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England Twickenham 100 years old 9/8/07

Happy Birthday Twickenham
By Kath 24/7/07 July 24 2007
The Rugby Football Union are inviting fans to come and celebrate for free! England Rugby, Twickenham Stadium the home of England Rugby will be celebrating its 100th birthday on the 9th August 2007. Back on 9th August 1907 William Williams, an RFU Committee man, bought the land for £5,572.12s.6d having been tasked with finding a 'home' ground for the Rugby Football Union.

England Rugby - Twickenham 100 years old 9th August 2007


Twickenham from the old South Stand picture copyright of Patrick

To celebrate its birthday, the Museum of Rugby, which includes a tour of the stadium, is opening it's doors to rugby fans for the day for free. It is also the day the England Rugby World Cup shirt will be launched in the Rugby Store so the store are offering a 10% discount to all museum visitors, fans can be amongst the first to snap up replicas of the actual shirt the World Champions will be wearing in the defence of the trophy this September .

In the decades after its 1871 formation, the RFU had used dozens of different club grounds around England for staging international matches. Hiring grounds for international fixtures was common practice - neither the Football Association or the Scottish Rugby Union had their own 'home' ground until 1925. However, the need for the RFU to find a more permanent ground arose in 1905 and 1906 when two emerging rugby powers (New Zealand and South Africa) toured the British Isles for the first time and their arrival gave the game a massive lift.

The problem facing the RFU, who anticipated phenomenal spectator numbers for their matches against the Southern Hemisphere teams, was that stadium hire was expensive, so a decision was made to purchase a plot of land and build a stadium.

RFU Treasurer at the time was William Cail and he tasked Williams to find a suitable area. A ten and a quarter acre market garden / orchard was found near the small market town of Twickenham and the rest is history.

Having secured the land on 9th August, Williams approached the London and South Western Railway who agreed to build a train station at Twickenham for match days. The rail link placated the RFU Committee who had not been overly keen on the location.

The Museum of Rugby chronicles the history of the game across the globe, challenging myths and legends, setting records straight and giving hands-on entertainment to visitors of all ages. The stadium tour * offers a fascinating insight into the world's largest dedicated rugby stadium with a chance to visit the England changing room, sit in the royal box and learn what happens on a match day.

The Museum of Rugby is open Tuesday to Sunday. Find out more information at www.rfu.com/museumofrugby

If you can't make it to Twickenham to purchase your shirt visit www.rfu.com/rugbystore

* Space on the stadium tours is strictly limited and will be handled on a first come first served basis. Call 0870 405 2001 to secure your place.

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