1823
History of the Irish Rugby Football Union. Dublin University, founded in 1854, was the first organised Rugby Football Club in Ireland. Students at the University had first learnt the game while at English Public Schools.  The history of rugby union follows from various football games played long before the 19th century, but it was not until the middle of that century that rules were formulated and codified. According to the Australian Rugby Union, rugby football was an extremely early introduction to Australia, with games of the primitive code being played in the early to mid-19th century, and the first formal team, Sydney University Football Club being set up in 1864. As a result of this meeting, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) was founded. Algernon Rutter was elected as the first president of the RFU and Edwin Ash was elected as treasurer. Three lawyers, who were Rugby School alumni (Rutter, Holmes and L.J. Maton), drew up the first laws of the game; these were approved in June 1871. According to the Australian Rugby Union, rugby football was an extremely early introduction to Australia, with games of the primitive code being played in the early to mid-19th century, and the first formal team, Sydney University Football Club being set up in 1864. The Nelson Football Club (founded in 1868 to provide winter sport for its members) introduced rugby union to New Zealand by adopting the code in 1870 at the invitation of Charles John Monro who had returned from Sherborne School in England. They played the Wellington club at Wellington, and the combined Dunedin and Dunedin Union clubs in Dunedin. (Both the latter were founded in 1872, the second as North Dunedin club), to play the round-ball game. They had to learn rugby rules to play the Auckland team. Along with the founding of the Rugby Football Union a committee was formed, and three ex-Rugby School pupils, all lawyers, were invited to formulate a set of rules, being lawyers they formulated 'laws' not 'rules'. The game of football as played at Rugby School (Rugby, England) between 1750 and 1823 permitted handling of the ball, but no-one was allowed to run with it in their hands towards the oppositions goal. The Game » Rugby History. While playing soccer at Rugby School of England in 1823, William Webb Ellis picked up the ball in his hands and ran with it. This sparked an interest, leading to the creation of rugby. Cambridge University immediately adopted the game, popularized it and made local rules. The game grew popular at area schools and in 1871, ten years after the common rules of soccer were set, the first Rugby Union was founded in London and firm rules of the game were established. In 1895 The Rugby League was founded and a 13-player game with altered rules were created for professionals. Rugby spread across the globe and competition emerged between countries. In the United States, the game emerged primarily on the West Coast The code of football later known as rugby union can be traced to three events: the first set of written rules in 1845, the Blackheath Club 's decision to leave the Football Association in 1863 and the formation of the Rugby Football Union in 1871. The code was originally known simply as  rugby football . It was not until a schism in 1895, over the payment of players, which resulted in the formation of the separate code of rugby league, that the name rugby union was used to differentiate the original rugby code. According to the Australian Rugby Union, rugby football was an extremely early introduction to Australia, with games of the primitive code being played in the early to mid-19th century, and the first formal team, Sydney University Football Club being set up in 1864. Many believe that rugby was invented when in 1823 William Webb  Ellis, while a pupil at Rugby School, picked up a soccer ball and  ran with it. Although there is nothing to … substantiate the story it  is recognised as the true origin of the game by the International  Rugby Committee.  The formation of the RFU. The Rugby Football Union was founded in the Pall Mall Restaurant in Regent Street, Charing cross, London to standardize the rules and removed some of the more violent aspects of the Rugby School game. The game of football as played at Rugby School (Rugby, England) between 1750 and 1823 permitted handling of the ball, but no-one was allowed to run with it in their hands towards the oppositions goal. Rugby School where Rugby football began. Rugby football is a type of football developed at Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, one of many versions of football played at English public schools in the 19th century. The two main types of rugby are rugby league and rugby union. In 1871, English clubs met to form the Rugby Football Union (RFU). In 1892, after charges of professionalism (compensation of team members) were made against some clubs for paying players for missing work, the Northern Rugby Football Union, usually called the Northern Union (NU), was formed.
http://www.irishrugby.ie/irfu/history/history.php https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rugby_union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rugby_union http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/rugby-union-football http://rugbyfootballhistory.com/originsofrugby.htm http://www.wilkesbarrerugby.com/theGame/rugbyHistory.php https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rugby_union http://www.answers.com/Q/Who_founded_rugby_and_why http://rugbyfootballhistory.com/originsofrugby.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_football
when was rugby founded