A holiday around the world in 2015 produced this one classic 'Rubbishy' Rugby photo.

4 January 2016

On this holiday, after leaving New Zealand, my dear wife kind of 'banned' any rugby activities taking place. I went along with her demands. I had to go I guess. This was to be a trip, she said, for us to do other stuff, like visiting friends and sightseeing. Perhaps even some shopping! But one day on the English part of the visit we found ourselves passing through the quiet Warwickshire town of Rugby. You know it, the little place where Willam Webb Ellis reputedly started the game by picking up the Rugby ball and running with it. According to the rules of our holiday I could not demand to visit any of the famous Rugby tourist sights there. Basically after a shot taken on the outer walls of Rugby School (well you can't miss it, it's right in the centre of town, and the picture I took there is also on this 'favourites' section.) we went looking for a cup of tea.

We found one all right and very enjoyable it was. But in the lane where the tea shop was situated I could not resist the pic opportunity of getting a unique memory of the visit captured. There right in front of the shop was an expression of 'Rugby' I had not seen or thought of before!

So here it is - your website author in front of a rubbishy shot about the game - which is part of one man's record of a lifetime of being interested in the simple game which started in a small village where 30 men learned to eventually follow a bouncing ball.

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Every day there is Rugby History 9 August 2014

Click to show Ouch! The Black Ferns tumble out of the Women's Rugby World Cup.

On this day New Zealand did beat USA 34-3 in Marcoussis, France but other results saw the Black Fern's great run at the previous four Rugby World Cups come to an end.

A-Z of Rugby

Click to show ALCOCK, ARNOLD

Guy’s Hospital and England
1 international for England 1906

Arnold Alcock was a ‘one cap wonder’ whose one game for his country came about in rather unusual circumstances.

Alcock was a useful enough club player for Guy’s Hospital who, it is insisted, never had aspirations at all of becoming an international. Imagine his surprise when he received in the mail an ofﬁcial invitation to play for his country against the touring 1906–07 Springbok team.

Alcock was initially shocked but then felt honoured and on the great day of the game he duly turned up at Twickenham all set to play. Upon seeing him, the secretary of the Rugby Union realised that the man before him was not the man the selectors had thought they were getting. Apparently they had chosen L.A.N. Slocock of Liverpool, and only by a typing error did Alcock receive his invitation to play. By then, of course, it was too late to summon Slocock from the north, so Alcock took the ﬁeld for England. By all accounts he played sensibly and tolerably well. However, it was not a major surprise when Alcock was not invited to play for England again. Slocock was. In fact, Slocock went on to play the next eight internationals.

Arnold Alcock later had a distinguished association with the Gloucester club, for which he was president for nearly 50 years.