The Barbarians were conceived in 1890 at an Oyster bar in Bradford when William Percy Carpmael (1853-1936), a Cambridge and Blackheath forward of some note, was touring Yorkshire and the midlands with a scratch side. Attending were Sammy Woods, Emile de Lissa, Jock Wemyss, Percy Coles and WJ Carey.
Carey toured South Africa in 1896 and later became the Anglican Bishop of Bloemfontein. He gave the Barbarians their motto:
“Rugby Football is a game for gentlemen in all classes, but for no bad sportsman in any class”.
They were having so much fun on and off the field that they decided to form a club and he became the founder and first president of the club. His belief was that rugby should be an attacking game and that the Barbarians must always exhibit a style which demonstrated a commitment to hard, clean, attacking rugby. The club has become famous all over the world and is held in high esteem by all.
The first meeting
The first formal meeting of the club was on October 1st, 1890 at 24 Southampton buildings, Chancery lane, London. They decided upon a motto for the club which was “rugby football is a game for gentlemen in all classes, but never for a bad sportsman in any class” – formulated by the right Reverend W. J. Carvey. This ensured that the Barbarians did not discriminate upon class, race, creed or color and the only qualification to be a member was that you were a good rugby player and a good sportsman.
The membership was originally limited to sixty five and by invitation only. They had no official headquarters or clubhouse and did all work via post including player selection, although the Espanade Hotel in Penarth became their unofficial HQ since they met their annually during their tour of South Wales which took place in Easter.
The original uniform was a white shirt with the monogram BFC over the left breast, dark shorts and socks. It also had a skull and crossbones over the letters but this was later removed. Their now famous uniforms, black and white hooped jerseys, with the overlapping BFC were not adopted until 1891.
Of the original Barbarians, six were from Oxford and Fifteen Cambridge so it is not surprising that a Barbarian’s tie was introduced in 1895, consisting of dark and light blue stripes with a thin white line between. This design was given to the club by Frank Mitchell who had used it for a cricket team he had taken on tour in the USA.
The Babaas
In 1925 they introduced a blazer which was dark blue with gilt buttons and a pocket badge of two lambs gamboling with a rugby ball. Although it should not need explaining the two lambs were a play on the word Barbarian which starts with ‘Bar’ and ‘Bar’, hence the two sheep. The club has affectionately been called ‘the Babaas’ ever since.
In 1929 a club member, IMB Stuart designed a club emblem consisting of two shields. One had the emblems of the home nations on it and the other, emblems from the commonwealth. The gamboling lambs were kept and were depicted jumping between the shield chasing after a rugby ball.
As a result of many scintillating performances, the Barbarians won respect worldwide and on January 31st 1948 they were invited to play the Australian Wallabies at Cardiff Arms Park in the final match of their tour. The plan was originated to help pay for the Aussies to return home via Canada and it was a huge success. The battle captured the imagination of millions and drew a capacity crowd of 45,000. The baa-baas won 9-6.
So successful was the fixture that it became tradition for Australia, New Zealand or South Africa — whichever was touring the UK — to tackle the Barbarians in ‘The Final Challenge.’ This exciting event took place every three years, producing a high number of titanic battles. They played South Africa for the first time in 1952, losing 12-3, and New Zealand in 1954, losing 19-5.
The Babaas repeated their 1948 success over the Wallabies with an 11-6 win at Cardiff in 1958 (the Arms Park hosted every game between the two sides until 1992), before the Australians got their revenge in ’67 – a 17-11 win.
Meanwhile Fijians that have don the Baa-baas jersey are Pio Bosco Tikoisuva, Waisale Serevi, Vilimoni Delasau, Rupeni Caucau, Seru Rabeni, Nemia Kenatale, Isoa Neivua, Aisea Tuilevu to name a few.
Other Fijians from other teams who played for the Babaas are Taqele Naiyaravoro, Tevita Kuridrani, Seta Tamanivalu, Joe Rokocoko, Lote Tuqiri, Radike Samo, Joeli Vidiri and Sitiveni Sivivatu.
