WHAT:
Rugby
WHERE:
Rugby School, Lawrence Sheriff St, Rugby, CV22 5EH, UK
LOCATION:
WHEN:
1823 & 1845 (rules invented)
WHO:
William Webb Ellis
DETAILS:
Rugby football started at Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, where legend has it that one day in 1823, a senior school boy called William Webb Ellis elected to run with the ball rather than retiring to kick it as was the normal mode of play in Rugby School football matches. The rules were first codified in 1845 by William Delafield Arnold, W. W. Shirley and Frederick Hutchins. From there Rugby football spread to other English public schools in the 19th century and across the British Empire as former pupils continued to play it.
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