THERE have been many views of how the game of rugby was invented, or which culture gave birth to the idea of the game.
Out of the many, the most popular of them all took place in 1823, in a boarding school called Rugby School at Warwickshire located in the West Midlands of England.
During a game of football, a young 17-year-old pupil of Rugby School called William Webb Ellis for the first time and ran across the paddock, much to the surprise of his teammates and opponents.
Although his actions were unprecedented, according to an article on www.rugbyfootballhistory.com/originsofrugby.htm, this was what many believed how the game of rugby was born.
It also stated that the actions of young Ellis gave birth to the distinctive basic feature of the rugby game.
About 60 years later, 10,139.2 miles south east from its country of birth, the game of rugby found its way to the shores of Fiji.
According to the Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) history website article, the very first game was believed to be played on our shores in the 1880s.
The first game in Fiji was between the European and Fijian Soldiers of the Native Constabulary in Ba.
It was at this point, the game established itself as a potential national sport in the country, as the interest of the people began to be drawn by the commotion of rugby.
The FRU article also stated that as reports of the games began to appear in the press in the early 1900s and club games began in the year 1904.
One could say that, since its inception, the popularity of the game spread like wildfire over hills of dry grasslands on a hot summer day .
EARLY DAYS OF RUGBY IN FIJI:
In the years that followed rugby began to grow in popularity in Fiji, mainly in Suva where club games were played regularly at Albert Park.
Since a majority of the rugby players of that time were expatriates, it was a common sight to Australians and Kiwis playing with Fijian natives.
These expatriates according to the FRU, some came to build the old Grand Pacific Hotel (GPH), whereas some others who came on visiting warships.
The warship crew provided frequent competition for local established clubs, because back then warships often visited Fiji, because Fiji was still under the dominion of Britain at the time, until she gained independence in 1970.
Back then the FRU said, rugby was not organised but was rather played as a casual sport.
In a book called Spalding’s Official Rugby Football Guide that was published in 1914, it described the experiences of expatriates that played rugby in Fiji then.
Rupert Brooke, poet, described his experience on the first few lines of his poem which said and I quote, “When I first played I nearly died, the bitter memory still rankles, They formed a scrum- with me inside, I did not like the game at all, Yet after all the harm they have done to me, Whenever I came near the ball, they knocked me down and stood upon me.
After a few visits by New Zealand-based players, such as former Wairarapa fullback A. C. Holms and former Otago captain Paddy Sheehan, they deemed it necessary for changes to be made.
Holms, according to the FRU, predicted in a Vancouver newspaper that Fijians would one day make their mark on rugby football.
Thus in order to do so, Sheehan who worked as a plumber at the GPH went about looking for ways to turn the then, casual sports of rugby and make it more organised.
According to Spalding’s book Sheehan convinced, the New Zealand team manager George Mason to allow a game against a local team during one of their brief stopover around the years of 1907 to 1913.
Sheehan formed the Pacific Club in 1913, which consisted of people whose interest were in accord with his vision.
The FRU confirmed that, after the first Pacific club meeting back in 1913, three more clubs were planned and were eventually established round about the same year.
Their struggles were eventually rewarded with the commendation of the then, Governor of Fiji Sir Ernest Bickham Sweet-Escott who gave the Escott Shield.
The shield was first won by the Davies Rugby Club and is still up for contention to this day.
It has grown over the years, earning the consideration of national rugby pundits as one of the toughest club level rugby competition in the country today.
Ratu Epeli Ganilau, father of Fiji’s former President Ratu Penaia Kanatabatu Ganilau and former title holder of the Turaga na Tui Cakau chiefly title, began and led a “native competition” the following year. FRU then said that four local native rugby clubs; Taipou, Tarirere (Gaunavou), Hill and Ofisa (police) were established under Ratu Ganilau’s leadership.
Fiji’s first national team tour came just 11 years after the game was formally organised by Sheehan in 1913.
FRU confirmed that, the Fiji national team played their first international test match against Samoa in Apia in August, 1924.
The game was played at 7am, because according to FRU it would enable their Samoan opponents to get to work afterwards.
Keeping in mind the game of rugby those days were played on any patch of earth as long as it was flat and in this particular case, Fiji and Samoa played on a pitch that had a large tree at the halfway line. Two years later in 1926, the Auckland University College toured Fiji, thus becoming the first overseas side to officially visit Fiji, they were followed by Tonga.
It was at this time that Fiji donned their strip of white jersey with a palm tree badge and black shorts and they still wear this strip in their games today.
According to the FRU, “In 1928, a Fiji schools competition was started, but it was not until 1939 that the Fiji Schools Union was established.”
During the early years of rugby in Fiji, most games took place in the Suva-Nausori corridor because a statement made by the union back then stated, that it was very hard to establish the game outside Suva. This was mainly because of the fact that, the game of cricket was also very popular at the time, and the FRU article read that, “almost every suitable ground already has a concrete pitch at the centre.”
INTRODUCTION OF RUGBY BOOTS:
It was not until 10 years later in the year 1938 did the Fijian teams first played in boots.
The introduction of rugby boots was not very popular with the native players as they preferred to play barefoot, but they had to wear the boots for the first time in honour of the first New Zealand Maori team tour of Fiji.
In an FRU statement, the unpopular introduction of rugby boots was evident in how the native players tended to take off the boots and threw them to the touch-line during their match against the Maori’s.
The FRU article indicated that, during their tour, the Maori beat Fiji 2nd XV and Fiji Europeans before they squared the three-Test series.
