Arguably the second most popular sport in South Africa after soccer, rugby was first played officially on this day in 1862 in Green Point.
When Canon George Ogilvie became headmaster of the Diocesan College in Cape Town in 1861, he introduced the game of football, as played at Winchester College. This version of football, which included handling of the ball, is seen as the beginning of rugby in South Africa.
Soon, the young gentlemen of Cape Town joined in and the first match in South Africa took place between the “Officers of the Army” and the “Gentlemen of the Civil Service” at Green Point in Cape Town on 23 August 1862, ending as a goalless draw. The local press at the time reported on a series of football matches between scratch sides, for example, “Town vs Suburbs” or “Home vs Colonial-born”.
By 1875, rugby union was being played in the Cape Colony; the same year the first rugby (as opposed to Winchester football) club, Hamilton, was formed in Sea Point, Cape Town. Former England international, William Henry Milton, arrived in Cape Town in 1878, joined the Villagers club and started playing and preaching rugby.
By the end of that year, Cape Town had all but abandoned the Winchester game in favour of rugby union. British colonists helped spread the game through the Eastern Cape, Natal and along the gold and diamond routes to Kimberley and Johannesburg.
The need for an official nationwide rugby tournament was clear by the late 1880s, and in 1891, the oldest club rugby competition in the world, the Currie Cup, was instituted. The inaugural tournament was only played in 1892, however, and was won by Western Province.
Fast-forward more than 150 years from the first game of rugby, and despite the sanctions imposed as a result of Apartheid, South Africa remains one of the most successful rugby union countries in the world.
South Africa has won two Rugby World Cups, and, along with Australia, has garnered the second-most titles, only surpassed by New Zealand, and has more than 467 000 registered and unregistered players around the country (as of World Rugby’s latest statistics, released in January 2017). The game also expands further than the players, as South Africa has more than 4 000 referees in the system as well.
As of 21 August this year, South Africa is ranked sixth in the world in World Rugby’s world rankings.
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