Rugby School will host re-enactment of 'original rugby game' - on the site where the sport was born 200 years ago

Rugby fans will be swept back in time on Saturday as the town celebrates 200 years of the sport, right where it all began.

Tomorrow’s event (June 24), hosted by Rugby School, will include a re-enactment from 12.30pm on The Close of the first ever rugby game.

2023 marks 200 years since the creation of rugby football at Rugby School when William Webb Ellis took the ball in his arms and ran with it – displaying, in the words of the Old Rugbeian Committee, ‘a fine disregard for the rules of football as played in his time’ – but inventing a game enjoyed globally by millions.

Other tributes to key moments will include the introduction of the first caps, how the rules have evolved, the first woman to play in 1884 and the first Rugby World Cup.

And two ‘Vets and Legends’ matches, in association with Wooden Spoon, will mark the children’s charity’s 40th birthday.

The women’s match includes Red Rose World Cup winners Tamara Taylor and Gill Burns leading the squads, made up of Wooden Spoon National Vets and Rugby School staff.

The men’s match will follow with Scotland’s Alex Grove captaining a team.

All games will be commentated by former rugby union player John Taylor.

Tickets are still available online and on the gate.

All funds raised will be split equally between Rugby School’s 1823 Bursary Fund and Wooden Spoon.

The bursary fund will offer means-tested places at Rugby School to those who show an aptitude for sport, and a commitment to rugby football.