question that might arise between the different Unions, and to
settle the rules under which international matches were to be
played, these rules being invariably adopted by the various
Unions as the rules of the game.
With the establishment of the International Board the organization of the game was complete. Still harmony did not prevail, and in 1895 occurred a definite disruption. A number of leading clubs in Yorkshire and Lancashire broke off from the English Union and formed the Northern Union, which since that date has had many accessions, and has become the leading body in the north of England. The question in dispute was the payment of players. Football was originally played by men for the sheer love of the game, and by men who were comparatively well-to-do, and who could give the time to play it; but with the increasing popularity of the game it became the pastime of all classes of the people, and clubs began to grow rich by “drawing big gates,”—that is, large numbers of spectators, frequently many thousands in number, paid for the privilege of witnessing the match. In these circumstances the temptation arose to reimburse the player for any out-of-pocket expenses he might be put to for playing the game, and thus it became universally recognized as legitimate to pay a player’s expenses to and from a match. But in the case of working men it often meant that they lost part of their weekly wage when they had to go a distance to play a match, or to go on tour with their club—that is, go off for a few days and play one or two matches in different parts of the country—and consequently the claim was made on their behalf to recoup them for their loss of wage; while at the same time rich clubs began to be willing to offer inducements to good players to join their club, and these inducements were generally most acceptable in the form of money. In Association football (see below) professionalism—i.e. the hiring and paying of a player for his services—had been openly recognized. A large section of the English Union—the amateur party—would not tolerate anything that savoured of professionalism, and regarded payments made to a player for broken time as illegitimate. The result was the formation of the Northern Union, which allowed such payments, and has practically recognized professionalism. This body has also somewhat altered the laws of the game, and reduced the number of players constituting a team from fifteen to thirteen. In Scotland and Ireland Rugby footballers are strongly amateur; but wherever Rugby football is the popular game of the artisan the professional element is strong.
Besides legislation, one of the functions of the Unions is to select international teams. On the 27th of March 1871 the first international match was played between England and Scotland in Edinburgh. This was a match between teams picked from English and Scottish players. These matches from the first roused widespread interest, and were a great stimulus to the development of the game. With the exception of a few years, when there were disputes between their respective Unions, all the countries of the United Kingdom have annually played one another—England having played Scotland since 1871, Ireland since 1875 and Wales since 1880. Scotland commenced playing Ireland in 1877 and Wales in 1883, while Ireland and Wales met first in 1882 and then in 1884, and since 1887 have played annually. The qualifications of a player for any country were at first vaguely considered to be birth; but they were never definitely settled, and there has been a case of a player playing for two countries. In 1894, however, the International Board decided that no player was to play for more than one country, and this has been the only pronouncement on the question; and though birth is still looked upon as the main qualification, it is not essential. Though international matches excite interest throughout the United Kingdom, the matches between two rival clubs arouse just as much excitement in their district, particularly when the clubs may be taken as representatives of two neighbouring rival towns. But when to this rivalry there is added the inducement to play for a cup, or prize, the excitement is much more intense. Among Rugby players cup competitions have never been so popular as among Association, but the competition for the Yorkshire Cup was very keen in the days before the establishment of the Northern Union, and this undoubtedly was the main cause of the popularity of the game in that county. Similarly the competition for the South Wales Cup from 1878 to 1887 did a great deal to establish the game in that country. The method of carrying on these competitions is, that all the clubs entered are drawn by lot, in pairs, to play together in the first round; the winners of these ties are then similarly drawn in pairs for the next round, until for the final round there is only one pair left, the winner of which takes the cup. An elaboration of this competition is the “League system” of the Association game. This, likewise, has not been popular with Rugby players. Still it exists in some districts, especially where clubs are anxious to draw big gates. In the League system a certain number of clubs form a league to play one another twice each season; two points are counted for a win and one for a draw. The club which at the end of the season comes out with most points wins the competition. The advantage of this system over a cup competition is, that interest is kept up during the whole season, and one defeat does not debar a club from eventually coming out first.
It is said that wherever Britons go they take their games with them, and this has certainly been the case with Rugby football, especially in New Zealand, South Africa and Australia. An interchange of football visits between these colonies and the motherland is now an important feature in the game. These tours date from 1888, when an English team visited Australia and New Zealand. In the following season, 1889, a team of New Zealanders, some of whom were native Maories, came over to England, and by their play even then indicated how well the grammar of the game had been studied in that colony. Subsequently several British teams visited at intervals New Zealand and Australia, and in 1905 New Zealand sent home a team which eclipsed anything previously accomplished. They played altogether thirty-three matches, including fixtures with England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and only sustained one defeat, viz. by a try in their match with Wales, a record which speaks for itself. In 1908 a combined team of English and Welsh players toured in New Zealand and Australia, and also visited Canada on their way home. The team was not so strong as could have been wished, and though they did fairly well in Australia, they lost all three “test matches” against New Zealand. In South Africa the game is followed with equal enthusiasm, and the play is hardly inferior, if at all, to that of the New Zealanders. The first British team to visit the Cape went in 1891 through the generosity of Cecil Rhodes, who guaranteed the undertaking against loss. Teams were also sent out in 1896 and 1903; the result of matches played in each visit showing the steady improvement of the colonists. In 1906 the South Africans paid their first visit to England, and the result of their tour proved them to be equally formidable with the New Zealanders. England managed to draw with them, but Scotland was the only one of the home Unions to gain a victory. The success of these colonial visits, more especially financially, created a development very foreign to the intentions of their organizers. The Northern Union as a professional body had drifted into a somewhat parlous state, through suffering on the one hand from a lack of international matches, and on the other from the competition of Association professional teams. The great financial success resulting from the New Zealand tour of 1905 roused the attention of the Northern Union authorities, and they quickly entered into negotiations with New Zealand players to collect a team who would come over and play the Northern Union clubs, the visiting players themselves taking a share of the gate-money. For this purpose a team of New Zealanders toured the north of England in 1907, and their action caused the introduction of professional or Northern Union football in both New Zealand and Australia.
The spread of the game has not, however, been confined to English-speaking races. In France it has found fruitful soil, and numerous clubs exist in that country. Since 1906 international matches have been played between France and England, and the energy of French players, coupled with their national
