AT THE end of October, the winner of the Rugby World Cup will lift the Webb Ellis trophy, named after the schoolboy footballer who in 1823 picked up a ball and ran with it.
But Scottish historians and Britain’s largest private landowner claim the sport was born eight years earlier during an extraordinary match involving 750 players and watched by more than 1,200 people.
They say the origins of rugby union can be traced back to the Carterhaugh Ba’ — a rowdy fixture held in 1815 on a mile-long field in the Scottish borders and organised by Sir Walter Scott, the poet and novelist.
The match pitted shepherds and other rural labourers from the Duke of Buccleuch’s estate against men from the nearby towns of Selkirk, Hawick and Galashiels. To score, the teams had to get the ball, made of wool and leather, past their opponents and into either the River Ettrick or River Yarrow at opposite ends of the field.
In witness accounts, the encounter was described as a football match but players passed and ran with the ball in a style similar to rugby. Ian Landles, a local historian, insists that rugby began in the Scottish Borders with the Carterhaugh Ba’, rather than at Rugby School in Warwickshire, where, according to a plaque, Webb Ellis “first took the ball in his arms”.
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“There were very little rules and we look on that as being the start of rugby union football rather than the William Webb Ellis theory in Rugby School,” said Landles.
While Webb Ellis’s exploits are marked by a statue at Rugby School, the heroes of the Carterhaugh Ba’, including William Riddell, a shepherd who was supposedly running into open space with the ball when he was ridden down by a farmer on horseback, have slipped from memory.
According to reports, the first try of the game came after 90 minutes when Robert Hall, a mason from Selkirk, evaded his opponents and ran into the Ettrick. The game turned when a group of weavers from Galashiels swapped sides, leading to an equaliser by the duke’s men.
However, the match ended amid acrimony and Scott, who wrote a song about the event, was supposedly stopped by an angry mob in Selkirk that evening. He pacified the crowd by handing out money to buy refreshments.
Richard McBrearty, curator of the Scottish Football Museum, said the Carterhaugh Ba’ was held at a time when traditional games of street football were fusing with handball — a folk game known as uppies and downies played in the Borders since the 17th century. “Something is happening in the Borders at that time whereby certainly a handling game is starting to evolve,” he said.
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To mark the 200th anniversary of the event in December, a re-enactment is planned involving local secondary schools.
“There are arguments to say this could be the true origin of the game of rugby as we know it today,” said Brian Renwick, the event co-ordinator.
Rugby School will be invited to the event, which is being organised by the Bill McLaren Foundation, created in honour of the late BBC rugby commentator, and Bowhill House, a family seat of the Duke of Buccleuch close to the Carterhaugh playing field.
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“The fact that there is a strong possibility that the first great sporting event in the history of rugby took place in the border countryside is something we definitely need to celebrate,” said Richard, the 10th Duke of Buccleuch.
McLaren’s daughter, Linda Lawson, who has helped to raise £500,000 for her father’s charity, said: “The Carterhaugh can rightly claim to be Britain’s first ever mass participation sports event.”
However, the Scottish claim is disputed by Rugby School.
“International rugby teams, competing this autumn for the Webb Ellis trophy . . . have no doubt that Rugby School is the birthplace of the game,” said Peter Green, its head master.
Phil McGowan, education officer at the World Rugby Museum in Twickenham, southwest London, said he was unaware of the Carterhaugh Ba’ but also described the Webb Ellis story as a “myth”.
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He said the key moment came in 1845 when three Rugby schoolboys drew up the rules of the game.