(Thanks to Tom Jones, IRB Regional Development Manager for North America/West Indies [NAWIRA])


Apologies to Mr. Paul Dobson, who originally penned this article and initially went uncredited. Paul is a writer for Rugby 365. You can find some examples of his work by clicking here.


A history of wearing numbers


Teams number their players now but it was not always so. In fact, there was a time when numbering players was frowned upon as it smacked of tawdry professionalism.


Nowadays nobody bothers about professionalism – nobody, that is, except those who have to pay the players and the coaches and the fitness trainers and the first aid people and the PR people and the media liaison officers and so on and on, as rugby becomes the gigantic employment opportunity it never was.


Numbers have taken the place of names in referee speak. “Off-side, Number 6.” “Get onside, 8.”


Numbers have replaced the jargon of position. “Who is the best 9 in the country?” “I’m not sure whether to play him at 6 or at 7.” (Note the origin of being at sixes and sevens!)


When England first wore numbers at Twickenham, on 18 March 1922, King George V, a keen rugby supporter, turned to the secretary of the Scottish Rugby Union, the conservative J Aikman Smith, and said, "I see England have numbers. What a good idea. When are Scotland going to get numbers?"


In indignation, Aikman Smith replied: "Sire, my players are men, not cattle." And the story has it that he refused to speak to His Majesty for the rest of the afternoon.


Numbers, it is believed, were first used in 1897 in Brisbane when the New Zealanders played Queensland. "As an experiment to assist spectators, a number will be placed on each player's back."


When they were brought to Sydney in 1904 players objected because it was too convenient a way for referees to identify miscreants.

Follow up:

On 21 January 1922 numbers were used in a Five Nations match for the first time - when England played Wales at Cardiff Arms Park. It rained. Wales won 28-6.


The Springboks wore numbers on the 1906-07 tour, though not against Scotland. Their opponents sometimes wore numbers, e.g. Yorkshire, Middlesex, Newport, East Midlands. The Springboks wore tour numbers. That means that the player always played in the number given him for the tour. 29 could play next to 3.
This was common practice till well after World War II.


It would seem that the 1905-06 All Blacks did not wear numbers.


The International Rugby Board first discussed the numbering of players in 1921 when Wales and England let it be known that they intended to number their players. "The Board expressed the view that this was a matter for the several unions to decide on, having regard to the wishes of their players."


Howard Marshall - of Haileybury, Oxford, Harlequins and the Barbarians and for years the rugby correspondent of the Daily Telegraph - wrote in 1936 in an article entitled 'What Rugger Means to Me': "Here I must make what is probably my last protest against the numbering of players. I remember how I resented this cattle-branding when I was playing myself, and my unholy delight when the numbered jerseys did not correspond with the programmes. Rugby football is not a game for such fripperies as numbering and programmes; it is not a game to be watched by any but those who have played it and understand it."


In 1933 soccer players were numbered at the FA Cup Final for the first time. Everton, who won, played Manchester City. Everton were numbered 1 - 11, Manchester City 12 - 22. Celtic still refuse to wear numbers on their backs.


Sometimes teams have worn letters - to confuse pirate programme sellers. The All Blacks did that in 1921.


Confusing pirate programme sellers was not the only reason. There was also the belief that a single letter was less confusing than two numbers. The famous English clubs, Bristol and Leicester Tigers, used letters, from A to O, until the advent of professionalism and TV exposure. Bristol had 'A' at fullback, Leicester 'O' at fullback. When they played it looked as if a whole lot of scrabble tiles had been flung onto the field. In 1999 they changed from letters to numbers.


Some prefer not to use numbers in the pious belief that the game is a team game and no individual is so important that attention should be drawn to him.

Schools especially like this as it suggests that rugby is valued as a part of education with value in teamwork and effort, not a means of marketing an individual.


There have been times when teams have not had used a number 13 but a 16 instead, out of superstition. Then you get players like Danie Gerber who insisted on using the number 13! Bath RFC does not have a No. 13, using 16 instead. West Hartlepool no longer have a No. 5 after a lock John Haw died of a heart attack during a match in 1994.


At one stage the fullback was Number 1. The front row wore Nos 8,9,10, the locks were 11 & 12, the loose forwards 13,14,15. Or, more frequently, the front-row went 13, 14, 15, the locks 11 & 12, and the loose forwards 10, 9, 8. The number 8 has, down the years, more frequently worn 8 than any other position has stayed with a number. The loose forwards are lumped together as they were the back row in the old 3-2-3 scrum formation, and are still called the back-row even though scrums seldom have a back row in modern times. The loose-forwards are still 6, 7, 8 as if they formed a back-row but with the player at the back as the No.8. South Africa invented this scrum formation and developed that player’s modus operandi and call him the eighthman.


Just after World War II in the Five Nations, numbering was from 1 to 15, starting with the fullback at 1. From the beginning of the Sixties the numbering changed to what it is today. From 1966 on it became uniform in Test matches that the numbering be from 15 to 1 or, if you like, 1 to 15 where 15 was the fullback and 1 the loosehead.


The IRB, like most law making bodies, are often reactive. Something happens and then you make a law to cover it/govern it/get rid of it. They decided to order the numbering for matches under their jurisdiction.


The positions should be as follows, the numbers being for teams which wear numbers:

The names and numbers have been given for the positioning of a team at a scrum, for in olden days the scrum was the most important facet of play. Games in fact were almost one long scrum. Now they are important but far less so.


David Campese wore a Number 11 jersey though he played on the right wing.


In 1998 the All Blacks wore a 2 on their sleeves – a tribute to Sean Fitzpatrick who had just recently retired.


The use of replacements, first for injury and then as tactical substitutions, has led to a fairly orderly bench. There are as many as seven players on the bench, often – but not always – split 4-3 between forwards and backs.


The bench is numbered from 16 to 22 where, often but not always, 16 is a hooker, 17 a prop, and 20 a scrumhalf.


Many consider a team as now consisting of 22 players with a maximum of 15 on the field at any one time.


Source: Pete Muscroft, head of Bahamas Rugby Referees, who "Missed a good game on Saturday"