History of the Rugby World Cup
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The history of the Rugby World Cup dates as far back as the 1950s, where various individuals and bodies would suggest the idea in the years leading up to the 1980s when the idea finally caught momentum. The first Rugby World Cup was held in 1987 - hosted by both Australia and New Zealand who pushed for the tournament to be approved. Five tournaments have now taken place thus far.
Rugby union was the last major sport to stage a world championship. Most notably; football (soccer) had their first tournament in 1930 and cricket staged their inaugural event in 1975. Rugby union held off starting a world cup for a long time, as some governing bodies suspected that professionalism would enter the game once such a tournament was established.[1]
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[edit] International competition prior to the World Cup
Apart from regular test matches and touring sides, tournaments that resembled a world cup format - albeit not of its scale, but in terms of international nations competiting, are competitions such as the Summer Olympics and the Home/Five Nations Championship. Rugby union was played at the Summer Olympics on four occasions, 1900, 1908, 1920 and 1924. Although these competitions did not involve full national sides, and usually only had three or four participating nations at any individual event. The Home/Five Nations has been played since 1883, it is one of the oldest international rugby tournaments, involving only European nations.
[edit] Early attempts
There are several stories that depict suggestions of staging a rugby union world cup before the 1980s. One of the earliest known pioneers was Harold Tolhurst, an Australian player who would later become a referee. It has been said that Tolhurst brought up the idea of such a tournament as early as the late 1950s.
It has been said that in 1968, the International Rugby Board made it known that it did not want its unions to be apart of such a competition that resembled a world cup.[2]
Similar ideas arose during the last years of the pre-WC era. Bill McLaughin, who was the president of the Australian Rugby Union in 1979, floated the idea of staging a World Cup in 1988, as the event would coincide with Australia's bicentenary celebrations.[2]
[edit] Early 1980s
In 1982, Neil Durden-Smith suggested that a World Cup be played in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s. The IRB discussed the proposal in March of 1983, but the concept fell through. The idea was dismissed, the core objection being that the IRB did not want such a tournament run by commercial entities. Although the concept had been done with by the IRFB and its member unions, the idea of a World Rugby Cup was not forgotten by Australia and New Zealand. A meeting was held in June of 1983, where Australia put forth a proposal that would see them host the first event - if it should happen. New Zealand joined the campaign, putting forth their own proposal in March of the next year. The IRB went on to conduct a feasibility study - Australia and New Zealand joined forces to bid for the hosting of an inaugural World Cup.[2]
A subsesquent IRFB meeting was held in Paris in March of 1985. It is known that originally, all four home nations were opposed to the idea, and the most vocal supporters were Australia, New Zealand and France. It is believed that South Africa's decision to vote in favour of the event was the turning point in the voting. South Africa voted in favour of the tournament going ahead, though they knew they would not be competiting due to the sports boycott at the time.[3] South Africa's vote saw England, followed by Wales, change to be in favour as well.[3]
[edit] The first tournament
The 1987 world cup was hosted by both Australia and New Zealand. 32 matches were played from over a period of May 22 to June 20. The tournament featured one African nation, three Americas nations, one Asian nation, seven European nations and four Oceanic nations. One notable omission was the Springboks who were not competing due to the international sports boycott. Seven of the 16 places were automatically filled by the IRFB members, with invitations being sent out to fill remaining places. The semi-final between France and Australia is often called the match of the tournament.[4]
New Zealand become first ever World Cup Champions, defeating France 29 points to 9 at Eden Park. The gap between the rugby powers and the emerging nations was apparent.[4] The tournament however did proved to be a great success; making a profit of £1.5million, and over 600 million viewers making up the tournament's cumulative global television audience. The potential for advertising companies was realised, and the stage was set for the next tournament to be taken to Europe.
[edit] 1990s
The 1991 world cup was hosted by Great Britain, Ireland and France, with the tournament final to be played at the home of English rugby, at Twickenham. For the first time, a qualifying tournament replaced the previously used invitation format. The qualifying tournament involved 32 teams. England qualified for the final by defeating Scotland at Murrayfield. Australia qualified the next day. Australia won, defeating England 12 points to 6. The 1991 event improved from the success of the 1987 Australasian hosted event, with increased profits and television audiences. The Rugby World Cup had now become the fourth largest national sporting teams tournament in the world by viewing figures; behind the Summer Olympics, the FIFA World Cup and the Asian Cup.[1]
It what was seen by many as a brave move by the rugby governing bodies, the 1995 world cup was given to South Africa, being the first time that all matches would be played in just a single country, as well as being the last tournament of the open-game era; more notably however, the Springboks had only been allowed back into the game three years earlier.
So it became the first time that South Africa participated in the tournament following the end of their international sports boycott due to the apartheid regime. South Africa won, defeating New Zealand 15 points to 12. Joel Stransky kicked a field-goal in extra time to grab the victory for South Africa. Nelson Mandela, wearing a Springbok cap, famously presented the Webb Ellis Cup to South African captain Francois Pienaar. The tournament also so the emergence of Jonah Lomu. Both Lomu and Marc Ellis finished the tournament as the top try scorers. To this day, there are still claims that the All Blacks were food-poisoned prior to the final.
The 1999 world cup was hosted by Wales with matches played in England, France, Scotland and Ireland. There were further changes to the rules of automatic qualification for this tournament, where, only the champions, the runners-up, the third place play-off winners from 1995 and the host nation automatically qualified.
65 rugby nations tried to qualify for the 1999 tournament, and the participating nations increased from 16 to 20. The semi-final win for France over the All Blacks in the semi-finals was seen as one of the best games of the tournament. Australia won, defeating France 35 points to 12. It was the first time that the host did not make it to the final, Wales, being knocked out in the quarter-finals.
[edit] 2000 - present
The 2003 world cup was hosted by Australia. It was originally to be co-hosted with New Zealand, this changed when New Zealand could not guarentee clean stadia (stadia free of advertising) [citation needed]. An estimated 40,000 international spectators travel to the event. The tournament's financial surplus exceeded all the Australian Rugby Union's expectations.[5]
England won the tournament, defeating Australia 20 points to 17. With 21 seconds left before sudden death England's Jonny Wilkinson landed a drop goal to win the tournament final. England became the first northern hemisphere nation to win a Rugby World Cup. Upon returning to England, the English side was greeted by an estimated 750,000 people at a street parade celebrating their victory.[6]
The next World Cup will be the 2007 World Cup in France, with matches also being played in Wales and Scotland. The subsequent tournament, the 2011 tournament will be hosted by New Zealand.
[edit] Overview
| Year | Host | Final venue | Teams | Qualifying participants | Matches played | Winner | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Australia New Zealand |
Eden Park | 16 | Invitation | 32 | New Zealand | France |
| 1991 | Britain France Ireland |
Twickenham | 16 | 32 | 32 | Australia | England |
| 1995 | South Africa | Ellis Park | 16 | 52 | 32 | South Africa | New Zealand |
| 1999 | Wales | Millennium Stadium | 20 | 65 | 41 | Australia | France |
| 2003 | Australia | Telstra Stadium | 20 | 80 | 48 | England | Australia |
| 2007 | France | Stade de France | 20 | 91 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b History of the World Cup. scrum.com. Retrieved on 10 August 2006.
- ^ a b c The History of RWC.. worldcupweb.com. Retrieved on 25 April 2006.
- ^ a b World Cup History. cnn.com. Retrieved on 7 May 2006.
- ^ a b World Cup History. CNN. Retrieved on 24 August 2006.
- ^ ARU make huge profit from RWC. scrum.com. Retrieved on 7 May 2006.
- ^ England honours World Cup stars. bbc.co.uk. Retrieved on 24 August 2006.
[edit] External links
| Overview: |
|---|
| History • Hosts • Qualification • Records and statistics • Team appearances • Trophy |
| Tournaments: |
| Australia and New Zealand 1987 • England 1991 • South Africa 1995 • Wales 1999 • Australia 2003 • France 2007 • New Zealand 2011 • To be decided 2015 |
| Qualifying tournaments |
| 1991 •1995 • 1999 • 2003 • 2007 |
| See also |
| Women's World Cup • World Cup Sevens • Under 21 World Championship • Under 19 World Championship |
