In 1845, the names of pupils at Rugby School were etched into history. It was that year when Rugby School codified the rules that became known as rugby union. Rugby is a game with roots going back to what was known as townball, a game in which a ball would be moved from one end of a town to another in much the same way as a ball is moved across the pitch in rugby, but with fewer rules and little oversight. That basic game evolved into football, rugby, and in America, baseball. In the Victorian era, each of these sports laid down their rules as weights and measures so that all players could refer to the same rules and play the same game.

Unlike those other sports, rugby union did not become a professional sport until fairly recently, opening that particular Pandora's box in 1996. Since then, some teams have benefited from the professionalisation of rugby using expensive training resources, analytics, and of course, backers with deep pockets. Other teams have had to fold, done in by their lack of cash. For those surviving or amalgamated clubs, rugby is that oft-overlooked cousin of football and proof of the adage "Football is a gentleman's game played by hooligans, but rugby is a hooligan's game played by gentlemen."