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A Very Brief History of the Women’s Six Nations
Read Article: A Very Brief History of the Women’s Six NationsFounded in 1996 as the Women’s Home Nations Championship, the tournament has grown significantly over the last thirty years. This is the tale of the seven nations that have made up the Six Nations.
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‘We’d just thought you’d go away’: A Brief Early History of Women’s Rugby in The USA
Read Article: ‘We’d just thought you’d go away’: A Brief Early History of Women’s Rugby in The USAHow a counter-culture movement and a landmark civil rights case created the first World Cup winners. In the Autumn of 1972, two groups of Colorado university students unwittingly started a movement. Providing queer and straight women a safe space to play a full-contact sport, this was a direct response to a vulgar display of misogyny…
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Your Favourite Rugby Player Probably Doesn’t Need an Autobiography
Read Article: Your Favourite Rugby Player Probably Doesn’t Need an AutobiographyIf you go to any high street book shop in the UK you will find, usually a very small, rugby union section. Your options will likely include a selection of small ‘fun fact’ books, Huw Richards’ Game for Hooligans, an array of books from the Good, the Bad, the Rugby podcast, and at least a…
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The ‘Monkey’ Who Almost Had Wales Kicked Out of the Home Nations
Read Article: The ‘Monkey’ Who Almost Had Wales Kicked Out of the Home NationsJust a few years after the first official Home Nations tournament, the then very small rugby world would be torn apart by one man and his house. For a thirty-four year period at the turn of the twentieth century, Newport RFC boasted the talents of the Gould brothers. Harry, Bob, Arthur, Bert, Gus, and Wyatt…
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A Brief History of the Weird World of the Men’s Six Nations
Read Article: A Brief History of the Weird World of the Men’s Six NationsThe world’s oldest international rugby tournament is full of quirks. With the 2026 edition underway, this article looks at the weird world of the Men’s Six Nations. In February and March every year, the rugby world is gripped by five rounds of the highest level of men’s European international rugby. Originally a series of unorganised…
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Winter Olympics Special: When Great Britain ‘Stole’ Gold
Read Article: Winter Olympics Special: When Great Britain ‘Stole’ GoldIn 1936, Great Britain shocked the hockey world by taking gold at the Winter Olympics. Many myths surround this team; this Winter Olympics Special looks at the true story of how Great Britain “stole gold” from Canada. Whilst the 1936 Summer Olympic Games are perhaps one of the most heavily discussed Games of all time,…
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The Rugby History Project 2025 Historiography
Read Article: The Rugby History Project 2025 HistoriographyOne of my least favourite pieces of academic writing as a historian is a historiography. Still, after sharing my top three rugby books of 2025 on social media, I thought that sharing all thirteen of the rugby-related books I read last year would be great for January’s Historian Newsletter!
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When Wales Lost a Region: The Tale of the Celtic Warriors
Read Article: When Wales Lost a Region: The Tale of the Celtic WarriorsAfter months of speculation, on the 24th October 2025, the Welsh Rugby Union announced that they would be cutting the number of men’s professional teams from four to three. Let’s look back at the last time the Welsh Rugby Union cut a region. The regionalisation of Welsh rugby in the early 2000s came after a…
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Chasing the Egg: A Short History of the Rugby Ball
Read Article: Chasing the Egg: A Short History of the Rugby BallThe rugby ball is one of the most recognisable aspects of rugby, but also one of the most bizarre. How exactly did we end up as eggchasers? If you asked most people to describe a ball, they would describe a round sphere. However, in the sport of rugby, we use a bizarre ellipsoidal ball. Lovingly…
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Hattie Bradshaw, the mad woman behind The Rugby History Project, is cuckoo about all things Women’s and Welsh Rugby. Read full bio.
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