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Rugby Union emerged out of a variation of football played at Rugby School in Warwickshire, UK. The schoolboys would agree the rules before each game, until they were written down in 1845. The Rugby Football Union was formed years later in 1871 – though this group split into Rugby League and Rugby Union in 1895. William Webb Ellis is known as the boy who famously first caught and ran with the ball during a game of association football; the Rugby World cup is named in his honour. In the same year as the RFU is founded, Scotland beat England in the first ever international game. 

The first Rugby World Cup appeared in 1987 – with New Zealand being victorious – although the sport remained an amateur one until 1995, when money became introduced. Since then, the sport has exploded worldwide and become one of the most watched professional sports on the planet.

Women have been scrumming down as part of the Rugby Union since 1983, but there are records of women playing rugby in Ireland dated 1884.

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A Queensland game takes a throw in 1900
Wikimedia Commons