First published in 1979, this classic study of the development of rugby from folk game to its modern Union and League forms has become a seminal text in sport history. In a new epilogue the authors provide sociological analysis of the major developments in international ruby that have taken place since 1979, with particular attention to the professionalism that was predicted in the first edition of this text. Sports lovers, rugby fans and students of the history and sociology of sport will find it invaluable.

Part I: Folk Antecedents and Transitional Forms of Football in the Public Schools 1. The folk antecedents of modern rugby and their decline 2. Football in the early 19th century public schools Part II: The Modernisation of Rugby Football 3. The preconditions for modernization: embourgeoisement and public school reform 4. The incipient modernization of rugby football 5. The 'civilising process' and the formation of the RFU. 6. The democratization of rugby football. 7. Professionalisation and the amateur response. 8. The split. 9. The class structure and the professionalisation of British sport. Part III: The Development of Rugby Football as a Modern Sport 10. The professionalisation of rugby league. 11. Rugby union as a modern sport: bureaucracy, gate-taking clubs and the swansong of amateurism. Conclusion: Sociological Reflections on the Crisis in Modern Sport