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Biography
Webb Ellis was born in Salford, Lancashire (some sources say he was born in Manchester; Webb Ellis actually said he was born in Manchester in the 1851 census as he later moved to the city). He was the younger of two sons of James Ellis, an officer in the Dragoon Guards, and Ann Webb, whom he married in Exeter in 1804. After his father was killed at the Battle of Albuera in 1811, Mrs Ellis decided to move to Rugby, Warwickshire so that William and his older brother Thomas could receive a good education at Rugby School with no cost as a local foundationer (i.e., a pupil living within a radius of 10 miles of the Rugby Clock Tower). He attended the school from 1816 to 1825, and he was noted as a good scholar and a good cricketer, although it was noted that he was 'rather inclined to take unfair advantage at cricket'. The incident in which Webb Ellis supposedly caught the ball in his arms during a football match (which was allowed) and ran with it (which was not) is supposed to have happened in the latter half of 1823.
After leaving Rugby, he went to Brasenose College, Oxford in 1826, aged 18. He played cricket for his college, and for Oxford University against Cambridge University in 1827. He graduated with a BA in 1829, and received his MA in 1831. He entered the Church and became chaplain of St George's, Albemarle Street, London and then rector of St. Clement Danes in The Strand. He became well-known as a low church evangelical clergyman. In 1855, he became rector of Magdalen Laver in Essex. A picture of him (the only known portrait) appeared in the Illustrated London News in 1854, after he gave a particularly stirring sermon on the subject of the Crimean War.
He never married. He died at in the south of France in 1872, leaving an estate of £9,000, mostly to various charities. His grave in "le cimetière du vieux château" at Menton in Alpes Maritimes was rediscovered by Ross McWhirter in 1958 and has since been renovated by the French rugby union.
The legend
Origin of the claim
The sole source of the story of Webb Ellis picking up the ball originates with one Matthew Bloxam, a local antiquarian and former pupil of Rugby. In October of 1876, he wrote to The Meteor, the Rugby School magazine, that he had learnt from an unnamed source that the change from a kicking game to a handling game had "...originated with a town boy or foundationer of the name of Ellis, Webb Ellis".
In December 1880, in another letter to the Meteor, Bloxam elaborates on the story:
- "A boy of the name Ellis – William Webb Ellis – a town boy and a foundationer, ... whilst playing Bigside at football in that half-year [1823], caught the ball in his arms. This being so, according to the then rules, he ought to have retired back as far as he pleased, without parting with the ball, for the combatants on the opposite side could only advance to the spot where he had caught the ball, and were unable to rush forward till he had either punted it or had placed it for some one else to kick, for it was by means of these placed kicks that most of the goals were in those days kicked, but the moment the ball touched the ground the opposite side might rush on. Ellis, for the first time, disregarded this rule, and on catching the ball, instead of retiring backwards, rushed forwards with the ball in his hands towards the opposite goal, with what result as to the game I know not, neither do I know how this infringement of a well-known rule was followed up, or when it became, as it is now, a standing rule."
1895 investigation
The claim that Webb Ellis invented the game did not surface until four years after his death and doubts have been raised about the story since 1895 when it was first investigated by the Old Rugbeian Society. Among those giving evidence, Thomas Harris and his brother John, who had left Rugby in 1828 and 1832 respectively (ie after the alleged Webb Ellis incident) recalled that handling of the ball was strictly forbidden. Thomas Hughes (author of Tom Brown's School Days) was asked to comment on the game as played when he attended the school (1834-1842). He is quoted as saying "In my first year, 1834, running with the ball to get a try by touching down within goal was not absolutely forbidden, but a jury of Rugby boys of that day would almost certainly have found a verdict of 'justifiable homicide' if a boy had been killed in running in."
The plaque
A plaque at Rugby School bears the inscription:
THIS STONE |
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Controversy
A number of codes of mediaeval football allowed the carrying of the ball, as indeed do several other current football codes.
Some sources have claimed that Ellis may have actually been giving a demonstration of a sport known as caid, which was an ancient Irish game that is similar to rugby, and is the ancestor of Gaelic football. Some speculate that Ellis could have witnessed it during his youth whilst his soldier father was stationed in Ireland. Though this story, as dubious as it may be, adds fuel to the speculation that Ellis did not create the game per se, as there had previously been sports such as caid and harpastum, a game which was similar to rugby that was played by the ancient Romans. There was another game in Wales called "cnapan", which was still being played in 1823. That involved teams of up to 1,000 players on each side, and it was a running, handling and passing game with much physical contact and with elements that resembled scrums and lineouts. There was no kicking of the ball in that game, since it was made of wood and (to add interest) boiled in tallow to make it slippery! Could some of the boys at Rugby School have known about that game?
There is also much speculation as to what kind of rules were in place for football at the Rugby School. Some sources have claimed that the rules of the game being played were constantly altered. Malcom Lee said in an interview that "...the rules were discussed almost every time the boys went out to play and that adjustments were frequently made [to the game]" [1]
It is clear that the drop-goal was an integral part of the game at that time - indeed it was the major way of scoring a goal. The rules required a player to catch the ball cleanly and at the same time make a mark with his heel. That entitled him to a "free kick" ie free of interference by the opposition. They were allowed to line up on the mark, but not charge until the player offered to kick. If a player were running to catch the ball, what more natural than that he should continue his run after the catch (despite the need to dig in his heel)? There is little reason to believe that Ellis would have been the only, or even the first, player to do this.
See also
- History of rugby union
- Abner Doubleday, sometimes apocryphally credited with inventing baseball
References
- K. G. Sheard, "Ellis, William Webb (1806–1872)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 2006 accessed 23 October 2007
External links
- Richard Lindon inventor of the "Oval" ball, the rubber bladder and the Brass Hand pump
- The William Webb Ellis Myth
- Ron Schuler's Parlour Tricks: Fine Disregard of the Rules
