Rugby union ‘hall of fame’ exhibition to open at home of the sport
RUGBY Museum – in the town where William Webb Ellis first picked the ball up and ran in 1823 – will next week become the first home of rugby union’s hall of fame.
The permanent Midland exhibition showcases hall of fame members using the latest touch-screen technology.
The free-of-charge experience also offers visitors a journey along rugby union’s timeline from its humble origins to today’s status as a global sport.
The world rugby hall of fame, which was launched in 2006, has 120 members.
Webb Ellis and Rugby School were the first inductees, since when a number of rugby union’s greatest players and coaches, as well as the pioneers and visionaries who have shaped it, have been added.
To coincide with the opening of the new World Rugby Hall Of Fame on Thursday, November 17, a further 12 all-time greats will be inducted, at a venue which World Rugby chairman and hall of fame inductee No.94 Bill Beaumont believes is the ideal home for the development.
“It is exciting to tell rugby union’s story in the place that carries such unique importance to our sport,” he says.
“We are delighted to be partnering Rugby Borough Council to deliver an experience that will become a destination for fans from around the world.”
Within the hall of fame, visitors are able to interactively select their rugby heroes and see them projected as larger-thanlife images on doublesided, three-metre high glass blades.
The exhibition also has world regions and chronology-based history sections displayed through interactive projection touch-walls.
These allow visitors to select their own favourite moments, discover the many ways the game is played around the world and learn about the 121 member unions that make up World Rugby.
Artefacts from World Rugby’s own collection, as well as personal effects donated by member unions and hall of fame inductees are displayed throughout the exhibition.