Say goodbye to the old Lansdowne Road.Introduction
Games at rugby school consisted of however many boys wanted to play in a particular game. The result was very limited space on the field in which to run. As the game began to be played between different schools and clubs a fixed number of players was needed.
The first internationals were played 20 a side (Scotland vs. England being the first in 1871). The number of players was reduced to 15 in 1876 after Oxford persuaded Cambridge to play the varsity match with just 15 players in 1874/75. The move was a great success since it opened up the space in which to run with the ball. Most club games used 15 players during 1876 and the first international with fifteen players was England vs. Ireland in 1877.
"Numbers are not necessary and they savour of professionalism and the circus"
The practice of showing the player's number on the shirt/jersey started in 1897 when New Zealand played Queensland in Brisbane (which was the first New Zealand tour match).
New Zealand and Australia also sported numbers for the first Test match between the two countries during New Zealand's 1903 tour of Australia (the first Trans-Tasman Test, 15th August, 1903).
Australia and Great Britain wore numbers during the 1904 Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand wore numbers during the 1905 tour to the British Isles.
The practice did not catch on in England until 1922 when England played Wales in Cardiff. Some other countries did not adopt it till much later e.g. Scotland who adopted it first in 1928 in a game against France. Interestingly enough the committee consulted a senior cap (John Bannerman) afterwards to elicit the the views of the players and after the feedback was against it, they removed the numbers again until re-introducing them in 1933. When Scotland played England in the Calcutta cup at Twickenham in 1928 King George V asked a former president of the SFU James Aikman Smith (known as Napoleon) why Scotland were not wearing numbers and was told "This sir is a rugby match not a cattle sale". Numbers did not return to Scotland's jerseys until two years after Smith's death.
By 1950 all the home nations used numbers but England, Scotland and Wales numbered the players starting from the full back (1) and France and Ireland did the revese with the fullback being 15. From 1960 they agreed to use the France/Ireland numbering.
Other common variations in the numbering is the interchange of 6 and 7 (particularly in South Africa and Argentina) or 11 and 14.
Some clubs and international sides like Wales used letters instead of numbers,below is a picture of England vs. Wales in 1939 just after Derek Teden has scored the winning try. The Welsh players can clearly be seen sporting letters not numbers i.e. Woller (C) and Jenkins (A).
Some clubs, out of tradition, used special player labeling schemes for a number of years. Notably Leicester Tigers and Bristol used alternative schemes consisting of letters, whilst others Bath and Richmond used a scheme with no number 13. West Hartlepool hung up their No. 5 jersey in memory of their lock John How who died of a heart condition in a 1994 league match. Below you can see Bristol (letters) playing Bath (no number 13). The English Premiership sides have ceased using these special labeling schemes, to better aid the understanding of those new to the sport.
There also are regional variations to the way line-ups are listed. Most of the time, the first player mentioned is actually the number 15. The two mainstream styles of listing a line-up are 15-9 then 1-8 and 15-1. However, you may see the centers messed up and the same is often done to the back row.
Position Standard Numbering No number 13 e.g.
Bath & RichmondLeicester Bristol Full back 15 16 O A Right wing 14 15 N B Outside Center 13 14 M C Inside center 12 12 L D Left wing 11 11 K E Fly-half 10 10 J F Scrum-half 9 9 I G Loosehead prop 1 1 A H Hooker 2 2 B I Tight head prop 3 3 C J Lock 4 4 D K Lock 5 5 E L Blind side flanker 6 6 F M Open side flanker 7 7 H N Number eight 8 8 G O Replacements 16 onwards, up to 22 17 onwards, up to 23 P onwards, up to V P onwards, up to V
Today, player numbering is standardlized by the IRB as 1-15 and the replacements 16 onwards with 1 being loosehead prop and 15 being the fullback.