A Game for Hooligans: The History of Rugby Union

by Huw Richards

Rugby union has undergone immense change in the past two decades—introducing a World Cup, accepting professionalism, and creating a global market in players. This book brings the game's colorful story entirely up to date. It covers all of the great games, teams, and players, but also explores the social, political, and economic changes which have affected the course of rugby's development. It is an international history, covering not only Britain and France but also the great rugby powers of the southern hemisphere and other successful rugby nations, including Argentina, Fiji, and Japan. There is also a wealth of anecdotes, including allegations of devil-worship at a Welsh rugby club and an account of the game's contribution to the Cuban Revolution.

Genres: History, Sports, Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Huw Richards is the rugby correspondent of the Financial Times.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

About a third of the content of this book is a fascinating account of the history, growth, and politics of the game of rugby union. I loved the description of the development of the early game, and the ongoing conflict surrounding the issue of South Africa's apartheid.

The other two-thirds, however, are lists of names and short descriptions of all the rugby greats that ever existed in history - that is, assuming that all the greats were men and with a strong focus on the UK. Though I commend Richards for his seemingly endless stream of complimentary adjectives, the names don't become characters and constantly derail the overarching narrative.

A great book for someone looking for rugby minutiae, but otherwise look elsewhere.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. I was looking forward to some good rugby stories and learning more about the sport and its history. However this book is very dry. In places it reads like a list of notes on the various teams and their histories. If you are a serious scholar of rugby and rugby history then this is for you. If you want a book that both entertains and educates, then look elsewhere.

[RH · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a review on the cover of the book that states it is ‘crammed with fact and leavened with anecdotes.' That's not necessarily a positive.
 
While it was interesting to read into the development of rugby, amateurism, and the divide of union & league, I had to skim through large, discursive parts of the text at several points. I do not want to know about the books a player on tour was reading, or what a certain player did after his career in rugby, or the exact way in which the Six Nations ended in a certain year in the middle of the 20th century. I don’t necessarily think there are many casual rugby fans or readers who will be stimulated by these details. In place of these bulky paragraphs, I would have appreciated more insight into the growth of the game outside of the usual traditional eight, such as the Pacific Islands, the Americas, continental Europe, and more recently, Asia. For example, even though Korea briefly challenged Japan for supremacy in Asia in the 90s, there was only one mention of this fact.
 
If you look at the index of the page, it is largely a collection of Anglo-Saxon names – names which have been recollected one-by-one in this book. I appreciate the need to cover certain figures, big and small, in a book about rugby history, but anecdotes, such as Fiji playing Samoa at 7am in the 1920s so that they could catch a ride to Tonga on time and players of the New Zealand Cavaliers openly laughing about reports that they were not paid for their rebel tour to apartheid-era South Africa, made for far more interesting reads.
 
Ultimately, I did learn a lot about a game I love playing & watching, though it took a lot of skimming out irrelevant details or round-by-round summaries of Five Nations tournaments/World Cups. No doubt Richards is a brilliant rugby historian, it is just a shame this book was not as concise and  pleasurable as it could have been.

[Drew Sagedy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Richards works through the history of rugby chronologically, which sounds okay, until you start reading it. He throws around random names expecting everyone to know who he’s talking about, and bounces around to different nations and regions in every new paragraph. I think it would be a good read if structured differently, it just didn’t grab my interest, even as a player. One of the reviews on the cover states, “Crammed with fact and leavened with anecdote…” (Daily Telegraph). While accurate, I don’t believe this is necessarily a raving review for this book. Extensive knowledge of rugby union required for this book.

[James Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the book. It's no doubt an exhaustive history of rugby union, dry in parts but fascinating in most. There are some very interesting stories, quotes and quips that I have not heard anywhere else. Quite Wales-centric because of the authors nationality but they have given so much character to the game we will let him off!

[Ant Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit disjointed mixing each region's history in each chapter and it sometimes became confusing. I must admit when he got the 80s, a period I am more familiar with, I began to enjoy it more.

[Mark Barrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A complete history told chronologically and packed with facts. Very dry, though.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers a lot of ground and gets quite detailed, and yet not a super long book. For the rugby historian, I'd definitely recommend. For the casual rugby fan, it might be harder to get through. For me, I will probably re-read it again at some point to hopefully pick up on some of the details I missed the first time around.

[Eric Parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't love this book. I love the game of Rugby but I found this book to be pretty overly detailed. I guess that's what you should expect when you buy a book about the definitive history of rugby. I didn't find it to read easily.

[Luka Gorgaslidze]

it is a great spot