Football: The Rugby Union Game

This classic 1892 history is reissued to mark the Rugby World Cup 2015. Its author, referee Frank Marshall (1845-1906), became president of the Yorkshire Rugby Union in 1890, and quickly made himself unpopular by enforcing the ‘amateur’ status of players, suspending those accused of ‘professionalism’. How might Marshall have reacted to the elite teams of the twenty-first century, or the recent dominance of Southern Hemisphere nations (‘colonials’ to him)? Marshall’s book covers rugby at British schools, the origins of the Rugby Football Union, university and county level rugby, and the Welsh game. Featuring team lists, match results, appreciations of individual players, and many illustrations, the book also describes early international encounters, including the gruelling ‘Maori’ tour of England in 1888-9, and England’s tours to Australia (1888) and South Africa (1891-2). ‘The South Africans played a very hard game, especially forward.’ A taste of things to come?