Rugby Without Rules

Football didn’t prosper without a universal set of rules. The same applies to life, says Steve Cavanaugh.

The origins of football date to Greek times. Antiphanes, a Greek playwright (388-311 BC) mentions a game known as pheninda, which became the precursor of the Roman game harpastum. A bas-relief of this on a marble column in Athens (circa 600 BC) was depicted on a Greek 1972 Olympic Games stamp issue.

The Roman army devised harpastum as a means of keeping soldiers fit! It was more like rugby than soccer, and may have been introduced into Britain when it was under Roman rule. It is an ancestor of today’s Il Calcio, played in Florence. When the city was founded in the 15th century, it resurrected harpastum, and codified it as Il Calcio, with the first published rules appearing in 1555. Il Calcio may have indirectly influenced British Football, as a game was played in front of the British Consul in 1766. The game was revived in 1930, but is now played only as a tourist attraction.

The first British football has its origins in “folk football,” also known as “mob football.” In 1314 the mayor of London issued a proclamation banning it because it caused such a ruckus. Such attempts to ban the game due to its roughness and associated damage to property gave way to claims that it was “frivolous” and a violation of the peace in the 16th century. It had few or no rules!

By the 19th century, changes were occurring in society. With the Industrial Revolution, workers had more leisure time and time for sport. In schools a doctrine of “muscular Christianity” was encouraged, so sport grew in popularity.

But in 1827, the game was still a rough-and-tumble affair, with few rules and many injuries. This was unsustainable, as workers couldn’t afford time off from work. Without rules, players resorted to violence. So increasingly the games became organised, with codification of the rules of the games into rugby and soccer.
The first major changes in folk football occurred in the schools and universities. The value of sport in children’s upbringing was becoming popular and was fostered by such books as Tom Brown’s School Days. But each school or institution had its own set of rules, which would change depending on circumstances; a person of today would hardly recognise those games as soccer or rugby.

ruling the game
Then, in 1823, as the legend goes, at the Rugby school, William Webb Ellis (or some other student) grasped the ball and simply ran with it, and rugby was born! The first governing set of rules at Rugby School date from 1843, although Eton claims to have preceded them by two years.

Meanwhile, in 1837, Cambridge University decided on a set of rules that disallowed handling of the ball. It’s thought that the Cambridge rules led to soccer and the Rugby/Eton rules to rugby, however the reality was that there was much local compromise and the schools could not play each other!

In 1848 some former students of Cambridge University unsuccessfully tried to find some common denominators among the various rules. However, within a decade several clubs favouring a kicking game were formed. They included the Eton and Harrow Schools, then Sheffield (1857) and Hallam (1859), who played the first interclub match (under Sheffield’s rules) in 1860.

Cambridge then again tried to unite the games, and was unsuccessful. That initiative led to the formation of the soccer Football Association (FA) in 1863, comprising 11 clubs. The name soccer is derived from the middle part of the word association.

During the 1850s several soccer clubs were formed, but the rules remained flexible and were often decided on the day. The clubs included Trinity College, Dublin (1853), Edinburgh Academicals (1857), Liverpool (1858) and Blackheath (1859). Rugby, Winchester, Westminster, Cheltenham and other schools were playing a game that was predominantly a running game. In 1864 the first overseas clubs were formed at Sydney University in Australia, and Trinity College in Toronto, Canada.

The year1871 saw the formation of the Rugby Football Union and the first broad agreement on rules. The first international match was between England and Scotland. The Scottish Union was formed in 1873, the Irish Union in 1874 and the Welsh Union in 1880. The International Rugby Board was formed in 1890. The New Zealand Rugby Union was formed in 1892 and the Argentinean Rugby Union in 1899, and in 1900 rugby was included in the Olympic Games—won by France.

Defections in 1879 and 1895 saw America and Canada playing under their own rules and also the formation of Rugby League. Following soccer’s lead, the first Rugby World Cup was played in 1987, which was held in Australia and New Zealand, followed by the UK (1991), South Africa (1995), the UK (1999) and back in Australia for 2003.

So much of the history of football related to the setting down of “the rules.” The games where variously banned or modified for, without rules, they were merely legalised mob violence. Also, without a common set of rules, teams couldn’t compete against each other. Rugby, and the pleasure derived from it today, could only be realised and flourish when a consistent set of rules was set down—and obeyed.

the game of life
This is similar to the game of life, which can only be played happily as its participants agree to live by its rules—the social contract, as it’s sometimes called. Where rules don’t exist no-one is truly safe or happy, and mayhem rules.

In July 2003, troops and police from various Pacific countries travelled to the Solomon Islands in an operation codenamed “Help a Friend.” The purpose is to re-establish the rule of law and dispel the anarchy that flourished in its absence. The situation in Iraq following the war is similar to the recent history in South Africa, the former Soviet Union, Liberia or the Congo, where a lack of respect or adherence to law allowed criminals to flourish and even take control.

In the West, at least, law is very much based on the code of law given by God to Moses (see Exodus 20), who foresaw the anarchy, pain and death that would occur in their absence. The Ten Commandments, as they’re called, are based on the principle of love (see Matthew 22:36-40), while their practical application is expressed in Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew chapters 5-7). He knew the game of life could not be played without a universal agreement to stay as close as possible to this set of rules.

Just like football players, we must play life by its rules. Those rules are universal and forever, for, as Jesus told His listeners on that mountain-side concerning God’s law, “until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will . . . disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matthew 5:18).

Not playing according to the rules brings can bring a short-term advantage, but as in the history of football, if we don’t play by the same rules, then there’s no game. Break the rules and eventually a player is penalised and the team loses. And there’s not much point in that.

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