biography
| name: |
Ellis, William Webb
|
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1805–72)
|
| biography:
| British sportsman, and reputedly the inventor of rugby football. According to a rather doubtful tradition, he was a pupil at Rugby School in 1823 when he broke the rules by picking up and running with the ball during a game of association football, thus inspiring the new game of rugby. The only certain sporting fact about him is that he played for Oxford University in the first Varsity cricket match in 1827. The Rugby Union World Cup trophy was named after him in 1987. |
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