Brendan Gallagher looks at some names that need to be included
The World Rugby Hall of Fame announced its latest 12 inductees – a particularly distinguished batch earlier this week at the opening of its new permanent centre at Rugby School. Ten years into the project BRENDAN GALLAGHER delves into a long list of names
Like any sporting Hall of Fame – and I’m aware of at least 50 worldwide from ballooning to rodeo and bowling to wrestling – the World Rugby Hall of Fame is a subjective and slightly idiosyncratic list put together by a panel of experts.
It’s work in progress with well-publicised annual additions and for the time being even the most cursory of glances reveals a number of countries that are seriously under-represented – notably, Argentina, the Pacific Islands, Italy and, most surprisingly of all, France.
Rugby’s Hall of Fame can also be a tad random. Wonderful chaps as they undoubtedly are it’s difficult to discern why Cardiff and Melrose alone currently warrant inductee status among all the world’s historic clubs.
Equally, although Terry McLean was a fine chronicler of the New Zealand game and his beloved All Blacks, his induction as the solitary member of the written Press seems rather arbitrary. While Bill McLaren was undoubtedly the Voice of Rugby for decades and his inclusion is a good fit, McLean never enjoyed the same status as a writer.
No matter, debate on these matters are grist to the mill and, in fairness, the vast majority of inductees are selfexplanatory – heroes and heroines of the game, trailblazers on and off the field who require no explanation just celebration.
There are a few though which will leave you scratching your head which is no bad thing. Learning about the game’s past is a big part of the Hall of Fame.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, for example, was no kind of a player and is, of course, best known as the founder of the modern Olympics but he was a huge rugby fan and worked tirelessly to ensure it was included in the early Olympics despite a rather lukewarm response from the sport itself. He was also an accomplished referee and took control of the first French Championship Cup Final.
Ned Haig is recognised as the originator of Sevens which explains his place in the Hall of Fame while distinguished early Springbok captain Barry ‘Fairy’ Heatlie, also emerged as the founder of Argentinian rugby after emigrating across the south Atlantic.
Heatlie is just one of three Pumas included in the 143 names to date which is way too low. The evolution of the game there indicates that somewhere along the line any number of outstanding individuals must have been involved. Who were they and what is their story? It’s never too late to celebrate their achievements.
Anyway let’s continue walking down the virtual Hall and identifying those names on the tip of your tongue although you are not quite sure why. William Percy Carpmael was a very middling player but was the early driving force behind the Barbarians for which the game gives thanks.
Frank Hancock from Wivelsfield in Somerset, meanwhile, was the little known Englishman who revolutionised back play, instigating the use of four outside backs, in Wales during his brief career with Cardiff which also included four appearance for his adopted country.
Two more lesser-known Englishmen make an appearance around this time, Harry Vassall and the tragic Alan Rotherham. Vassall was a hard driving perfectionist at Oxford University where his team went unbeaten for 70 games during three seasons (1879-81) and he was heavily involved.
Vassall organised regular squad training when his vision of rugby as a team game, rather than a group of individuals playing like freelances, started to take shape. Vassall scored a hat-trick against Wales on his Test debut in 1881 before retiring two years later.
One of Vassall’s chief disciples at Oxford was Rotherham who is credited with the idea of linking forward paly with back play, thus bringing a good deal of continuity into proceedings. Rotherham took his own life with a shotgun at the age of 36.
Alfred St George Hammersley is another largely unknown but significant name from the mists of time. Not
only did he play in the second rugby international ever when he appeared for England against Scotland, he became a founder member of the Canterbury Rugby Union after he emigrated to New Zealand. Finally, after upping sticks once more and moving to Canada, he founded the Canadian Rugby Union.
Wales fans won’t need any reminding of who Jonny Williams was but the rest of the rugby world – more used to JPR and JJ Williams – might welcome a gentle reminder.
Jonny Williams was one of the first truly great darting, jinking, Welsh wingers who blazed a trail before the Great War scoring 17 tries in 17 Tests at a time when wings operated on strictly limited rations. He also played in two Tests for the 1908 Lions. Williams was killed at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 while serving with the 38th (Welsh) Infantry Division.
Marcel Communeau might not ring many bells this side of the English Channel. Communeau was the mainstay of the fledgling French side before World War 1, a totem pole player and captain as the French tried desperately to establish themselves as a viable force in the expanded Five Nations Championship.
It was hard going. In 21 Tests he tasted victory just once, against Scotland in Paris in 1911. You need belief and passion to hold your head high and keep inspiring your team in such circumstances.
Elsewhere you can be forgiven for not instantly recognising the name Richard Littlejohn – not to be confused with the acerbic Daily Mail columnist – but a Kiwi very much involved in the nuts and bolts of the ground-breaking, pioneering 1987 World Cup. Australian administrators Nick Shehadie and Roger Vanderfield come under that heading as well.
The inclusion of the 1920 and 1924 Olympic-winning USA teams makes much sense and it was good of World Rugby to include Romania, the bronze medal winners in 1924. But that being the case why have France, the silver medal winners in both 1920 and 1924 been excluded? Is it too late to invoke the TMO on this?
Meanwhile I am guessing you will not have heard of the brothers Donald and Ian Campbell who virtually kickstarted rugby in Chile but you might well be aware of the notable efforts of the Tsimba brothers in Zimbabwe.
Richard became the first black Zimbabwean to be capped while kid brother Kennedy became the first black player to captain Zimbabwe.
Finally, former cosmonaut Vladimir Ilyushn was for decades a driving force behind Russian rugby.
“Even the most cursory of glances reveals a number of countries that are seriously under-represented”