The History of Rugby in a Nutshell
Rugby originates from the English football games and its name from a Birmingham working class provincial city, of the same name. Rugby is geographically situated in the very heart of England, which contributed to its popularity.
It was in this city, where the famous Rugby School initiated the rise of Rugby. The school was famous for elitist policy which restricted admissions to its graduates’ children only, whose names had been written on the day of their birth so getting a place there for external community applicants was difficult.
Rugby may not be still very popular in Poland, but it has had centuries of tradition in Europe. Harpastum is a form of a ball game played in the Roman Empire and is believed to be an original form of Rugby.
At those times the ball was made of animal’s bladder stuffed with straw, which was passed from hand to hand and the opposite player was tackled by grabbing his neck, the rugby posts were the width of the touch line half of which the ‘ball’ should be placed.
The game was very brutal and it happened later that it was a forbidden sport discipline. Over the centuries Rugby has evolved both in terms of the rules which, initially did not practically exist and the number of players in teams.
The division between Rugby and Football, which originally had similar roots, took place in the middle of the 19th century resulting in Football Association and Rugby Union creation, which separated these two disciplines for good, mainly due to the argument as to how hands and tackling should be used and so called tackling should be used.
Rugby that was established was an amateur game, as it is up to present times within Rugby Union. Turn of 19th and 20th century saw series of dynamic changes within Rugby itself and establishing professional Rugby represented by Northern Rugby Union (later referred to as Rugby League).
The main difference between amateur and professional Rugby was the number of team players, which for Rugby Union was 15 and Professional Rugby the number was reduced to 13 in order to increase popularity of the event and simplify the rules.
Another form currently existing in Rugby is Rugby Sevens, in which teams are made up of seven players which has become Olympic discipline - Rugby World Cup Sevens.
This proves that Rugby has evolved to a discipline on a global scale and its viewership exceeds that of Football. Rugby League Football is a sport of the U.S.A. that also is rooted in Rugby Football.
Although Rugby may seem at first sight to be a game of brutal and violent character with no rules, in reality it is based on very strict rules which are followed by everyone. There is a saying to prove this: ‘Football is a gentleman's game played by hooligans, and Rugby is a hooligans' game played by gentlemen.’
Rugby in Poland
Rugby in Poland is still a minor and not a very popular sport, even though it has existed since the 50s of the 20th century. Currently Rugby Extraliga is the Premier League for Rugby Union in Poland with eight best teams.
The league season consists of two rounds: round one when everybody plays, at home and away and a final round, play off. Within round one there are 14 league rounds, 4 matches each – 7 in phase one and 7 in return phase two.
From a final scores of round one the four best teams are qualified for semi-finals, 5th and 6th teams fight for the 5th place, the last two teams fight for keeping the position in Extraliga and their matches take place as indicated by the table. The winners of both semi- final matches win the right to fight for Championship.
The first best three teams of Extraliga Rugby stay on the podium of Poland Championship. The last team of the final competition that loses the match that would secure the position in Extraliga, drops down to First League.
The scoring system looks as follows: 4 points for winning, 2 points for draw, 0 points for losing.
Extra points are awarded to teams that have at least 4 tries and could lose up to the maximum of seven points.
The beginning in Lodz dates back to 1956 when first division of Rugby was established in ZS Start Sport Club No 12. In 1957 in Ruda Pabianicka there was formed another division of Rugby in Rudzki Klub Sportowy (Rudzki Sport Club). Unfortunately, the latter one have not succeeded and ceased to exist. Zs Start Division, however, due to the lack of development opportunities after KS Start (Start Sport Club) was established and the authorities decided to relocate it to KS Wlokniarz (Wlokniarz Sport Club), which turned out to be the right decision. Under the auspices of KS Wlokniarz (Wlokniarz Sport Club) Lodz Rugby team started to develop dynamically and had been benefiting from favourable conditions before 1962 when the organisation structures were changed to disadvantages.
It was not till 1968 when Rugby in Lodz was reborn due to the involvement of Ryszard Wiejski and Ryszard Musialczyk under the auspices of Metalowiec Lodz Club. However, due to unhealthy atmosphere around Rugby in Metalowiec, the division was moved to join KS Budowlani Lodz (Budowlani Lodz Sport Club), with whom Lodz Rugby has achieved most, in spite of initial problems. In December 2012 private limited company, Budowlani SA Lodz was established with senior men’s Rugby team and competed in the top tier of Polish Rugby, the Ekstraliga, under the name of Budowlani Lodz Masterpharm to be runners up of Poland in 2012 and bronze medal in 2013.
Currently Budowlani SA is hosted by Szkola Mistrzostwa Sportowego Masters Sport School in Lodz in seat of the former KS Wlokniarz Lodz (Wlokniarz Lodz Sport Club). Here is the circle of the history. Currently there are actions undertaken to gain new and permanent location to home Lodz Rugby team.
The achievements of Lodz KS Budowlani Lodz and Budowlani SA Rugby Team dating from 1968:
Seniors:
Champion of Poland in: 1983; 2006; 2007; 2009; 2010
Runner up of Poland in: 1979; 1984; 2003; 2004; 2005; 2008; 2011; 2012; 2014
Third place: 1982; 1985; 1989; 1990; 1992; 2013
Poland Cup: 1992; 2003; 2009; 2011; 2012
Juniors
Champion: 1971; 1972; 1974; 1975; 1976, 1977, 1978, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1996, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2014
You are welcome to support us!
Rugby Team - Budowlani Łódź Master Pharm
