History and Legacy of Rugby and the All Blacks in New Zealand

December 22, 2022December 22, 2022 Jacob Marlow

Every country has a sport that the people in that country are fanatical about. In South American countries, soccer is like a religion. Great Britain is apace where cricket is at the top. In the United States, people love football, baseball, and basketball. A person in Canada can talk for hours about hockey. It is often easy to tell where a person is from when they start talking about sports. Know the history and legacy of rugby and all blacks in New Zealand.

New Zealand is no different than other countries. They have a sport that the residents of New Zealand will always rally around. There may be some who that think when people talk about sports in New Zealand, they will talk about sailing. The successes in America’s Cup races create that type of excitement. Sailing is important in New Zealand, but it is not the sport that brings out the passion of the people of New Zealand.

The introduction of Rugby-History and Legacy of Rugby

New Zealand was first introduced to the sport of rugby in 1870. Charles Monro was born in Nelson. He studied in England before returning to New Zealand. After learning the game while studying in England he brought the game back with him. He played with his friends. The first official rugby game in New Zealand was played at the Botanical Reserve, Nelson.

History of Rugby

It originated at Rugby School in Warwickshire, England, in 1823 when during a game of football, William Webb Ellis decided to pick up a ball and go with it. The Rugby World Cup Trophy is now named after William Webb Ellis. This is the history and legacy of Rugby.

In 1871 Rugby Football Union was officially formed. That same year, the first-ever international match was played between England and Scotland with Scotland taking the win 1-0.

The early history and legacy of Rugby

Football is an old and long tradition in England and versions of football are 200 years old before three boys wrote the initial set of written rules in 1845.

These rules had always been determined by the pupils rather than the masters and they were frequently modified with each new intake. The changing rules, such as the legality of carrying or running with the ball, were often agreed upon shortly before the commencement of a game.

There were hence, no formal rules for football during the time that William Webb Ellis was at the school (1816–25) and the story of the boy “who with a fine disregard for the rules of football as played in his time, first took the ball in his arms and ran with it” in 1823 is fictitious. The story first appeared in 1876, some four years after the death of Webb Ellis, and is attributed to a local antiquarian and former Rugbeian Matthew Bloxam.

Bloxam was not a contemporary of Webb Ellis and quoted an unnamed person as informing him of the incident that had supposedly happened 53 years earlier. The cup for the Rugby World Cup is named the Webb Ellis trophy in his honour, and a plaque at the school commemorates the “achievement”.

The Balls

To play having the right ball was essential, and thankfully, a local shoemaker named Gilbert who lived in Rugby had been making balls long before William Webb Ellis came along and supplied them to local schools in Rugby.

The first balls were quite larger and rounder than today’s rugby balls and the insides were made out of a pig’s bladder which was covered in leather. Gilbert started his company in 1823 and in the 1860s his business partner replaced the bladder inner tubes with rubber. He also claimed to design the unique oval shape, but could not patent the idea. Today Gilbert is the official brand of the 2015 Rugby World Cup ball.

The Rules of Rugby

The rules of Rugby were first written in 1845 and distributed to schools and other countries. It goes side by side with the History and Legacy of Rugby. It was listed down at Rugby School and recorded for the first time by the then football captain and head schoolboy, Isaac Gregory Smith. He asked three of the current senior players to write down the previously unwritten rules.

The Game

Although the game took some years to develop, originally there were no formal positions and anyone could join in and play, but by 1847, a fixed number of players was agreed upon, starting with 17 forwards and three full-backs. Over time, this developed into teams of 8 forwards, 2 half-backs and 4 three-quarters, and a full-back. Soon, the tackle was developed whereby holding and grappling with an opposing player became the core part of the game.

The Rugby World Cup

The first Rugby World Cup was played in 1987 and was held in Australia and New Zealand – both semi-finals were played in Australia. The final was played in New Zealand, with the All Blacks defeating France in the final.

Rugby in New Zealand Today

Since its introduction nearly 150 years ago. Rugby has grown in New Zealand. It is now an established part of the culture of New Zealand. It seems almost impossible to travel anywhere and not see the familiar sight of goalposts on some field. Kids play the game in the parks and anywhere they can find space.

People can also enjoy semiprofessional, amateur, and professional rugby franchises. Just like anywhere else in the world, the fans of the different teams will show their support in plenty of ways. They are never afraid to cheer on their favourite team or player.

There are 4 major rugby events that are held in New Zealand.

Super Rugby – This event features teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. It was started in 1996. Since that time it has grown from 12 to 15 teams. New Zealand has dominated the competition. They have won the Super Rugby title in 11 of the 17 years that it has been held.
ITM Cup – This is the rugby competition for the teams in New Zealand. A domestic competition that features 14 teams is split into two divisions. The tip level division is the Premiership and the second level is the Championship.
Heartland Championship – 12 amateur teams vie for the heartland championship. The teams compete for the Meads Cup and for the Lochore Cup
Ranfurly Shield – Provincial teams can challenge the Ranfurly Shield. Once a team has won the shield they will have to fend off the challenges of the other provincial teams. If a team is lucky enough to win, they take hold of the Ranfurly Shield. This competition has been in existence since 1904.

History and legacy of the All Blacks

History of the All Blacks-history and legacy of Rugby — History of the All Blacks

This New Zealand national rugby team is the most successful professional sports franchise in history, which remain undefeated in over 75% of their international matches over the last 100 years. They developed an extraordinary high-performance culture and how to maintain it over time.

This team and its approach teach individuals, companies, and teams a lot of things. How do you achieve world-class standards, and retain them consistently? How do you handle the pressure? What would you leave behind you after you go?

Here are the top 15 Winning Tips All Black Teaches

1) Character

Character is all about humility and discipline. Even after a major win, the All Blacks finish their celebrations early on and start preparing for the future. Your failures are the biggest opportunity to learn. The All Blacks created a culture in which players are accountable not only to their coaches but even more to their teammates. They believe character triumphs over talent.

2) Purpose

purpose-history and legacy of Rugby — purpose

As to why? Understand the purpose for which you are playing. Better people make better All Blacks. Leaders connect personal meaning to a greater purpose to create beliefs and a sense of direction.

3) Responsibility

They believe in being a leader, not a follower which means pass the ball. Create a structure of meaning, a sense of purpose, belonging, teamwork, and personal liability. Leaders create leaders by assigning responsibility, creating ownership, accountability, and trust.

4) Adapt

It says change your game when you are playing the best. You can consider four steps to drive change: Make a case for providing a compelling picture of the future, sustain the potential to change, and develop a plan to execute. Culture is all about learning, growth, and decline. This continuous improvement was able to lift the All Blacks to an even better win rate.

5) Learn

Develop a learning environment. Leaders are teachers. As already said human beings are motivated by purpose, autonomy, and a drive towards mastery. So, focus on enabling mastery. Try to find 100 things that you can improve by just 1% better, you achieve marginal gain which creates an incremental and cumulative benefit in performance and results.

6) Whanau

The All Blacks follow the policy of ‘No Dickheads’ excludes highly talented prima-donnas. One of the first steps in creating a high-performance culture is to select a character. Follow the spearhead — birds, as a cyclist, one leads, another follows, another takes the lead, in an endless integrated supporting system.

In this process, everyone works together towards the same goal. No one should grow. The strength of the wolf is the pack, the strength of the pack is the wolf.

7) Preparation

Train to win, practice under pressure. Practice with vigor to develop the mindset to win. Intensified training in preparation to win will train the brain and body to perform under pressure and make peak performance automatic. It helps to develop the mindset of winning. Get out of your comfort zone. If you are not growing, you are not going anywhere.

8) Expectations

Adopt Expectations. Aim for the highest cloud. For the first time in history, All Black lost two straight matches in 93’. As there is an expectation for them ‘not to lose, it’s the fear of not doing it correctly that drove them. It forces you to push yourself as hard as possible. Successful leaders have high internal benchmarks, they set their expectations high, and try to exceed them.

9) Pressure

The first phase of learning is silence. The second stage is listening. Know how to manage, deal and embrace the pressure. Control your attention. The shift from ‘Red head’ — tight-inhibited, anxious, result-oriented, aggressive, overcompensating, desperate; to ‘blue head’ — loose, expressive, at the moment, calm, clear, accurate, and untasked. Mostly bad decisions are the sign of inability to handle pressure at the pivotal moment.

10) Authenticity

Know yourself, keep it real. Do not succumb to peer pressure and do things because others want you. This will cut you off. Be genuine, remain true to yourself, and be honest with your environment. Adopting the behaviors and values of others will often conflict with what got you there in the first place. As a leader, you need to create an environment that encourages safe conflict, honesty, and integrity, in which people genuinely know one another.

11) Language

Listen. Invent a language — sing your world into existence. A system that everyone understood. A language, vocabulary, and a set of believes that bind the group in a string. Meaning, rituals, stories, heroes all bound together. Leaders are storytellers. An oral culture — a common story.

12) Sacrifice

Find a purpose you would die for and give your life to it. Do the above and beyond for a cause, activity, or mission you believe in. Champions put and do extra. Bleed on the field and know that your teammates will do the same for you. Be the first to arrive at the gym or workplace, be the last to leave. There are no crowns waiting in the extra mile, on the extra mile you are on your own. Just you and the challenge you’ve set yourselves. Push yourself outside of your comfort zone.

13) Ritual

Ritualize to Actualize. Develop a culture. A culture of continually growing and chaining. Identity and purpose need to evolve and grow. Inspiring leaders create rituals to link their team to its core goal, using them to remind, reflect, reinforce and reignite their united identity and objective.

14) Whakapapa

Be a good ancestor. Plant trees that you’d never see and can never get the benefit of. Connect the past, present, and future. True leaders take responsibility for adding to the future. Transfer knowledge. Leave the jersey in a better place. Know that you are standing on the shoulders of giants. Live up to that expectation.