The Badminton magazine of sports and pastimes by Watson Alfred Edward Thomas 1849-1922

Author:Watson, Alfred Edward Thomas, 1849-1922, [from old catalog] ed
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sports
Publisher: London, Longmans, Green, and co.; [etc., etc.]
Published: 1895-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

The Badminton Magazine

MASTERS OF THEIR ARTS

X. RUGBY FOOTBALL BY F. H. B. CHAMPAIN AND E. G. N. NORTH

To obtain a clear idea of the recent changes and developments which have marked the onward march of Rugby football, it is really necessary to carry oneself back to the end of the 'eighties and the early 'nineties, when the four three-quarter system of play, having its origin in Wales, began to spread to England, Scotland, and Ireland.

This change from three to four three-quarters is the fundamental change which has had the effect of causing a revolution in the Rugby game, a revolution both sudden and effective in the land of its birth, but slow and with uneven results in the countries of its adoption : for dependent upon the main change have been the numerous small changes, which in Wales for the most part appeared simultaneously, yet in England, Scotland, and Ireland have made exceedingly slow progress. We trust then that it will not be uninteresting to our readers if we note briefly the effect that the main change has had upon forward play, and half-back play; why it has taken so NO. LXXXVll. VOL. XV.— October 1902 2 E

long to become a successful form of attack in English football especially; to inquire into its prospects of forming a permanent feature in Rugby football; and to conclude by offering some suggestions to young players.

We hold that it is impossible to judge accurately of the football of a country by international matches. The excitement and anxiety which affect players in these matches, as well as the fact that the teams have little or no chance of real uniformity so essential to a team playing a successful game, render these contests no criterion as to the true standard of the football in a country.

Of course there have been brilliant exceptions to this, for finer football has scarcely ever been witnessed than that played by the famous Scotch team of 1900-1901, and the Welsh teams of 1895 and 1899-1900 ; but these are exceptions, and we mubt turn to first-class club football to find the full effects produced by the change.

We are here encountered by an amazing fact. In the last eight years there have hardly been more successes over Welsh club teams than it is possible to count on the fingers of one's hands. This is perhaps a slight exaggeration, and we refer, of course, to the leading Welsh clubs only, where Rugby football is to be found in its most highly developed condition. Time after time splendid teams representing Blackheath, teams invincible in England, have gone down before the Cardiff and Newport fifteens ; the Universities have fared no better; and it is only in the last year or two that the Gloucester, Bristol, and Devonport Albion teams have begun to meet with success against their Welsh neighbours—even now, indeed, they look upon a draw as equivalent to a victory.

May we dwell for a moment upon this point, and ask the reasons for this extraordinary success of Welsh club football over English club football.

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