The Scrum, the essence of rugby
Football as a formal contest between sides developed in the English public schools in the early 19th century. Each school developed its own traditions rather than formal rules since they are agreements between children in the playground. Similar well governed contests are still to be seen in schools everywhere where younger children learn the rules from older children and local rules apply. When these games were confined to intramural competition this was fine and no written code was required. To avoid disputes, rulings would occasionally be made on marginal events, but rarely was a full description written down since the players knew by observation what was required. Hence the main features of many of the games are obscure. Some pictures do exist of games being played.
In many of the games the main aim was to propel the ball towards a goal which was often the entire opponents' end of the field or could be some restricted part of it. This was usually done by kicking, but some schools allowed the ball to be struck by the hand. The numbers of players was often unrestricted so that large numbers would chase the ball and form a large melee kicking and hacking blindly trying to drive the ball through the opposition towards the goal. Rules were developed to limit the damage but hacking an opponent's shins was an integral part of the game. This mass of standing players was called ruck or scrummage.
In some versions of the game including that played at Rugby school, a player was permitted to catch a moving ball before placing it to kick or for a colleague to kick to resume the game or running back toward their goal (this was of advantage with certain offside rules). When the ball went dead it was then replaced on the ground between the first players of each side to arrive who then scrummaged the ball. The remnants of this exist in the set scrum and lineout.
In th1820s0s players at Rugby began to run forward carrying the ball forward rather than kicking or running back (which had been permitted). Later this change was attributed to William Webb Ellis, but this is almost certainlapocryphalll Opponents were allowed to attempt to challenge the carrier by holding him in a maul or hacking him.
A number of written rules were produced without ever describing the main features of actual games of which scrummaging was an essential part. Eventually competitions were arranged between schools and more particularly between old boys at university and rules had to be agreed before play commenced. The Cambridge rules of 1863 were one such attempt, but these excluded many of the features of the Rugby game and other groups formulated the laws of the Rugby game separately producing the split between "association" football (the soccers) and Rugby football (rugger).
Reduction in numbers led to a more open game with fewer players in the scrummage (forwards) and similar numbers standing off (backs). The restart scrummage became more formal with equal numbers in reasonably fixed positions. The laws on scrum, ruck and maul have evolved in response to tactical changes by teams and the needs of safety. For example, the 1905 New Zealand team developed a two player front row that destabilised the scrum (and brought them great success) so the number has since been set at three no more no less. They also introduced wing forwards who tracked the offside line ( at that stage the ball) and hence stifled the opposition back play. No matter that modern backs consider the scrum (loose or tight) merely as a way of getting those lumbering forwards away from the real play, it is clear that the scrummage is the historical essence of rugby and it is the various forms of scrum that make rugby unique. All other forms of football have abandoned the scrum as a contest or have formalised it out of the game.
Football as a formal contest between sides developed in the English public schools in the early 19th century. Each school developed its own traditions rather than formal rules since they are agreements between children in the playground. Similar well governed contests are still to be seen in schools everywhere where younger children learn the rules from older children and local rules apply. When these games were confined to intramural competition this was fine and no written code was required. To avoid disputes, rulings would occasionally be made on marginal events, but rarely was a full description written down since the players knew by observation what was required. Hence the main features of many of the games are obscure. Some pictures do exist of games being played.
In many of the games the main aim was to propel the ball towards a goal which was often the entire opponents' end of the field or could be some restricted part of it. This was usually done by kicking, but some schools allowed the ball to be struck by the hand. The numbers of players was often unrestricted so that large numbers would chase the ball and form a large melee kicking and hacking blindly trying to drive the ball through the opposition towards the goal. Rules were developed to limit the damage but hacking an opponent's shins was an integral part of the game. This mass of standing players was called ruck or scrummage.
In some versions of the game including that played at Rugby school, a player was permitted to catch a moving ball before placing it to kick or for a colleague to kick to resume the game or running back toward their goal (this was of advantage with certain offside rules). When the ball went dead it was then replaced on the ground between the first players of each side to arrive who then scrummaged the ball. The remnants of this exist in the set scrum and lineout.
In th1820s0s players at Rugby began to run forward carrying the ball forward rather than kicking or running back (which had been permitted). Later this change was attributed to William Webb Ellis, but this is almost certainlapocryphalll Opponents were allowed to attempt to challenge the carrier by holding him in a maul or hacking him.
A number of written rules were produced without ever describing the main features of actual games of which scrummaging was an essential part. Eventually competitions were arranged between schools and more particularly between old boys at university and rules had to be agreed before play commenced. The Cambridge rules of 1863 were one such attempt, but these excluded many of the features of the Rugby game and other groups formulated the laws of the Rugby game separately producing the split between "association" football (the soccers) and Rugby football (rugger).
Reduction in numbers led to a more open game with fewer players in the scrummage (forwards) and similar numbers standing off (backs). The restart scrummage became more formal with equal numbers in reasonably fixed positions. The laws on scrum, ruck and maul have evolved in response to tactical changes by teams and the needs of safety. For example, the 1905 New Zealand team developed a two player front row that destabilised the scrum (and brought them great success) so the number has since been set at three no more no less. They also introduced wing forwards who tracked the offside line ( at that stage the ball) and hence stifled the opposition back play. No matter that modern backs consider the scrum (loose or tight) merely as a way of getting those lumbering forwards away from the real play, it is clear that the scrummage is the historical essence of rugby and it is the various forms of scrum that make rugby unique. All other forms of football have abandoned the scrum as a contest or have formalised it out of the game.
posted by phys teach at 12:16 pm
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