2007 19th Century Nominees to the IRB Hall of Fame
Reading through these amazing profiles it is a credit to those who have been Inducted to the Hall of Fame in previous years!
Nominees - 19th century:
19.1 Francis Maule Campbell
Blackheath FC Secretary and the first Treasurer of the FA, he led the 1863 walk out of Rugby clubs - in support of hacking - from the Football Association meeting designed to unify all football codes. This breakaway move eventually preserved the Rugby code as a separate football entity as hacking got abolished a year later anyway.
19. 2 Thomas Hughes
Author and parliamentarian, was one of the leading players of his era, becoming captain of Rugby School in 1839. He wrote the immortal novel “Tom Brown Schooldays” in which the game of Rugby School football as played during the 1840s is described for the first time. An Utopian philosopher he founded the town of Rugby in Tennessee, USA, an utopian commune where the games played and taught were cricket and Rugby Football.
19.3 Richard Sykes
Former Rugby School captain was the founder and the first captain of Manchester FC in 1860 following a match against Liverpool FC in 1857. Sykes, who captained Manchester for seven years, emigrated to America where he got involved in the railway business and became one of the promoters of Rugby Football in California.
19.4 George Edward Lynch Cotton
Bishop of Calcutta – an assistant Master at Rugby School from 1837-1852, he was appointed Headmaster of Marlborough School in 1852. Following his appointment, he imported to Marlborough the structure and culture of Rugby School games, which enabled the Rugby School football to become Marlborough’s main winter game and had major consequences for the spread of Rugby rules.
19.5 Charles Burton Barrington
Described as the father of Irish rugby, was the nephew of Charles West, an Old Rugbeian, and pioneer of football at Dublin University. Barrington entered Trinity in January 1867, when according to him there was “little desultory football, with no particular rules to speak [of], or kit.” Together with RM Wall, who became the secretary he got the club going “with the rules of Rugby School, and we were very successful for it caught on at once.. The Club was really a great success and did introduce the Rugger game into Ireland.”
19.6 Albert St. George Hamersley
Born 1848- educated at Marlborough School and one of the 20 England ‘originals’ of the first International against Scotland, was called to the bar in 1873 and captained England in his forth and last international in 1874. After that he settled in Timaru in New Zealand where he founded the South Canterbury club in 1875 and became one of the founders of the Canterbury Union in 1879. He left for Canada in 1888 where he formed and captained Vancouver RFC and became the first President of the British Columbia Rugby Union.
19.7 William (Sir) Henry Milton
Born 1854, educated at Marlborough School) played half-back for the 1874 England team and joined the Cape Colony administration and the Villagers Club in 1878. His arrival decisively swung the tide in Cape football, at the time dominated by the Winchester code, in favour of Rugby Union rules. Milton who also played cricket for South Africa in 1888, became the captain of the Villagers in 1885, while he rose steadily through the ranks of colonial administration. Two of his sons played rugby for England and a third won a Blue while at Oxford.
19.8 Arthur Gould (Wales)
Arguably, one of the greatest players to grace a rugby field, his career spanned 16 seasons. He started playing for Newport in 1882 as a 16-year old and retired in 1898. He won 27 caps for Wales, two fullback and 25 at centre and he captained his country in 17 of those matches. His final international appearance was against England in 1897. He was arguable on of the first superstars of Rugby.
19.9 Hely Hutchinson Almond (Loretto School)
Born in 1832 in Glasgow son of Reverend Geroge Almond. He went to Glasgow College and Glasgo University and then was elected to an Exibition at Balliol College at Oxford. He was an accomplished athlete and got himself a place in the eight of the college where he started playing rugby. In 1858 he became a Master at Merchinston Castle school, where rugby had been introduced the year before. In 1862 he becomes the Headmaster of Loretto School, which under his leadership becomes the leading rugby nursery in Scotland. He one of the umpires of the first international between Scotland and England and was one of the supporters of the formation of the Scottish Football Union (forefather of SRU) in 1873.
19.10 Pierre de Coubertin
The founder of the modern Olympics was not only a knowledgeable rugby player but also a respected referee and a keen promoter of the Game. After his return to from his first visit to the Rugby School at the age of 25, de Coubertin became an active promoter of physical education in general and Football Rugby in particular, which he succeeded to introduce into several school establishments in Paris, securing the long term future of the Game in France. He went on playing with his friends in Bois de Boulogne and although there is no clear information about his playing prowess, his knowledge of the Game was well respected by his peers, who elected him to referee the match between Stade Française and Racing Club de France in 1892 - now regarded as the inaugural French championship.
19.11 A.E. Stoddard & R.L. Seddon (England)
The captains of the pioneering Anglo-Welsh team, the first ever Northern Hemisphere to tour Australia and New Zealand in 1888. The original tour captain Seddon, who had gained three caps against Scotland, Ireland and Wales the year before, died during a boating accident in Queensland. Stoddard, one of England’s greatest cricketers, and a fine rugby three-quarter took over the captaincy. He played for England between 1886 and 1893, when he won the last of his 11 caps against Wales.
19.12 Richard Mullock (Wales)
A member then Secretary of the Newport Football club, he was instrumental in the formation of the Welsh Football Union, the forefather of the WRU in 1881. His burning desire to select a team to confront the English was rewarded when the Welsh team, “ called Mullock’s men” took on the rampaging England in their first ever international at Blackheath in February 1881.The WFU was formed at his initiative in Neath a month later. He became the first secretary of the WFU and became one of the Welsh representatives on the IRB in the early days of the newly formed governing body.
19.13 Neg Haig
While the popularity of Sevens rugby has exploded worldwide in recent years, it's a 19th century butcher's apprentice who takes the plaudits for the original concept. In 1883 the new Melrose club was struggling to stay afloat when butcher David Sanderson's understudy Neg Haig suggested a Sports Day. Given the number of players involved, the proposal was thought unworkable until Sanderson and Haig combined to suggest a Seven-a-side version. The Melrose Committee agreed unanimously to hold a Sevens tournament on April 28 1883, which Melrose won ahead of Gala, Selkirk, St.Cuthbert’s Hawick, Earlstone, Gala Forest and St.Ronan’s Innerieithen, Haig scoring the winning 'golden try' in sudden death extra time.
