Rugby is exciting now. By AD 2001 it will be enthralling, and still evolving. – Lord Wakefield
In 1971, to celebrate their centenary, the RFU commissioned a book called ‘Touchdown and Other Moves in the Game’.
Part-celebration, part-retrospective, it looked back over the previous hundred years and excitedly looked forward to the next 100.
One of the sections, A.D. 2001, predicted the state of play for rugby in 50 years time. They spoke to former England international, RFU president and Harlequins stalwart Lord Wavell Wakefield; Player turned journalist Vivian Jenkins; The Springbok of Springboks Dr Danie Craven, and for the more sartorial perspective, Teddy Tingling and Elmer Cotton, leading sportswear designers of their day.
Here are some of the highlights:
On professionalism:
Lord Wakefield: “We are entering into an age of greater leisure. In the society of AD 2001 I foresee the keen rugby player approaching his football with greater professionalism in his attitudes toward training and preparing for the game…Of course there will be those who will continue to play rugger just for the fun, and to hell with training…But the first-class player will become even more dedicated”.
Accurate prediction of professionalism, which has grown in spades over the last two and a half decades. Also efficient in predicting the cotninued success of the rugby pyramid, where amateurs continue to play across the country.
On Law Changes:
“Generally for purely technical and minor offenses justice will be served either by providing the non-offending side with a means of gaining possession or by the award of an indirect free kick.”
Just six years in 1977 later the free-kick was introduced, to include minor errors at scrum and line-out. Also, as Wakefield predicted it was not possible to score, being an indirect method of retaining possession.
On Playing Surfaces:
I visualise rugby being played in a covered stadium. I also believe it will be played on artificial surfaces. Certainly much more use will be made of the major rugby grounds. Two or three games should be possible on each ground on a Saturday afternoon and evening.”
The Millenium Stadium’s roof is a rugby staple at this point and many other stadiums have retractable roofs. And many pitches at both professional and amateur level rely on synthetic grass. Finally, although he perhaps didn’t foresee the commercialisation affecting schedules meaning that games would be played at the same time, the fact that pitches can withstand double and triple headers is testament to the last fact.
On the World Cup:
Vivian Jenkins: “There could even be a World Cup for rugby, though I, for one hope it does not happen…A World Cup is quite enough of an ordeal for our soccer players, whose living it is. For amateur players it would introduce a much too demanding complication into their daily lives. If every country approached the game as we do it might be a different matter. But these are the days where sport is so often used as a vehicle for political propaganda.”
This prediction came true, much to the chagrin of staunch proponent of amateurism Vivian Jenkins. His fear was rooted in the belief that for an amateur player the World Cup would be too much of a burden. Certainly, the fact that the first three cups were played under ‘amateurism’ in rugby has been seen as a catalyst for the spread of the game internationally and subsequently turning professional in the first place.
On Player Shirts:
Teddy Tingling: “One day the dressing-room might be renamed the paint room or the spray room. You would simply go in and paint yourself and go out and play your game. People spray skin on themselves now, it is quite a logical development that a form of clothing or covering could be evolved in the same way…The modesty issue would play a part in all this, but I can foresee a spray on-skin which would be both protective and healing.”
Although technology didn’t catch up with Teddy Tingling’s image of the future, the idea that a shirt could get even tighter is sure to excite a certain population of player and terrify another. Shirts did get a lot closer to the skin that they were in 1971, and with modern materials, they operate almost like a second-skin, too.
On Rugby Boots:
Elmer Cotton: “We are moving into the featherweight era. The leather sole has almost gone. We now have plastic soles welded and riveted to the upper. Mud and water don’t affect a plastic sole, and as 90 per cent of strain is on the sole, that is important.”
This has proved to be accurate. Modern boots are lightweight, something maintained by making them entirely from synthetic materials. Most soles are reinforced and the change from studs to plastic-mouldeds for the summer weather was not noted by the designers.
On Playing Kit:
“I think there will be featherweight synthetic materials around which will cut out static electricity and be impervious to wet. This will apply more to shorts because I don’t think you can beat a strong, good jersey. Socks have gone over to stretch nylon instead of wool. As for jockstraps, if anyone alters those I’ll be surprised.”
Again, mostly correct, although it is important to note that the jockstrap is now extinct in rugby, replaced, to the surprise of the designers, by the undershort.
All in all its an entertaining (but definitely dated) view of rugby’s first 100 years and its next 100. Although they failed to predict such a dramatic change as a result of professionalism, by and large the experts of the day had their pulse on what might happen in the world.
