Barbarian F.C.

Barbarians

Nickname(s)	Baa-Baas
Most appearances	Tony O'Reilly (30)
Top scorer	Tony O'Reilly (38 tries)
Team kit
First match
Hartlepool Rovers 4 – 9 Barbarians (27 December 1890)
Largest win
Belgium 10 – 84 Barbarians (24 May 2008)
Largest defeat
Australia 60 – 11 Barbarians (26 November 2011)
Official website
www.barbarianfc.co.uk

The Barbarian Football Club, usually referred to as the Barbarians and nicknamed the "Baa-Baas", is an invitational rugby union team based in Britain. The Barbarians play in traditional black and white hoops, though players retain the socks from their "home" club strip.

Membership is by invitation and the only qualifications considered when issuing an invitation are that the player's rugby is of a high enough standard and secondly that he should behave himself on and off the field. Being asked to become a Barbarian is an honour and not one restricted to British players; in addition to all four of the Home Nations, players from 27 other countries have worn Barbarian colours.^[1] Traditionally at least one uncapped player is selected for each match.

The Barbarians traditionally played six annual encounters, Penarth, Cardiff, Swansea and Newport during their Easter Tour; a Boxing Day game with Leicester and the Mobbs Memorial Match against East Midlands in the spring. In 1948, the Barbarians were invited to face Australia as part of that team's tour of Britain, Ireland and France. Although initially designed as a fund raiser towards the end of the tour, the encounter became a popular fixture for most touring nations to Britain, and a Barbarian tradition.

On 29 May 2011, during halftime of the Barbarians' match against England at Twickenham, the Barbarians and their founder William Percy Carpmael were honoured for their unique contributions to the sport with induction to the IRB Hall of Fame.^[2]

The Barbarian Football Club should not be confused with the Barbarian Rugby Club, also known as the French Barbarians, one of many invitational clubs based on Barbarian F.C. around the world.

Contents 1 History 2 Penarth, Barbarians HQ 3 The Final Challenge 3.1 That game, that try 4 Past presidents 5 Traditional matches 6 1908 Olympic rugby union centenary celebration match 6.1 Notes 7 Matches against International sides 8 Squad for 2011 Autumn tour 8.1 Coaching staff 9 Notable players 9.1 Original members of the Barbarians, 1890–1891 10 See also 11 Bibliography 12 References 13 External links

History

The Barbarian Club was formed by William Percy Carpmael, who had played rugby for Cambridge University,^[3] and had been part of the Cambridge team which had undertaken a tour of Yorkshire in 1884.^[4] Inspired by the culture behind short rugby tours he organised his first tour in 1889 with Clapham Rovers,^[4] which was followed by an 1890 tour with an invitational team calling themselves the Southern Nomads.^[5] At the time practically every club ceased playing in early March and there were no tours and players just 'packed up' until the following season. In 1890 he took the Southern Nomads – mainly composed of players from Blackheath – on a tour of some northern counties of England.

His idea – collecting a touring side from all sources to tackle a few leading clubs in the land – received strong support from leading players, particularly ex-university players. On 9 April 1890 in Leuchters Restaurant at the Alexandra hotel in Bradford, the concept of the Barbarians was agreed upon.^[6] The team toured later that year and beat Hartlepool Rovers 9 – 4 on 27 December in their first fixture.

The team was given the motto by Walter Julius Carey, former Bishop of Bloemfontein and a former member of the Barbarians:^[7]

Rugby Football is a game for gentlemen in all classes, but for no bad sportsman in any class.

Penarth, Barbarians HQ

The concept took hold over the years and the nearest thing to a club home came to be the Esplanade Hotel, Penarth in South Wales, where the Barbarians always stayed on their Easter tours of Wales.^[8] The annual Good Friday games against the Barbarians was the highlight of the Penarth club's year and were always attended by enthusiastic capacity crowds. This fixture marked the start of the "Baa-Baas" annual South Wales tour from their "spiritual home" of Penarth, which also encompassed playing Cardiff RFC on the Saturday, Swansea RFC on Easter Monday and Newport RFC on the Tuesday.

The non-match day of Easter Sunday would always see the Barbarians playing golf at the Glamorganshire Golf Club,^[9] in Penarth, while the former Esplanade Hotel, that was located on the seafront at Penarth would host the gala party for the trip, sponsored by the Penarth RFC club. The first match took place in 1901,^[8] and over the next 75 encounters, Penarth won eleven games, drew four and lost 60. Between 1920 and the first Athletics Field game in 1925 the Good Friday games were hosted on Penarth County Grammar School's sports field.

The final Penarth v Barbarians game was played in 1986 by which time the Penarth club had slipped from its former prominent position in Welsh rugby. However, a special commemorative game, recognising the 100 years since the first Good Friday match, took place in 2001 and was played at the Athletic Field next to the Penarth clubhouse the day before the Barbarians played Wales at the Millennium Stadium. Gary Teichmann captain of both the South African International squad and the Barbarians, unveiled a plaque at the clubhouse to mark the event.

The Final Challenge

After the Second World War in 1948 the Barbarians were asked by the Home Unions to raise a side to play the touring Australian side. This started the tradition of the Final Challenge – played as the last match in a tour of Britain and Ireland by Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

That game, that try

The Barbarian Final Challenge match with the All Blacks at Cardiff Arms Park on January 27, 1973 is celebrated as one of the best games of rugby union ever played. It was a game of attack and counter attack.

Cliff Morgan described that try by Gareth Edwards:

Kirkpatrick to Williams. This is great stuff! Phil Bennett covering chased by Alistair Scown. Brilliant, oh, that's brilliant! John Williams, Bryan Williams. Pullin. John Dawes, great dummy. To David, Tom David, the half-way line! Brilliant by Quinnell! This is Gareth Edwards! A dramatic start! What a score!!.....Oh that fellow Edwards....If the greatest writer of the written word would've written that story no-one would have believed it. That really was something.^[10]

Gareth Edwards said of the match:

“

"People tend only to remember the first four minutes of the game because of the try, but what they forgot is the great deal of good rugby played afterwards, much of which came from the All Blacks." "For us after the success of the 1971 Lions tour, which captured the imagination of the whole country, it was an opportunity to bring a lot of that side together again."

”

The Barbarians won the match 23 – 11, handing the All Blacks their fourth defeat of the tour.

Scorers:

Barbarians: Tries: G.O. Edwards, J.F. Slattery, J.C. Bevan, J.P.R. Williams; Conversions: P. Bennett (2); Penalty: P. Bennett

All Blacks: Tries: G.B. Batty (2); Penalty: J.F. Karam

Past presidents

The office was first instituted in 1913:

• W.P. Carpmael, held office from 1913–1936; (the founder of the Barbarians)
• Emile de Lissa, held office from 1936–1955; associated as Secretary, Treasurer, Vice-President and President from 1901–1955
• Jack "Haigho" Smith, held office in 1955, (term lasted for only a few weeks before his death, having previously given devoted service as Honorary Secretary for more than 30 years)
• Brigadier Glyn Hughes, held office from 1955–1973;
• Herbert Waddell, held office from 1973–1988;
• Micky Steele-Bodger, held office since 1988.

Traditional matches

The nature of the Barbarians as a touring side made for a diverse fixture list, but at a number of points in the club's history they have settled for a time into a regular pattern. Some of these regular matches have fallen by the wayside, whilst others continue to the present day:

• Boxing Day fixture against Leicester Tigers – this began in 1909 as the third and final match of the Christmas Tour. No longer played.
• The Edgar Mobbs Memorial Match – held for Edgar Mobbs, who was killed in The First World War. Played at Franklins Gardens against Northampton Saints, Bedford Blues or The East Midlands select XV. The first took place on 10 February 1921, and in later years became a tradition on the first Thursday in March. The last Mobbs Match to feature the Barbarians took place in April 2011. The fixture will continue, but the invited opposition in the future will be a British Army side instead of the Barbarians.^[11]
• Easter Tour – traditionally four matches against Penarth RFC (Good Friday), Cardiff RFC/Cardiff Blues (Easter Saturday); Swansea RFC (Easter Monday) and Newport RFC (Tuesday following Easter Monday). The Penarth match was dropped after the 1986 match as a regular fixture although in 2001 a special commemorative game, recognising the 100 years since the first Good Friday match, took place in 2001 and was played at the Athletic Field next to the Penarth clubhouse the day before the Barbarians played Wales at the Millennium Stadium.
• The Final Challenge — played as the last match in a tour of the UK by Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Because of the changes in the game in recent years, long tours have effectively disappeared from the game and there is less scope for this challenge. The fixture returned on December 3, 2008 when the Barbarians played Australia at Wembley Stadium, the first rugby union match to be played there since its redevelopment.
• Remembrance Day game against the Combined Services, played in early November.

They typically compete against teams from the home nations (England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland) as well as other international sides.

1908 Olympic rugby union centenary celebration match

Australia was approached by the British Olympic Association to play the Barbarians at Wembley Stadium on 3 December 2008. The match formed part of the BOA's programme of events to celebrate the centenary of the first London Olympic Games where Australia defeated a Great Britain (Cornwall) side in the final 32 – 3.^[12] In 1908 France were the defending Olympic champions but when they withdrew from the event, leaving just Australia and Great Britain to contest the gold medal, it was then County champions Cornwall who took to the field to represent the host nation. Cornwall had already been defeated in Australia's earlier 31-match tour. The contribution of Cornwall 1908 contribution was also further recognised by the presentation of the Cornwall Cup to the winning captain at Wembley, with the players of the respective sides receiving gold or silver commemorative medals. The game was the first rugby union fixture to take place in the new Wembley Stadium, the old stadium having been last used for Wales' last gasp 32–31 victory over England in the then Five Nations in 1999.^[13] Australia went on to win 18 points to 11.

In a change to the tradition of the Barbarians players wearing their own club socks, in this game, they all wore Cornwall's black and gold socks. The break with the tradition was highly regarded by the secretary of the Cornwall Rugby Football Union, Alan Mitchell, who was said to have been humbled by the honour.^[13]

Notes

Matches against International sides

Opposing Teams	For	Against	Date	Venue	City	Competition
Wales	26	10	1915-04-17	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Tour Match To raise 'patriotic funds'
Australia	9	6	1948-01-31	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
South Africa	3	17	1952-01-26	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
New Zealand	5	19	1954-02-20	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
Australia	11	6	1958-02-22	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
East Africa	52	12	1958-05-28	RFUEA Ground	Nairobi	Tour Match
South Africa	6	0	1961-02-04	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
Canada	3	3	1962-11-17		Gosforth	Tour Match
New Zealand	3	36	1964-02-15	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
Australia	11	17	1967-01-28	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
New Zealand	6	11	1967-12-16	Twickenham	London	Final Challenge
Rhodesia	24	21	1969-05-26			Tour Match
South Africa	12	21	1970-01-31	Twickenham	London	Tour Match
Scotland	17	33	1970-05-09	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match In aid of 1970 British Commonwealth Games
Fiji	9	29	1970-10-24		Gosforth	Final Challenge
New Zealand	23	11	1973-01-27	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
New Zealand	13	13	1974-11-30	Twickenham	London	Final Challenge
Australia	19	7	1976-01-24	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
Canada	29	4	1976-06-12		Toronto	Tour Match
British and Irish Lions	14	23	1977-09-10	Twickenham	London	Silver Jubilee Match
New Zealand	16	18	1978-12-16	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
Scotland	26	13	1983	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match
Australia	30	37	1984-12-15	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
Italy	23	15	1985-05-26			Tour Match
Australia	22	40	1988-11-26	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
New Zealand	10	21	1989-11-25	Twickenham	London	Final Challenge
England	16	18	1990-09-29	Twickenham		Tour Match Centenary celebrations
Wales	31	24	1990-10-06	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Tour Match Centenary celebrations
Argentina	34	22	1990-11-17	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
Scotland	16	16	1991-09-07	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match
Russia	23	27	1992-06-06			Tour Match
Australia	20	30	1992-11-28	Twickenham	London	Final Challenge
New Zealand	12	25	1993-12-04	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
Zimbabwe	21	23	1994-06-04			Tour Match
South Africa	23	15	1994-12-03	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Final Challenge
Ireland	70	38	1996	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Tour Match Peace International
Scotland	45	48	1996-08-17	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match Dunblane Disaster Fund Match
Wales	31	10	1996-08-24	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Tour Match
Australia	12	39	1996-12-07	Twickenham	London	Final Challenge
Ireland	31	30	2000–05	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Tour Match
Scotland	45	42	2000-05-31	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match
Germany	47	19	2000-08-12	Eilenriedestadion	Hanover	Tour Match German Rugby Federation Centenary Match
South Africa	31	41	2000-05-31	Millennium Stadium	Cardiff	Final Challenge
Wales	40	38	2001-05-20	Millennium Stadium	Cardiff	Tour Match
Scotland	74	31	2001-05-24	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match
England	43	29	2001-05-27	Twickenham		Tour Match
Australia	35	49	2001-11-28	Millennium Stadium	Cardiff	Final Challenge
England	29	53	2002–05	Twickenham		Tour Match
Wales	40	25	2002–05	Millennium Stadium	Cardiff	Tour Match
Scotland	47	27	2002–06	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match
England	49	36	2003–05	Twickenham		Tour Match
Scotland	24	15	2003–05	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match
Wales	48	35	2003–05	Millennium Stadium	Cardiff	Tour Match
Scotland	40	33	2004-05-22	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match
Wales	0	42	2004-05-27	Ashton Gate	Bristol	Tour Match
England	32	12	2004-05-30	Twickenham		Tour Match
Portugal	66	34	2004-06-10	Universitário Lisboa	Lisbon	Tour Match
New Zealand	19	47	2004-12-04	Twickenham	London	Final Challenge
Scotland	9	38	2005-05-24	Pittodrie	Aberdeen	Tour Match
England	52	39	2005-05-28	Twickenham		Tour Match
England	19	46	2006-05-28	Twickenham		Tour Match
Scotland	19	66	2006-05-31	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match
Georgia	28	19	2006-06-04	Mikheil Meskhi Stadium	Tbilisi	Tour Match
Tunisia	33	10	2007-05-19	Stade El Menzah	Tunis	Tour Match
Spain	52	26	2007-06-23	Martínez Valero	Elche	Tour Match
South Africa	22	5	2007-12-01	Twickenham	London	Final Challenge
Belgium	84	10	2008-05-24	Stade Roi Baudouin	Brussels	Tour Match
Ireland	14	39	2008-05-27	Kingsholm	Gloucester	Tour Match
England	14	17	2008-06-01	Twickenham	London	Tour Match
Australia	11	18	2008-12-03	Wembley Stadium	London	Final Challenge / Cornwall Cup
England	35	26	2009-05-03	Twickenham	London	Tour Match [14]
Australia	7	55	2009-06-06	Sydney Football Stadium	Sydney	Tour Match [15]
New Zealand	25	18	2009-12-05	Twickenham	London	Final Challenge
England	26	35	2010-05-30	Twickenham	London	Tour Match
Ireland	29	23	2010-06-04	Thomond Park	Limerick	Tour Match
South Africa	26	20	2010-12-04	Twickenham	London	Final Challenge
England	38	32	2011-05-29	Twickenham	London	Tour Match
Wales	31	28	2011-06-04	Millennium Stadium	Cardiff	Tour Match Celebration of 130th anniversary of the WRU; fully capped match for Wales
Australia	11	60	2011-11-26	Twickenham	London	Final Challenge
England			2012-05-27	Twickenham	London	Tour Match
British and Irish Lions			2013-06-01	Hong Kong Stadium	So Kon Po	Lions Tour Match [16]

Squad for 2011 Autumn tour

Barbarians squad for their match on 26 November against Australia .^[17]

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under IRB eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-IRB nationality.

Player Position Union Keven Mealamu ( Auckland) Hooker New Zealand Adriaan Strauss ( Cheetahs) Hooker South Africa Eusebio Guiñazú ( Toulouse) Prop Argentina Sylvain Marconnet ( Biarritz) Prop France Salvatore Perugini ( Aironi) Prop Italy Simon Shaw ( Toulon) Lock England Victor Matfield (c) (unattached) Lock South Africa Marco Bortolami ( Aironi) Lock Italy Jerome Kaino ( Auckland) Flanker New Zealand Mauro Bergamasco (Unattached) Flanker Italy Jason White ( Clermont) Flanker Scotland Adam Thomson ( Otago) Number 8 New Zealand

Player Position Union Nemia Kenatale ( Tailevu) Scrum-half Fiji Peter Stringer ( Munster) Scrum-half Ireland Danny Cipriani ( Rebels) Fly-half England Robbie Frueanuc ( Canterbury) Centre New Zealand Stirling Mortlock ( Rebels) Centre Australia Seru Rabeni ( La Rochelle) Centre Fiji Bryan Habana ( Western Province) Wing South Africa Richard Kahui ( Waikato) Wing New Zealand Sam Tomkinsuc ( Wigan Warriors) Fullback England Isaia Toeava ( Auckland) Fullback New Zealand

Coaching staff

• Graham Henry ( All Blacks) – Head Coach
• Steve Hansen ( All Blacks) – Assistant Coach

Notable players

The 16 players chosen by the Barbarians official website as the outstanding players to represent the club.^[18]

Bill Beaumont Phil Bennett Zinzan Brooke David Campese Gerald Davies David Duckham

Gareth Edwards Mike Gibson Jeremy Guscott Andy Irvine Jack Kyle

Jason Leonard Michael Lynagh Cliff Morgan Francois Pienaar Philippe Sella

Original members of the Barbarians, 1890–1891

• England international, Scotland international, Wales international, British Isles international
• Oxon. – Oxford University player, Cam. – Cambridge University player

Frederic Alderson Cam. Alfred Allport Darsie Anderson Randolph Aston Cam. Edward Bromet Cam. Richard Budworth Oxon. William Percy Carpmael Cam. R.F. Chaldecott Percy Christopherson Oxon. Paul Robert Clauss Oxon. Percival Coles Oxon. F.C. Cousins Oxon. Feltrim Edward Duckworth Cam.

E. Emley David William Evans Oxon. Ralph Sweet-Escott Cam. Frank Evershed Francis Hugh Fox Frederick Goodhue Cam. John Hammond Cam. Froude Hancock L. Hickson Charles Hooper Cam. George Hubbard Hugh Ingledew A.S. Johnston

R.O.B. Lane Oxon. William Leake Cam. Gregor MacGregor Cam. H. McNiven W.H. Mansfield Howard Marshall Philip Maud Walter Nathaniel Mayne Cam. William Grant Mitchell Cam. Piercy Morrison Cam. Eustace North Oxon. Charles Nicholl Cam. Launcelot Percival Oxon.

John Rogers Mason Scott Cam. William Martin Scott Cam. E.W. Senior Thomas Storey Cam. Andrew Stoddart Aubone Surtees Cam. C.J. Vernon Thomas Sherren Whittaker Sammy Woods Cam. William Yiend

See also

• Australian Barbarians
• Brussels Barbarians
• French Barbarians
• New Zealand Barbarians
• South African Barbarians

Bibliography

• Starmer-Smith, Nigel (1977). The Barbarians. Macdonald & Jane's Publishers. ISBN 0860075524. 

References

External links

• Official site
• Barbarians history from the BBC
• Barbarians history from scrum.com
• Barbarians International Matches
• Barbarians rugby union news from Planet Rugby