6 nations, 6 facts: Bizarre rugby tales that will impress your friends

Think you know everything there is to know about rugby? Think again

With the rugby season gearing up again, we’ve scoured the history books to bring you six absolutely corking facts that’ll make you the most interesting person in the pub.

Whether you’re a die-hard rugby fan or prefer to dip in and out of the action, these little gems are guaranteed conversation starters.

Time to feel just a teeny bit smug about your superior rugby knowledge.

The muddy origins story (that might be complete nonsense)

You probably think you know how rugby started – William Webb Ellis caught a ball during a football match at Rugby School in 1823, decided the rules were boring, and ran with it instead.

Well, here’s the thing: it might all be a load of old tosh.

The story only surfaced in 1876 when rugby antiquarian Matthew Bloxham claimed his old schoolmate Webb Ellis had started the whole ball-running business.

But Bloxham couldn’t quite nail down the year – was it 1823? 1824? 1825?

Nobody paid much attention to the tale until 1895, when rugby was having a bit of an identity crisis. The public schools were losing control of their beloved game to those pesky working-class northerners, so the Old Rugebians decided to beef up their origin story and cement rugby as their exclusive invention.

The plan worked a treat.

So well, in fact, that the Rugby World Cup trophy bears Webb Ellis’ name. Not bad for a story that’s about as reliable as British weather forecasts.

Going pro took ages

Rugby only became officially professional in 1995.

Back in 1892, officials had the radical idea of paying players six shillings if they missed work for a match.

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) said ‘no thanks’, keeping rugby firmly in the ‘expensive hobby’ territory until 1898, when they grudgingly allowed tiny payments.

Fast forward to today, and England captain Maro Itoje reportedly earns around £800,000 a year (not including bonuses or other sources of income that could add several more zeros).

That’s quite the upgrade from six shillings and a pat on the back.

Women’s rugby still has some catching up to do on the pay front. The Red Roses – England’s women’s rugby team – reportedly earn between £26,000 and £45,000 without match fees or other bonuses.

But with it being one of the fastest-growing team sports globally, hopefully this fact will soon be ancient history.

National anthems started as psychological warfare

Ever wondered why we belt out national anthems before matches?

It all started as a bit of tactical one-upmanship in 1905.

Wales were facing the mighty All Blacks at Cardiff Arms Park on 16 December, 1905. The New Zealanders had steamrolled through 27 consecutive wins, including victories over the other home nations. The Welsh team had watched their opponents play and were seriously impressed (read: slightly intimidated) by the Haka.

So, they hatched a cunning plan.

As the All Blacks finished their war dance, Welsh player Teddy Morgan launched into ‘Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau’ (Land of My Fathers). Within moments, all 40,000 Welsh fans had joined in, creating what reporters described as an ‘awe-inspiring’ atmosphere.

The psychological warfare worked – Wales won 3-0, ending the All Blacks’ winning streak.

And thus began the tradition of pre-match anthems, giving Wales its unofficial national anthem in the process.

Not bad for a spur-of-the-moment idea.

A true catas-trophy

The Six Nations Championship Trophy is a proper work of art. 

Handcrafted from Sterling Silver 925, using a single silver sheet for the body with over fifty individual pieces. The cup has six sides to represent each nation, weighs 7kg, stands at 75cm high, and took over 200 hours to craft.

But here’s the kicker: it only exists because its predecessor was literally dissolved by champagne.

The old trophy, which had done sterling service since 1983, was discovered in 2014 to have suffered serious internal erosion. The culprit? Years of victorious players filling it with fizz to celebrate their wins.

The replacement trophy was commissioned with a 22-carat gold lining to prevent future champagne damage, plus an inconvenient lip designed to discourage drinking from it.

Spoiler alert – players have completely ignored the anti-drinking design, and the traditional continues.

Nevertheless, it was worth a go.

In the line of duty

This one’s properly tragic, so bear with us.

In the early 1800s, Richard Lindon ran a leather shop opposite Rugby School, making rugby balls from pig’s bladders encased in stitched leather panels.

His wife Rebecca helped by inflating the bladders (by mouth, via a snapped stem of clay pipe), while also running an employment agency for servants and raising seventeen children. Superwoman doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Unfortunately, pig’s bladders are absolutely teeming with germs and disease.

Rebecca eventually fell ill and died from her ball-inflating duties, prompting Richard to find safer alternatives.

In 1862, he developed rubber bladders that were too tough to inflate by mouth, so he invented a large brass version of the traditional medical ear syringe to do the job. He won medals for his design but never patented it, and his invention was adopted worldwide.

So, next time you see a modern rugby ball, spare a thought for Rebecca Lindon – the woman who quite literally gave her life for the game.

The whistle that’s seen it all

Gil Evans probably thought he was just officiating another rugby match when he blew his whistle to start that famous Wales vs All Blacks game in 1905.

Little did he know his trusty whistle would become rugby royalty.

The Evans Whistle has been used to kick off every Rugby World Cup since, passed down from referee to referee like some sort of sporting heirloom.

Evans himself used it for games against the Springboks in 1906 and Wallabies in 1908, before handing it to fellow Welsh referee Albert Freethy. Freethy took it to the 1924 Olympic Rugby final in Paris, and, more controversially, used it to send off All Black Cyril Brownie at Twickenham in 1925.

The whistle eventually found its way to the New Zealand Rugby Museum, where it patiently waited for World Cup duty.

There was one hiccup in 2015 when a World Cup official decided they didn’t need the historic whistlle, but sanity prevailed, and it made its comeback for subsequent tournaments.

The Evans Whistle continues its globe-trotting referee duties to this day – proving that some traditions are too good to retire.

So, there you have it – six rugby facts to make you sound like you actually know what you’re talking about.

Use them wisely, and remember: the best stories often come with a healthy dose of historical uncertainty.