Today marks The Rugby History Project’s first birthday! In the last year, TRHP has gone from a small substack to its own site, a podcast, a YouTube channel, and now a proper online shop.
One year ago, I spent a sunny June weekend sat on my sofa researching and writing a post in response to ignorant social media posts I had seen criticising Sione Tuipulotu’s inclusion in the British and Irish Lions squad. With the publication of The cases of Sione Tuipulotu and Alfred Clunies-Ross: a brief look at the relationship between rugby and the diaspora on Substack, The Rugby History Project was born. I had originally had the idea to start a rugby history site after seeing the reaction to Ireland beating the Black Ferns in WXV in 2024; however, it took a few months for me to figure out a rough idea of what the project would be (and even what it would be called!). My post about Clunies-Ross got some traction, and so I continued. Whilst my original publication output was unsustainable, we’re now working on a twice-a-month schedule with an additional Historian Tier post per month. We’ve moved to our own website, grown across social media, and started creating audio and video versions of the posts. In honour of our first birthday, I have updated the graphics across socials and the website, as well as launching the new shop.
This incredibly short post is to say: Thank You. Thank you for subscribing and supporting the project over the last year.
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