The Riverside Journals - Festivals Issue 38 - FULL | Page 91

The home of
the game

Behind the scenes at
Twickenham
You can take a guided tour of the
Twickenham stadium, including the royal
box, a breathtaking view of the arena from
the top of the stand, the players’ tunnel
and finally a pitchside walk.
The price includes admission to
the World Rugby Museum, where you
can discover a whole world of rugby –
more than 25,000 objects are on display
– and relive some of the greatest rugby
moments on interactive screens.
Book at
englandrugby.com/
twickenham/world-rugby-museum/
or phone [phone]

T

For ticket availability, visit tickets.rugbyworldcup.com.

the riverside journals

The biggest
rugby stadium
in the world

91

Twickenham

he stage that for more than a century has been the setting for thousands of
great battles and epic clashes. The hallowed turf that every rugby player dreams
of playing on.
At 4pm on Saturday 31 October, the 30 battle-scarred men left standing after six
weeks of physically demanding and emotionally draining competition will kick off the
Rugby World Cup final. They will be cheered on by a crowd of 82,000 and watched
by millions across the world. A hard-fought campaign of pool matches, quarter-finals
and semi-finals will have whittled down 20 teams from all four quarters of the world
to just two line-ups. These will be the warriors in the iconic arena, vying for glory and
the greatest prize in the game: the Webb Ellis Cup.
This is the eighth staging of the tournament, which began in 1987 as a competition for 16 invited
teams and was won by hosts New Zealand beating France 29-9 in Auckland. The trophy was named in
honour of Rugby School pupil William Webb Ellis who, the story goes, in 1823 was the first player to pick
up the ball and run with it. The new game spread, notably by boys taking it with them when they left the
school. Clubs sprang up all over Britain and in the colonies, where it became something of a religion in
Australia, South Africa and cup holders New Zealand, being seen as a character-forming game that calls
for hard men to show their courage as well as their fitness and skills.
Over the past 28 years the Rugby World Cup has grown rapidly in status and importance to become
established as one of the world’s most prestigious sporting events, behind the Olympic Games and the
FIFA World Cup. In 1995 it featured one of the most moving and symbolic moments in sporting history.
South African president Nelson Mandela, decked out in a Springboks jersey, presented home captain
Francois Pienaar with the trophy at Ellis Park in Johannesburg after a narrow extra-time 15-12 win over New
Zealand. The two men had developed a remarkable relationship while South Africa battled against the odds
to a place in the final against the All Blacks. The inspiring story was later made into the blockbuster film
Invictus, directed by Clint E 7Gv