Rugby Reloaded

From the Wallaroos to the Kangaroos, discover how Australian rugby union's embrace of amateurism ripped the game apart and why the popularity of the game led to the creation of rugby league - all in just ten minutes. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

This week our half-time history talk looks at the beginnings of sevens, nines and sixes - the 'short form' versions of rugby - in a journey that takes us from the Scottish Borders to downtown Batley. Once again, we discover that the truth about rugby history is rarely pure and never simple. To discover more about the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony...

Take ten minutes out of your day to discover the amazing story of the 1888 NZ Native Touring Team to the British Isles. Pioneers of Māori rugby, the tourists won the hearts of many supporters but incurred the wrath of the English rugby authorities, leading to rugby's own mini 'Bodyline'-style controversy. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinst...

This week's ten minute time tunnel takes us back to 1895 and the aftermath of Rugby's Great Split. We take a quick tour of how the split unfolded across the north over the next few years, and look at how rugby union started to re-organise after its near-death experience. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

Spend ten minutes in rugby's time tunnel as we look at the first-ever British rugby tour to Australia and New Zealand. Although now claimed as the first tour of the rugby union British Lions, the tour was in reality opposed by the rugby authorities. Listen to how this unofficial team changed the face of international rugby forever. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, fol...

Take ten minutes out to discover how the word 'Broken' and 'Time' tore rugby in two in the 1890s. Why did broken time become the issue that broke the game apart? We go all 'fly on the wall' at the 1893 RFU annual meeting to find out what was going on. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

This week your ten minute rugby history fix looks at how rugby league came to France, almost conquered a nation, but was then forcibly 'deleted' from French sport and society by the Vichy government during World War Two. For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony and at www.rugbyreloaded.com

This week’s Rugby Reloaded ten-minute history talk looks at how world rugby blew apart in 1907 and led to the birth of International rugby league - and how Albert Baskerville took a great leap into the unknown to change rugby forever. To discover more about the history of rugby and the other football codes, follow me on Twitter @collinstony or take a look at www.rugbyreloaded.com

Our ten minute rugby history podcast this week goes way back to explore how rugby evolved in Victorian times, giving birth to both rugby league and rugby union. Stand by for way too much detail on the history of scrums and points systems. For more, follow me on Twitter @collinstony or visit www.rugbyreloaded.com

In the second of our Easter weekend specials, we follow up the recent BBC Wales 'Rugby Codebreakers' documentary and asks why, if Welsh rugby had a similar industrial and social history to Northern England, is rugby union, and not rugby league, the national sport of Wales? For more, follow me on Twitter @collinstony or visit www.rugbyreloaded.com

In this Easter special, we take a look at Sherlock Holmes and rugby. What does the resident of 221B Baker Street have to do with rugby, and what is his connection to rugby's great split of 1895? All will be revealed in the first of the 'two podcasts in just four days' Easter weekend special.

In 1880 The Times said ‘the players of the rugby union game are probably twice as numerous as those of theFootball Association'. Rugby often attracted bigger crowds than even for the FA Cup Final. So what happened? How did soccer overtake and eclipse rugby? This is the story of Rugby's Great Own Goal.

In the first episode of our ten-minute half-time history talks, Rugby Reloaded explores the myth of William Webb Ellis, investigates why it emerged when it did, and looks at its unexpected consequences. For more, follow me on Twitter @collinstony or visit www.rugbyreloaded.com