1.  Rugby football started at Rugby School in Warwickshire.

 

2.  Rugby balls have always been oval.  The boys at Rugby School used footballs made from inflated pigs bladders which are, themselves, oval in shape.

 

3.  Rugby was an amateur game, meaning that players could not be paid to play, until 1995.

 

4.  The first time that the England team played outside Europe was when they travelled to New Zealand in 1963.

 

5.  The very first match at Twickenham Stadium took place in 1909.

 

6.  The first Rugby World Cup tournament took place in 1987.

 

7.  The very first international rugby match was between England and Scotland.

 

8.  The game of Rugby football was not ‘invented’ by William Webb Ellis in a flash of inspiration.  It actually evolved very slowly over decades with many schoolboys contributing ideas.  Unfortunately many people prefer to hear the Webb Ellis myth because it sounds more exciting!

 

9.  Twickenham Stadium can hold 74,000 spectators.

 

10.  A ‘try’ is so called because originally the act of touching the ball down over the opposition’s line then enabled the team to try kicking at goal (later called a conversion).

 

11.  The metal baths in the England team’s dressing room have been there since 1931.

 

12.  Jonny Wilkinson first played for England aged 18.

 

13.  Well over 1,200 different players have represented England since the very first international match in 1871.

 

14.  The Calcutta Cup (the silver England v Scotland trophy) was made in Calcutta, India.

 

15.  The first two international players to be sent off were both New Zealanders (Cyril Brownlie and Colin Meads).

 

16.  When England players are first ‘capped’ for their country they literally receive a red velvet cap.  However, unlike in football, they only ever receive one cap - irrespective of how many times they play.

 

17.  Twickenham was the scene of the first ever streaker at a major sporting event, when Michael O’Brien ran across the pitch in 1974.

 

18.  Jason Leonard played for England in 4 different Rugby World Cup tournaments – 1991, 1995, 1999 and 2003.

 

19.  Until 1877 international rugby teams had 20 players on each side, not 15.

 

20.  The Rugby World Cup trophy was made in 1906 but had no association with rugby football until it was awarded at the end of the first Rugby World Cup tournament in 1987.

 

For loads more fascinating facts check out Twickenham's very own Museum of Rugby?