Author: The Rugby History Project
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The ‘Monkey’ Who Almost Had Wales Kicked Out of the Home Nations
Just 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
The 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
In 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
One 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
After 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
The 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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Meet the Valentines
The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of the Irish Women’s National Rugby Team On the 30th September 2024, Irish rugby fans woke up to the news that the Ireland had beaten New Zealand. Fans of the men’s team rejoiced that the women’s team had finally achieved the same feat the men had come to…
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Why is Rugby Union Posh?
In many countries, Rugby Union is considered to be a sport for the middle classes. Stereotypically played in private schools by the sons of professionals, the sport often struggles to overcome this perception. However, how true is this assumption and why did the sport gain it in the first place?
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The Rugby World Cup 2025: History Was Made
The Rugby World Cup 2025 featured record crowds, record points scorers and a record amount of train trips taken by this author. Lets recap. Firstly, I must apologise for my lack of long form content during the Rugby World Cup. Whilst I have been posting frequently on social media, and researching away in the background,…
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