The history of New Zealand rugby football starts with the New Zealand Nelson Football Club in 1870.
In 1867, having turned 16, Charles J Monro left for England to be educated for a possible career in the army. Monro had told his parents before leaving New Zealand that he didn't want to join the army. For two years he attended Christ’s College at Finchley, near London. While at Christ College he played in the 2nd XV.
When Monro returned home, after completing his studies, he introduced the version of football associated with Rugby School to the Nelson College Club (Monro was a former student of Nelson College, the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand).
Monro returned to Nelson in January 1870 and joined the Nelson Football Club, which played a mixture of association (‘soccer’) and Melbourne (Australian) rules football. Nelson College’s headmaster, the Reverend Frank Simmons, was a graduate of Rugby School and agreed that the school would also adopt the game.
The birth of Rugby in New Zealand is credited to Charles J. Monro.
Some key dates
- 1870 - Nelson College played their first Rugby Union match on 14 May.
- 1882 – First international match takes place against New South Wales Australia.
- 1888 – First ever British Isles rugby tour (visiting New Zealand and Australia.
- 1888-89 - the New Zealand Native team became the first from a colony to visit Britain.
- 1892 - the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU) was established, to act as the national governing body of the sport.
- 1908 – Rugby League is first played at Wellington on 13th June.
- 1914-1918 – International Rugby is suspended due to the First World War
- 1937 - South Africa toured New Zealand and decisively won the test series despite losing the first test.
- 1939-1945 – During the Second World War sport declined and international competition virtually ceased.
- 1970 – New Zealand celebrates 100 years of Rugby Football.
- 1987 – New Zealand and Australia host the first Rugby Union World Cup
- 1990s – Professionalisation of Rugby Union, in 1990 the Black Ferns debuted
- 2011 – New Zealand hosted the Rugby Union World Cup.
- 2015 – New Zealand All Blacks won the Rugby Union World Cup for the third time.
