Here is all you need to know about the the history of the Webb Ellis Cup.
The Webb Ellis Cup is named after William Webb Ellis, an Anglican clergyman who was credited for, legend has it, being the inventor of rugby.
He caught a soccer ball and ran with it, which was against the rules, during a soccer game whilst a pupil at Rugby School in 1823.
Though there are claims of ancestral games with similar action involved, Webb Ellis is considered the man who broke the mould.
Despite the sport’s widespread popularity, rugby had no official international competition well into the 1980s.
After John Kendall-Carpenter coordinated with the International Rugby Board (IRB) to organise the first Rugby World Cup in 1987, he and a fellow Englishman, Bob Weighill, the IRB’s secretary, set about fi nding an appropriate trophy to mark the grandest achievement in the game.
They headed to London’s crown jeweller to see what was available.
They were presented with a striking 1906 trophy created by Carrington and Co. of London, itself a copy of another cup designed in 1740 by Paul de Lamerie.
The elegant scroll work of the gilded trophy, marked by the head of a satyr on one handle and a nymph on the other, made it quite obvious why this masterpiece had been secured in a vault for decades.
The two commissioned a replica and had the trophy offi cially approved for use during a vote in February 1987, just months before the competition was due to start.
The Webb Ellis Cup, whilst most renowned symbol of RWC, will not be the only piece of rugby history.
The opening game of each World Cup to date has been started by the same whistle, which is nearly one hundred
years old.
Sources: http//:www.skysport.co.nz/rugby-webb-elliscup/
www.mapsofworld.com/pages/trophies/rugby
