Alan Rotherham (31 July 1862 – 30 August 1898) was a
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
international who represented
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
from 1882 to 1887. He also captained his country.
Rotherham is best known for his part in revolutionising
half-back play in rugby union, being the first player to demonstrate how a half-back could be the connecting link between the forwards and three-quarters,
[Arthur Budd writing in Marshall, Francis, ''Football; the Rugby union game'', p123, (1892) (London Paris Melbourne, Cassell and company, limited)] and thereby paving the way for the passing game within the backs that is practised to the present day. His role in the development of rugby was recognised by the
International Rugby Board
World Rugby is the world 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 ru ...
in 2011 with induction to the
IRB Hall of Fame
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 ...
under the theme of innovation and creativity.
Early life
Alan Rotherham was born on 31 July 1862 in
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...
, Warwickshire.
He was the son of John Rotherham, a watch manufacturer from Coventry and his wife Margaret. Alan was the eldest of at least five siblings, his younger siblings being two brothers, Kevitt (born 1864) and Henry (born 1870) and two sisters, Helen (born 1866) and Edith (borh 1867). Alan went on to attend
Uppingham School
Uppingham School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils 13-18) in Uppingham, Rutland, England, founded in 1584 by Robert Johnson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, who also established Oakham School. The headma ...
[Uppingham school roll, 1824–1894 (1894), (Uppingham school, Uppingham, England; Publisher: London, E. Stanford, ltd.)] where he played for the cricket 1st XI in 1879–80 and was captain of that side.
He also played for the school XV.
He left in August 1881 and went to
Balliol College, Oxford to study jurisprudence in which he attained second class honours in 1885.
He went on to become a barrister of
Lincoln's Inn and was a member of the
Oxford and Cambridge Club
The Oxford and Cambridge Club is a traditional London club. Membership is largely restricted to those who are members of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, including men and women who have a degree from or who are current undergraduates ...
, Pall Mall.
Alan was also the cousin of
Arthur Rotherham
Arthur Rotherham (27 May 1869 – 3 March 1946) was an English rugby union scrum-half who was a member of the first official British Isles tour and was later capped for the England team.
Personal history
Rotherham was born in Coventry in 1869 t ...
, who was the son of Alan's father's younger brother Alexander. In the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth century, players were listed by their initial and surname and the two cousins are often confused with each other. Compounding the confusion is the fact that they had similar backgrounds and playing careers and as Alan's ended so Arthur's began. Both were born in Coventry, both went to Uppingham School, both played for
Richmond F.C.
Richmond Football Club is a rugby union club from Richmond, London. It is a founding member of the Rugby Football Union, and is one of the oldest football clubs (of any code). It fields teams in both men's and women's rugby; the men's first ...
, both played at half-back and both played for England and went on to captain the national side.
Rugby union career
Alan Rotherham broke into the Oxford University side in his first year at the university in 1882 and became part of
Harry Vassall
Henry Vassall (22 October 1860 – 5 January 1926) was an English rugby union player, writer, and master of Repton School, Derbyshire. He was best known as a centre for Oxford University. Vassall played international rugby for England in the ea ...
's famous Oxford Fifteen. His emergence into the top flight was all the more surprising to contemporary commentators because the style of football played at Uppingham School was not "the Rugby game proper".
Under the captaincy of Vassall, Rotherham was given the leeway to turn the halfback position into a link between forwards and three-quarters, and unlocking the potential for the passing game to be played among the backs, whereas before that date the game was dominated by the forwards and by the practice of
hacking. This innovation, and Rotherham in particular, has been attributed with revolutionising the half-back position in rugby. One New Zealand newspaper in a brief obituary to Rotherham reported: ''"It is not too much, to say that he entirely revolutionised halfback play, and he particularly introduced the passing game among the backs."''
The practice of feeding the three-quarters from the scrum in itself did not originate with Rotherham. A reported example of such a pass was from the 1881 North vs South match in England when J. Payne slung the ball out to Bartram, who gained a try. However, Rotherham was said to have reduced the art to a science. He not only demonstrated the potential for a half-back to be the connecting link between the forwards and three-quarters, but also showed how this could be done through what has been described as opportune passing, the practice of fogging the opposing players' judgment over whether they ought to go for the half-back or the three-quarters he was intent on feeding. He was known to have been masterful at knowing when and when not to pass, sometimes decoying his tacklers to the three-quarter line and leaving the open field for himself. In the late nineteenth century, so entwined was Rotherham with the style of play that it was popularly called "Rotherham's game".
Despite the weight of opinion attributing the style to Rotherham, the claim that Rotherham was wholly responsible for the passing game as it came to be known is something that apparently Rotherham would have not agreed with.
:''"There are some who would attribute to Rotherham all the virtues that go with the 'passing' game' but he himself would not have claimed this, for the Oxford fifteens of his day contained many players from Scottish schools, particularly
Loretto, and they, rather than anyone else, were the pioneers, if not the only begetters, of the passing game."''
Rotherham went on to play for Oxford in three seasons amidst what has been described as Oxford rugby's golden age and later played club rugby for Coventry and Richmond.
He made his international debut on 16 December 1882 at
St Helen's, Swansea in the
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
vs
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
match
and was able to employ the technique used to such great effect at Oxford of unlocking the backs. Of the twelve matches he played for his national side he was on the winning side on eight occasions.
Rotherham played in England's final game before their break from international rugby, on 5 March 1887 at Whalley Range, Manchester vs
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
match.
During the next two seasons England were in dispute with the formation of the
International Rugby Board
World Rugby is the world 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 ru ...
. When England returned in 1890, Rotherham was absent from the team sheet and did not play for his country again.
Commenting on his prowess as a half-back, it was written in 1898, after his early death, that he "is considered to have been the finest exponent of half-back play England has ever produced. Playing in front of such brilliant scorers as W. N. Bolton, G. C. Wade, A. M. Eyanson, A. E. Stoddart, and A. J. Gould at different times, his great forte was in making openings for his three-quarters ; while, unlike most brilliant attacking halves, he was also exceptionally good in defence.
Arthur Budd writing in 1892 said of Rotherham ''"the equal of whom we have never, in my opinion, or since seen."''
Career and later life
Rotherham became a barrister and later became the secretary of Watneys. He took his own life by shooting himself in London on 30 August 1898. At the inquest the jury returned a verdict of "Suicide while of unsound mind."
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotherham, Alan
1862 births
1898 deaths
English rugby union players
England international rugby union players
Rugby union halfbacks
World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees
People educated at Uppingham School
Oxford University RFC players
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Richmond F.C. players
Coventry R.F.C. players
Rugby union players from Coventry
Suicides by firearm in England
Suicides in London