RFU-affiliated unions in Australia and New Zealand in 1907 and 1908, renaming themselves rugby football leagues, in 1922, the Northern Union also changed its name to the Rugby Football League and thus over time the sport itself became known as rugby league football. In 1895, a schism in Rugby football resulted in the formation of the Northern Rugby Football Union, within fifteen years of that first meeting in Huddersfield, more than 200 RFU clubs had left to join the rugby revolution. In 1897, the line-out was abolished and in 1898 professionalism introduced, in 1906, the Northern Union changed its rules, reducing teams from 15 to 13 a side and replacing the ruck formed after every tackle with the play the ball. A similar schism to that which occurred in England took place in Sydney, There, on 8 August 1907 the New South Wales Rugby Football League was founded at Batemans Hotel in George Street. Rugby league then went on to rugby union as the primary football code in New South Wales. On 5 May 1954 over 100,000 spectators watched the 1953–54 Challenge Cup Final at Odsal Stadium, Bradford, England, also in 1954 the Rugby League World Cup, the first for either code of rugby, was formed at the instigation of the French. In 1966, the International Board introduced a rule that a team in possession was allowed three play-the-balls and on the tackle a scrum was to be formed. This was increased to six tackles in 1972 and in 1983 the scrum was replaced by a handover,1967 saw the first professional Sunday matches of rugby league played
18.
Haka (sports)
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Some non-New Zealand sports teams have also adopted the haka. During 1888–89, the New Zealand Native team toured the Home Nations of the United Kingdom and it was originally intended that only Māori players would be selected, but four non-Māori were finally included. As the non-Māori were born in New Zealand, the name Native was considered justified, the team performed a haka before the start of their first match on 3 October 1888 against Surrey. They were described as using the words Ake ake kia kaha which suggests that the haka was not Ka Mate and it was intended that before each match they would perform the haka dressed in traditional Māori costume but the costumes were soon discarded. The Ka Mate haka was not well known at this time, in 1900, a newspaper reported New Zealand soldiers in the Boer War chanting Ka Mate. The soldiers thought it meant Kill him, but during the 1901 Royal Tour, Ngati Kahungunu warriors revived Ka Mate when they performed it to welcome the Duke of Cornwall at Rotorua. Newspapers described the actions of this ancient ngeri, printing its complete Maori words. A movie cameraman recorded the performance, Ka Mate became famous, and was widely performed throughout New Zealand. Nevertheless, when New Zealand played its first full international test match against Australia in Sydney in August 1903, in 1905 New Zealand made their first tour of Britain. This was the first time the team were referred to as the All Blacks and it is uncertain whether they performed a haka before every match, but they at least performed Ka Mate before their first test, against Scotland, and before the match against Wales. The Welsh crowd, led by the Welsh team, responded by singing the Welsh national anthem, the haka was led by star player George Nepia. It was performed all but two of the tour matches. Reporters criticised the team for disappointing the crowd on the two occasions it was not performed, a pre-match haka was not always performed on All Blacks tours. The team that toured Britain in 1935–36 did not perform one before matches, in the early decades, haka were only rarely performed at home matches, such as the third test of the 1921 Springboks tour, played in Wellington. The All Blacks are believed to have first performed the Ka Mate haka in 1906 and it is said that this Haka was composed by Te Rauparaha of Ngāti Toa to commemorate his escape from death during an incident in 1810. Chased by his enemies, he hid in a pit under the skirt of a woman. He climbed out to someone standing over him, who, instead of killing Te Rauparaha. In relief, Te Rauparaha performed this ancient haka, which had performed all through Aotearoa for centuries
19.
New Zealand Rugby
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New Zealand Rugby is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union,12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to the International Rugby Football Board, now known as World Rugby and it dropped the word Football from its name in 2006. The brand name New Zealand Rugby was adopted in 2013, NZR Headquarters are located in Wellington, New Zealand, with an office in Auckland. New Zealand Rugby’s purpose is to lead, grow, support and it is committed to New Zealand rugby being financially secure, attracting top partners and contributing actively to the global game. There are currently 11 NZRU Board members, the President, David Rhodes, was elected in 2015. The President may attend Board meetings but is not a Board member, Steve Tew is the current chief executive and Sir Brian Lochore is the current Patron. It also delivers Investec Super Rugby in New Zealand and manages Test matches in New Zealand, New Zealand Rugby has a staff of approximately 90 people, mostly based in Wellington and Auckland but also working in locations all around New Zealand. NZR was initially governed by a committee of delegates from the provincial unions until replaced in 1894 by a seven-member Wellington-based management committee, administrative responsibilities were initially held by honorary secretaries, and then secretaries, from 1907. This was expanded 43 years later to two entities, the ruling NZRU Council and an executive committee. In 1986, three geographical zones were formed to elect the members of the council, and the executive committee was replaced by an administration committee. Since 1990, the NZRU has been managed by a CEO, in 1996, the NZRUs ruling council was replaced by an expanded board to include independent members and an elected Maori representative. New Zealand Rugbys Patron fills a role as the figurehead for the organization. The current Patron is former All Blacks captain Sir Brian Lochore, the President and Vice President are the Unions two officers who represent New Zealand Rugby at functions and events. Unlike the Patron, the President and Vice President may attend meetings of New Zealand Rugby. The President and Vice President are elected for two years each, the current President is David Rhodes and the current Vice President is Maurice Trapp. The Board is charged with setting strategy, direction and policy for the New Zealand Rugby Union, many of the decisions concerning New Zealand’s national teams, domestic competitions, financial management and rugby traditions are made by the Board. As of April 2015, the Board has nine members, six elected members, any provincial union in New Zealand may nominate candidates for vacant elective positions
20.
New South Wales
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New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south and it has a coast line with the Tasman Sea on its east side. The Australian Capital Territory is an enclave within the state, New South Wales state capital is Sydney, which is also Australias most populous city. In March 2014, the population of New South Wales was 7.5 million. Just under two-thirds of the population,4.67 million. Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as New South Welshmen, the Colony of New South Wales was founded as a penal colony in 1788. It originally comprised a more than half of the Australian mainland with its western boundary set at 129th meridian east in 1825, in addition, the colony also included the island territories of New Zealand, Van Diemens Land, Lord Howe Island, and Norfolk Island. During the 19th century, most of the area was detached to form separate British colonies that eventually became New Zealand. However, the Swan River Colony has never administered as part of New South Wales. Lord Howe Island remains part of New South Wales, while Norfolk Island has become a federal Territory, as have the now known as the Australian Capital Territory. The prior inhabitants of New South Wales were the Aboriginal tribes who arrived in Australia about 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, before European settlement there were an estimated 250,000 Aboriginal people in the region. The Wodi Wodi people are the custodians of the Illawarra region of South Sydney. The Bundjalung people are the custodians of parts of the northern coastal areas. The European discovery of New South Wales was made by Captain James Cook during his 1770 survey along the eastern coast of the Dutch-named continent of New Holland. In his original journal covering the survey, in triplicate to satisfy Admiralty Orders, Cook first named the land New Wales, however, in the copy held by the Admiralty, he revised the wording to New South Wales. After years of chaos and anarchy after the overthrow of Governor William Bligh, macquaries legacy is still evident today. During the 19th century, large areas were separated to form the British colonies of Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria. Responsible government was granted to the New South Wales colony in 1855, following the Treaty of Waitangi, William Hobson declared British sovereignty over New Zealand in 1840
21.
Australia national rugby union team
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The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. Australia have competed in all eight Rugby World Cups, and have won the World Cup on two occasions, in 1991 beating England in the final, and in 1999 when their opponents in the final were France. Australia also lost in the final after extra time to England in the 2003 competition, Australia are governed by the Australian Rugby Union. Eleven former Australian players have been inducted into either the International Rugby Hall of Fame or the IRB Hall of Fame, three are members of the International Hall only, four are members of the IRB Hall only, and four are members of both Halls of Fame. In 1882 the Southern Rugby Football Union toured New Zealand, the New Zealand national team toured New South Wales in 1884 – defeating New South Wales in all three matches, and winning all nine matches on tour. The first tour by a British team took place in 1888, a British Isles team toured Australia and New Zealand, though no Test matches were played. Although they had representatives from all four nations, the players were drawn mainly from England. The tour was not sanctioned by the Rugby Football Union as it was organised by entrepreneurs, in 1899 the first officially sanctioned British Isles team toured Australia. Four Tests were played between Australia and the British Isles, the Australian team for the first Test match consisted of six players from Queensland and nine from New South Wales. The first Test was played at the Sydney Cricket Ground and won 13–3 by Australia, the first Test between Australia and New Zealand was played on 15 August 1903 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Despite Australia losing 22–3, this tour improved rugbys popularity in Australia and helped to increase attendances at matches in Sydney. In 1907 the New South Wales Rugby League was formed and star player Dally Messenger left the Rugby union for the rival code, the next year the first Australian team to tour the British Isles left Sydney. Newspapers in England initially gave the team the name Rabbits, the Australian players thought this nickname derogatory and replaced it with Wallabies. Australias last Test before First World War was against New Zealand in July 1914, the war had a very negative effect on rugby union in Australia. This resulted in all but closed down in New South Wales. In Queensland regular competitions did not commence again until 1928 and this caused many players to switch to rugby league – which did not cease playing during the war. War hero Sir Edward Weary Dunlop also played for Australia before World War II and he played on the side that was the first to win the Bledisloe Cup. The first Test to following World War Two was played at Carisbrook, Australia did not win on the three match tour, beaten 20–0 by New Zealand Maori, and then losing 14–10 to the All Blacks the following week
22.
Athletic Park, Wellington
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Athletic Park was a sports ground used mostly for rugby matches in Wellington, New Zealand. The ground was also the home of New Zealands principal knockout football tournament. It has now been demolished and replaced with a retirement village and it was famous for a very steep grandstand which used to sway a little in the regular strong winds that Wellington is famous for. The stand was unsafe as Wellington is very susceptible to earthquakes, throughout the 1980s several proposals were made to modernise the grounds, but instead a decision was made to build a new stadium. Regardless of Westpac Stadiums location to transport and modern features, it has lacked the atmosphere. This could be due to Athletic Park being Rugby specific, which brought spectators close to the action, Westpac Stadiums flaw of attempting to be both a cricket stadium and rugby stadium has led to dwindling numbers of supporters showing up to rectangular sport in Wellington. The ground hosted many famous Test matches involving the All Blacks including the 43 -6 win over Australia in 1996, Athletic Park also played host to other non-sports events, including a visit by Pope John Paul II in 1986 and various rock concerts. KISS performed a concert in 1980 as part of their Unmasked Tour, in 1983, David Bowie and Dire Straits performed at Athletic Park, with further performances by Dire Straits in 1986 and 1991. Elton John performed 2 concerts there, the first on the 10 March 1982 as part of his Jump Up, Tour and the second was on the 22 February 1984 as part of his Too Low for Zero tour. Eurythmics performed on 28 January 1987 as part of their Revenge Tour, michael Jackson planned to perform a concert on 2 December 1987 during his Bad World Tour, but the performance was cancelled. Those attending chanted for the return of the band, New Zealands Street Talk as the music deteriorated
23.
Wellington
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Wellington is the capital and second most populous urban area of New Zealand, with 405,000 residents. It is at the tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range. Wellington is the population centre of the southern North Island and is the administrative centre of the Wellington Region. It is the worlds windiest city, with a wind speed of over 26 km/h. Situated near the centre of the country, Wellington was well placed for trade. In 1839 it was chosen as the first major planned settlement for British immigrants coming to New Zealand, the settlement was named in honour of the Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington and victor of the Battle of Waterloo. As the nations capital since 1865, the New Zealand Government and Parliament, Supreme Court, despite being much smaller than Auckland, Wellington is also referred to as New Zealands cultural capital. The city is home to the National Archives, the National Library, architectural sights include the Government Building—one of the largest wooden buildings in the world—as well as the iconic Beehive. Wellington plays host to artistic and cultural organisations, including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. It has an urban culture, with many cafés, restaurants. One of the worlds most liveable cities, the 2014 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranked Wellington 12th in the world, Wellingtons economy is primarily service-based, with an emphasis on finance, business services, and government. It is the centre of New Zealands film and special effects industries, Wellington ranks as one of New Zealands chief seaports and serves both domestic and international shipping. The city is served by Wellington International Airport, the third busiest airport in the country, Wellingtons transport network includes train and bus lines which reach as far as the Kapiti Coast and Wairarapa, and ferries connect the city to the South Island. Wellington takes its name from Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington and victor of the Battle of Waterloo, his title comes from the town of Wellington in the English county of Somerset. One of the founders of the settlement, Edward Jerningham Wakefield, reported that the settlers took up the views of the directors with great cordiality, in Māori, Wellington has three names. In New Zealand Sign Language, the name is signed by raising the index, middle and ring fingers of one hand, palm forward, to form a W, and shaking it slightly from side to side twice. The citys location close to the mouth of the narrow Cook Strait leads to its vulnerability to strong gales, legends recount that Kupe discovered and explored the district in about the 10th century. The earliest date with hard evidence for Maori living in New Zealand is about 1280, European settlement began with the arrival of an advance party of the New Zealand Company on the ship Tory on 20 September 1839, followed by 150 settlers on the Aurora on 22 January 1840
24.
David Bedell-Sivright
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David Revell Darkie Bedell-Sivright was a Scottish international rugby union forward who captained both Scotland and the British Isles. Born in Edinburgh, and educated at Fettes College where he learned to play rugby, he studied at Cambridge University and he was first selected for Scotland in 1900 in a match against Wales. After playing the first 12 matches of the tour, he was injured, the next year Bedell-Sivright was appointed captain for the British Isles team that toured Australia and New Zealand. Due to a leg he played only one Test match during the tour – against Australia – but was involved in a notable incident during a non-Test match. Despite not playing, Bedell-Sivright pulled the British team from the field for 20 minutes after disputing the decision by a referee to send-off one of their players. Bedell-Sivright eventually allowed his side to play, but without their ejected teammate. Following the tour Bedell-Sivright briefly settled in Australia, before returning to Scotland to study medicine and he captained Scotland against the touring New Zealanders in 1905, and in 1906 helped his country defeat the visiting South Africans 6–0. After retiring from rugby in 1908 he went on to become Scotlands amateur boxing champion. A surgeon by profession, he joined the Royal Navy during the First World War, Bedell-Sivright had a reputation as an aggressive and hard rugby player, as well as a ferocious competitor. He was an inductee into the Scottish Rugby Hall of Fame. David Bedell-Sivright was born in Edinburgh in 1880 to William Henry Revell Bedell-Sivright of North Queensferry, Bedell-Sivright was educated at Fettes College. Before going to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1899 to read medicine and he later completed his medical training at the University of Edinburgh. His brother John played for Cambridge University RFC, and gained an international cap in 1902. There are many tales surrounding Bedell-Sivright, and it is difficult to separate fact from fiction and he had a reputation for aggression, and in 1909 became Scottish amateur boxing champion. It is not clear exactly where Bedell-Sivright picked up the nickname Darkie, one explanation is that it was due to cynical tactics he employed as captain, the other is that it was due to the dark rings around his eyes. On 25 January 1915 Bedell-Sivright was commissioned as a surgeon in the Royal Navy and he was posted to the Hawke Battalion of the Royal Naval Division stationed at Gallipoli during the Dardanelles Campaign in May 1915. He was loaned to the Royal Scots Fusiliers from 8 to 20 June, after a period onshore in the trenches while serving at an advanced dressing station, he was bitten by an unidentified insect. He complained of being fatigued and was taken offshore and transferred to the hospital ship HMHS Dunluce Castle, two days later, on 5 September, he died of septicaemia and was buried at sea off Cape Helles
25.
Wellington Rugby Football Union
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The Wellington Rugby Football Union are a New Zealand governing body of rugby union in the New Zealand province of Wellington. The main stadium is Westpac Stadium which is located in Wellington, the union also represents the Wellington Lions, which is professional rugby union team who compete in the Mitre 10 Cup competition and contest for the Ranfurly Shield. Before 2006 the Lions competed in the National Provincial Championship, players from Wellington who are eligible to play in the Super Rugby generally play for the Hurricanes, and traditionally contribute the core of the Hurricanes squad. This position is due to the Wellington basing of the Hurricanes. The reorganisation of provincial rugby in 2006 brought all three provinces into the ITM Cup, the senior Wellington representative team, the Wellington Lions play in the ITM Cup, which replaced the National Provincial Championship in 2006 as the Air New Zealand Cup. The Lions have won the competition four times since its inception in 1976. The titles came in 1978,1981,1986 and most recently in 2000 and their colours are gold and black as shown on the Lions jersey. The Lions play their games at the Westpac Stadium, previously playing at Athletic Park until 1999. In 2014 Wellington lost a record nine straight losses and were relegated to the ITM Cup Championship 2015, the Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o Wood, is perhaps the most prestigious trophy in New Zealand domestic rugby. First played for in 1904, the Ranfurly Shield is based on a challenge system, the holding union must defend the Shield in home matches, and if a challenger defeats them, they become the new holder of the Shield. Wellington won the first ever shield challenge winning it from Auckland in 1904 and it wouldnt be until 1914 when Wellington would get the shield back by winning it off Taranaki. This marked the longest time Wellington have held the shield successfully defending it for 15 matches until losing it again to Southland in 1920 and they beat Southland a year later to regain the shield before promptly losing to Hawkes Bay after only 2 matches. Wellington held the shield for one match in 1930 and after losing it to Canterbury they would not regain the shield until 1953. Up until the 1980s Wellington had short stints defending the shield, Wellington lost the shield to Canterbury on 29 August, losing 36–14 at Westpac Stadium. Canterbury then held the shield for 4 defences before losing to Southland on 22 October and it is currently held by Waikato who defeated Hawkes Bay on 9 October 2015 by 36–30. Wellington has a team that are part of the Womens Provincial Championship. Wellington Pride is the team aside from Auckland to have won the Womens Championship. Wellington has played a number of times against touring rugby teams
26.
Montevideo
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Montevideo is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 in an area of 201 square kilometres. The southernmost capital city in the Americas, Montevideo is situated in the southern coast of the country, the city was established in 1724 by a Spanish soldier, Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst the Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region. It was also under brief British rule in 1807, Montevideo hosted all the matches during the first FIFA World Cup. Montevideo is the seat of the headquarters of Mercosur and ALADI, Latin America’s leading trade blocs. Montevideo has consistently rated as having the highest quality of life of any city in Latin America. As of 2010, Montevideo was the 19th largest city economy in the continent, in 2015, it has a GDP of $40.5 billion, and a per capita of $24,400. It is classified as a Beta World City, ranking seventh in Latin America, by 2014, is also regarded as the tenth most gay-friendly city in the world, first in Latin America. It is the hub of commerce and higher education in Uruguay as well as its chief port, the city is also the financial and cultural hub of a larger metropolitan area, with a population of around 2 million. There are several explanations about the word Montevideo, all agree that Monte refers to the Cerro de Montevideo, the hill situated across the Bay of Montevideo, but there is disagreement about the etymological origin of the video part. Monte vide eu is the most widespread belief but is rejected by the majority of experts, who consider it unlikely because it involves a mix of dialects. This is the oldest Spanish document that mentions the promontory with a similar to the one that designates the city. With the passing of time, these words were unified to Montevideo, no conclusive evidence has been found to confirm this academic hypothesis nor can it be asserted with certainty which were the other five mounts observable before the Cerro. Ovidio was the bishop of the Portuguese city of Braga, where he was always revered. Between 1680 and 1683, Portugal founded the city of Colonia do Sacramento in the region across the bay from Buenos Aires and this city met with no resistance from the Spanish until 1723, when they began to place fortifications on the elevations around Montevideo Bay. On 22 November 1723, Field Marshal Manuel de Freitas da Fonseca of Portugal built the Montevieu fort, a Spanish expedition was sent from Buenos Aires, organized by the Spanish governor of that city, Bruno Mauricio de Zabala. There was also one significant early Italian resident by the name of Jorge Burgues, a census of the citys inhabitants was performed in 1724 and then a plan was drawn delineating the city and designating it as San Felipe y Santiago de Montevideo, later shortened to Montevideo. The census counted fifty families of Galician and Canary Islands origin, more than 1000 indigenous, mostly Guaraní, in 1776, Spain made Montevideo its main naval base for the South Atlantic, with authority over the Argentine coast, Fernando Po, and the Falklands
27.
Tenerife
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Tenerife is the largest and most populated island of the seven Canary Islands. It is also the most populated island of Spain, with an area of 2,034.38 square kilometres and 898,680 inhabitants,43 percent of the total population of the Canary Islands. Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of Macaronesia, about five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the most of any of the Canary Islands. It is one of the most important tourist destinations in Spain, Tenerife hosts one of the worlds largest carnivals and the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is working to be designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Served by two airports, Tenerife North Airport and Tenerife South Airport, Tenerife is the centre of the archipelago. The 1977 collision of two Boeing 747 passenger jets at Tenerife North Airport, resulting in 583 deaths, remains the deadliest aviation accident in world history, Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the capital of the island and the seat of the island council. The city is capital of the community of Canary Islands, sharing governmental institutions such as Presidency. Between the 1833 territorial division of Spain and 1927, Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the capital of the Canary Islands. In 1927 the Crown ordered that the capital of the Canary Islands be shared, Santa Cruz contains the modern Auditorio de Tenerife, the architectural symbol of the Canary Islands. The island is home to the University of La Laguna, founded in 1792 in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city is the second to have been founded on the island, and is the third of the archipelago. The city of La Laguna was capital of the Canary Islands before Santa Cruz replaced it in 1833, also located on the island, Macizo de Anaga since 2015 has been designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. It has the largest number of species in Europe. The islands indigenous people, the Guanches, referred to the island as Achinet or Chenet in their language. According to Pliny the Younger, Berber king Juba II sent an expedition to the Canary Islands and Madeira, he named the Canary Islands for the particularly ferocious dogs on the island. Juba II and Ancient Romans referred to the island of Tenerife as Nivaria, derived from the Latin word nix, meaning snow, the Benahoaritas are said to have named the island, deriving it from the words tene and ife. After colonisation, the Hispanisation of the resulted in adding the letter r to unite both words, producing Tenerife. He ruled the island in the days before the conquest of the Canary Islands by Castilla. The formal demonym used to refer to the people of Tenerife is Tinerfeño/a, in modern society, the latter term is generally applied only to inhabitants of the capital, Santa Cruz
28.
Plymouth
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Plymouths early history extends to the Bronze Age, when a first settlement emerged at Mount Batten. This settlement continued as a trading post for the Roman Empire, until it was surpassed by the prosperous village of Sutton founded in the ninth century. In 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers departed Plymouth for the New World, during the English Civil War the town was held by the Parliamentarians and was besieged between 1642 and 1646. The combined town took the name of Plymouth which, in 1928, the citys naval importance later led to its targeting and partial destruction during World War II, an act known as the Plymouth Blitz. After the war the city centre was rebuilt and subsequent expansion led to the incorporation of Plympton. The city is home to 262,700 people, making it the 30th most populous area in the United Kingdom. It is governed locally by Plymouth City Council and is represented nationally by three MPs, Plymouths economy remains strongly influenced by shipbuilding and seafaring including ferry links to Brittany and Spain, but has tended toward a service-based economy since the 1990s. It has the largest operational base in Western Europe – HMNB Devonport and is home to Plymouth University. An unidentified settlement named TAMARI OSTIA is listed in Ptolemys Geographia and is presumed to be located in the area of the modern city, at the time this village was called Sutton, meaning south town in Old English. The name Plym Mouth, meaning mouth of the River Plym was first mentioned in a Pipe Roll of 1211, the name Plymouth first officially replaced Sutton in a charter of King Henry VI in 1440. See Plympton for the derivation of the name Plym, during the Hundred Years War a French attack burned a manor house and took some prisoners, but failed to get into the town. In 1403 the town was burned by Breton raiders, on 12 November,1439, the English Parliament made Plymouth the first town incorporated. The castle served to protect Sutton Pool, which is where the fleet was based in Plymouth prior to the establishment of Plymouth Dockyard. In 1512 an Act of Parliament was passed for further fortifying Plymouth, defences on St Nicholas Island also date from this time, and a string of six artillery blockhouses were built, including one on Fishers Nose at the south-eastern corner of the Hoe. This location was further strengthened by the building of a fort in 1596, during the 16th century locally produced wool was the major export commodity. According to legend, Drake insisted on completing his game of bowls on the Hoe before engaging the Spanish Armada in 1588. In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for the New World from Plymouth, during the English Civil War Plymouth sided with the Parliamentarians and was besieged for almost four years by the Royalists. The last major attack by the Royalist was by Sir Richard Grenville leading thousands of soldiers towards Plymouth, the civil war ended as a Parliamentary win, but monarchy was restored by King Charles II in 1660, who imprisoned many of the Parliamentary heroes on Drakes Island
29.
Newton Abbot
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Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England, with a population of 25,556. Newton Abbot holds a historic Cheese and Onion Fayre in honour of Saint Leonard, it was held from 5 to 7 November. The town grew rapidly in the Victorian era as it was home to the South Devon Railway locomotive works. This later became a steam engine shed and was retained to service British Railways diesel locomotives. The town has a nearby, the most westerly racecourse in Britain. Traces of Neolithic people have found at Berrys Wood Hill Fort near Bradley Manor. This was a hill fort that enclosed about 11 acres. Milber Down camp was built before the 1st century BC and was briefly occupied by the Romans. The remains of a Norman motte-and-bailey castle, known as Castle Dyke, are on Highweek Hill, a village grew up around the castle, first called Teignwick, and later Highweek – the village on the high ground. Another settlement developed on the low ground around the River Lemon, the New Town of the Abbots was given the right to hold a weekly market on Wednesdays sometime between 1247 and 1251. By 1300 the two settlements were renamed as Newton Abbot and Newton Bushel, on the strength of the market it quickly became a successful thriving town and a good source of income for the Abbots. Over the river on the Highweek side another weekly market was created and this one ran on Tuesdays and, because the Bushel family were the landowners this community, became known as Newton Bushel. Over the next 200 years Newton Bushel ran more annual fairs, a number of mills were set up, Newton Bushel was also a convenient place for travellers to stay. Torre Abbey was dissolved in 1539 and ownership of Wolborough was granted to John Gaverock who built himself a new house at Forde, the twin markets of Newton Abbot and Newton Bushel continued until they were merged in 1633 as a Wednesday weekly market under the ownership of Bradley Manor. By 1751 there was also a smaller Saturday market and three annual fairs—a cattle fair on 24 June, a cheese and onion fair in September, the markets continued to expand so in 1826 a new market was built. Over the next 50 years the buildings became dilapidated so a new market was built in 1871. The buildings included a market, a corn exchange and a public hall—the Alexandra. The river Lemon was also covered over, further enlargement took place in 1938 as a new cattle market and corn exchange were built
30.
Stamford Bridge (stadium)
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Stamford Bridge is a football stadium located in Fulham, London. It is the ground of Chelsea F. C. The stadium is located within the Moore Park Estate also known as Walham Green and is referred to as simply The Bridge. The capacity is 41,663, making it the eighth largest ground in the Premier League, the club has plans to expand the capacity to 60,000 by the 2021–2022 season. It has undergone major changes over the years, most recently in the 1990s when it was renovated into a modern. Stamford Bridge has been used as a venue for England international matches, FA Cup Finals, FA Cup semi-finals and it has also hosted numerous other sports, such as cricket, rugby union, speedway, greyhound racing, baseball and American football. The stadiums highest official attendance is 82,905, for a match between Chelsea and Arsenal on 12 October 1935. Stamford Bridge is considered to be a derivative of Samfordesbrigge meaning the bridge at the sandy ford, 18th century maps show a Stanford Creek running along the route of what is now a railway line at the back of the East Stand as a tributary of the Thames. The upper reaches of this tributary have been known as Billingswell Ditch, Pools Creek, in mediaeval times the Creek was known as Billingwell Dyche, derived from Billings spring or stream. It formed the boundary between the parishes of Kensington and Fulham, by the 18th century the creek had become known as Counters Creek which is the name it has retained since. However, previous to this, in 1898, Stamford Bridge played host to the World Championship of shinty between Beauly Shinty Club and London Camanachd. Stamford Bridge was built close to Lillie Bridge, a sports ground which had hosted the 1873 FA Cup Final. It was initially offered to Fulham Football Club, but they turned it down for financial reasons. After considering the sale of the land to the Great Western Railway Company, noted football ground architect Archibald Leitch, who had also designed Ibrox, Celtic Park, Craven Cottage and Hampden Park, was hired to construct the stadium. In its early days, Stamford Bridge stadium was served by a railway station, Chelsea and Fulham railway station. Stamford Bridge had a capacity of around 100,000. It was used as the FA Cup final venue, as originally constructed, Stamford Bridge was an athletics track and the pitch was initially located in the middle of the running track. The stadium had a stand for 5,000 spectators on the east side
31.
Rugby union in Cornwall
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Rugby union in Cornwall is one of the countys most popular sports and has a large following in Cornwall. The followers of the county side are dubbed Trelawnys Army, in 1991 and 1999 Cornwall made the County Championships finals, played at Twickenham Stadium, with Cornwall beating first Yorkshire and in 1999 Gloucestershire to win the cup. Also, the Cornish rugby team can boast an Olympic silver medal, in 1908, they won the County Championship for the first time, and the prize was to represent Great Britain at rugby in the 1908 Olympic Games. They lost to Australia 32-3 in the final, and remain the county side to represent Great Britain at rugby in the Olympics. The Cornwall Rugby Football Union was formed in 1883 and it is a union of 39 rugby union clubs which includes most rugby union clubs in Cornwall, the open-age Cornwall representative side and representative teams at various age groups. The CRFU are members of the Rugby Football Union, the body for rugby union in England. The CRFU organizes three annual knockout cup competitions - the Cornwall Super Cup, Cornwall Cup and Cornwall Clubs Cup, all cups are currently sponsored by Tribute Ales. The Cornish rugby tradition has deep roots, stretching back before the game was even codified, a form of folk football, known as Cornish hurling was highly popular there, and is still played in two towns in Cornwall. It is possible that the popularity of this game paved the way for the rugby code. Their rugby jerseys with gold and black hoops were introduced in 1885, One of the most important times of the year in a Cornish rugby fans calendar is the County Championship. Like the 1900 games, three teams entered, Australasia, France, and Great Britain, France pulled themselves from the event prior to the commencement of the tournament, being unable to field a representative team. Cornwall won the championship for the first time in 1908, when played in front of 17,000 fans at Redruth. The game was against Durham, also known for its mining, Cornwall won the game 17-3, scoring 5 tries. The added incentive for the winner was the chance to represent Great Britain at the 1908 Summer Olympics, Two other countries entered the 1908 Summer Olympics, France and Australasia, the name of a combined team from Australia and New Zealand. France withdrew before the tournament which left Great Britain playing Australasia, the final score was 32-3 to Australasia with Bert Solomon managing to score a try for Great Britain. Australasias team, the Wallabies, was already on tour in Britain, Great Britain was therefore represented by the Cornwall county team, who were chosen by the RFU as an appropriate side after they defeated Durham in the 1907 English county championship. As expected, Australasia defeated Great Britain, claiming the gold medal, the match at the White City Stadium was played under poor conditions, in fog and with a slippery field. Cornwall reached the Championship final again in 1909,1928,1958,1969 and 1989 but had to wait until 1991 before re-claiming the trophy
32.
Camborne
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Camborne is a town and civil parish in west Cornwall, England. It is at the edge of a conurbation comprising Camborne, Pool. The population of Camborne was 14,726 in 1901 and 20,010 at the 2001 census, by 2011 the population had grown to 20,845. The Northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path which includes, Hells Mouth, Camborne is located in what was formerly one of the richest tin mining areas in the world and was once the home to the Camborne School of Mines. The School of Mines moved from the centre of Camborne to Trevenson, Pool and is now a specialist department of the University of Exeter, Camborne is in the western part of the largest urban and industrial area in Cornwall with the town of Redruth 3 miles to the east. It is the centre of a large civil parish and has a town council. Camborne-Redruth is on the side of the Carn Brea/Carnmenellis granite upland which slopes northwards to the sea. The two towns are linked by the A3047 road which was turnpiked in 1839 and the villages along the road were Roskear, Tuckingmill, Pool and Illogan. Running north-south are a number of streams with narrow river valleys which have been deeply-cut following centuries of tin streaming. An example is the Red River valley which crosses the A3047 at Tuckingmill, to the north, the A30 forms a boundary between the urban area and the agricultural land on the other side. It is the only Roman villa to be found in the whole of Cornwall, there are also early Christian sites such as an inscribed altar stone, and dated to the tenth or eleventh centuries, which attests to the existence of a settlement then. Langdon records seven crosses in the parish of which two are at Pendarves. By the late Middle Ages manorial holdings developed in the surrounding area, Cornish medieval mystery plays were held in a playing place and the chuchyard is said to have had a pilgrimage chapel and holy well. John Norden visited in 1584 and described Camborne as ″A churche standinge among the barrayne hills″, at this time there would have been moors and rough grazing as well as small fields in the surrounding countryside. By 1708 Camborne had rights to hold markets and three fairs a year which may be an indication of tin mining in the area, Cambornes was inland and in an unfavourable location for trading. Mining is first recorded locally in the 1400s with early exploitation of the small streams cutting through the mineralised area, adit mining was first recorded in the 16th-century. A sign of increasing industrial activity and increasing population is the first chapel built in 1806. In 1823 the population was around 2,000 and in 1841 it was 4,377, with 75 smiths recorded, in the expanding town gasworks were opened in 1834, the Hayle Railway was built and Holmans opened a small foundry in 1839
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Bristol Rugby
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Bristol Rugby is a rugby union club based in Bristol, England. The club currently play in the English Premiership, Bristol Rugby club dates back to 1888. Since the late 1990s, the club has bounced between the Premiership and the Championship, Bristol Football Club was formed in 1888 when the Carlton club merged with rival club Redland Park to create a united Bristol team. Westbury Park having refused to merge then folded and many of its players subsequently joined Bristol, the County Cricket Ground at Nevil Road was leased for home matches. The first match was an away defeat to Cardiff and although the first season was relatively successful the second was not with only three games won. The club went from strength to strength over the few years under the captaincy of W. Tommy Thomson. It turned the corner and in 1891–92, now wearing the familiar navy and white hooped shirts. Over the ensuing seasons the fixture list went from strength to strength, in 1900 J. W. Jarman became Bristols first England cap. Two major touring sides played Bristol during this period, the first New Zealand All Blacks defeated the club 41–0 in 1905 and in 1909 a combined Bristol and Clifton RFC team, captained by Percy Down, lost to Australia 11–3. The club was beginning to bring on a new generation of players when the First World War halted all rugby, after the war a Bristol United side was formed to provide rugby for returning servicemen and this led to the rebirth of Bristol in 1919. The County Ground was no longer available for home games so the club rented a field at Radnor Road, Horfield although occasional matches were staged at the Bristol City, the Radnor Road seasons were good ones for the club and a new crop of stars appeared. The Memorial Ground stadium was built on an area of land called Buffalo Bills Field which was occupied by allotments in 1921. Bristol defeated Cardiff 19–3 in the match in front of a large crowd. The fiftieth anniversary was celebrated in 1938 but the few years saw a fall in performances. During World War II a Bristol Supporters team kept rugby union going in the city, thus Bristol had readily available players when peacetime rugby union resumed in 1945. The playing record in the fifties was mixed, but there was a huge improvement under the captaincy of first Bert MacDonald. Records were broken in 1956–57 and even better was to follow in what has been called The Blake Era. Fly half John Blake became captain in 1957 and under his leadership the club developed a running style of rugby involving backs and forwards
34.
Northampton
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Northampton /nɔːrθˈæmptən/ is the county town of Northamptonshire in the East Midlands of England. It lies on the River Nene, about 67 miles north-west of London and 50 miles south-east of Birmingham, One of the largest towns in the UK, Northampton had a population of 212,100 in the 2011 census. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the dates back to the Bronze Age, Roman. During the Middle Ages, the rose to national significance with the establishment of Northampton Castle. Medieval Northampton had many churches, monasteries and the University of Northampton and it was granted its first town charter by King Richard I in 1189 and its first mayor was appointed by King John in 1215. The town is also the site of two battles, the Battle of Northampton and the second in 1460. The town also suffered the Great Fire of Northampton which destroyed most of the town and it was soon rebuilt and grew rapidly with the industrial development of the 18th century. Northampton continued to grow following the creation of the Grand Union Canal, after the World Wars, Northamptons growth was limited until it was designated as a New Town in 1968, accelerating development in the town. Northampton unsuccessfully applied for status in 1996 and city status in 2000. According to Centre for Cities data in 2015, Northampton had a growth of 11. 3% between the years 2004 and 2013, one of the ten highest in the UK. The earliest reference to Northampton in writing occurred in 914 under the name Ham tune, the prefix North was added later to distinguish it from other towns called Hampton, most prominently Southampton. The Domesday Book records the town as Northantone, which evolved into Norhamptone by the 13th century, present-day Northampton is the latest in a series of settlements that began in the Bronze Age. During the British Iron Age, people lived in protected hill forts. Present-day Hunsbury Hill is an example of settlement, a circular ditch. In the Roman period, a rural settlement is thought to have existed in the present-day district of Duston. Following Danish invasion, the area of the town was turned into a stronghold called a burh. A ditch was dug around the settlement and it was fortified with earth ramparts, having conquered Mercia, the Danes turned the settlement into a centre for military and administrative purposes, which was part of the Danelaw. In the 9th century Regenhere of Northampton an East Anglian Saint with localised veneration was buried in Northampton, by 918, Northampton had an earl and an army dependent upon it, whose territory extended to the River Welland
35.
Leicester Tigers
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Leicester Tigers is an English rugby union club based in Leicester, England that plays in the English Premiership. Leicester have also appeared in a record nine successive Premiership finals, the Tigers have never finished a league season below 6th position, and are one of only four teams never to have been relegated from the top division. The clubs first game was a draw on 23 October against Moseley at the Belgrave Road Cycle. That first season Tigers play a local fixture list against the likes of Northampton, Nuneaton, Rushden, Kettering, Market Harborough, in 1881 the club joined the Midlands Counties Football Association enabling them to enter the Midlands Counties Cup the next season. Tigers first ever cup game was a loss to Edgbaston Crusaders. This inauspicious start to the cup continued with losses to Moseley in each of the three seasons. In 1888 Tigers fixture list started to expand outside the midlands, the 1888-89 season saw Tigers welcome back Manningham as well as Oldham and Swinton, Cardiff Harlequins became the clubs first Welsh opponents. Leicester also reached their first Midland Counties Cup Final that year losing, again, 1889-90 saw Tigers travel to Wales for the first time playing Cardiff and Newport on consecutive days, the Monday and Tuesday of Easter week. Gloucester were added to the fixture list in 1891-92, whilst on 13 February Tigers played in London for the first time, on 10 September 1892 Leicester played their first game at their present ground, Welford Road, against a Leicestershire XV. That season saw derby matches produce attendances up to 7,000 whilst 10,000 saw Leicester lose 12-0 to Coventry in the round of the Midlands Counties Cup. Tom Crumbie was appointed secretary on 2 August 1895, a position he held for the next 33 years. Crumbie has been credited with dragging the club to prominence, he disbanded reserve and third teams making the First XV an invitation side. During his tenure 26 players from the club became capped at international level, Jones was forced to miss the final on medical grounds but Tigers still took home the cup for the first time winning 5-3. The only score coming from Percy Oscroft after only 3 minutes, in the final Nuneaton were beaten 20-3. For the next three seasons Leicester had the better of Moseley beating them in the each year, before seeing off Rugby in the final of 1903. Moseley were defeated again in 1904, Nottingham beaten 31-0 in 1905, having won the Midlands Counties Cup every year from 1898 to 1905, they dropped out to give other teams a chance. In 1903 Jack Miles became the first home produced England international and he had come to prominence scoring 43 tries in 52 appearances. In 1908 the club had three players selected for the 1908 Anglo-Welsh tour of New Zealand, John Jackett, Tom Smith and Fred Jackson became the first Tigers selected for an overseas tour
36.
Billy Stead
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Billy Stead, born John William Stead, was a rugby union player born in Invercargill who played for New Zealand, the All Blacks, on their 1905–06 tour. Stead also played provincially for Southland, and later coached various teams, including Southland, a bootmaker by trade, he also co-authored The Complete Rugby Footballer with Dave Gallaher, and was a columnist for the Southland Times, and New Zealand Truth. Billy Stead was born in Invercargill on 18 September 1877, neither Steads primary nor secondary school did much to encourage students to play rugby, but he did manage to get a place in the school team after debuting as a late injury replacement. After joining the club he played for their second and third teams for a couple of years before earning promotion to their side in 1896. He played at First five-eighths for the side, and in his first season earned selected for his province, Stead first played representative rugby for Southland in 1896. He was only 18 at the time, and continued to play for the province until 1908, after representing the South Island in 1903, he was selected for the All Blacks that year. Although he did tour with the team to Australia, he did not play in a Test match until the following year, in his first Test against Great Britain in 1904, Stead captained the side. He was again selected for the All Blacks the following year for their northern hemisphere tour, although he did not participate in the preliminary tour of Australia due to work commitments, Stead did play against Canterbury and then Wellington for the All Blacks. Dave Gallaher was named as the captain, with Stead as vice-captain. On the voyage to Britain, both resigned as captain and vice-captain respectively. They had both been appointed by the New Zealand Rugby Football Union, but believed that the players should have a say in the choice of captain. Stead participated in 29 of the Originals matches, and although he only scored 11 tries for the team, jimmy Hunter, who scored 44 tries on tour, said to him at the Originals 50 year reunion, Without you I was nothing. Stead was considered a tactician, and him missing the teams Wales Test was considered a major factor in their only loss. Before the New Zealand squad left Britain, English publisher Henry Leach asked Stead and Gallaher to author a book on rugby tactics and they finished the task in under a fortnight and were each paid £50. Entitled The Complete Rugby Footballer, the book was 322 pages long and included chapters on tactics and play and it was mainly authored by Stead, a bootmaker, with Gallaher contributing most of the diagrams. Gallaher almost certainly made some contributions to the text, including sections on Auckland club rugby, the book showed the All Blacks tactics and planning to be superior to others of the time, and according to Matt Elliott is marvellously astute, it received universal acclaim on its publication. According to a 2011 assessment by ESPNs Graham Jenkins, it one of the most influential books produced in the realms of rugby literature. After the Originals tour, Steads next All Blacks match was not until 1908 when he captained them twice against the Anglo-Welsh, following the 1908 season, Stead went into semi-retirement, but was persuaded to play for the New Zealand Māori
37.
Punch (magazine)
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Punch, or The London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 1850s, after the 1940s, when its circulation peaked, it went into a long decline, closing in 1992. It was revived in 1996, but closed again in 2002, Punch was founded on 17 July 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells, on an initial investment of £25. It was jointly edited by Mayhew and Mark Lemon and it was subtitled The London Charivari in homage to Charles Philipons French satirical humour magazine Le Charivari. Mayhew ceased to be joint editor in 1842 and became suggestor in chief until he severed his connection in 1845, the magazine initially struggled for readers, except for an 1842 Almanack issue which shocked its creators by selling 90,000 copies. In December 1842 due to difficulties the magazine was sold to Bradbury and Evans. Bradbury and Evans capitalised on newly evolving mass printing technologies and also were the publishers for Charles Dickens, Punch humorously appropriated the term to refer to its political cartoons, and the popularity of the Punch cartoons led to the terms widespread use. The illustrator Archibald Henning designed the cover of the magazines first issues, the cover design varied in the early years, though Richard Doyle designed what became the magazines masthead in 1849. Artists who published in Punch during the 1840s and 50s included John Leech, Richard Doyle, John Tenniel and this group became known as The Punch Brotherhood, which also included Charles Dickens who joined Bradbury and Evans after leaving Chapman and Hall in 1843. Punch authors and artists contributed to another Bradbury and Evans literary magazine called Once A Week. In the 1860s and 1870s, conservative Punch faced competition from upstart liberal journal Fun, at Evanss café in London, the two journals had Round tables in competition with each other. Punch gave several phrases to the English language, including The Crystal Palace, several British humour classics were first serialised in Punch, such as the Diary of a Nobody and 1066 and All That. Towards the end of the century, the artistic roster included Harry Furniss, Linley Sambourne, Francis Carruthers Gould. Among the outstanding cartoonists of the century were Bernard Partridge, H. M. Bateman, Bernard Hollowood who also edited the magazine from 1957 to 1968, Kenneth Mahood. Circulation broke the 100,000 mark around 1910, and peaked in 1947–1948 at 175,000 to 184,000, sales declined steadily thereafter, ultimately, the magazine was forced to close in 1992 after 150 years of publication. Punch was widely emulated worldwide and popular in the colonies, however, the colonial experience, especially in India, also influenced Punch and its iconography. Tenniels Punch cartoons of the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny led to a surge in the magazines popularity, colonial India was time and again caricatured in Punch and can be seen as a significant source for producing knowledge about India. Many Punch cartoonists of the late 20th century published collections of their own, Punch magazine ceased publishing in 1992
38.
Scrum (rugby union)
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In rugby union a scrum is a means of restarting play after a minor infringement. It involves up to eight players each team, known as the pack or forward pack. At this point the ball is fed into the gap between the two packs and they both compete for the ball to win possession. Teams can be penalised for causing the scrum to collapse. A scrum is most commonly awarded when the ball is knocked forward, or passed forward, because of the physical nature of scrums, injuries can occur, especially in the front row. To prepare for a scrum, each teams eight forwards bind together in three rows — the front row, second row and back row, the front row is composed of the two props and the hooker. To the left is the prop with the hooker in the middle. The tighthead prop, number three, earns that name as his head and shoulders sits between the hooker and the prop of the opposing side, meaning he sits in a tighter scrum position. The loosehead prop, by contrast, has one open to the outside of the scrum. The three bind together tightly and there is no gap between the hooker and either prop. According to the laws of the game, When a player binds on a team-mate that player must use the arm from hand to shoulder to grasp the team-mate’s body at or below the level of the armpit. Failing to bind properly results in a penalty, and the team being awarded a free kick. The two second row forwards bind together and directly behind the front row with each putting their heads between the props and the hooker and they are more commonly referred to as locks as they lock the scrum. Lastly the back row is made up of the two flankers and the number eight, the flankers bind on each side of the scrum — next to a lock and behind a prop. Generally the number seven flanker is referred to as the openside flanker, openside and blindside refer to the wide and narrow side of the pitch respectively, as scrums usually occur closer to one of the touchlines than the other. The openside flankers job is to get to the ruck or maul as quickly as possible. The number 8 binds behind the two locks, with his/her head between them, to form a scrum the two forward packs approach to within an arms length of each other. The referee gives the command crouch and the front rows then crouch so that their backs are parallel to the ground and their head
39.
Bill Cunningham (rugby union)
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William Bill Cunningham was a New Zealand rugby union player who represented New Zealand—known as the All Blacks—between 1901 and 1908. Most notably he toured with the Original All Blacks on their 1905–06 tour of the British Isles, France and they were the first New Zealand representative team to visit the British Isles, and of their 32 matches there Cunningham played in 23. He played mainly at lock, and was added to the party due to his strong scrummaging ability. He played in three Test matches during the trip, against Scotland, Ireland and France, but did not play in the loss to Wales due to injury, born near Te Awamutu, Cunningham originally played club rugby in Waihi, in the Coromandel region. Lying within the Auckland Rugby Football Unions boundaries, he was selected to play for Auckland province in 1899 and he was first picked for New Zealand in 1901, and played against New South Wales that year, but was not selected again until the 1905 Originals tour. After the tour he continued to represent New Zealand in both 1907 and 1908, affiliating to Rongowhakaata, he was a member of the first ever New Zealand Māori team in 1910, and played for them again in 1912. On retirement in 1913 he had appeared for Auckland 45 times, born at Rangiaowhia, near Te Awamutu, on 8 July 1874, Cunningham was the son of Hera Ngaihika Halbert and her second husband, James Cunningham. Hera was the daughter of Thomas Halbert, a whaler and trader who landed in Poverty Bay in about 1832, and his wife, Keita Kaikiri. Hera later remarried Paratene Tatae, a cousin of Te Kooti, their daughters included Reremoana Hakiwai, and Keita Kaikiri Paratene, Cunningham married Ethel Minnie Dance of Waihi on 23 September 1907. The same year, Ethel gave birth to their son, William Henry Cunningham and this was the only child the couple had and never had anymore. Cunningham first played rugby union for Auckland province in 1899. He was selected from his club Waihi West, which was affiliated to the Goldfield subunion, at the time the Goldfields Rugby Union was a subunion of the Auckland Rugby Football Union, but its constituent clubs are now affiliated to the Thames Valley Rugby Football Union. He was first selected to play for New Zealand in 1901, and played against Wellington, both matches were comfortably won, with the tourists defeated 20–3. Cunningham played his first of four matches for Auckland against international opposition, against the same New South Wales side a week later, Cunningham moved to Auckland in 1902, and played his club rugby for City, before joining Ponsonby the following season. He had been displaced from the team by this time. The New Zealanders used a different scrum formation than seen today, despite not being selected for New Zealand in 1904, Cunningham continued to appear for Auckland, and played in two particularly notable matches that season. In 1904 the first Ranfurly Shield match was played, the shield, a provincial challenge trophy won by defeating the holder, was to become the most prestigious trophy in domestic New Zealand rugby. Due to their unmatched provincial record at the time Auckland were awarded the shield, the first shield challenge was played against Wellington, who were not expected to pose much of a threat
40.
Irish Rugby Football Union
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The Irish Rugby Football Union is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland. The IRFU has its office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ground at Aviva Stadium. In addition, the Union also owns Ravenhill in Belfast, Thomond Park in Limerick, the IRFU was formed in 1879 as an amalgamation of these two organisations and branches of the new IRFU were formed in Leinster, Munster and Ulster. The Connacht Branch was formed in 1900, the IRFU was a founding member of the International Rugby Football Board, now known as World Rugby, in 1886 with Scotland and Wales. To maintain the unity of Irish rugby union and the linkages between North and South, the IRFU purchased a new ground in 1923 in the Ravenhill district of Belfast at a cost of £2,300. The last full International at Ravenhill involving Ireland for more than a half-century took place in 1953–54 against Scotland who were victorious by 2 tries to nil, Australia played Romania in the 1999 World Cup at the ground. The next full International played at Ravenhill was the Rugby World Cup warm-up match against Italy in August 2007 due to the closure of Lansdowne Road for reconstruction. The four provincial branches of the IRFU first ran cup competitions during the 1880s, although these tournaments still take place every year, their significance has been diminished by the advent of an All-Ireland league of 48 Senior Clubs in 1990. The four provincial teams have played an Interprovincial Championship since the 1920s and these are Munster, Leinster, Ulster and Connacht. All four provinces play at the level as members of the Guinness Pro12. The Irish Rugby Football Union represents the island of Ireland and the emblems, some elements have changed since 1874, but what has remained consistent throughout the history of the union is the use of the shamrock in its emblems. In 1927 a new crest was introduced, with the design altered to a sprig of 3 shamrocks of a similar size within a smaller white shield. This was the official crest until 1974 when the logo was used. Although the use of the shamrock has been a constant, albeit with modifications to design, in the early twenties, when the Irish Free State was established, the union was left in the position of governing a game for one island containing two separate political entities. A controversy ensued as to what flag should be flown at international matches, for a side that played both in Dublin and Belfast this posed a significant issue. In 1925 the union designed their own flag, incorporating the arms of the four provinces, although it had the same elements as the Flag of the Four Provinces, it was not identical, instead having them separated on a green background with the IRFU logo in the centre. Even so, the call to fly the Irish tricolour at Lansdowne Road continued, the result was that on 5 February 1932, the IRFU unanimously voted to fly both the flag of the union and the national flag at Lansdowne Road at all international matches in Dublin. The IRFU flag, as designed in 1925, is that which is used by the Ireland rugby union side
41.
Lansdowne Road
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The Lansdowne Road Stadium was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union that was primarily for used rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for the construction of the Aviva Stadium, the stadium took its name from the adjacent street called Landsdowne Road. The stadium was situated in the neighbourhood of Ballsbridge in the citys Dublin 4 area, the stadium had convenient public transport links as the Lansdowne Road station of the Dublin Area Rapid Transit rail system is adjacent to the site and passed directly underneath the West Stand. The stadium was named after the road, which in turn was named after William Petty-FitzMaurice. The Marquis was also the Earl of Shelburne, and nearby Shelbourne Road is also named after him, the stadium had a total capacity of 49,250, with 25,000 seats. However, competitive football matches could not use the entire capacity because the stands at both ends of the ground were standing-only terraces. FIFA and UEFA both mandate that international matches be played in all-seated venues, a temporary capacity of 36,000 was the result for competitive soccer. World Rugby, known as the International Rugby Board when the current Aviva Stadium opened, for non-competitive international football matches, the FIFA/UEFA all-seated mandate does not apply. At the IRFU ground, Irish rugby and football matches were played. Leinster also used the ground on a number of occasions when crowd size meant their home of Donnybrook was not large enough. In 1999 and 2003, Lansdowne Road played host to the Heineken Cup final, since 1990, Lansdowne was also a regular host of the FAI Cup Final. The stadium had also hosted concerts from artists such as Michael Jackson, Robbie Williams, Oasis, U2. The Lansdowne Road Stadium was the brainchild of Henry Dunlop, the organiser of the first All Ireland Athletics Championships, Dunlop, a decorated track walker and engineering graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, founded the Irish Champion Athletic Club in 1871. After an initial meeting at Trinity College, the Provost of the College banned any further meeting on campus, Dunlop had to find a new home for his sporting endeavours. Writing in 1921, Dunlop stated, I was therefore forced to look for another plot, on the tennis club grounds the first tennis championship was held long before Fitzwilliam meetings. Dunlop founded Lansdowne Football Club in 1872 and that club has played rugby union ever since at the grounds, being one of the most prominent and successful clubs in Leinster. Wanderers Football Club, founded in 1869, joined Lansdowne at the grounds later, the two clubs were tenants since that time, and also use the new Aviva stadium. Some 300 cartloads of soil from a trench beneath the railway were used to raise the ground, Dunlop charged the IRFU £5 and half of any profits over £50 after expenses
Scotland
Ireland
England
Wales
France
