The World Rugby Hall of Fame (formerly the IRB Hall of Fame) recognises special achievement and contribution to the sport of rugby union. The World Rugby Hall of Fame covers players, coaches, administrators, match officials, institutions and other individuals. [1] The Hall of Fame recognises the history and important contributions to the game, through one or more induction ceremonies that have been held annually except in 2010. The permanent physical home of the Hall of Fame was based at the Rugby Art Gallery, Museum & Library in Rugby, Warwickshire from 2016 until 2021. [2] [3]
The Hall of Fame was introduced by the International Rugby Board (as World Rugby was then known) during the 2006 IRB Awards ceremony in Glasgow, Scotland. The inaugural inductees were William Webb Ellis, who apocryphally caught the ball during a football game and ran with it, and Rugby School, which has left a huge legacy with the game in a number of ways. [4]
The second induction to the Hall of Fame took place in Paris on 21 October 2007, the night after the 2007 Rugby World Cup final. [5] The next induction was in London on 23 November 2008. [6]
The third induction, in which nine figures entered the Hall, was held on 27 October 2009 at Rugby School. The voting process for the class of 2009 was geared toward the history of British & Irish Lions tours to South Africa, the most recent of which took place in that year; all of the candidates were either Lions or Springboks. [7]
For 2011, induction ceremonies were held at various locations around the world, [8] [9] with the year's final ceremony taking place as part of the 2011 IRB Awards on 24 October in Auckland, the day after the Rugby World Cup final in that city. [10] The inductions at the Auckland ceremony, according to the IRB, were "under the theme of Rugby World Cup founders, visionaries and iconic figures," [10] and were made in three groups—first for the founders of the RWC, then all World Cup-winning captains and coaches through the 2007 World Cup (minus John Eales, inducted in 2007), and finally other iconic players of the World Cup. [11]
The pattern begun in 2011 was repeated in 2012, with six induction ceremonies being held in six countries. As in the two previous induction cycles, the 2012 inductions had an overriding theme; "Rugby – A Global Game". According to the IRB, it "celebrates Rugby's expansion to become a global sport played by millions of men and women worldwide." [12]
On 31 July 2014, the IRB announced that its Hall would merge with the separate International Rugby Hall of Fame later in 2014. The merger saw the 37 members of the International Hall who had not already been honoured by the IRB formally enter the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2014 and 2015. [13] The 2014 class of inductees also included six women.
On 19 November 2014 the IRB rebranded as World Rugby, and the Hall of Fame became known as the World Rugby Hall Of Fame.
World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competitions, such as the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the World Under 20 Championship, and the Pacific Nations Cup.
In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards and seven backs. In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16–23. Players are not restricted to a single position, although they generally specialise in just one or two that suit their skills and body types. Players that play multiple positions are called "utility players".
Gareth Lloyd Rees is a Canadian former international rugby union footballer who played at fly-half and full back positions. Rees played for several English club sides, including Wasps and Harlequins. He won 55 caps for Canada, captaining them on 23 occasions and scoring 487 test points. In October 2011, Rees received arguably his greatest honour with induction to the IRB Hall of Fame. He and fellow 2011 inductee Brian Lima of Samoa are the first members of the IRB Hall from nations outside of the traditional top tier of the sport.
Jacobus Francois Pienaar is a retired South African rugby union player. He played flanker for South Africa from 1993 until 1996, winning 29 international caps, all of them as captain. He is best known for leading South Africa to victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup. After being dropped from the Springbok team in 1996, Pienaar went on to a career with English club Saracens.
Bob Dwyer AM is an Australian rugby union coach.
Cameron Michael Henderson GibsonMBE is a former rugby union international player who represented Ireland and the British & Irish Lions.
David Edward Kirk is a former New Zealand rugby union player. He is best known for having been the captain of the All Blacks when they won the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987.
Agustín Pichot is an Argentine retired rugby union player, formerly captain of the Argentine team and the English club Bristol. In addition to Bristol, he played for French sides Stade Français and Racing Métro after leaving Argentine team CASI from San Isidro in 1997. In 2011, he was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame. He was Vice-Chairman of World Rugby between 2016 and 2020.
The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa at a meeting in Dublin on 17 November 2005. The tournament was won by New Zealand, who defeated France 8–7 in the final. The defending champions, South Africa, were eliminated by Australia 11–9 in the quarter-finals. The result marked the third time that the tournament was won by the country that hosted the event.
Brian Pala LimaOM is a Samoan former rugby union player who was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame in 2011. He earned the nickname of "The Chiropractor" for his shuddering hits both on and off the pitch that supposedly rearranged the bones of the victim.
John William Smit, OIS, is a South African former professional rugby union player and former chief executive officer of the Sharks. He was the 50th captain of the Springbok rugby union team and led the team to win the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He played most of his senior career as a hooker, but also won 13 caps as a prop, where he had also played for South Africa's under-21 team. He retired from international rugby following the 2011 Rugby World Cup as the most-capped South African player ever, with 111 appearances.
Sir Gordon Frederick Tietjens is head coach of the Samoa rugby sevens team, and a celebrated former coach of the New Zealand men's national team in rugby sevens, the All Blacks Sevens. When the International Rugby Board inducted him into the IRB Hall of Fame in May 2012, it said that "Tietjens' roll of honour is without peer in Sevens, and perhaps in the game of rugby as a whole." According to Spiro Zavos, Tietjens is "The greatest of all the Sevens coaches".
Roderick Ian Macqueen, AM is an Australian former rugby union coach. He coached Australia at the Rugby World Cup, and the Waratahs, Brumbies and Rebels in the Super Rugby competition.
The IRB2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was only one change: Uruguay replaced Russia. This was the first World Cup with no new teams to the tournament.
Sydney Millar was a Northern Irish rugby union prop who played for Ballymena RFC and Ulster and international rugby for Ireland and the British Lions. After retiring from playing rugby he became a rugby coach and a rugby administrator. He became chairman of the Irish Rugby Union in 1995 and from 2003 until 2007 was chairman of the International Rugby Board. Former Lions captain Willie John McBride stated that Millar had given "his whole life to the game".
Kathleen Flores was an American rugby union player who was the head coach of the U.S. women's national team until January 2011 and the head coach of the Brown women's rugby team. Past coaching tenures include Bay Area Touring Side (BATS) Rugby Club, the SF FOG men and the Berkeley All Blues. She played rugby from 1978 to 1998 for Florida State University, the Berkeley All Blues Women's Rugby Club and U.S. women's national team. She started coaching for the Berkeley All Blues 1998 and had been head coach and administrator for the U.S. women's national team since 2003. She began coaching the women's rugby team at Brown University in the fall of 2013, following the retirement of Kerri Heffernan. During her time in Rhode Island, she also coached the Providence Women’s Rugby team. She was able to bring them to several division 2 championships.
John MacGregor Kendall Kendall-Carpenter was an English rugby union international who won 23 caps as a back row forward between 1949 and 1954. He subsequently served as President of the Rugby Football Union (1980–1981), the England Schools Rugby Football Union (1985–90) and Cornwall RFU (1984–87). He was also Chairman of the committee that organised the first Rugby World Cup in 1987.
