Barbarian F.C.

Barbarians

Nickname(s)	Baa-Baas
Most appearances	(Ireland) Tony O'Reilly (30)
Top scorer	(Ireland) Tony O'Reilly (38 tries)
Team kit
First match
Hartlepool Rovers 4 - 9 Barbarians (27 December 1890)
Largest win
Belgium  10 - 84 Barbarians (24 May 2008)
Worst defeat
Australia  55 - 7 Barbarians (06 June 2009)

The Barbarian Football Club, typically referred to as Barbarians and nicknamed the "Baa-Baas", is an invitational rugby union team based in Britain. The Barbarians play in traditional black and white hoops, though players retain the socks from their "home" club strip.

Membership is by invitation and the only qualifications considered when issuing an invitation are that the player's rugby is of a high enough standard and secondly that he should behave himself on and off the field. Being asked to become a Barbarian is an honour and not one restricted to British players. Traditionally one uncapped player is selected for each match.

The Barbarians traditionally played six annual encounters, Penarth, Cardiff, Swansea and Newport during their Easter Tour; a Boxing Day game with Leicester and the Mobbs Memorial Match against East Midlands in the spring. In 1948, the Barbarians were invited to face Australia as part of that team's tour of Britain, Ireland and France. Although initially designed as a fund raiser towards the end of the tour, the encounter became a popular fixture for most touring nations to Britain, and a Barbarian tradition.

History

Barbarians team that faced Huddersfield, December 1891

The Barbarian Club was formed by William Percy Carpmael, who had played rugby for Cambridge University,^[1] and had been part of the Cambridge team which had undertaken a tour of Yorkshire in 1884.^[2] Inspired by the culture behind short rugby tours he organised his first tour in 1889 with Clapham Rovers,^[2] which was followed by an 1890 tour with an invitational team calling themselves the Southern Nomads.^[3] At the time practically every club ceased playing in early March and there were no tours and players just 'packed up' until the following season. In 1890 he took the Southern Nomads – mainly composed of players from Blackheath – on a tour of some northern counties of England.

His idea – collecting a touring side from all sources to tackle a few leading clubs in the land – received strong support from leading players, particularly ex-university players. On 9 April 1890 in Leuchters Restaurant at the Alexandra hotel in Bradford, the concept of the Barbarians was agreed upon.^[4] The team toured later that year and beat Hartlepool Rovers 9 - 4 on 27 December in their first fixture.

The team was given the motto by Walter Julius Carey, former Bishop of Bloemfontein and a former member of the Barbarians:^[5]

Rugby Football is a game for gentlemen in all classes, but for no bad sportsman in any class.

Penarth, Barbarians HQ

The now demolished Esplanade Hotel, photographed in 1970 and seen here just on the other side of the Penarth swimming pool and baths. "The Esp", as it was known, was the spiritual home and headquarters of the Barbarians Football Club for over 75 years

The concept took hold over the years and the nearest thing to a club home came to be the Esplanade Hotel, Penarth in South Wales, where the Barbarians always stayed on their Easter tours of Wales.^[6] The annual Good Friday games against the Barbarians was the highlight of the Penarth club's year and were always attended by enthusiastic capacity crowds. This fixture marked the start of the "Baa-Baas" annual South Wales tour from their "spiritual home" of Penarth, which also encompassed playing Cardiff RFC on the Saturday, Swansea RFC on Easter Monday and Newport RFC on the Tuesday.

The non-match day of Easter Sunday would always see the Barbarians playing golf at the Glamorganshire Golf Club,^[7] in Penarth, while the former Esplanade Hotel, that was located on the seafront at Penarth would host the gala party for the trip, sponsored by the Penarth RFC club. The first match took place in 1901,^[6] and over the next 75 encounters, Penarth won eleven games, drew four and lost 60. Between 1920 and the first Athletics Field game in 1925 the Good Friday games were hosted on Penarth County Grammar School's sports field.

The final Penarth v Barbarians game was played in 1986 by which time the Penarth club had slipped from its former prominent position in Welsh rugby. However, a special commemorative game, recognising the 100 years since the first Good Friday match, took place in 2001 and was played at the Athletic Field next to the Penarth clubhouse the day before the Barbarians played Wales at the Millennium Stadium. Gary Teichmann captain of both the South African International squad and the Barbarians, unveiled a plaque at the clubhouse to mark the event.

The Barbarians abroad

After the Second World War in 1948 the Barbarians were asked by the Home Unions to raise a side to play the touring Australian side. This started the tradition of the Final Challenge – played as the last match in a tour of Britain and Ireland by Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

That game, that try

The Barbarian Final Challenge match with the All Blacks at Cardiff Arms Park on January 27, 1973 is celebrated as one of the best games of rugby football ever played. It was a game of attack and counter attack.

Cliff Morgan described that try by Gareth Edwards:

Kirkpatrick to Williams. This is great stuff! Phil Bennett covering chased by Alistair Scown. Brilliant, oh, that's brilliant! John Williams, Bryan Williams. Pullin. John Dawes, great dummy. To David, Tom David, the half-way line! Brilliant by Quinnell! This is Gareth Edwards! A dramatic start! What a score!!^[8]

Gareth Edwards said of the match:

The Barbarians won the match 23 - 11 (27 - 13 in today's scoring system), handing the All Blacks their fourth defeat of the tour.

Scorers:

Barbarians: Tries: G.O. Edwards, J.F. Slattery, J.C. Bevan, J.P.R. Williams; Conversions: P. Bennett (2); Penalty: P. Bennett

All Blacks: Tries: G.B. Batty (2); Penalty: J.F. Karam

Past Presidents

The office was first instituted in 1913:

• W.P. Carpmael, held office from 1913-1936; (the founder of the Barbarians)
• Emile de Lissa, held office from 1936-1955; associated as Secretary, Treasurer, Vice-President and President from 1901-1955
• Jack "Haigho" Smith, held office in 1955, (term lasted for only a few weeks before his death, having previously given devoted service as Honorary Secretary for more than 30 years)
• Brigadier Glyn Hughes, held office from 1955-1973;
• Herbert Waddell, held office from 1973-1988;
• Micky Steele-Bodger, held office since 1988.

Traditional matches

The nature of the Barbarians as a touring side made for a diverse fixture list, but at a number of points in the club's history they have settled for a time into a regular pattern. Some of these regular matches have fallen by the wayside, whilst others continue to the present day:

• Boxing Day fixture against Leicester Tigers - this began in 1909 as the third and final match of the Christmas Tour. No longer played.
• The Edgar Mobbs Memorial Match - held for Edgar Mobbs, who was killed in The First World War, at Franklins Gardens against either Northampton Saints, Bedford Blues or The East Midlands select XV. This first took place on 10 February 1921 traditionally takes place on the first Thursday in March.
• Easter Tour - traditionally four matches against Penarth RFC (Good Friday), Cardiff RFC/Cardiff Blues (Easter Saturday); Swansea RFC (Easter Monday) and Newport RFC (Tuesday following Easter Monday). The Penarth match was dropped after the 1986 match as a regular fixture although in 2001 a special commemorative game, recognising the 100 years since the first Good Friday match, took place in 2001 and was played at the Athletic Field next to the Penarth clubhouse the day before the Barbarians played Wales at the Millennium Stadium.
• The Final Challenge — played as the last match in a tour of the UK by Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Because of the changes in the game in recent years, long tours have effectively disappeared from the game and there is less scope for this challenge. The fixture returned on December 3 2008 when the Barbarians played Australia at Wembley stadium, the first rugby union match to be played there since its redevelopment.
• Remembrance Day game against the Combined Services, played in early November.

They typically compete against teams from the home nations (England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland) as well as international sides.

1908 Olympic rugby union centenary celebration match

Australia was approached by the British Olympic Association to play the Barbarians at Wembley Stadium on 3 December 2008. The match formed part of the BOA's programme of events to celebrate the centenary of the first London Olympic Games where Australia defeated a Great Britain (Cornwall) side in the final 32 - 3.^[9] In a slight change to the usual tradition of the Barbarians players wearing their own club socks, in this game, they all wore the black and amber socks of Cornwall. Australia went on to win 18 points to 11.

Matches against International sides

Opposing Teams	For	Against	Date	Venue	City	Competition
Wales	26	10	17/04/1915	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Tour Match To raise 'patriotic funds'
Australia	9	6	31/01/1948	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
South Africa	3	17	26/01/1952	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
New Zealand	5	19	20/02/1954	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
Australia	11	6	22/02/1958	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
East Africa	52	12	28/05/1958		Nairobi	Tour Match
South Africa	6	0	04/02/1961	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
Canada	3	3	17/11/1962		Gosforth	Tour Match
New Zealand	3	36	15/02/1964	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
Australia	11	17	28/01/1967	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
New Zealand	6	11	16/12/1967	Twickenham	London	Final Challenge
Rhodesia	24	21	26/05/1969			Tour Match
South Africa	12	21	31/01/1970	Twickenham	London	Tour Match
Scotland	17	33	09/05/1970	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match In aid of 1970 British Commonwealth Games
Fiji	9	29	24/10/1970		Gosforth	Final Challenge
New Zealand	23	11	27/01/1973	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
New Zealand	13	13	30/11/1974	Twickenham	London	Final Challenge
Australia	19	7	24/01/1976	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
Canada	29	4	12/06/1976		Toronto	Tour Match
British and Irish Lions	14	23	10/09/1977	Twickenham	London	Silver Jubilee Match
New Zealand	16	18	16/12/1978	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
Scotland	26	13	1983	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match
Australia	30	37	15/12/1984	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
Italy	23	15	26/05/1985			Tour Match
Australia	22	40	26/11/1988	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
New Zealand	10	21	25/11/1989	Twickenham	London	Final Challenge
England	16	18	29/09/1990	Twickenham		Tour Match Centenary celebrations
Wales	31	24	06/10/1990	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Tour Match Centenary celebrations
Argentina	34	22	17/11/1990	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
Scotland	16	16	07/09/1991	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match
Russia	23	27	06/06/1992			Tour Match
Australia	20	30	28/11/1992	Twickenham	London	Final Challenge
New Zealand	12	25	04/12/1993	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Final Challenge
Zimbabwe	21	23	04/06/1994			Tour Match
South Africa	23	15	03/12/1994	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Final Challenge
Ireland	70	38	1996	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Tour Match Peace International
Scotland	45	48	17/08/1996	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match Dunblane Disaster Fund Match
Wales	31	10	24/08/1996	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Tour Match
Australia	12	39	07/12/1996	Twickenham	London	Final Challenge
Ireland	31	30	05/2000	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Tour Match
Scotland	45	42	31/05/2000	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match
Germany	47	19	12/08/2000			Tour Match
South Africa	31	41	31/05/2000	Millennium Stadium	Cardiff	Final Challenge
Wales	40	38	20/05/2001	Millennium Stadium	Cardiff	Tour Match
Scotland	74	31	24/05/2001	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match
England	43	29	27/05/2001	Twickenham		Tour Match
Australia	35	49	28/11/2001	Millennium Stadium	Cardiff	Final Challenge
England	29	53	05/2002	Twickenham		Tour Match
Wales	40	25	05/2002	Millennium Stadium	Cardiff	Tour Match
Scotland	47	27	06/2002	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match
England	49	36	05/2003	Twickenham		Tour Match
Scotland	24	15	05/2003	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match
Wales	48	35	05/2003	Millennium Stadium	Cardiff	Tour Match
Scotland	40	33	22/05/2004	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match
Wales	0	42	27/05/2004	Millennium Stadium	Cardiff	Tour Match
England	32	12	30/05/2004	Twickenham		Tour Match
Portugal	66	34	10/06/2004	Universitário Lisboa	Lisbon	Tour Match
New Zealand	19	47	04/12/2004	Twickenham	London	Final Challenge
Scotland	9	38	24/05/2005	Pittodrie	Aberdeen	Tour Match
England	52	39	28/05/2005	Twickenham		Tour Match
England	19	46	28/05/2006	Twickenham		Tour Match
Scotland	19	66	31/05/2006	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Tour Match
Georgia	28	19	04/06/2006	Mikheil Meskhi Stadium	Tbilisi	Tour Match
Tunisia	33	10	19/05/2007	Stade El Menzah	Tunis	Tour Match
Spain	52	26	23/06/2007	Martínez Valero	Elche	Tour Match
South Africa	22	5	01/12/2007	Twickenham	London	Final Challenge
Belgium	84	10	24/05/2008	Stade Roi Baudouin	Brussels	Tour Match
Ireland	14	39	27/05/2008	Kingsholm	Gloucester	Tour Match
England	14	17	01/06/2008	Twickenham	London	Tour Match
Australia	11	18	03/12/2008	Wembley Stadium	London	Final Challenge / Cornwall Cup
England	33	26	30/05/2009	Twickenham	London	Tour Match [10]
Australia	7	55	06/06/2009	Sydney Football Stadium	Sydney	Tour Match [11]
New Zealand	25	18	05/12/2009	Twickenham	London	Final Challenge

Current Squad to play New Zealand (05/12/09)

Nat. Position Player HK Bismarck du Plessis HK Stephen Moore PR Tendai Mtawarira PR WP Nel PR Salvatore Perugini LK Carlo Del Fava LK Quintin Geldenhuys LK Victor Matfield (c) FL Schalk Burger FL Rocky Elsom FL Andy Powell N8 George Smith

Nat. Position Player SH Fourie du Preez SH Will Genia FH Matt Giteau FH Morne Steyn CE Jaque Fourie CE Jamie Roberts WG Bryan Habana WG Leigh Halfpenny WG Joe Rokocoko FB Drew Mitchell

Coaching Staff

• Nick Mallett - Head Coach
• Alan Solomons - Assistant Coach

Notable players

The 16 players chosen by the Barbarians official website as the outstanding players to represent the club.^[12]

Original members of the Barbarians, 1890-1891

• England international, Scotland international, Wales international, British Isles international
• Oxon. - Oxford University player, Cam. - Cambridge University player

See also

• New Zealand Barbarians
• French Barbarians
• South African Barbarians
• Brussels Barbarians

Bibliography

• Starmer-Smith, Nigel (1977). The Barbarians. Macdonald & Jane's Publishers. ISBN 0860075524. 

References

External links

• Official site
• Barbarians history from the BBC
• Barbarians history from scrum.com
• Barbarians International Matches
• Barbarians rugby union news from Planet Rugby