How two sons of Wearside played a part in rugby’s rise
A big milestone in rugby's history has been reached and a historian has told of the Wearside links to it all.
The Rugby Football Union was formed 150 years ago. But did you know that two sons of a famous Sunderland shipbuilder played their own role in the rise of the game? Keith Gregson, the historian for Sunderland RFC, explained more.
The schoolboys in question were James and Arthur Laing, sons of Wearside shipbuilder Sir James Laing, said Keith. Arthur and James were at Wellington College in January 1871 when it became one of the 21 founding members of the RFU, of which only a handful still exists today,
“The representative of the college at the meeting was Augustus J English who appears at the college on the same census as Sunderland’s Laing boys,” said Keith.
The brothers soon began playing the new game themselves and were great talents.
In fact, less than two years later, a game played under the new rugby rules was held in Sunderland with James Laing scoring some of the winning points.
As a result of the match, the players ‘formed a club’. "This was Sunderland Football Club – now Sunderland Rugby Football Club,” said Keith.
James and Arthur were soon in the school side when they returned to Wellington College and were recorded as playing against Richmond which was another founding
member of the RFU.
"After leaving school both young men played key roles in the development of Sunderland (Rugby) Football Club,” said Keith.
He added: “So the links between the world-famous Rugby Football Union and Sunderland Rugby Football Club are strong. That very first ‘club’ game in Sunderland during December 1873 was a ‘pick-up’ game where two sides were chosen – as has been the case in schoolyards ever since.
"There were a number of different codes that might have been used – including the association/’soccer’ code – but it is highly likely that the Laing boys had a say in the new club adopting the Rugby rules. Within weeks the club was playing other clubs in the region.”
Sunderland’s first rugby players were mostly young men who were in their late teens and early twenties and wanted to continue playing football as they had done at school.