The Classic Guide to Rugby

by Gent, D. R.

• ISBN13: 9781445644783
• ISBN10: 1445644789
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-02-15
• Publisher: Amberley Publishing

Summary

A sport popular in over 100 countries around the world, rugby is said to have originated when William Webb Ellis ‘with fine disregard for the rules of football as played in his time at Rugby school, first took the ball in his arms and ran with it, thus originating the distinctive feature of the Rugby game’. While the popular story of the schoolboy William Webb Ellis going rogue is an amusing anecdote, it is unlikely that the development of the game was sourced from one youngster’s actions.Written in 1922, The Classic Guide to Rugby looks at the shape of the game after the First World War. A firmly established and popular sport at the time of writing, D. R. Gent, an ex-England international, tackles differing types of play, the qualities of a good captain, the temperament required to be a patient and fair referee, the spirit of the game and rugby’s position in future society.

Author Biography

Born and bred in Wales, a native of Swansea, and twice a Welsh triallist, D. R. Gent became a Gloucester, Gloucestershire and England player. He made 146 appearances for Gloucester between 1903–11, and was captain for the 1906–7 season. He won five caps for England, his first being against the 1905 New Zealand team. He later became a school headmaster and rugby correspondent for the Sunday Times.